Meanwhile, down in Fort Hamely, it was graduation night. Ceremonies were held that afternoon but the evening was reserved for celebration. It was a warm, cloudless evening, the primary sun low on the horizon shining brilliant shades of orange across the valley as Jim and his girlfriend, Susan Quigley, held each other close on the swinging chair of Susan’s front porch, having recently come back from the ceremonies and changed into less formal clothes. Ahead of them, down the valley, they could see the three crescents of Phaethon’s moons, hovering just above the tree tops of the distant hills.
         “You’re not really going up there, are you, Jim?” asked Susan, staring at the moons.
         “I’m thinking about it, Suzie,” admitted Jim, “But don’t worry,” he said kissing her ear, “I’ll only be gone a couple months at a time.”
         “Oh, but that’s so long,” complained Suzie.
         “It’s not so long as all that,” said Jim, “And ‘sides, Ty says I’ll be able to pay off Ted after only a couple of tours. Maybe only one.”
         “It’s still a long time,” said Suzie, “And what about all the dangers? There’s meteors, and pirates, and radiation... and just look at what happened to your parents.”
         Jim frowned. He didn’t want to think about his parents’ death.
         “That was just a freak accident.” he said sternly.
         Suzie turned to look him in the face.
         “Just promise me you won’t go.” she said.
         “C’mon, Sue. Don’t make me do that.”
         “Please, just don’t go. You can get that job in Rusty Hills. It’ll take you longer to make the money, but we can see each other more often.” she smiled and kissed him on the lips.
         Just then - AHWOOOOGA! - their conversation was interrupted by Tyler Keefer’s bullhorn as he slid around the corner of the street in his red, single cab pick-up truck and pulled up, right onto Suzie’s front lawn. Their friends from class, Stevie and Jessica, were sitting in the cab while Renny, Beaver, and Alex were hanging out in the box.
         “Whadda we got here? A couple o’ lovebirds about to make out!” shouted Renny from the back, grinning with his buck teeth. He laughed and hi-fived with his buddies.
         “Hop in the back,” said Ty, snapping and pointing at the box of the truck with his thumb. “We’re going to the smoke show!”
         The ‘smoke show’, of course, was Fort Hamely’s annual “Smoke In The Valley” event. Everywhere across town, kids piled into cars, vans, and pick-up trucks and gathered together in selected spots across town to participate in the event. You see, in towns and cities across Phaethon, it was an annual tradition for high school graduates to gather in their vehicles in strategic upwind locations and spin their tires in unison in an attempt to blanket their towns in smoke. Parents, teachers, and other adults not only tolerated the event but actually supported it as they did the exact same thing when they were young. In bigger cities, this was often a large organised event, complete with parades, fireworks, pyrotechnics, and smoke machines to augment the effect, but in Fort Hamely it was just kids in their cars and trucks doing burnouts.
         For their location, Jim and Ty chose an old cement dock on the east side of town, overlooking the Mudwater River. Elsewhere, cars and trucks were stationed in parking lots, driveways, empty streets, and old storage yards, waiting for this year’s class president to set off the fireworks to signal the smoke-out to begin. When Jim, Ty, Suzie, and the gang pulled up to the dock, they joined a number of other kids in their vehicles, parked and waiting to go. There was Rory Gushue in his old, beat up ‘81 Farde Wildhorse, the Janson brothers in their ’78 Eco-Wagon van, Blake Finnigan was there with his girlfriend Sam and his ’71 Chrystal Star Racer, even Tod Kavinsky in his brand new, souped up Feluchi 328. Ty pulled his truck up next to Tod’s hot sports car and the gang jumped out and started handing out beers from the blue cooler they had in the box. Loud music was playing from the Janson’s van - “Smoke in the Valley” by hard rock band, Navy Green. Perfectly chosen, of course, to match the event.
“Smoooooke in the vaaalley!
The town is gettin’ high-eee!”
         Tod Kavinsky was leaning, one leg up, against his 328, and looking cool as always with his black sunglasses, red and white letterman jacket, and an unlit match between his teeth.