Thursday night on Crows Crossing Road.. The Darkside is bustling with activity tonight there are a few of us in here that are in good spirits.. The pun was intentional.. Lined up at the bar are a few rough looking but respectable gentlemen who don’t mind lending a hand here to keep the peace once in awhile when its necessary.. Tonight its not necessary as with most nights here I sit in my private booth surrounded by the usual suspects.. Our friend Sherry has once again graced us with her presence, as she sits and sips on her drink quietly listening to the room tell its tales.. Over to my left the alluring Miss Moon is doing the scan routine with those big beautiful eyes.. Look over there.. See them? that’s my longtime bud Prank, and that sexy lady sitting next to him is called “Six.” see the deal with those two.. Its simple really they are a handful all by themselves, but together? Well.. as you can see that they light up a room. What a couple they make.. They fit.. Oh that guy over there next to that other pretty lady?? that’s another one of my buds.. He’s got a few blogs on the Stream under the name Zappa Fan.. I just call him Zap.. That beautiful woman with him is his Wife.. See on his blog “The Real Zappa Fan” today he did something really cool with that Evoca voice recording thingy, he recorded his son Zakk singing the Winnie the Pooh song and he posted it.. very cool stuff.




My friends Colo and Daisy came by earlier to reserve their seats at the Round table Saturday Night if we can get another storyteller to submit something and I’m confident that we will.. I’m looking around at so many familiar faces that I can’t seem to put names to them all.. Puppy is here nursing on a Corona with Ice.. Nursey and Hook got a cozy little table over in the corner off by themselves.. Over to my right next to the juke box Lucy, Peachy and Schree and Baby seem to be really enjoying themselves.. Over at the far table that’s my good friend PolarB and her beautiful wife Lovey, they just had dinner in the dinning room in the back and have come out to start to mingle. The Darkside is jumping tonight, teeming with an energy that is hard to ignore.. So many names so little time.. My new Manager Boom Boom is drifting through the crowd making sure everyone has what they need.. Its thirsty Thursday here at the Darkside Tavern, c’mon in and have a drink on us and tell us YOUR story.. Just like life.. We never close here at The Darkside.

Hope everyone stayed safe this week and with the weekend upon us Stop by the Bar and Grilll and have a Cold Drink on us! We'll leave the light on for ya! hope to see you at the Round Table..





And Remember..

Boom Boom brought in the snack trays of mini Pizza’s and Took everyone’s drink order’s and the Guests at the round all gathered and mingled awaiting for our guest of honor to appear. I look around and it is a who’s who of blogger’s and writers of the Stream, Prank and sweet S ix, PolarB my bestus buddy in the world and a host of others, but the platform is not ours, this night we bring into the fold a new tale teller. Yeah we all take our seats as she enters the room and takes her place across from me at the other side of the table.. The room draws a breath and holds it.. Time for the Round to come to life with spirits of the dark..

Whispered Promise.



The Road.



We traveled often to New Jersey, where my mom’s family was located. Mom liked to be able to see her parents about once a month and my dad, who had taken her to Pennsylvania, shortly after they married to live, kept that promise for mom. We left late Friday night and drove home late Sunday night. My brother and I would doze in the backseat, the old Chrysler droned us to sleep. It was late Sunday night and as always dad struggled to get mom to leave and head back on the road, back home to the comfort of our bed. The Pocono Mountains always pulled heavily on the car. The car gave a jerk and I woke to hear the tire on the passenger side, in the back making a thumping noise. Dad stopped and got out, it was raining, a light mist on the windshield and the night was as dark as it gets. My dad got out and fished around in the trunk, the passing cars glared on our windshield and their red tail lights left streaks in the drizzling rain. Dad walked up to mom’s window, he stuck his head in, “Stay here, I am going to have to get this spare fixed.” Despite mom’s protests of finding help on a Sunday night, dad headed out. My brother woke and looked surprised to find us alone with the dark silhouette of dad walking up the side of the road lugging a tire with him. We sat quietly, the trucks passing rocked the car slightly and made the lights blur even more.

A car pulled up from behind us, it’s lights invaded the dark back seat, it caused us to turn and look. A man got out from the driver’s seat, he walked up the passenger side of our car, his head lowered and his jacket hiked up to keep the rain from his head. Mom clicked the locks, her face pinched, strained. He stopped outside her window and said, “Is your husband getting help?” mom nodded, no one questioned how he posed his first sentence. He then said, “I am going to wait in my car til he returns so I know you are alright. Is that okay?” Mom again nodded and he left, walking back to his car, the lights still illuminating our car enough that I could pull out my book and my brother played with a matchbox car. We waited a long while and finally we seen dad walking us, his body outlined by the car behind us. Then, as if on cue, once dad came to the front of our car, the car from behind us pulled out. Dad walked up to mom’s window. Mom waved as the gentleman left and told dad he wished he could have thanked the man. Dad asked her what man. She explained and dad looked at us puzzled. Dad was a sensible man, never one to make up things. He found a truck stop that helped him out, and walked back here. Dad then said that he didn’t see any lights or car when he was coming up the road. He shook his head as mom explained again. He claimed he never saw a car behind us. He said it was pitch black as he walked toward us, he never saw the man, the car nor even the lights that had lit dad up in the night and illuminated him to us. I pressed my face on the cool glass and wished I had looked closer, I knew we had met an angel.



What is it about the dark that brings out the ghosts of the world? Ghost or angel? Real or imagined? Everyone has a theory of course. And thoughts that they will keep for another time, and yet another tale. We all rise from the Round as another night draws to a close.. Inside one night has ended while outside yet another is just beginning.. I see our guests to the door and thank my friend Whispered Promise for sharing her tale, and I stand and watch from the parking lot as the last car pulls away. I look just across the street from the Tavern and there is a grove of trees that seems to stretch out for mile’s to where there is no light, on some nights if you close your eyes you can almost hear the faint whispers that carry on the wind, as the night speaks of the secrets of its ghosts and Angels living in the Darkside.



Scratch...© 2006.

As many of you may have already heard.. the Darkside tavern has lost one of its own to early retirement.. (HA! early..) that is Our former manager of the Tavern has left us to pursue other interest such as openning his very own bed and breakfast.. Good luck Flea.. so there I was, left with a managerial problem.. not really a tough choice in the way of finding a suitable replacement for ol Flea, but seeing as how none of our current employee's wanted the job, I was left with little choice but to resort to drastic measure's. so I called up an old friend and Voila!! she agreed to take the job! so before tonights round table I wanted to introduce everybody to our new Hostess/Manager here at the Darkside Tavern. and here she is folks!! may I present MS. Boom Boom "Sweet Pea" Johnson!!



Awwwww..... Isn't She cute?? and they said I couldn't spot real talent! see you tonight. and remember..

Christmas Spirit.


He rummaged through the shelves until he found a old bottle of antacid’s in the very back, that had been collecting dust until he’s had bought them. The older lady behind the counter had been watching him curiously the whole time since he’d entered the store ten minutes earlier. She placed the full thermos of black coffee on the counter and told him that it would all come to thirty eight dollars and sixty two cents with the Gas, coffee and antacids.. He paid her and asked her where the rest room was, he wanted to put cold water on his face to try to wake himself up a little more before continuing on his way. “Mister,” she told him, “you look right sleepy, maybe you should take a nap in the parking lot in your car before continuing on your way, its cold and dark out there, and mountain roads are pretty icy this time of night.” he said that he was fine and besides that, he had already been driving for ten hours strait and still had 350 miles to go before Christmas morning, he needed to be there with his wife and daughter, so he was going to push on instead of sleeping.. He paid her and took the antacids and coffee and returned to the silver Lexus, and got in the drivers seat. As he pulled away the old lady was standing by the gas pumps watching him leave.

One mile down the road he could already feel his eyes getting heavy, so he rolled down the windows of the Lexus and let the cold mountain air flood into the car hoping it would keep him awake.. It seemed like he’d been driving for hours when he found himself slamming on the brakes and swerving to miss something that ran out in front of him, the next thing he knew he was wandering around the side of the road looking through the tree’s trying to spot what he had almost hit, he found nothing, so he returned to the Lexus and drove off, slowly at first and then increasing his speed until the speedometer eclipsed 75 mph. it was one mile further when he saw the small girl in the white dress walk right out in front of him, again the brakes locked into place and tires screeching trying to stop suddenly as the Lexus spun out of control and leapt off of the icy road and over the embankment and then strait down the side of the mountain, bouncing and crashing off of the tree’s every inch of the way. He felt it stop suddenly as the airbag exploded into his chest holding him back against the and everything drew silent. He tried to move his legs but could not. He tried to move his arms but couldn’t even feel them.. His Thoughts.. “I.. Jerod Clarkson.. Am about to die… to my beautiful wife Sarah.. I love you so much.. I’m so sorry that I left you alone.. To my beautiful Daughter.. That bears her mothers name.. I… love you sweetheart..”

AFTERMATH..

He felt himself slowly losing consciousness when the hands first wrapped around his arms and began pulling him out of the badly wrecked vehicle, and then almost floating through the now falling snow they pulled him back up the side of the mountain. It was a woman.. Her face as beautiful as any he’d ever seen, she wore a long white dress and gave him a familiar feeling. He was oddly calm and did not fear this ghostly presence.. Upon reaching the road, he’d found that he could walk again and wasn’t injured at all save a cut over his left eye.. He walked through the snow for what seemed to him like hours, until he got back to the old woman at the gas station /mountain store where he’d been earlier. He told her of the accident and the ghostly woman that pulled him from the vehicle.. She gave him coffee and called the nearest town to send an ambulance and tow truck to the site. She sat him down and gave him coffee. “You saw her too didn’t you?” she asked him.. “yes.” he replied.. “there was a child too, I swerved to miss her and lost control. My car went over the edge.. I.. suppose I’m lucky to be alive.” she nodded. They talked a while longer and he slowly got his bearings back. She explained to him, that his was the second accident in two weeks at that very spot, where two weeks earlier a young woman and her daughter had been driving to the city where her Husband had been away for a month on a business trip,she lost control of the vehicle on the icy road and hit a tree. she told the paramedic’s the whole tale before she before she died while being treated on the scene.. How her daughter Sarah and her missed him so much and wanted so badly to Surprise him.

Scratch.. © 2006.