The Zoo 1: Unborn/The Zoo 1 - Unborn.adf/ARTICLES/Ghostly.txt

Text File | 1992-10-23 | 4KB | 62 lines

@H@2THE GHOSTLY BAR MAN
@A@4Steven Pickles
@FHdiamond24
@FAbeton13
@FMprime08
4
4A real life siting, in Coppull by spirit enthusiast Steven H. Pickles.
4
4I'm not normaly a pub man, more of a wine bar sort of chap. I like the odd
4drink with a few close friends and on this particular evening I was lucky
4enough to be invited out by my good chum in arms Alan Forit, a bit of a jack-
4the-lad and certainly not one to be adverse to a good piss up. Alan
4recommened this pub, where we wouldn't be troubled, down a dark back street.
4At first I was aprahensive at the kind of people we might meet in such a
4place, but when I entered the door I saw they were all friendly guys just
4like me. There were several of us in the pub and we were happy to chat while
4we waited to be served. When it came, I drank my pint of mild quickly, my
4tongue partched. I scarcley noticed the bar man serving me, to preoccupied by
4my conversation about Picasso's blue period.
4"Thats most queer", said Alan, we all boyishly laughed at his funny turn,
4Alan always the resident funny bone tickler. He continued "I wonder where
4Justin is tonight, I haven't seen that man serving in years, I thought he'd
4left, or died or something"
4"He (the bar man) appears perky, so he ain't dead", I replied, mocking his
4astonishing ridiculous jest, OR SO WE THOUGHT!
4This bar man continued to serve our little friendly grouping all night. Of
4course after Alan's remarks we all examined the man a bit more closely. There
4was something odd about him, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. He
4was certainly a well built chap. He was rosey faced with a big long ginger
4drooping moustache and thick sideburns that looked like they came from
4another age. He didn't speak and stared vacantly into the air, until he
4looked me straight into the eye, with those piercing black pools of his. He
4went back into the room he had come in, down a dark gloomy back passage.
4We continued in our merry discustions, now onto Disk structures. It was
4Alan's round and the daft bugger got up on a bar stool and started to chant
4our order out, like a man possessed with uncontrolable urges. We were served
4quick enough, but this time by the regular bar man that Al had previously
4told us about.
4"Wheres the other fella", I asked.
4"What other feller?", inquired the regular barman.
4"The red haired chap who served us a minute ago". The barman looked haunted.
4"Red hair, you say", he enquired.
4"Yes"
4"Thick sideburns and a moustache, perhaps?"
4"Yes". The barman looked worried. He knew something we didn't.
4"I won't be a minute". He popped off down his back passage. A minute later
4the other barman came out now dressed in a thick wax jacket and sailors hat.
4"See y'lads", he whispered and exited winking at me. He went out into the
4street, a storm was brewing out there. The regular barman returned from the
4back room with a portrait.
4"Do you recognise him", he held up the aged picture, which we imediately
4recognised as the other barman, on a boat in a stormy sea. We confirmed the
4likeness.
4"Well you've been talking to my great great uncle Jacobia Jackson, Captain of
4the `Wisty Will' that sunk in these waters a century ago, this very day. The
4whole crew were killed, but his body was never found. To this day they say
4he haunts this pub, haunts the unexpecting. its said that if he serves you a
4drink it means your not long for this world". A ghostly silence fell across
4the pub, and then Alan chuckled
4"Time for another swift half, lads!", What a jolly jester.
X0*]