Barry Remembered by Brad Remembered by Me

I read an article about Barry Hannah's death today, one in which they quote Brad Watson. Brad talks about being Barry's student:

Sometimes, Barry would come in with a stadium cup of bourbon and Coke. . . . We’d throw the windows open and everybody was smoking cigarettes . . . and we’d get down to it.

Reading that made me think of a night back in late 2002. I was a student in Brad's fiction workshop at the University of West Florida that semester, and he took all of us to The Fish House, a restaurant down by the docks in Pensacola. Except we didn't go into the restaurant: somehow, somebody in the class knew somebody at the restaurant, and we ended up with a private room upstairs. As I remember it, it was on the corner of the building, and we did throw the windows open, and although nobody smoked indoors, I'm sure Brad stepped outside at least once or twice to roll and smoke a cigarette. There might have been a little bourbon. At least, there was a bit of beer. There was a lot of talk about writing. It was a great night.