The Meeting Place

I was out for a walk one afternoon and I turned down a street that I have never been on before! I was in unfamiliar territory, or was I? There was a tavern at the end of the road called, “The Meeting Place”.  I was intrigued, so I went in.

There was a long bar with stools and a few tables and chairs and an old jukebox. The walls were full of pictures of past historical events and past famous people!

There were some people talking at the tables. But there only was one lady sitting at the bar. She was staring seriously at herself in the huge mirror behind the bar.

I sat next to her and ordered a beer. The bartender served me my beer and eyed me up and down! I took a sip of my beer and I stared at the lady in the mirror.

She was an attractive mature lady dressed in black, with grey hair cut short, framing her face. She had an interesting face, like she had seen and experienced many things!

“Hello, my name is Dave, do you come here often?”

“No, this is my first time. I got lost on this street and wandered in here for a drink.”

“Same here, I don’t think I’ve been on this street before.”

We both looked at each other’s eyes in the mirror.”

“What do you do when you’re not getting lost?” I smiled.

“I’m into meditation,” said the lady, still looking into the foggy mirror.

“That’s interesting, when I turned down this street my mind was drifting. I felt like I was in a special state, about halfway between being awake and sleeping. After being in this daze, I felt I had been down this street before but I didn’t know when!”

The lady in the mirror smiled at me.

“Has any strange things happened to you?”

“Oh yes, one time, at midnight, I got a phone call from someone asking me out on a date! I asked him what a young man, like him, was doing asking me out. He asked me, how I knew he was young. So I described his looks on the phone. He hung up and never called again!”

“That’s sort of scary! Maybe the young man thought you were some kind of witch!”

My lady in the mirror laughed!

“No, I’m not a witch. I just am able to see things. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I do and I find you very interesting. You could probably help me with some of my problems!”

“I believe I could help you. We all experience what we believe!”

She got up to leave and touched my hand.

“I have to go but I’m sure we will meet again. If you think of me hard enough when you are meditating, I will help you with you problems.”

Then she was gone! I looked into the mirror again and closed my eyes and I saw her in my minds eye.

“Hey, buddy, are you alright?”

It was the bartender shaking me.

“Yes, I’m alright. I was just meditating.”

“Oh, it looked like you were doing nothing but dozing.”

I said, “The great thing about meditation is that it makes doing nothing RESPECTABLE!”

10 thoughts on “The Meeting Place

  1. There’s a touch of mystery in Dave Wise’s latest blog. “The Meeting Place.” It starts out with a simple walk down a street he had never been on. He encounters a bar called a meeting place with a few people scattered at different tables, but at the bar is a mature lady, all dressed in black with short gray hair. their conversation is brief and soon it is discovered that the lady practices meditation when not visiting the occasional bar. The encounter ends with her touching his hand and a feeling of another meeting to come.
    Dave is shaken awake by the bar tender who thinks he is dozing. Dave reveals that he was meditating and not dozing. My thought is if the lady existed who was she a figment of meditation.
    Larry Primak

  2. I liked the story and felt it could become a short story. It grabbed my interest and I was sorry to see it end. Go to work Dave and make that story longer. You may turn me into a reader yet.

  3. Wow.That was amazing.
    I think I am officially short story obsessed.
    I have to agree with Tom make that story longer.
    This story definitely is the one that stuck with me.
    Touch of mystery excitement it’s fascinating story.

  4. Once again cousin you show your getting older, you go to a strange bar, try to pick up a good looking lady, it tires you out and you fall asleep at the bar and the bartender has to wake you up. Good come back though saying you were just Meditating so he didn’t think you were just a drunk. Better luck next time cousin, try a different street in a better part of town. And take a nap before you go out again.
    L.L.C Jim

  5. Good story,Dave ! Reminds me of the small bar at Simpson’s -in-theStrand .On my 1st visit abt a yr ago ,a garrulous Irishman offered to by me a drink .As you know , I wasn’t born ystdy …and joined the others in the larger room 🙂 …where I ran into the widower of one of my late OH’s staff …serendipity !

    My late mother was befriended by a medium in the 60s :Kathleen Fleming who came into my mother’s shop ,in St Annes-on-Sea ,saying that HER mother [ie Grandma Statter] was watching over her …pretty spooky !

    In the 90s I had a bf whose aunt was a well-known medium ; Estelle Roberts could fill the Albert Hall & had many famous clients ….

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