Fwd: The House Special

                                           The House Special                      by Bob Niles


R I N G  R I N G  R I N G
"That's it Gems and Germs last call! You don't have to go home but you can't stay here," Angel shouted as she rang the big brass bell over the bar. "And have a Merry Christmas!"
"IIIIILLL,..havvve another House Special me good lady." Slurred the lone occupant sitting in the corner of the bar.
"Mr. Shepard you've had a few too many already. Let me phone your wife or a taxi to come and pick you up. You should be home with the wife and kids."
"I don't think that's likely to happen anytime soon." he said to Angel as she collected his glass and then wiped his table with a cloth smelling of vinegar.
"Nah one more Angel! One for the road! It's Christmas lets celebrate. It's still early."
"It's Christmas Eve and I've got my family at home waiting for me Mr. Shepard. You know you do as well." Angel zipped up her coat and collected her purse from under the bar. "Come on now, you can catch a cab with me. I'm just three blocks further down King St. than you. Come on,....Please? Come with me."
"Alright! Alright I'm going! But I'm not going with you. I'll walk."
"It's snowing." she pleaded.
"Even better! I'll lie down on the sidewalk every ten feet  and swish my arms and legs and make pictures of you all the way home."
"Whatever" She said as she directed him through the door and turned off the lights behind her. Angel pulled tight on the door once outside and locked the two locks on the left side. She turned to again offer Mr. Shepard her advice and a stabling arm but he was well off down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. She thought about pursuit but considered the night and his ability to stay upright and with her family waiting,...she headed home.

"And I suppose you're locking up too! Accused Mr. Shepard as he passed another establishment.
"Well I was going to but if you'd like I could open and we could go in. I'm sure it would be okay,... I  know the owner quite well. He wouldn't mind, especially tonight." The young man pushed the door open and hit a few lights to to pull back some of the darkness. "What do you need?"
"Well that's more like it! Give me the House Special my good man. And make it snappy! I'm suppose to be home by now, it's Christmas Eve, and well I should be home I guess,...I'll sit right there." Mr. Shepard pointed, and then sat where he pointed on a bench under the light. "What is the House Speciality anyway........? What did you say your name was? You look very familiar to me."
The young man looked almost boyish. He took off his coat and just dropped it on the floor.
"I didn't tell you my name. It's John, John Shepard."
"Shepard? That's my name too! Who'd of thought two Shepard's on Christmas Eve. Say if it wasn't snowing maybe we could look for a bright star."
They both shared a easy laugh at the irony of their meeting.
"First name's Haust. Got teased in school as the Lost Shepard. Haust Shepard- Lost Shepard,....rhymes?
"Kids will be kids." Said John as he took a bench across from him. "So you want the House Special do ya?"
"Sure do!" Haust said rubbing his hands together. "I got cut off form your competition around the corner there."
"Yes it does seem we're always battling each other for people walking through our doors. So are we celebrating something or trying to drown it tonight? You must be celebrating! It's Christmas Eve!"
"You're not a very good bartender are you John?"
"Didn't say I was."
"You never ask a guy why he's here, he's just here away from what he wants to be away from." He doesn't need to be reminded of perhaps the hurt or loss or how abandon he might feel. Maybe it's been a bad year,...couple of recent months he's gone through of pain like he's never known. A gift given and then snatched away!"
"My bad! Sorry...... It's just you asked for the House Special and you know its always done unique to each patron, depending on their needs for that day Haust Shepard. You've had it before."
"Don't call me that cause all I hear is lost Shepard! And I am a lost Shepard. I had the perfect flock. My wife, son, daughter-in-law and their new precious lamb,..my granddaughter Sophia Morgan. And now I'm alone,..I've lost them all."
"Where's that drink John I'm hurting here. This House Special  had better be pretty good! I need a shot of something for the pain. And then something for loss and sorrow maybe one for guilt. Oh ya and then two more shots for the fear of my tomorrow. You don't want my tomorrows John. Waking up in an empty quiet house that creaks and moans for yesterday. Bearing another 90 hr. day of what use to be, what could of been."
"Where'd you go John!? Are you even listening to me?"
"I'm here Haust. Im listening. I'm just warming up this coffee in the microwave for you. It got a bit cool, been sitting for a while."
"Coffee!? You didn't hear a word I said, did you John? And turn on some lights in here! No! ....Come to think of it turn them all off. Turn my light out too. What's the use in another day. There all gone John. We lost little Sparkle, our Sophia Morgan to some sick ba#%*rd from down the block. You never know who these people are John! After that my son and daughter-in-law moved away, and then soon  divorced. The wife took sick, I say because of what she went through,....died the third of this month. Yippee it's Christmas."
John returned from the shadows with steaming coffee. "Take it" he said as he held it in his little hands in front of Haust. "There is no drink that can ever get you through that Haust. And someday I hope you'll realize it, before your light dims completely. But you do need our House Speciality."
"And that is.....? I've been waiting,....what's the House Specialty John?"
"Don't you remember this houses specialty? Do you know where you are Haust?"
"Ya, your bar or Inn or whatever other kind of place this is that will give a guy a drink on Christmas Eve. You know John you must be as bad as me not to be home tonight with family. What's your story?"
"Oh I have no story and my family is here. Don't get me wrong I use to have a story. I got shot up real bad in Vietnam, and because of that I guess you could say I lost my wife there too. Hospital machines, drugs and anger filled up the better part of five years."
"I thought you said your family was here! Yer confusing my muttered mind John. Probably the drink. Speaking of which,..give me that House Special will ya.......gettin sleepy.
"I can't give you the House Special Haust you've already had it. You accepted it, received it and experienced it. You really enjoyed it."
"Sounding kind of New Age-y John. Or like some special bottled water commercial that's going to change my life if I only drink, accept it receive it experience it. Spoooooky Living water from a spring that renews life. Let's charge $10 for a bottle and make them believe, accept, receive and experience a whole new life."
"Absolutely right Haust Shepard. I guess it's fair to say that the House Special is Springs of Living Water. But it can't be bottled. Soul satisfying Living Water. And it's free for the taking! It's got something for the pain, a little somethin for the loss, a shot for sorrow and two for guilt. And the fear of tomorrow? That tomorrow I didn't have for five years, and your 90 hour tomorrow's? GONE! Just receive, believe, all things are possible when you believe Haust Shepard."
"Alright, alright,...a l r I g h t, I receive, ...I  accept,   I   b e l i  e  v   e    I re-".........  ..
Haust slowly peeled opened his eyes and with some effort opened and closed his mouth twice with his tongue making a clicking sound. The room was well known to him from a time not so long ago. A happy, easy time when life didn't hurt. But the BELLS! The bells hurt! The bells of Christmas Morn. Like they were next door. Hang on! They were next door.
He could remember a bar or....? It was all a blur. Where am I? He knew this room, this isn't the room he was in last night. Where was John and his coat with all the holes. He'd forgotten about all the holes. Then,  ...quiet, the bells had stopped. Now singing! He peeked through the second door of the room he was in and it opened to a small  forgotten sanctuary full of people singing joyous Christmas Carols lead by a long forgotten friend. Forgotten family.
"Too much noise and haunting memories for me!" said Haust, and left through the door, the door that he said he would never darken again.
As he reached for his keys to open the door to his painful world he found a note in his pocket. 'Merry Christmas Haust Shepard' it read. He inserted his key in the lock, opened the door and sat down at the kitchen table just off the back door. Dirty dishes, empty bottles and unread newspapers were piled high all around him. The clock in the living room bonged once which meant it was noon. "Merry Christmas Haust." he mocked. On the back of the note was Dan Burrs phone number, email and cell phone number where he could be reached. Dan Burr, the long forgotten face leading Christmas Carols. Then written at the bottom was 'You and I are family Haust! Please contact me.'
How had he found his way back to his old parsonage? Why did he use his old keys to get back in? And the dream? It was a dream right? The dream of his little brother John as a bartender, or,.... a Shepard? Why didn't he know it was his brother? His head was starting to clear. The House Special? It was not a drink it was ....?  John was just a kid when he went off to Vietnam. Came back all shot up and brain dead, hooked up to machines for five years. Springs of Living Waters hymn? How did that go? 'I thirsted in the barren land of sin and shame, and nothing satisfying there I found; but to the blessed cross of Christ one day I came, where springs of living water did abound. His favorite song when he lead Dans flock before his brother died. It was his flock but when his brother died a part of him died too. Two Shepards were lost that day. And then last night, two Shepards looking for that bright star. One guiding the other.
The phone just about jumped off the wall as it exploded into the silence that encircled him. Haust didn't want to but did grab it just to shut it up. "Hello?" questioned Haust.
"Is this Haust? Haust Shepard?"
"Ya?"
"Merry Christmas Haust! It's Dan, Dan Burr."
"Ya?"
"Im the pastor now at your Dads,...well I guess your old church too. You I guess used your old key and broke to the parsonage in last night. You were pretty banged up and doing a lot of talking to yourself. You fell asleep in the mud room so I placed a blanket over you and let you sleep. I checked on you several times through the night and this morning. And then after the Christmas Morning Service I went to check on you, and you were gone. You were pretty beat up, or maybe you had fallen,....I was worried you had hit your head. You wouldn't go to the hospital."
"Ya?"
"Anyway I'm glad I got a hold of you. You were rambling on last night Haust, in and out of what did and didn't make sense. But what was clear is that decision you made last night Haust. You re-dedicated your life to the Lord. You wanted His House Special and you received. That loss, sorrow, guilt and fear thats haunted you has been lifted Haust. He had his brand on you and he would never let you go. That cross you knelt at so long ago has His House Specialty flowing to quench that part in your life that has become so dry. You will thirst no more Haust Shepard! That thirst for what was, or could of been that you tried to drown in alcohol was never satisfied. Now again you will drink that Living Water, His House Special!.........Haust?"
"Ya?"
"Are you hearing what I'm saying? Do you know what this means?"
"Ya,.....I'm just a little sick right now, but I know what your saying. What I decided, it's just I've got to lay down. I'll be in touch later,...okay?"
"Promise?......You're not that lost Shepard now! You've found your way back."
"Ya Dan I know. Just, must lay down. And thank you for what you did last night. Merry Christmas."

Some months later

R I N G  R I N G  R I N G
"That's it Gems and Germs last call! You don't have to go home but you can't stay here." Angel shouted as she rang the big brass bell over the bar.
"Nah one more Angel, one for the road!" Haust mimicked his old self as he entered the bar. "Anyone looking like they need a ride home Angel? Maybe a shot of my  'House Special?" Pastor Haust asked looking to expand his congregation.


Bob Niles