Two Mules For Sister Sara ~ Saved Me III

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This is Part III of how the movie "Two Mules For Sister Sara", especially the hat worn by the character Hogan played by Clint Eastwood in that film, other spooky factors and just dumb luck saved me from harm. (Shirley MacLaine played the role of Sister Sara in that movie.) If you need to 'catch-up' with this story here are the links for Part I and Part II.

Part I ~ How ~ Two Mules For Sister Sara ~ Saved Me

Part II ~ How ~ Two Mules For Sister Sara ~ Saved Me

GETTING TO CLOSING TIME ~ Here I am on Sunday evening/night waiting on a bar full of bikers, having checked the big gun belonging to the leader of the bikers (whom I have designated Mister Eyes) behind my bar.

During the evening I cut a roll of quarters in half, put each half in its own bar glass. I took one glass to the ladies at the booth with their leader (Mister Eyes) and the other man. I took the second glass with half the quarters to two biker women who were way in the back where their fellows were playing pool with the 'giant' man. I told them this would help them keep the music (jukebox) playing.

Along the way, Mister Eyes has asked me about my parents and was I adopted? I tell him no. Mister Eyes has asked me about the name of a specific bar. I tell him it sounds a little familiar, but no, I really don't know. Mister Eyes indicates they are leaving soon. I said, when you are ready, let's go together and get you your gun back. While he's back of the bar, getting his gun back on,  I ask if he don't mind, could I walk him to the door when he's ready to go, so I could lock it behind them and close the bar?  On his way to the door he head signals the 'giant' man and speaks a few words to him. I follow him to the door and pretty much everybody starts following him.

He stops right at that door turns around and he looks at me. I mean he really looks at me. He looks in my eyes, he looks at my face and head, he looks at my body, his eyes come back to my head and face, he looks me back in the eyes. I get that sensation/feel once again, his own incredible blue eyes are about to overflow rising and brimming tears. He says to me, "Thank you."  He exits first and they are all behind him, except.....

The "giant" man remains.  I ask "why are you here?" ~ He replies something like "Fussy little one, don't get your panties in a bundle, I'm here to see you get closed up, safely to your car and on your way home. I was told to help you any way I can, you need to know, I don't do dishes."  We both laugh, even though my heart is a little 'pounding' about it. I lock the front door and I run to the back door and get it locked.

I knew I was going to leave that bar in the biggest mess and get the heck out of there as fast as I could. I rang the till out. It was a huge shift for the bar business, especially with the inexpensive prices of those days. I made NO out loud expression of that. I didn't count out the next day's till. I didn't put the money in the safe either. I threw it all into bank bags and put the bank bags into a paper bag, folded it all up as best I could, hid it in the liquor room and locked the liquor room door.

I told the 'giant' man I was getting close to ready to leave. He said  "give me your keys".  I must have had a 'funny' look on my face, he added "your car keys."  I gave him my car keys, unlocked the front door, held it open while he went out to the empty parking lot except for his motorcycle and my car. He unlocked my car and started it up, came back in.  I then ran and made sure the rest of the lights were killed, except for one beer sign to see by. It was damp, chilly and foggy outside. 'Giant' man said to let the car warm up a bit. I said OK.  I was exhausted and I got a shiver.

While we were waiting at the door, with only the glow of neon, I asked 'giant' man, "Do you know why your leader was looking at me the way he did?" Some time ticked by before he answered me. "It's his sister, you look exactly like her, you sound like her, you're built like her, you could be her?"  I can hear the tiny scratchy something in his voice at the end of 'be her'.  I ask "Where is his sister?" 

He replies, "Dead, she died on Labor Day in 1970."  Now we have a very long and awkward silence between us. I changed the subject, "He sure knows his Clint Eastwood movies, that hat is exactly like what Hogan wore in "Two Mules for Sister Sara", that's the last Eastwood flick I've seen."

"Giant" man says, "His sister loved Clint Eastwood movies, he likes them. They used to go the movies together, never missed one, until she was too sick to go."  I say questioning like "too sick"? ~ He says, "she died of leukemia."

I say, "that car has to be warmed up enough, let's get out of here."  He shakes his head in agreement, I lock the front door.  He walks me to my car, I get in, I tell him thank you, I think he presses the lock down on my driver door before he closes it. I don't wait around for him to get his motorcycle going. I leave.

I shake, shivered and shook all the way home and the rest of that entire night at the realization I was a living, breathing, live 'doppleganger' for a dead girl.
* * *
The bar was 'dead' for hours on Monday which was Labor Day. I got it cleaned up. The 'bar back' never came back. The fellows that left me on Sunday came by about 6:00 PM with "are you alright"? I tell them "I'm just fine, no thanks to you."
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It was reported that a bar owner had been assaulted by an 'outlaw motorcycle gang', drug out of his bar and the bar burnt down in the wee morning hours of Labor Day. I can't remember the exact miles away from our bar, thinking it was 10-20 miles away.
* * *
My lady boss and her husband didn't give me that $300 bonus and my wages. They gave me a $1000 and my wages. In addition, the following Saturday, my lady boss took me to her dress shop and helped me pick out two sinfully expensive dresses at no charge to me, she then treated us both to the beauty shop and and a lovely ladies lunch after that.
* * *
The specific bar the Mister Eyes had asked about and I didn't really know was the dank, dark, dive bar that had been torn down where the new bar I worked in was located.
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My lady boss and her husband decided for future Labor Day weekends, to do Friday night until closing and stay closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday ~ re-opening on Tuesday.
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As many wing fang dang fal de rah "woo woo" (code for spooky experiences) that I have lived in my life that are known to me (like this one), I actually wonder at times, how many others happened that I was not 'awares of'.
* * *
As much as I've mentioned Clint Eastwood, I want to very much THANK  Shirley MacLaine. If she hadn't played that part in "Two Mules For Sister Sara" in her sassy, tough, tart, quirky Shirley MacLaine way, I may not have had the courage to ask Mister Eyes to check that big gun behind my bar and be alive today to tell this story of  How "Two Mules For Sister Sara" saved me.
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I am @grammakaye on twitter. You are most welcome to leave a comment.