Spook's Night Out

About a week later in Ireland, Spook showed up at my hotel for breakfast.  Apparently, whatever his business, he was done and thought he would drop by and see what was up. After my meetings were over that day, we spent the evening at the local bowling alley.

Well, string bowling that is.  Yeah, the lanes had strings which ran down to each pin and you pulled on them to reset the group.  There was also one teenager per lane whose job it was to return your ball and move dropped pins to the side.  It is a very humorous way to play the game and I had a great many laughs as Spook would try and spin the ball so a pin would leap up at the pin resetter.  Ok, the teenager probably did not think it was as funny as we did.....

Afterwards, Spook and I walked back to the hotel, and he was telling me about this rare bottle of Whiskey he had found from a distillery which had gone out of business several decades earlier.  And then, just my luck, we were jumped by five of the local toughs.  I am not real sure I even had my hands out of either of my pockets by the time Spook had one on the ground (maybe dead) and the other four flattened as well!

With his massive right hand he had taken out the four by slamming all of their heads together but the leader he reserved for the 'finger'.  Amazingly, with his left index finger, he drove it forward into the guys chest and then twisted/flicked it slightly.  Don't ask me I know nothing of the art of fighting except for boxing.  But that guy went down hard and I honestly thought he was dead.

He came to several minutes later and started to give the Spook some lip, but Spook just extended his finger and made a move closer.  Instant silence from the guy.  The other four were holding their heads, one crying loudly - he was the one whose shirt Spook had grabbed and used his head as the bat on the other three.  He lectured them about respecting their elders and then was very unceremonious in kicking their tails down the road - especially the leader's.

I commented I had never seen anything like this.  He grinned and held up his finger as if examining it, "My boys all hate this as well!"  And we laughed.

Back at the hotel, we ate a meal, which tasted exactly like mutton because that is the only fat they had to cook with.  Bleech!  Spook of course drank way too much and I had to half carry him half drag him back to his room, with the assistance of one of the waiters.  We may have been the only two guests so it was a nice tip for him and sure helped me out.

Tossing Spook down on his bed, he looked up at me with his blood shot eyes and was barely able to say, "Kris, what do you want from me?"

"Nothing, just your friendship and to know you eventually will make your peace with your Creator....."

And so, for the first time in our years of crossing each others' paths, I told him about my Christian faith and answered what few questions he had before his hypoglycemia took him to a very deep sleep.....

Drunk or no, I was certain by now that God wanted this man.