As the shitstorm grew louder and Jimmy Caughey rolled his eyes in ever more hopeless arcs, Kramer thought of a brighter future. Tonight he would meet her at last ... the Girl with Brown Lipstick.

Muldowny's, that restaurant on the East Side, Third Avenue at Seventy-eighth Street . . . exposed brick walls, blond wood, brass, etched glass, hanging plants . . . aspiring actresses who waited on tables . . . celebrities ... but informal and not very expensive, or that's what he heard ... the electric burble of young people in Manhattan leading ... the Life ... a table for two . . . He's looking into the incomparable face of Miss Shelly Thomas . . .