The small house is smoky and cluttered—a bachelor pad. DANNY [50] sits on a cracked green leather couch, eyes fixed on the TV. Five empty Budweisers line the floor at his feet. GAVIN [17] enters through the front door, grabs two Budweisers from the fridge and hands one to Danny. He sits next to him.
GAVIN: What’s this?
DANNY: Hell if I know. (Sip) Spent the last four hours watching it, though.
GAVIN: You get off late?
DANNY: No.
GAVIN: What’d you do after work?
DANNY: Did I not just tell ya? Watching this shit. Aren’t they kinda funny lookin’?
Both take a moment to examine (the audience).
GAVIN: Sure are.
DANNY: I got a letter? You failing some classes or something?
Danny pulls a letter from his back pocket.
GAVIN: Yeah. Some bullshit. The place is filled with a bunch of phonies.
DANNY: Ain’t it? I never did like St. T. You know, it's your momma that wanted you there, not me. I never did like it...filled with a bunch of sheep. Shit, I used to salt the hell out of their football field in high school.
GAVIN: Really?
DANNY: Hell yeah. One year I did a big penis, balls in the end zone, tip on the 50 yard line.
GAVIN: You’re kidding?
DANNY: No sir I am not. They couldn’t do shit about it, either. Played a game with it there and all. I mean, they tried to kind of rake the field up a bit, but you could still tell.
GAVIN: Damn, that’s good.
DANNY: Yeah.
Long pause.
DANNY: So I guess I’m supposed to talk to ya about this? Tell you to get your head out your ass?
GAVIN: I mean, it’s not like I got into any schools or nothing. Don’t make much difference to try now.
DANNY: Y’know, I don’t see much wrong with it, Gav. You and me, we ain’t no goddamn intellects (chuckles, sips). I think our country sure could use you more than any goddamn college.
Gavin gives him a nervous glance. Danny slaps his back.
DANNY: You think I wanted you to go to college because I got some grand vision of you sitting in a cushy cubicle pushing papers?
Danny holds the letter in one hand and slaps it with the other.
DANNY: Nah, man. I just want you to carve out your own path, to become something real, something solid. And Vietnam, Gav, it’s a hellhole, no doubt about it. But in that jungle, when you're stripped of all the superficial crap, you'll find what's really essential. Survival. What it looks like in yourself, what it looks like in others. There’s a brutal clarity in the chaos of war, kid, and I would trade nothin’ for it. Nothin’. To know who I am on the street is the same man I am when there's bombs dropping over my head, that’s the most valuable thing I got. When the dust settles, I think you’ll meet more of yourself than most people do in four fucking lifetimes.
GAVIN: Yeah... yes, yes sir.
DANNY: They need men that can think on their feet, hold their own under pressure. You got that in spades, kid. Look, you got no plans, got no degree. (Shrugs) It’s your call, but you might want to get ready for what’s coming. It’s a hard world out there, and I think, this is just me, but I think facing it head-on is the only way to find your place.
GAVIN: I hear what you’re saying.
DANNY: It’d be good for ya, son. Real good. (Sips) You get the uh–
GAVIN: Oh, yeah.
Gavin exits and returns with a small cake and candles.
DANNY: You picked a good one.
He sets it between them and lights.
TOGETHER: Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday
DANNY: /Dear Julie,
GAVIN: /Dear Mom,
TOGETHER: Happy birthday to you.
They blow out candles. Dark.