Sandy Stuart joined the army.  

Sandy was a member of Young Adult Singles. Nobody in Young Adult Singles knew why Sandy joined the army. She just left a message on Diana's machine one day saying, "I'm joining the army."  

"Diana," Marsha said, "do you know why Sandy Stuart joined the army?"  

"I haven't got a clue."  

"But you know Sandy better than anybody else in the club. Didn't she visit you a lot?"  

"Yeah," Diana said. "But she's the one who begged me to let her come over. She kept saying she couldn't stand being in her apartment alone."  

"You never invited her over yourself?"  

"No. She was boring. All she could talk about was the army."  

"Then why did you let her visit you at all?"  

"I couldn't very well tell her, could I?"  

“Sure, you could. How are you going to get what you want unless you ask for it?”  

"Maybe she joined the army for the thrills," Matt interrupted.  

Sally came over. "Who joined the army for the  thrills?"  

"Earth to Sally!" Matt said. "Sandy Stuart joined the army, remember?"  

"But not for thrills," said Marsha. "I think she was trying to get away from somebody."  

"Who?" Matt asked.  

"I don't know!" Marsha said. "Give me a break!"  

Matt said, "Maybe she just wanted to run off to California . That's where her army base is, isn't it?" In  this town, everybody thought California was paradise. If your friends or relatives moved to, say, Florida , you said, "They moved to Florida ." If they picked Detroit , you said, "They moved to Detroit ." But if it was California , you said, "They ran off to California ."  

The bottom line was: nobody knew for sure why Sandy had joined the army.

Not long after she joined Young Adult Singles, Diana volunteered to host the "paper parties" where the club newsletter was put together. But she found herself doing most of the work, because not many members came to parties that involved work.  

Diana had bipolar disorder, so the stress of doing it all herself got to be too much for her. She decided she'd better take a break. She asked Chad , the president, to find somebody else to do the job this month. He said he would. Then she left for a real party.  

The party was boring until a cute guy came over and said hello to her. His name was Rudy. He took her to his car and showed her his expensive sound system. He happened to be the DJ for the State Trophy Competition, a ballroom dance contest. It was going to start the next day. He said he'd let her go in and watch the dancers for free if she'd get the records out of the cases for him to play.  

Diana got there at eleven in the morning, sharp. The dancers, just a few couples at a time, did waltzes, foxtrots, and tangos. Judges decided on the winning dancer so fast that she couldn't figure out how they did it.  

It was a real challenge to get the music started as soon as the dancers were ready, especially when the man in charge, the emcee, skipped a dance on the schedule and asked Rudy for a CD that Diana hadn't found yet.  

As day became night, the costumes got prettier and prettier. The women wore dresses with fluffy skirts that looked like the tutus ballerinas wear. Their tops were made of transparent nylon, skin-tight, with glitter sprayed all over them in pretty patterns.  

Things got even busier. Diana had to run out for coffee for Rudy and the emcee. After a while she got bored with the music, but she loved the women's costumes. For a while, she thought the two-toned pink dresses were the prettiest. Then some women came in wearing costumes that made them look as if they were pure gold from the waist up.  

Rudy sent her out for coffee again. Not one word of thanks all day!  

Diana said, "You know, these coffee runs aren't part of our deal. It wouldn't hurt for you to show a little appreciation."  

Rudy looked at her. He said, "This is the real world. If you want something, you have to go out and take it."

Diana was so tired after the dance contest was over that she was asleep seconds after her head hit the pillow. But the phone woke her up only an hour later. She dragged herself out of bed and answered it.  

It was Chad . He'd forgotten to ask somebody to put the newsletters together. "It won't get done unless you do it," he whined.  

Diana remembered what Rudy had said. If you want something, you have to go out and take it. She packed everything she owned that wasn't too big into her car and started driving west.  

"I hope I can make it to California ," she thought.