Why not go out on the town? I thought to myself. Nearly ten, the bars in the village were just getting their evening crowds. Not that I had much experience with them. Peter would never stoop to the tavern level, and until that night I’d been too chicken to tiptoe inside their ragged interiors alone. Looking the way I did, I knew I’d attract attention; and for perhaps the first time in my life, I looked forward to the prospect.
When I entered the Moonshine Bar there was a sultry jazz singer crooning through the sound system. The familiar rhythms were a good way to soothe me into an unfamiliar atmosphere. The wooden tables scattered about the bar were filled with drinking patrons, with half-drunk voices that blared over the music of the sound system. Others in the bar danced, and wom
