It was late, almost two in the morning, when they finally left the club. 

“It’s been so long since I went dancing like that,” said Maite, her cheeks flush from the heat and physical exertion. She sighed as a gentle breeze hit her face. 

“You guys have great clubs over there,” replied Javi. “Why aren’t you dancing every weekend if you like it so much?”

Maite shrugged. “Life just gets in the way, I guess.”

“That, and some of our cuadrilla don’t like to dance so much,” added Kepa. “They prefer to listen to the metal bands at the fiestas.”

Javi nodded. “I can appreciate that too. But, it seems there would be room for both.”

“Javi’s played me some Basque metal,” said Julie. “I don’t understand a thing, but I really like the music.”

“When you come over, we’ll take you on a little tour of the fiestas,” replied Kepa. “We’ve got some friends in one of the bands. They aren’t well known yet, but they are really good. At least, I think so.”

“Sounds like a date!” said Julie as they began the walk back to Javi’s place. They had decided to leave Javi’s car downtown as they had all had a few drinks. And Javi’s place wasn’t so far away, only thirty minutes walking.

“It’s nice to be walking,” said Javi. “We rely on our cars too much. I liked that about the Basque Country, how people walk to things a lot more.”

“Well,” replied Maite, “our towns are a lot more compact and vertical. It’s a lot easier to walk to the store or the pub from our homes.”

“True,” continued Javi, “but it’s still nice to just walk.”

They reached an intersection and Javi pushed the button to activate the crosswalk. As they stood there waiting, the calm night sky was suddenly interrupted with a loud “Bang!” Kepa immediately fell to the ground, his eyes wide in panic.

“Lasai!” said Javi as he knelt down next to his cousin. “Calm down, it was only a car backfiring.”

Kepa got to his feet, his legs weak, his face wet with sweat. “Barkatu,” he said, his voice small. “I guess I’m still not over from when I got shot.”

“Got shot?” exclaimed Javi incredulously. “When did that happen? I didn’t know you got shot!”

A new look of panic crossed his face as Kepa looked over at Maite, his eyes pleading.

“Ehm,” said Maite, searching for something to say. “It was in a play,” she said at last. “Kepa had a part where he got shot. They made it look very convincing. His ama fainted when she saw him get shot and fall to the stage. I think the alcohol and dancing must have confused him, made it seem like he was back in the play.”

Javi gave first Maite and then Kepa a wary look. He shook his head. “There’s something strange going on with you two,” he said as he led the cuadrilla across the intersection.

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