It was apparent to me within the first ten minutes of meeting Mary, that she would fit in flawlessly. She was delightful and full of life.  The way she made Freddie light up was unmatched. I don’t think even Roger had seen Freddie this happy before. Or maybe that was the summer air? No…no, it was Mary. We were all essentially strangers to her and yet she treated us as if she had known us since meeting Freddie.  Much to my delight, Mary had a pack of cigarettes on her and to hear her talk, she always did.

 Night had cast its purple shroud over the farm and the eleven of us were situated behind the recording barn around an open bonfire. It’s flames were burning strong and the smell of smoke and cinder emitted from the fire pit. This right here, was what a summer night was all about. Roger and I were situated on a blanket. Vivienne, of course, was practically laying on Roger’s left shoulder. I couldn’t help but smirk to myself because every time she’d lean a little too far, Roger would push her back away from him.

  “Where did you get this bracelet?” Vivienne asked taking hold of Roger’s wrist. She petted his arm and traced her fingers over his.

  “Lyd got that for me. It’s platinum, ya’ know.” Roger told her.

 “Oh, she has such nice taste.” Vivienne said a bit dreamily.

 “I know she does. Look at me.” Roger laughed and winked at her. I rolled my eyes to myself and smiled but it made Vivienne swoon. At least Roger was right. To my right, was John and Veronica sitting beside him, then Chrissie, Brian, Freddie, Mary, Norma and then Greg which brought the complete circle around the campfire.

 “Brian, this is for you. Someone made you something quite lovely with all of that fresh produce from the market.” Norma stood up and took a large container over to the opposite side of the fire where Brian was seated. He laughed when he saw it.

 “Hmm…let me try to guess who made this.” He smiled and looked over at Chrissie. The rest of us were having burgers that had been cooked over the open flame of the fire. As for Brian, Chrissie had cut up some assorted fruits and arranged them next to what would certainly be considered, a farm fresh salad of lettuces, radish, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, olives, onion and peppers. She had slathered the whole thing in Brian’s most favorite dressing.

“Lydia, how does your farm impregnate your mares?” Greg asked of me as he began passing some plates around our circle.

 “Well, we have a syringe that is immediately incubated. If we have a mare go into heat and we have a viable sample that we want to use we take the mare and…” I put my hand over my face. “I…I’m…I’m sorry. I can’t talk about getting horses pregnant over dinner.” I started laughing, taking a plate from Roger and passing them along.

 “Why not Lydia!? We’ve talked about far worse!” John reminded me. I shook my head.

 “Yeah…yeah, John...we sure have” I admitted.

 “Oh I know! Remember when we went out together that one night after Chrissie worked late and that guy on the corner was selling pocket copies of the Kama Sutra? Remember how we had to turn page forty-seven upside…”

 “NOO! We don’t remember!” Veronica hissed at Freddie. “We are never talkin’ about page forty-seven again! Or that hobo that sold that to you!”

 “Oh Veronica, you of all people remember!” Freddie said blowing her a kiss. She shook her head.

 Next to pass around the circle were the hamburger buns. It had been very kind of Norma to prepare everything this evening; especially since nothing much had been accomplished today. The hamburger patties came after that.

 “Brian, you don’t have to wait on the rest of us!” Norma insisted. Brian shook his head.

 “No, no. It’s fine. I’m not going to start without everyone.” Brian said holding his hand up into the air. Everyone was drinking beer tonight, which surprised me because I knew that Chrissie and Veronica rarely drank beer. Mary didn’t seem like she minded it at all.  Next around the fire came the condiment tray that Norma had very neatly arranged. I couldn’t help but laugh because Roger took one of everything on the tray and I picked at what was there.

 “Mary, how did you meet Freddie?” I asked of her. She looked over at Freddie as he had his arm around her.

 “He came to my booth in the Kensington street market. I sold him a fabulous pair of pants!” Mary shared happily.

 “Ah, it’s true! I sold Mary a couple of sweaters and a shirt and in turn she sold me a pair of pants!” Freddie reiterated.

 “I thought Freddie was just the most precious thing I’d ever seen. He was so funny and easy to talk to and so I gave him my phone number! We went out on a date four days later! Mary’s smile was reflected in the firelight.

 “Mary! You tell that so well!” Freddie hugged her closer.

 “So…what about you two? And you…and you?” Mary pointed to me and Roger, John and Veronica, and then Chrissie and Brian. We had told this story a hundred times but Mary, Norma nor Vivienne had heard it. Well, I’m not sure Vivienne wanted to hear how I met Roger.

 “Um…well…you…you tell her Rog.” I insisted as I arranged by hamburger.

 “Alright, I was outside the bar where we’ve a lot. I needed a cigarette and I looked over…and there Lyd was standin’ with some of her friends.” Roger leaned over and kissed my cheek.

 “Oh that’s nice!” Mary shrugged her shoulders up around her neck.

 “Veronica and I met in a study group at the university. I don’t think we actually studied anything except each other.” John said. Mary laughed.

 "Lydia introduced me to Brian. I was very reluctant at first.” Chrissie admitted. “But I am so happy she made me meet him!” Chrissie said looked at Brian.  Mary shook her head in agreement. Our conversation around the circle continued as we dove into our dinner. There was something so comforting and sensual about the bonfire. The summer night around us had cooled off but the heat of the fire radiated. I looked over at Roger who’s skin glowed in the soft light. He licked his fingers in between bites. 

 “Where did you get this necklace?” Vivienne asked reached over and putting her hand on Roger’s chest. Roger looked over at her.

 “Why you so interested in everythin’ I’m wearin’?” Roger mumbled at her with a full mouth. Vivienne took a drink of her beer.

 “ ‘Cause you just look so good in it.” Vivienne admitted dreamily. Roger shook his head and looked over at me.

 "Well, yeah…I mean, yes she’s annoying but she’s right, you do.” I told Roger as my burger dripped all over the plate. He shook his head again.

 “Here lick my finger!” Roger shoved his hand at me.

 “What!? No! You’ve licked it once!” I pushed his hand away again.

 “I have a question…how come we haven’t met you until today?” John asked of Mary. Mary looked sheepishly at Freddie. Freddie laughed, kissing her cheek.

 “Well, I was waiting for the most perfect time where we could all be together in a beautiful and romantic place like this!” Freddie was so sincere as he gushed. We all gave him a hard time for that answer.

 “That’s such a lie! You wanted to sleep with her first!” Roger insisted. That even made Greg and Norma screech in delight.

 “ROGER!” Freddie glared at him as he yelled through gritted teeth. Mary was delighted in that answer. Amidst my laughter, I looked over at Chrissie and Brian through the fire’s tender, orange flame. He had his face turned toward her, a huge smile across his face.I tuned my head toward John and Veronica. I had observed it many times before; but I would observe, yet again, how very comfortable they were with each other.  And then I realized…shit…that was the same of comfort that Roger had with me. I mean really, who else asks you to lick their finger after having already licked it!?

 “Lydia, you want another beer?” Vivienne asked me, snapping me out of my semi-trance.

 “Huh? Oh, yeah…yeah please.” I told her. Vivienne spun around to get into the cooler behind her parents. The second beer called for a cigarette. I pulled Roger’s shirt up and fought to pull the pack of cigarettes and the lighter out of his back pocket. “You’re almost out, you want one?” I asked.

 “Oh yeah…yeah, thanks, babe.” Roger sat what was left of his burger into the plate as I handed over the cigarette to him, leaning in close to him as I lit it. Those big blue eyes mixed with creamy amber flame and it simply killed me. I lit my own cigarette and felt a cold bottle against my arm.

 “Thank you, Vivienne.” She watched carefully as I popped the top of the bottle and threw the lid into the fire. She handed Roger a beer and took one for herself. Roger followed in suit, popping off the lid and throwing it in the fire. I puffed my cigarette and looked over at Vivienne who was struggling.

 “Could you open this for me?” she asked Roger. He did so, handing her the open bottle and flicking his cigarette in the grass. Vivienne appeared to be awaiting some kind of reaction from Roger…but she didn’t get it.

 “Hey! I have an idea! Hold on! Let me go get my six string.” Brian got up from the fireside and headed over toward the barn where his acoustic guitar had been sitting on its stand.

 “Oh dear, it’s hard telling what he has in mind.” Chrissie said cleaning up her plate and the container Brian’s salad had been prepared in. We were rather quiet as the fire spit and crackled, sending sparks into the air. John slid his arm around Veronica and pulled her over until her head was on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head. Brian wasn’t gone very long and he returned, acoustic guitar in hand. The only reason we knew he was returning was because we heard a strumming in the darkness as he returned to the fireside. It was obvious that he already had his sixpence out of his pocket.

 “Oooh Brian!  What are we doing?” Freddie asked.

 “Well, Fred…you were wrapped up in pie makin’ all day so we’re gonna’ sing. Um…let’s see. Oh! Elvis…suspicious minds!” Brian said.

 “Noo! That’s got too much set in it. Do the one you been workin’ on Brian.” Roger said.

 “Oooh okay. Okay, this is called ’39. Rog, you got the high parts.” He said. Freddie clapped his hands together.

 “I always do.” Roger answered. And with that, Brian began strumming away. Immediately the four of them were completely engrossed. Brian was sitting cross-legged with his guitar across his lap. As he played, as his sweet voice melted into Freddie’s, into John’s and into Roger’s Chrissie watched his lips…she watched the fire dance off the front of his guitar and watched as his hand so effortlessly glided around the fret board. Chrissie was engrossed, completely entranced and she looked as if she were about to burst into tears. Maybe it was the smoke, maybe it was the cool earth underneath the blanket…whatever it was; somethin’ happened in Chrissie’s face. She had never looked more beautiful or more contented.

 It tickled me to see how all four of them took this so seriously and sung with their whole hearts. I watched as Roger tapped his left hand on the blanket and balanced his cigarette in his right hand. It was like a reflex, he couldn’t fight it. I loved watchin’ those soft, yet intense features in the flicker of the fire’s flame. As far as I was concerned, I hoped we would be around this fire until the wee hours of the mornin’ just listenin’ to Brian call out whatever it was he wanted to sing next.