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By Neil Gaiman

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The mood of the story is at first slightly dark and creepy, with the location the main characters passing through being decrepit, with the houses having rusted cars and bikes, and them passing by a “grimy maze” of backstreets. Once the main characters arrive at the house, the mood changes from creepy to relatively normal, with the exception of the inhabitants of the house. The atmosphere retains this feel, albeit it gets mixed with a little surrealness as Enn talks with the girls, with their conversations being strange.

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Enn and Vic were looking for a party in East Cordon, London. A friend of Vic was told about a party in said location. Enn is more shy and reserved, Vic is slick, smooth talker and more of a delinquent. The pair arrive at a party, greeted by a very beautiful blonde girl named Stella. Vic smooth talks to her and Enn is left to wander, meeting strange three girls in the party, with the goal seemingly to get with one of them. The three girls Wain, an unnamed black haired girl, and Triolet , although seemingly human in appearance, are strange, showing strange speech patterns as well as discussing strange topics, such as the black haired girl being a “tourist” in the world travelling to the sun, Wain not being “permitted” to do anything that “might cause damage to property” (presumably her, being that she mentioned she was Wain’s Wain), as well as Triolet explaining that she was a “verse form”, as can be seen as well from her very name, which seemed to mean that she was the representation of a dead species who had a poem that she says can change people. Vic at some point told Enn that they were at the wrong party, while Enn was talking with the black-haired girl. Enn was also disturbed by a frantic and panicking Vic while Triolet was whispering a poem into his ear, one in a strange language that almost put Enn in a trance. Vic insisted that he and Enn leave the party, pulling him by the elbow and dragging him out of the house. Enn looked back hoping to see Triolet but instead saw a dishevelled Stella, with her “clothes in disarray”  and her makeup “smudged across her face”, described by Enn as “an angry universe” seemingly because of Vic. The two boys ran for a short bit and stopped when they both could not run anymore, feeling pain from the exhaustion. Vic seemed very disturbed at what he had seen, expressing confusion and perhaps even at whatever happened. Enn thought that Vic was disturbed of the fact that he was about to be intimate with Stella, at which Vic drove a fist into Enn’s head but lowered it. Vic starts sobbing and starts to walk away, with Enn following closely behind, ending the story.

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The main conflict seems to be Enn having difficulty trying to get with a girl in the party, an issue he has struggled with in the past as well, as mentioned by the remark he made comparing himself to Vic. Enn also seems to have difficulties understanding girls his age, as evidenced by the text being in his perspective and words like "alien" and phrases like "they're not which is likely the cause for his difficulty in talking to them.

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The setting takes place in Croydon, London, sometime in the mid 1970s, based on the named music bands that the house party was playing. The text also says that it took place during the earlier days of punk rock, further proving the decade it is taking place in. It is almost nighttime, as the text mentions that the location “looked very still in the Summer evening”. The story started out on the backstreets that led to the house where the party was being held, with the house described as being complex and larger than it looked. There were a few other girls present in the party, and by the time the story ended there were a few more of them dancing as well as some boys that looked older than Enn and Vic. The lighting was mentioned to be dim, and there was strange music playing that the characters were not familiar with.

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All the characters seem to still be teenagers, and act like them. They all seem to be experiencing different things for the first time, such as new emotions and figuring out how to talk to other kids their age. It also seems to have the characters be implied to be non-human, with them saying that they are "tourists" in the world, and are "verse-forms". The theme seems to be the confusion young boys have in regards to interacting with girls their age, especially given whose point of view the story is shown through. The house party setting is also a pretty common trope seen in media involving teenagers, as well as the characters having traits that seem to suggest they are young, even if they aren't human. Things like them either being the youngest or having some kind of parent further support this.

Enn
- Main character of story, plot is shown through his perspective
- Shy and reserved
- Seems to have difficulty understanding girls

Vic
- Friend of Enn's
- Confident and charismatic
- Has an easy time getting girls to like him

Stella
- First girl to talk to Enn and Vic, is the one who let them into the party
- Very beautiful, Vic immediately started flirting and getting with her
- At the end of the story, Vic seemed to have made her very mad, and is implied to be non-human, like the rest of the girls in the story

Wain's Wain
- First girl Enn talked to
- Has minor deformity on her left hand, with little finger having two small fingertips
- "Travels" (seemingly exploring Earth) while her "sisters remain at home in stasis"
- Seems to be "property" to "Wain"

Unnamed black haired girl
- Second girl Enn talks to
- Is a "tourist" in Earth, mentioned that previously she travelled to the sun, and met "whales"
- Seemed to have been transformed into a human form, experiencing for the first time "pushing air through the mouth, vibrating the vocal cords on the way". She mentions that she hates it, and said that she requested to die to her "parent-teacher"
- Mentions that "there is knowledge in the meat" (possibly referring to her human form) and is "resolve to learn from it"

Triolet
- Third and final girl that Enn talked to
- Her name is literal, in that she says she is a "verse-form" or a poem
- According to what she says, she seems to be the last message of a dead species
- Was telling a poem in an alien language to Enn that had him entranced
- The poem she said was very moving, in that it "colonized" people that listened to it, affecting who they are and everything they do

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I'm not a party goer and I am certainly not some guy that only thinks of trying to get girls, but I do understand the confusion experienced socially and emotionally when puberty hit. I certainly felt different and strange new emotions when I hit my teens, similar to the black haired girl Enn talked too, although they didn't make me want to die of course. I think the story though focuses more on the social interactions that we experience in our teen years, where things can be a little awkward and other people our age might seem weird, especially in regards to our peers of the opposite sex. In the very start of the story, it is said that the character we are viewing the story as, Enn, has a hard time understanding and talking to girls, supporting the idea that it is a story about teenage confusion. The girls in the story all are implied to be alien, and I think the reason for this is because it is an exaggeration of our confusion about girls when we become teenagers. I mention girls specifically simply because the story is from a male view. Neil Gaiman also frequently uses fantasy elements to symbolize things in his stories, such as in American Gods. In American Gods, gods from different mythos' were being changed by the gods of the modern world, symbolized by persons in business suits, holding cellphones and laptops, to signify a modernizing world. As a male teen, I certainly had changing views on girls as I went through puberty, and especially since I was in the AJHS, an all-boys school, I also understand not really understanding girls as much as I did guys. Because of this, I would say that the story still holds up, as although I wasn't a teen in the 70's, the experience that the characters go through are relatable to me, especially their surprises and learning how to interact with their peers. I think I also find it relatable in that before I kind of also had a hard time interacting with other kids my age, and to me some of them certainly seemed as alien as the girls in the story. I also really like the use of fantasy elements in not only this story, but a lot of Gaiman's stories as well. He really knows how to turn even a Norse god into a normal mafia like guy while not making it seem weird, and somehow logical in the contexts of his stories.