They used to drink hard liquors, but now they yearned for coffee.

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Brendan was the kind of zombie, who was not quite a zombie. He’d picked up his costume out of his son’s old toy box and it was, as his wife had told him, somewhat lacking. He’d been able to smear some greenish paste across his forehead, and he wore a jacket covered in dirt – hinting at a recent uprising from a burial. He sat at the kitchen table complaining about his knee joints and his hip, and, on marvelling that it was nearly half past eight, ordered another coffee from his host.

On taking the order, Joel made a cackling sound. It came out in a muffled manner, but it offered some attempt to characterise himself as a witch. Of course, he was wearing a pointed black hat that he’d made out of newspaper, but one could be forgiven for not immediately placing him as a wicked witch. Earlier in the night, he’d started reciting lines from Macbeth, but after stumbling through, ‘Something wicked this way comes’ a number of times, the joke became old and was abandoned to the junk heap of the night.
Joel also took a coffee order from Luke, whose preference was for quite a sweet cup of coffee. Ironically, he was wearing a red t-shirt and red shorts. He had tried to offer himself up as a devil, but in the absence of horns and a trident, the look was underwhelming. Jordan had teased that he looked more like a sunburnt whale, but Luke was good humoured and made some terse remark about going to Hell. It was all in good humour, especially given Jordan’s werewolf costume was not particularly remarkable. Jordan was quite naturally a hairy man, and having deliberately not shaved for a week, he looked the part of a scruffy wolf-man. He had worn a loose muscle shirt tonight, and this clearly showed his hairy arms and hairy back. The look was completed by an absence of shoes, which showed off his hairy feet. Jordan, like the rest of the group, could not quite make it through the night without a coffee top up. .

The group formed up around Joel’s kitchen table. They were a shabby lot, whose costumes were not what they used to be. They had been gathering for Halloween since 1983 – back in those days they dressed as punk rockers and drank heavy liquors. As they aged, so had their preference for refined costumes that their wives had put together, which mirrored their preference for refined wines and whisky. But now, as their backs ached and they could barely make it beyond early evening, they only had a sense for the coffee pot. This evening they took up their usual locations, and the poker game began.

The witch had taken the deck and made a magical show of cutting the cards, again, with a sound which resembled a cackle. And with a deftness of hand, slid each haunting creature their cards. Looking down, Luke had picked up a pair of jacks. He was not particularly good at hiding his elation, and his eyes lit up as a fiery pit, what Joel would call his easy-read tell. Joel, however, was equally delighted with his hand. He had pulled two beautiful women – and, in his own mind, he imagined his own depiction as a witch as being the third queen. Of course, he wasn’t prepared to share this joke before the bids were in. To hide his own enthusiasm, he drank another mouthful of coffee. Jordan too took a rushed mouthful of coffee, aware that he was already tired, despite the game only just beginning. He had been dealt two kings and so opened the bidding with a strong move. The others around the table looked at him, surprised to see such strong action on the opening hand.

The witch and the devil both eagerly chucked their chips into the middle of the pot, leaving Brendan to wonder at what was happening to get the men so excited. He looked at his cards, revealing an 8 and a 10. The hand was not impressive, but both cards were spades, and he felt it was a sign given his intention was to present as a zombie, so he too, took another mouthful of coffee and joined the group in the pot.

As the first cards were drawn, a two, a five and a nine were pulled to the centre of the table. This of course left all the players on the table feeling optimistic about their chances. Not wanting to seem too interested, however, the table was checked around – as each player had hoped to lure in their foes. The next card fell and it was a Jack. Of course, Joel grew in optimism, having just landed a three of a kind. Unaware of the nervous excitement to his left, Luke checked his cards again and was assured that he had made a straight. Both wanted to build pots, and so a devilish bet was made, which was met by the zombie who left out a groan – an attempt to hide his excitement, whilst maintaining the joy of his costume.

But the growing pot was not of as much interest as the pot of coffee which they all needed. It was nearing nine o’clock, and no one at the table was particularly energised for a night re-visiting their youth. Suspecting that the game could be finished early this year, on the next card, Brendan, who was holding a pair of queens, pushed all his chips to the centre of the table inviting the others to follow. They did, and the game concluded much to the relief of the entire party. The group shook hands, and made resolute plans, that the following year they would celebrate the witching hour at lunch and with a final swig of coffee for the road, the group exchanged some additional quirks of their costume and all went home to bed.



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7 comments
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They had coffee at..... NIGHT??? INDEED a story of abject horror!!

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Nice bro. Im about to do this same option i think. Thought about the house of coffee tho lol.

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Me-OW!
I love the way you incorporated a deck of cards in your story with reference to the use of the spade.

Coffee for the road before bedtime... sounds puuuuurrrrfect!
It's always Coffee o' Clock.

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Entertaining, as always. However, Halloween drinks over lunch just don’t seem scary enough. Haha 😆

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It starts out as "I can't wait to go out and have fun" and it always ends in "I can't wait to go home." Such is life I suppose.

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Oh! old age...
How it changes our lives. Now we drink coffee and sleep early... Good story.

🎆🎇🎉🎊🌧️💐✨🌾🌱🌹🌙🌿🍃🥀⚡🌺☘️🍀🌈🌷⭐🪴🌵🌸🌟💮🌴🌳💫☀️💮☔🌲🌳🌍🌌🌠☄️🏵️🐝🌻🌼🍄🐞🦋💙☕💜🍍🎆🎇🎉🎊🎆🎇🎉🎊🌧️💐✨🌾🌱🌹🌙🌿🍃🥀⚡🌺☘️🍀🌈🌷⭐🪴🌵🌸🌟💮🌴🌳💫☀️💮☔🌲🌳🌍🌌🌠☄️🏵️🐝🌻🌼🍄🐞🦋💙☕💜🍍🎆🎇🎉🎊

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Those guys need to remember what excitement and fun are 😂 Maybe a real werewolf could get them moving!

Excellent as always :) ...

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