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She always assumed there would come a time for her to make boys a priority ... but death had put a damper on that. Well, she hadn't dated in life, and she wasn't about to start now. She had Mikey as an afterlife companion, and that was enough for her.
"So why are we here?" Allie asked Milos as they passed through the front entrance and into the crowded lobby of the ornate theater. "I hope it's not just to see a concert."
"This way," said Milos. "Come."
She followed him from the lobby into the theater, where, in a few minutes, the show would be starting. Then he led her right up onto the stage. Even though Allie knew that no one could see her, she still felt uncomfortable on a stage, facing an audience of thousands.
"You have practiced soul-surfing, and have gotten better at it," said Milos, "but now, with so many people packed into one place, you can really use it!"
Milos turned to face the audience, and looked up to the highest seats way up in the back of the balcony. The nosebleed seats, Allie always called them.
"Tell me," said Milos, "how fast can you surf from here to the balcony and back?"
Allie smiled. "Faster than you!" Although she knew it probably wasn't true.
"Then you can try to beat me." Milos squinted up at the balcony, then pointed. "Do you see the usher at very back?"
Allie looked up to the center aisle between the highest seats. The soft focus and muted colors of the living world made it difficult to see, but she did pick out an usher guiding people to their seats up there. "So he's our target?"
"Yes. The first one to surf all the way up there, tap the usher on the shoulder, and come back to the stage, wins."
"And no cheating!" said Allie.
"How could I cheat?"
"You're not allowed to jump from the orchestra up to the mezzanine--we both have to go out the back of the theater, into the lobby, and surf our way up the stairs."
"Fair enough," said Milos. "Are you ready?"
"Are you?"
"Ready, set, GO!"
Allie took off, making a calculated move, by jumping into a security guard that was a little closer to Milos than to her, figuring that Milos would start with him. Sure enough, Allie felt Milos trying to push his way into the guard, but couldn't because Allie was already there. It put Allie in an early lead.
She went from the guard, to a tall old man, to a short woman with big hair, to a baby, to some guy who Allie could sense didn't want to be there.
She was already out in the lobby, and lingered in the aggravated man just long enough to locate the stairs, before bounding out to the next person. Up the staircase to the mezzanine, person to person, body to body until she reached the balcony. She had no idea where Milos was, and she didn't even know who her host was now--all she could sense was that this person needed to use the bathroom.
She had to get her bearings before she hopped to the next person--she had to spot the usher. Now that she was back in the theater, she was right in front of the steep aisle leading all the way up to the seats that nearly touched the roof. The usher was halfway up that aisle, leading a man to his seat. Allie launched herself out of the full-bladdered fleshie, and surfed through two more people, and right to the man the usher was escorting--
--But she couldn't get in because Milos was already there! He had used her own trick against her! Allie bounced off the man like rubber, and by the time she had skinjacked the next closest person, Milos's fleshie had already tapped the usher on the shoulder.
"Beat you!"
"Not yet!" said Allie, tapping the usher as well.
They left the two bewildered fans and the usher behind. In a moment Allie had surfed herself down the aisle, and out the back doors of the theater again, finding herself on the stairs. Going down, she discovered, was a little trickier than coming up, because everyone was hurrying up the stairs to get to their seats. It was like running down an "up" escalator. She surfed through dozens of people, fighting the current, not lingering for more than an instant in any one person until she was back on the ground floor, and in the theater's main aisle again.
She pushed off in a smooth regular rhythm, relaying herself through various people trying to find their seats, then she surged up onto the stage--and Milos was right beside her, reaching the stage the same moment she did.
"I win!" Allie said.
"No, I win!" said Milos.
"All right, a tie, then."
Milos laughed. "Very good! We both win!"
