 Dean writes a weekly column about the social scene on South Beach. Some months back, Dean s ladylove, the cheating Whore Casey, made a cuckold of our hero and so he has begun to debauch himself upon a marathon of one-night stands. Since Dean s breakup with Casey of the Cheating Whore he has been plagued by ominous dreams: each dream involving a seemingly random number. His dreams are becoming increasingly vivid, so much so that he, though a practical and secular man, has felt compelled to write these numbers down. While hurrying toward what will likely be another empty one-night stand, Dean collides with our heroine, the fair Lady Angela, the most beautiful girl in all the world. He is struck dumb and, for the first time in his shitty, little life, Dean Maguire does not know what to say to a girl. Angela, whose name he does not yet know, has possessed him; he cannot stop thinking about this...this...angel. But alas, she is lost...wait...Dean remembers having glanced at his watch at the instant of their collision; it was 8:42. Two of his dream numbers. He then remembers the corner on which it occurred: 5th and 49th - two more of the dreams that have haunted him lo these many months. Suddenly, he recalls the date...March eleventh - 3 and 11 are two more of the numbers from his maddening visions. His dreams, O his portentous dreams, plotting the exact point in time and space where he was, it would seem, fated to meet the fair Lady Angela. By now Angela is long gone and Dean is more confused than ever. Could it be that he had somehow prophesied this? But to what end? What cruel deceiver could conspire compass, clock and calendar to put him there, then, only to rob him of his faculty of speech? That night, as Dean is finally able to sleep, he has another of his cursed-cum-blessed number dreams. Salvation! The Sphynx-ter has given Dean one last clue to this, his most riddled onus; and so it is that our hero finds himself in search of... the s1gnificance of se7enteen.