"A Lump of Coal"
It was Christmas Eve a couple of years ago, I had been having a rough time, I was at a bar on the way home to drown my sorrows. The job was a bitch; with a boss who thought he was King; my son had hit the Terrible Twos with a vengeance; my baby girl had the colic and my wife was in the throws of another bout of Postpartum Depression. In general I was feeling used and abused about my life.
I had stopped in the bar to steel myself for a less than perfect Christmas that was costing me more than I could afford, with the bill collectors already calling about the hospital bills that the company insurance didn't cover on the baby's birth. I had had first one double with a beer chaser then two more in short order, as I was finishing off the last beer the Bartender came over and
put a black rock on
the bar in front of me.
"What's that?" I asked.
"It's a lump of coal. I'm playing Santa tonight and you're about to be a very bad boy." he replied. "You are about to get in your car and drive home, right?" I admitted as much, he continued "You've had enough to make your
driving skills less than optimal. In fact, as an expert on drinking, I would say you're drunk. If you drive drunk you are likely to get more than a lump of coal."
"Yea, yea, just what I need a lecture on drunk driving from a bartender!"
I started to get up, when he touched my arm and said, "Yes, I give this lecture to any one that needs it this time of year, because of my brother. He stopped by here one Christmas Eve after his company Christmas party. He drove a coal truck and had one more load to drop before he went home for the night. He had a couple of more drinks with me as well. He was totaly sloshed when he got up to go. I knew he
had had more than enough, but he said he was going right home after dropping his load up the street from my house. He said he had to do it or his boss would fire him. They knew at work that he was drinking more than he should, they had warned him that his job was in jeopardy if he missed any more deliveries."
"I had to close the bar so he left. My wife had the VW, she and the kids were due to pick me up soon. We were going to spend Christmas Eve with her folks. I had closed the bar and was waiting out front for her, she was always on time no matter what, when a cop car pulled up. They asked my name and if my brother was a driver for the Coal Company. When I said yes, they asked me to come with them, that he had been involved in an accident."
I could see the tears in his eyes as he continued, "They took me to the truck, it was stopped in front of my house. As we pulled up to the back of the truck the first
thing I saw was my brother sitting on the curb crying.
When he saw me he just started to say he was sorry over and over. The next thing I noticed was some metal the color of my VW sticking out from under the dump truck."
"My wife and kids were dead. They told me my brother hadn't seen her because he was too drunk. He was speeding up the street when my wife pulled out of the driveway. He pled guilty to manslaughter and committed suicide shortly after being released from jail-he just couldn't forgive himself."
"I found this lump of coal on my lawn, it is part of the load he was delivering when he killed them."
"May I call a cab for you? It will be my Christmas gift." he asked. I took that cab ride. My problems didn't seem so bad after what he had told me. My wife was surprised when I came home in the cab. She was amazed that
I gave her such a big hug then spent the rest of the evening playing with the kids. Later that night she asked why, so I told her about the bartender's lump of coal. We were both in tears by the
end.
The day after Christmas I had to go get the car for work Monday, so I went in to say thank you to the bartender. After I described him to the other bartender, I asked when he would be in again, the guy looked at me
strange. "Never, my Uncle left me the bar when he died some twenty years ago." I left the bar wondering.
Copyright 2000
Revised 2013
JM Revells
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