Last Honky-tonk

A bachelor party invitation for a night spent on one strip, moving between rooms with a stage in the window. Guests arrive in boots because there is standing involved and the floor near the band is sticky by nine. Whiskey is ordered neat, the glasses are heavy, and the house band plays three sets with breaks long enough to get another round in. Somebody holds a folded bill and a request written on a napkin for most of the first hour.

The turn comes during the second set, when the request gets played and the whole group turns toward the stage at once, including the two who said they were not singing. After that the room belongs to them for about four songs. The last stop is chosen for being closest to the car, not for the band. Nobody drives, which was decided a week earlier.