I was Half-asleep on a Friday night and halfway through half a sub when ‘Country called.

“Whatcha doin’?”

“Just got home from work n eatin’.”

“Well, wolf it down ‘n come out to the Pub n wait for Prophet with me. We’re gonna go check out the Hookah lounge.”

So I take my time and take the long way to the bank in order to enjoy a little cruise in the two-year-old Mustang GT before I go n sit inside a bar on a beautiful night.

While on the slow cruise, listening to Taj Mahal it dawned that I’ve never heard of The Hookah Lounge.

I meet up with ‘Country out in the parking lot n we start shooting the shit ’round the bed of his old GMC. We knew we were gonna have time on our hands because Prophet said he was gonna meet us there in 45 minutes. That was 30 minutes ago so we knew we had another half-hour at least.

The moon was bright and the air was clean and crisp. Work in an office with windows that don’t open and a night outdoors is comforting. It made me want to listen all night to ‘Country’s tale about his buddy sending $3,000 to his Phillipino-wife/Internet-girlfriend so she and her daughter can fly into the states. Jokes flew about why his buddy didn’t just send the tickets or why he didn’t spend another grand and upgrade to a younger wife without a child…In his buddy’s defense he did live in the Phillipines with them for a half-year.

Prophet showed up on (his) time. We brought him up to speed on the gossip and gave him time to catch up in the laughter before we finally went inside.

Our subconscious must have kept time because we were walking in to The Hookah Lounge just as the band finished their set n the teenagers were filing out. That’d when I learned you only had to be 18 to enter The Hookah Lounge. And that explained why everyone was meticulously carded.

It was the first time I went out with the boys n felt like the old guy in the joint. Prophet and ‘Country ordered a tequila sunrise Hookah with our round.