The second time was about a month after she had left home to go to college in Evanston. She was with a boy she had just begun dating, and one night he procured a bottle of Jack Daniel's. He mixed it with Coke and she drank three glasses. It made her violently sick, much to the boy's chagrin.

Who was it that said the "third time's the charm"? This thought went through Sarah's head as she sipped the glass of red wine. Rivka had already announced that she planned to drink enough to get "tipsy," and the boys proclaimed they were going to drink much more than that. Sarah decided that she, too, would drink enough to feel a buzz. She just didn't want to feel sick.

They were in a bar in the New City. It was a place Noel had been to several times, and he was sure the girls wouldn't be asked for IDs. They weren't. Noel and Eli started by buying two bottles of wine, and then the quartet sat in a booth in the back of the smoky dive, unseen by the few patrons that were too lost in their own drinks to pay much attention to the laughing, happy young people.

At first Sarah thought the bar looked dumpy and was depressing. Eli assured her they would liven up the place. Sure enough, after one bottle was empty, the boys and girls were having a grand time in the little back room. Eli and Noel could be very funny, especially when they told off-color jokes, and Sarah and Rivka were thoroughly entertained by them. It didn't hurt that in-between laughs the boys planted kisses on their dates.

"Hey, I've got an idea," Eli said. He looked at Noel. "What do you think, Noel? Irish Car Bombs?"

Noel's eyes widened and he grinned. "Yeah!"

"Huh? What's that?" Sarah asked.

"Irish Car Bomb! You'll love it," Noel said.

"Irish Car Bomb?" Rivka asked, giggling. "What are you talking about?"

"It's a drink, silly," Eli said. "I'll be right back." He got up and left the room, heading toward the bar.

"You didn't know this was an Irish pub, did you?" Noel asked the girls.

"This is an Irish pub? In Jerusalem?" Sarah asked.

"It doesn't look like an Irish pub," Rivka said.

A few minutes later Eli returned with a tray carrying four pint glasses of what appeared to be beer and four shot glasses of an odd, creamy brown liquid.

Eli sat down and pointed to a pint glass. "This is a half-pint of Guinness." He then pointed to a shot glass. "This is Irish whiskey mixed with Bailey's Irish Cream." He then proceeded to take the shot glasses and drop them--glass and liquid-- intothe pint glasses. The whiskey and Irish cream mixed with the Guiness. Once that was done, he put a completed "Car Bomb" in front of each person at the table, took the one in front of him, and chugged the entire contents without breathing. When he was done, he slammed the empty pint glass on the table--the empty shot glass rattled inside of it--and burped loudly.

"Wow," Sarah said.

"Drink up, before the cream curdles!" Noel commanded. He took one of the glasses and chugged the mixture faster than Eli had.

"Come on, ladies," Eli said. "Your turn."

Rivka took one of the glasses and asked, "I'm supposed to drink it all at once?"

"Chug it," Noel said. "That's what you're supposed to do."

"You can't sip it," Eli added.

"Okay, here goes." She turned up the glass and started drinking. The shot glass slid down and hit her nose. She almost laughed but kept going. The boys chanted, "Go, go, go, go . . . !" When she got it all down, Rivka slammed the glass on the table as she had seen the guys do it.

"Wow, that was great!" she said.

"Your turn, Sarah!" Eli said.

"I don't know," Sarah said, eyeing the drink warily.

"I've never chugged anything like that. I'll probably choke."

"No, you won't. Just gulp gulp gulp. Don't stop to breathe. Do it fast."

She took hold of the drink and smelled it.

"Don't smell it, drink it!" Noel ordered, playfully poking her arm.

"It's good, Sarah," Rivka said, smiling. "Really."

Sarah shrugged and put the glass to her lips. Then she started to drink. And drink.

"Go, go, go, go, go!"

When she was done, she slammed the glass on the table.

"Yeah!" the others cried.

Sarah felt proud of herself. She wiped her mouth and said, "Yum!" Eli beamed at her and then leaned over to kiss her. It was a mushy open-mouthed one.

"Whoa, Sarah!" Rivka cried. She laughed. Noel laughed. Eli and Sarah broke apart and laughed as well.

That was when Sarah realized the room was spinning more than it was five minutes earlier. She felt light-headed and woozy.

"I'm getting drunk," she said, but it didn't sound like those particular words to her. She laughed again. Rivka burst out laughing, too, and reached for her friend. The two girls leaned on each other, laughing so hard that tears fell from their eyes. Eli sat with his arms folded across his chest, watching them and keeping an eye on his watch.

It should take about ten minutes,he thought.

He poured another glass of wine for the girls but left his and Noel's glasses empty.

"Tell us about your uncle Martin, Noel," Eli suggested.

Noel raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh. Okay. That's a good story." The girls smiled and looked at him, ready for more hilarity. "I have this uncle, his name is Uncle Martin, and he used to live in the basement of a tenement building. His hobby, if you can believe this, was collecting mice feces. I kid you not. You know what he did with the feces?"

"What, Noel?" Eli asked.

The girls were beginning to lose it. Their mouths hung open and their eyes drooped, but they hung on to every word Noel was saying.

"He liked to use the feces to make art. He would mix the stuff with water and use a paintbrush to paint. And you know what he would paint?"

"What would he paint, Noel?" Eli asked.

"Mice!"

He continued the nonsensical story for several minutes. Sarah tried to concentrate on it, but the words kept fading in and out. It was as if she were in a waking dream.

The words droned on. Eventually she couldn't understand them anymore. She had to close her eyes, just for a minute.

Noel stopped talking.

Rivka was out. Her head was on Sarah's shoulder. Sarah's eyelids fluttered and finally fell. She began to slide over in the booth, but Eli caught her and held her up.

"Wow, that was fast," Noel said.

"Always is," Eli agreed.

"I'm glad you gave them the correct glasses."

"Come on. Let's get them out of here." He pulled Sarah out of the booth and let her lean on him.

"What's going on?" she slurred.

"Sarah, I'm taking you home. You're drunk," Eli said.

"I am?"

Noel helped Rivka up. She whimpered a little. "Rivka, come with me. We have to go home now," he said. Rivka started to cry a little.

"My stomach hurts," she mumbled.

"Let's go," Noel said.

Eli left money on the bar as they helped the girls out. He winked at the bartender and said, "I guess those Car Bombs were a little too strong."

When the night air hit Sarah's face, she became aware that she was outside. "What's going on?" she asked again, but her voice sounded far away.

"I'm taking you back to my place." She thought it was Eli's voice. The nice man was helping her walk, though. She shouldn't have drunk so much. She knew that drinking didn't agree with her. Now she felt awful. She just wanted to climb into bed.