Set the fire to the third bar.

He poured some cognac into his glass. It was third drink in the last hour. Memphis was a lonely place on summer nights. Bars would be empty past 11 and this night was no exception. Frank was the first one in and the last man out every july night.He would look at people walk in and walk out of the bar whilst he waited for Christine.

She was a dancer and he was a US Marine. He would spend summers in Memphis where he would bask in Elvis' everlasting music and see his sweetheart. He was a musicain at heart and a Marine by profession. He was a tough soldier and razor sharp with the gun but he was a sucker for Christine. She was his highschool sweetheart and his 'girl back home'. She was a ballerina and taught most, if not all, of aspiring dancers in town since she returned from Julliars.She went to Julliars Dance Academy in order to leave town and go away when he was concripted into the Army. She was nineteen and he was twenty one when the war changed their plans of getting married and raising a family.

It had been six years since the july they were picking out tuxedos and wedding gowns. Even after six years during which they saw each other for a total of only six months combined, they were still madly in love like before. Jerry, the bar owner, remembered their youth and he always said that for these two, 'it was as if the war had never happened'. They would meet every fourth of july, skip the fireworks and meet at Jerry's bar where they would recap the whole year, share christmas and birthday presents and listen to Elvis. July four was like new years for them as they would rejoice with each other to their heart's content. They would talk for hours and then finish the night by playing to an empty bar. He would crack open the old piano while she strutted her stuff around the dance floor with a mic in her hand. They would go through classics like 'she's not you' and 'Who I am' while the whole country celebrated independence day.

The night would end with them setting fire to the third bar as they would dance under the starlit july sky. He would give her all the love she missed all year and he would get to be the same nineteen year old Frankie with Christie in a bar.

listening to: Set the fire to the third bar by Snow Patrol