when you were there, and you, and you, happiness crowned the night; i too

danny was waiting outside, his tattooed arms hanging, handsapocket, he looked different, his long hair cut now, wearing dickies and sandals, "a regular old vermonter," i yelled out the window as we parked and got out of the car. he smiled and just looked at us.

"man, frisco to vermont. how's living? and this is violet," i said.

they shook hands, and he asked her what the hell she was doing with me. she smiled and pushed me.

we went inside.

emma was in the house playing with their dog, and danny's friend mark from back home in boston was sipping a beer. violet and i sat down, emma got us beers, and we got to talking. emma had a job that allowed her to move to city to city, and danny tagged along, getting odd jobs along the way, working in hardware stores, cleaning toilets, spending his time writing bad poetry, seeing the country. they were a couple from back home but split when she began working and moved away. danny stayed in town, getting drunk, making all sorts of girls, but they kept in touch, and danny met back up with her in boulder, colorado. they'd been back and forth across the country by car three times, and when they decided to move closer to emma's family back home, mark joined them. i didn't know mark too well, but he seemed happy to be out of boston, as he sat there smiling, his red sox cap backwards.

"yeah, the water is just down there, a short walk, and downtown is right around the corner, and across the street they play dominoes on the stoop all day and all night, and liam told me a lot about you, miss," danny said turning to violet.

"gosh, it is awfully pretty up here. the city's clean and nice, a lot different than cambridge," violet said.

"yes, yes, you betcha," he said.

"and just how do you do?" i asked emma.

"i'm kinda happy to be out of the city, but danny's already talking about going back. he's all circles and you betchas."

"you betcha!" danny belted.

"so, what's good around here," i asked, getting to business.

"well, there's a bar where mark gets drunk and looks for a wife just over there, and all the bars and restaurants are all together just down the street," emma said.

danny got up to check on the ribs he was grilling, and mark was playing with another dog who bounded into the room. it was his dog. i don't remember his name.

"i got these ribs ready, and then we'll hit the town. you betcha."

we ate the ribs, they were fine ribs, had a few more beers, everyone was comfortable and happy, and then danny led the charge out of the house.

"where're we going, mark?" danny asked. "what's good, what're we to do, dance, dance, dance."

the streets were clean, and there were a lot of people out. many of the students at the local university were gone for the summer, but there were plenty of holdovers, and we stopped into one of the little pubs along the way. the music was blasting, people were laughing, bumping into each other, and it was still early. we grabbed beers, danny and i started talking, and the other three likewise. we talked about people from home, movies, books, the country, plans, more beers. we watched the boston celtics on one of the tvs then bolted for the next joint. more beers, too crowded, next bar. danny was moving now, and so was i. violet and emma were talking nicely, and mark was getting nice, talking to girls as they walked by. we entered a big irish bar. there weren't many people, and we were feeling good. danny, mark, and i talked about mark's nights on the town, and he grabbed a bouquet of flowers, which were sitting in a vase on the table. "this is how we're going to do it," he said, "let's hit it."

we all left and walked down the street to the next joint. mark was handing out flowers to girls walking down the street, putting them in their hair, then he started running and whipped a couple flowers at a group of girls.

"smooth, man" emma yelled.

we entered the next bar. and everyone was dancing. i grabbed violet, and spun. michael jackson was playing over the speakers, mark was throwing flowers, "you betcha, you betcha." we spun, spun, spun. spin, sugar, spin!

when mark ran out of flowers, we were ready to go. we walked back, noisy in the crystalline night. we got back to the house, and danny took out a bag. "brought this from frisco, man" he rolled it, and we smoked, the dogs jumping on us wanting to play. soon we all crashed, violet and i in the guest room. we laughed in bed, and then fell asleep.