Fire in the Hut

Three men walk into Scotty’s Landing on a Friday night (and, no, this is not some terrible joke with a sorry punch line that’s supposed to make you pretend to laugh). The men, coming from work, have become friends because of happy hour at Scotty’s. Two of them are married; one is divorced.

Ramirez goes to Scotty’s because he knows chaos that will erupt once he gets home, and his daughters, Ana and Tessie, are probably already watching TV on his big screen. Should he even attempt to change the channel, they will groan and whine until they have their way. He’s disgusted by how spoiled his children actually are—it must have been the way Justicia submitted to their every whim.

John would rather drink until his wife, Clara, falls asleep so that he wouldn’t have to hear her yelling from the moment he steps into the doorway. But, of course, the stink on his breath will only make her yell all the more when she decides to wait up for him.

And Dan—Dan just wants to forget everything, forget that life is unfair, forget that he returns to an empty house everyday since Rebecca left with their son, forget that he spends more on lottery tickets and cigarettes than anything else in his daily budget (except for maybe gas).

For these men, Friday evenings at Scotty’s are a refuge from what they want to believe is mid-life stagnancy at work and at home.

The men approach the bar tables and order several consecutive rounds of beer. Ramirez’s face turns a bright red- he really shouldn’t be drinking so much with his high blood pressure. Dan makes him laugh heartily by telling him a made up story about his ex-wife. John’s lips break into a smile as they touch against the glass. His eyes wander over to the tiki bar that sits off to the right of all the tables by the sea—it was never actually used as a bar. Dan distributes cigarettes to everyone and each begins speculating about the hut, slurring their words as they try to make sense of it.

John: You know I never ‘eally dook a good look at dat before.

Dan: Wha—Oh, da hut… ish jush a decoration.

Ramirez: Oye Hombre, you sink dat decorashon could cash fire?

John: Maybe if we shrow our cigarettes at it.

Dan: Let’s do it.

Ramirez: You can no be serious Dang. I wos yus keeding.

***

But Dan threw his cigarette and so did John and so did Ramirez, not because he really wanted to, but because the fire that ensued looked so beautiful. Eventually the tiki hut was replaced after being burned to the ground, again, simply for decoration.