even more existential.

Now my car had been stolen, and I was sitting amidst last night's trash in last night's make-up waiting for LAPD to come. I was sitting with Barbara and my room-mate Bianca, who were in last night's make-up also, and Bianca had a glittery mo-hawk. Barbara and Bianca were smoking cigarettes and talking about the man with the glass eye.

"I think, I'm not positive, and I don't remember, but I'm fairly certain that that's the man who tried to rape our friend Eloise. Do you remember, Anne?" Bianca asked.

I remembered. But I didn't answer. I was too far away.

LAPD came a half an hour after they said they would, and Barbara and Bianca immediately sat up and stubbed out their cigarettes. They wanted to look presentable for the officers.

The officers strode through the trash on the lawn importantly, their walkie-talkies buzzing.

"Is this where the car's been stolen?" One asked.

"A week ago," I said. Barbara and Bianca glared at me. Bianca tried to fluff her hair, but the mohawk was as stiff as a board. She put her hand down.

"Where were you parked?" An officer asked. I told him.

"Maybe someone was just angry that you were boxing them in!" He said, sharing a laugh with the other officer.

I did not think it was funny. "Are you going to take my information?" I asked.

He huffed a little. I was spoiling his fun. But he perked right back up when he saw my ID.

"So you girls go to USC, then?" He passed the ID to the other officer.

"Great football team," the second officer said.

"Except for that fiasco at the Rose Bowl, Yeesh..." The first one said.

"Look, my car..." I started, but now the officers were off and running with Barbara and Bianca.

I waited for a lull in the conversation and then politely inquired why they couldn't maybe cruise the neighborhood to look for Adelaide, or, if they were just going to stand there socializing, at least help pick up some of the trash from the party.

"We've got another set of guys on the way to do that," they explained. "We're just here to get the basic information."

"How useful," I muttered. And so we waited another half an hour for the second set of officers to arrive.

"Looks like it was quite a party!" Was what officer #3 said as he and his counterpart came to join the ever-growing cluster on the front lawn. Our friend Simon had also been called over to partake in the unfolding saga, which made 8 of us; I could see Bianca debating whether or not to bring out martinis.

The second set of officers told us that Honda Accords were the world's most stolen vehicle. Their parts were highly in demand. If she were to be found intact, the officers said, it would probably be because she had been used in a shooting and then abandoned.

Three weeks later, the towing company called. Adelaide had been found, abandoned and intact.