Guy part 2

Mr. Howard left the clock tower and walked four blocks into the heart of the city. He entered a pub called The Wee Jock. He found a spot open at the bar and waited there until the bartender spotted him. Mr. Howard ordered a beer and asked for a menu.

“Sure thing mister.” The bartender said the same thing almost every night. Every day after work Mr. Howard came to the Wee Jock and ordered a beer and asked for a menu, every night he drinks his beer and then orders the special, which he eats in the back booth. Some nights when it’s slow he talks to the bar tender. He knew all the bartenders who worked at the Wee Jock, but none of them knew him. Every day when he left the pub all memories of his presents left with him. It was a slow night so when the bar tender, whose name was Steve, came back Mr. Howard decided to strike up a conversation.

“Slow tonight.” He commented.

“Na, not really, it’s still early. You have to wait until all the husbands get home to argue with their wives before this place gets too full.”

“No crowds of young kids looking for a good time?” Mr. Howard knew the answer; he had had this conversation before.

“In a quite Pub like this? The kids go for the loud trendy places, this is a mans bar, this is a place for thinking and drinking.” Steve gave the whole pub a look over has he spoke.

“You sound like you really like it here.”

“I do, this place has character. It’s the type of place my dad drank in, the kind of place I always saw myself drinking in.”

“The kind of place you want to own.”

“Exactly. In a few years I might buy a place like this for myself.”

“Why wait?” Mr. Howard took a sip of his beer. “I’m sure you have a business plan all written up. Probably a note book full of layout plans and menus, I bet you even have the name.”

“You know I do. I want to call it the Black Dock.”

“That is an interesting name, where did you get it?”

“Grew up on a lake and we had a two docks, a new one that was all nice and sanded, and on old one that was falling apart. The old one had turned black with age and algae.” Steve stood there wiping down the bar remembering his old dock. “But hey, why am I telling you this?”

“Because I asked the right questions. I used to review peoples business plans at a bank. Make sure they were sound and not just some guys with a go nowhere idea about opening a bar or a paint ball place.”

“You’re joking me?” Steve looked Mr. Howard in the eyes for a good long minute. “You can tell me if a bank will accept my proposal or not?”

“No, I can tell you what to do to make your proposal sound legitimate. I haven’t worked in a bank for years and I have no idea what their standards are in this economy.”

“What sort of things?”

“You know just the small things.” Mr. Howard took a drink from his beer and when he put it down there was magically another one waiting for him.

“What sort of things?” Steve was smiling at him.

“Mostly price out every thing that you will need to buy, have a location in mind and have a 3 year business plan. Have the whole thing looked over by an accountant before you go to a bank, and maybe another pub owner.”

Steve pulled a binder out from under the bar and placed it on the bar in front of Mr. Howard. If Mr. Howard could look startled he would have. He had had this conversation with Steve at lest a dozen times and each time Steve had commented about how he never had enough time to put all that together.

“What’s this?” Mr. Howard asked.

“This is the Black Dock. I had the flu last week and I stayed home on the internet the whole time. Will you take a look?”

Mr. Howard had to think for a moment before he answered. “Sure just a look. I’ll do it over dinner.”

“How about the special, its beef stew.”

“Sure, I’ll take it in the back booth.” Mr. Howard picked up his new drink and the binder and went to the booth to wait for dinner. Mr. Howard was surprised at how well Steve had written everything out and he was getting ready to tell him so when he saw two men come through the door. He was surprised because instead of opening the door they had literally passed through it, and surprised again because he new one of them.

Gary Jones was walking down Smith Street when he was grabbed by the shirt and tossed into an ally. There where two men standing over him waving guns and asking for his wallet. He gave it to them; he knew he was no hero. They were getting ready to leave when someone called out from the sidewalk. Gary didn’t like what he heard, it was something like, “hey you, get away from that man,” but he couldn’t be sure over the gun shot. He was lying on the ground dying and his first thought was that he was angry at the man who called out from the side walk. His next thought was about his fiancée who he was on his way to meet. Then he heard the sirens, “I wonder if they will get here on time?” he mussed out loud.

“I think it’s fair to say that they will not.” Said a voice from behind him. He rolled his head back on the concrete and saw a man standing behind him. The man was wearing what seemed to be a large black coat and was holding a clip board in his left hand. The man came around Gary and reached down with his right hand, “come on, get up.” Gary took the man’s hand and let him pull him to his feet. Then the man in the coat looked down at his clip board and asked Gary his name. Gary Answered that his name was Gary Jones and offered to show some ID but the man said it would not be necessary.

“Gary I’m goanna have to show you something and it may be unpleasant. Do you think that you can deal with that right now?”

Gary assured him that he thought that he could, he had just been mugged and he seemed to have taken that fairly well. The man put his arm around Gary’s shoulders and slowly turned him around. There Gary found his body; it was on the ground bleeding quite a bit from a wound in the chest. Gary then proceeded to try and throw up, nothing came. He then crouched next to a dumpster and did a lot of heavy breathing. After a minute or two the man in the coat was next to him coaching him on his breathing and slowly pulling him back to a standing position.

“Gary I need to ask you if you know what this means.”

“Yes,” Gary replied in a slightly angry tone, “it means I have been shot and I’m having an out of body experience. As soon as the EMTs get here you’re goanna put me back in my body.”

“Gary!” the man in the coat rebuked him with his name. “That’s denial talking. You’re better then denial, you didn’t use denial when you got mugged.”

“How do you know?” Gary was angrier this time.

“I was here, I saw the whole thing. You accepted your situation and used the appropriate actions. It was very brave.”

“Brave, brave, I gave those thugs my wallet and didn’t think twice about it! Sounds like a coward to me.”

“Gary’” he rebuked him again, “I‘ve seen cowards get mugged and I have seen cowards die. Cowards shake and squirm and run, they never stand there and give their wallets to men holding guns on them. They have to be poked and prodded and they do stupid things that get them selves killed.”

Gary threw up his arms trying to point out the obvious.

“Gary you did not get yourself killed. That guy on the side walk who called out scared the muggers, they panicked and one of them shot you. Nothing you did was responsible. You were brave, and now I need you to be brave about this.”

“About being dead?” Gary asked accusingly. The man in the coat nodded. “You want me to accept that I am dead?”

“Oh Gary you already have, you just don’t know it yet.” Gary tossed his hands out in a questioning manner. The man in the coat tossed his out mimicking the obvious gesture Gary had made earlier. “When you went like this you accepted that you were dead.”

Gary thought back to when he had done that. It was after the man said cowards get themselves killed. He had used that gesture to indicate himself. He felt kind of foolish. “That doesn’t prove anything.”

“Of course not but it’s a place to start. Somewhere in your soul you knew that you were dead and you used that when you associated yourself with cowards that get them selves killed. Now look, here comes the EMTs, let’s watch them do their work and see if you get sucked back into your body.” Then man in the coat pulled Gary back towards the wall and out of the way letting the EMTs through.

They watched the men work on Gary’s body for a time. Gay wasn’t surprised when he wasn’t magically sucked back into it, but was disappointed when they gave up and closed his eyes.

“Come on guys don’t give up now.” He called out. He even went to grab one of them to make them try harder but he only passed right through him. “What was that?”

“Come on Gary, you’ve seen the movies, you’re dead, you can’t touch the world like you used to.”

“So I just go through things like in the movies?”

“Yup, it’s one of the few things they got right.”

Gary stood there for a moment waving his arms through the EMTs, and then jumping through them. Eventually the man in the coat cleared his throat loudly.

“That’s not considered good manners Gary.” Gary jumped through one more time. “How do you feel now Gary?”

“About being dead?” Gary asked. The man in the coat nodded. “I guess I have to accept it since I spent the last few minutes jumping through people. I’m still not happy about it.”

“no one said you had to be happy about it, you just need to accept it. I think were ready to move on.”

“Move on to where?”

“I don’t know if we have to go anywhere, but let’s get out of here, it’s kind of bringing me down.” The man in the coat indicated the coraner now making his way down the alley. Gary agreed and they left the alleyway for the street. “Well Gary I guess it’s time that I introduce myself and tell you why I’m here.” The man in the coat stuck out his hand for Gary to take. “hi, my name is Gabe.”

“Hi Gabe,” Gary took his hand and held onto it. “Gabe, as in Gabriel? Are you an angel?”

“No,” Gabe took his hand back, “I’m just a dead guy named Gabe. I’m here to show you around for awhile.”

“Show me around? Are you some sort of afterlife tour guide?”

“We prefer the term Ambassador.”

“Your joking right, you are my after life Ambassador?”

“Yup.”

Gary thought about it for a bit, “Well Gabe what are you supposed to do?”

“Glad you asked Gary, it’s my job to help you get ready to leave this world. I am going to help you get around and see everyone you might like to see. Like maybe…” Gabe lifted the pages on his clip board so he could look at the last page, “karra.”

“karra!” Gary yelped. “I forgot all about her, she’s waiting for me right now.” Gary took off running down the street. After two blocks he saw Gabe waiting up ahead for him waving at him to stop. He did stop but he only intended to for a moment but before he could tell Gabe off Gabe started making a lot of sense.

“what are you going to do when you get there?” was all he had to say to stop Gary.

“I don’t know.”

“That’s why I am here. I’m going to tell you how to communicate with the living, but it will take a minute or two. We should be done about the time we get there.”

“How do you know where I was going?”

“It’s in your file.” Gabe held up his clipboard for Gary to see. “no come on.” They walked through the city, talking. Gabe told Gary all about how to convey his emotions to the living. He told him that over the next few days several people would be hearing about his death, and there are things that the dead can do to help the living prepare for that news. “It’s like how people know their loved ones have died even though they are on the other side of the world. Well Gary do you think you can do this?” Gary said that he could. “Good because we’re here. Let’s go in.” and Gary and Gabe walked through the door of the Wee Jock.

Gary’s eyes immediately found karra sitting at the bar. “There she is.” He exclaimed.

Gabe’s eyes found Mr. Howard‘s at the back boot staring at him at about the same time. “You ok to do this Gary?” but Gary was already gone. “Good, I’ll be in the back if you need any support.”

Gabe walked to the back booth and looked down at Mr. Howard. He was sure that if Mr. Howard could look surprised that he would. He was also sure that he looked surprised. “Mr. Howard.”

“Gabe, please have a seat.” Mr. Howard indicated the bench across from him and Gabe took it. “I can only assume you are here on business.”

“I only come back on business.”

“Then how come I see you and your friends stalking around in groups sometimes?”

“That’s business, it’s a little different then my day job. You can call it volunteer work.”

“I’d offer to buy you a drink, but.”

“It’s fine. How are you holding up?”

“You know me, I’m fine.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of Mr. Howard. You’re always fine. You were fine when you died. The only person I ever helped who didn’t need anything.”

“I was ready to go.”

“Then how come you haven’t gone anywhere yet?”

“They offered me a job, I like work so I took it.”

Gabe was felling a little put out. This was exactly the way it was when he was Mr. Howards Ambasador. “You scare me Mr. Howard. Most people at least want to go to the afterlife before they come back and take one of these jobs.”

“They never offered. Besides I have everything I need right here.”

Gabe leaned out of the booth and peeked behind him to see how Gary was doing. Gary looked to be doing just fine so he turned his attention back to Mr. Howard.

“is he going to be one of mine?” Mr. Howard asked.

“I don’t think so.” Gabe turned to the last page of his clip board. “no he is not going to go to you.”

Mr. Howard gave a light chuckle, nothing big but it was enough to unnerve Gabe. “You do that too.” Gabe gave him a confused look. “You look on the back page when you don’t know the answer.”

“oh yea, you too.” Gabe let out a small laugh too. “none of my clients have ever caught on.” They sat in silence for a moment both taking in the other. “so Mr. Howard how is your half life?”

“it’s not a half life, it’s only barely a life. And it’s fine. How is your volunteer work?”

“it’s fine. Maybe someday you can volunteer too. The only hitch is you can’t be alive.”

Mr. Howard took a bite of his stew. “and give up all this? Well Gabe it was nice talking to you but I really must be going.” Mr. Howard pushed stew across the table, “help yourself.” He then picked up the binder and hi briefcase. Gabe let out a laugh.

“you still carry that thing around with you?” Mr. Howard forced a dirty look, before leaving Gabe alone at the booth. He stopped only once on his way out to place the binder on the bar.

Gabe went over to check on Gary, only to still find him fawning over karra. “how’s it going champ?”

“Good, who was that man you were talking to?”

“Just a friend.”

“He didn’t seem to like you very much.”

“You seem to have seen a lot considering you are supposed to be concentrating on your fiancée.” Gary had no response for that. “Forget him; you’ll soon forget you ever saw him anyways.” Gabe put Gary back on his task and went over to the binder Mr. Howard had left on the bar. There was a note on top of it written on a napkin. It said, “This looks good Steve. Take it to the bank first thing in the morning.” It was not signed. Gabe watched the binder until the bartender found it. He snatched it up greedily, and put it under the bar. Then he read the note, shrugged and put it into his pocket. Gabe let out a little laugh.

Mr. Howard walked the 12 blocks back to his apartment. It was the same apartment he had before he died. He sat in his chair and allowed himself to drift off. Running into Gabe had agitated him and he wanted to relax. Instead of putting Gabe out of his mind he thought back to the time they first met.

Mr. Howard could not remember what day it had been, but it had been a week day. He had just left the office and was trying to hail a cab when someone had come up behind him and grabbed his briefcase. He chased the man for three blocks before he caught up to him. The man was swinging his arms and Mr. Howard was able to grab hold of his briefcase as the thief swung it behind him. He held onto the briefcase with all of his might and tried to pull it to a stop, but the thief proved to be much stronger than him and he dragged Mr. Howard along instead. He dragged him right out into a street. The next thing Mr. Howard knew was that he had fallen backwards onto the side walk and he had his briefcase. He heard a clapping coming from behind him and turned to see a man there applauding him. When the man saw him looking he stopped clapping and offered his hand to Mr. Howard.

“come on,” he said, “let’s get you up on your feet.” He pulled Mr. Howard up and dusted him off. “sir you have been through a pretty dramatic exsperiance, are you ok?”

“I’m fine, thank you for the hand.” Mr. Howard had tried to turn to leave but the man grabbed him and stopped him from doing so.

“Sir I really don’t think you should.”

Mr. Howard ignored the man and turned anyway. There was a crowd gathering on the street, they were huddled around something on the street. Mr. Howard decided to investigate incase it was his thief, he would have to talk to the police. When he got there and looked down he saw it was himself holding his briefcase, lying on the ground bleeding. He back down the street and saw the cab that hit him, it’s driver screaming in some language Mr. Howard did not know.

Mr. Howard turned and walked back to the man who had helped him up. “I’m dead aren’t I?”

“yes you are…” the man began to search his notes for a name.

“Mr. Howard will due.”

“yes, yes Mr. Howard you are dead. How do you feel about that?”

“don’t be silly, there really is nothing I can do about it is there.”

“yes, but are you ok?”

“I told you earlier, I’m fine.”

“ok Mr. Howard, well my name is Gabe and I am here to help you out.” Gabe offered his hand, Mr. Howard took it. “I was looking over your file, and I was trying to identify any relatives or anyone who you might want to see.”

“why would I want to see anyone?”

“well most people like to go be with their relatives after they die, help comfort them, be with them.”

“I don’t really have anyone like that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“it’s fine.”