Week 3 Part 1: The Stranger Comes to Town

 

                It's not very often that a traveler stops by in Evergreen but when they do, they always tend to bring a little excitement with them. For the tiny shantytown of Evergreen resided in a remote mountainous region of the country. Mama had always joked, “If you’re stopping in Evergreen you must certainly be bored with your life.” And maybe I thought that was true if it weren’t for Bruce and everything he had brought with him.

                Normally only a few of the regulars managed to stay at my family’s bar past 11pm. Around that sleepy time of the night even the most self-proclaimed manliest of men would leave whatever coins they had on our counter, tip their hats in respect towards mama, and hustle out of the small shack to head back to their prospective homes. Around that time Mama would walk up to our front door and gingerly flip the sign to say “closed”. We’d do a quick cleaning of the small area and then Mama and I would be out the door.

                Tonight however, around 10:55pm, a man who was slender and tall and bent like a weeping willow branch sauntered his way into the cozy little shack we called “the Bar”. He sat himself towards the end of the counter, away from familiar faces like Sam and Joe. An aura lingered about him, one that reeked of stale cigarettes and booze that would cause any strong stomach to go sour. I watched as Mama made one second of eye contact with him before she ran to the tiny back room, we called the “kitchen”. That was the signal that I would have to walk over and deal with the mystery man.

                And so, with bated breath, I found myself walking towards the lonely corner of the counter.

                “You come around here often?” I asked. Straight forward, simple, and to the point. Mama could never understand why I was so forward when talking to strangers. From what little experience I had, I knew that I did not want to deal with bullshit small talk, I just wanted to deal with whatever that stranger had coming for me.

                Who knows. Maybe I was a little too forward, maybe that was my first mistake with Bruce.

                “Pfft, don’t act like you’re all that now,” the man chuckled, he held his head up so that I could finally make sense of his face in the dim light that illuminated the bar. I took in every detail, knowing that I would never see something so unreal again. His hair was jet black, darker than a raven, his face was sculpted like a statue of the ancients. His eyes were almost the color of the sky, the morning after a heavy storm when the sun is just beginning to peak out from the clouds.

                In comparison to this mystery man, I felt plain and like an utter hick. I glanced briefly down towards his hands, noticing how untouched and pristine they appeared to be. Unconsciously I slipped my hands underneath the counter, ashamed of the cracks and dryness that bequeathed them. My confidence felt drained, I no longer felt like being forward with this stranger.

                “O-oh now let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, may I get you anything to drink?” I knew full well Mama was going to close the bar within the next three minutes.

                “Mmmm, I don’t know. Don’t really feel like drinking. Been walking a long time out here. What about some water, please?”

                I took that as an invitation to turn around and remove myself from this stranger’s watchful eye. I could feel him watching me as I nervously grabbed for a glass that hung from the ceiling. Never in my life had I felt this sort of intensity before. Just from a minute of a few exchange words with a stranger I had found myself shaken to the core. Whatever reason he was here, I knew I needed to know more.