a saturday in mid-july , that summer of her graduation , and it has played out as one of those nights she always referred to as six degrees of intoxication : you start out at a party in your own town , where you know lots of people , and then someone you only kind of know talks a handful of you into riding to another party the next town over , where you hook up with some person this other person only sort of knows , and that person leads an even smaller number of you to still another party the next town over .