A small pub with dark walls, swirling with psychedelic rock, and swirling also with sweet cherry-scented vapour.
Four men are gathered around the bar, three of them playing ‘Cards Against Humanity’.
They all have the build of nightclub bouncers but one is dressed in heavy metal denim; another like the croupier on a Mississippi gambling boat; the third in tatty biking leathers; and the fourth, disappointingly, in jeans and trainers. The first three have different varieties of ostentatious facial hair; their less showy friend is clean-shaven.
No, his flair is not sartorial; rather, he is generating his own fog with an illuminated sci-fi e-cigarette. Clouds and clouds of it. He is too drunk or too disinterested to join the game, or perhaps just concentrating too hard on his art.
Croupier reads from his card: ‘“What do old people smell like?”’
Bike Leathers slaps his thigh: ‘Oh, I’ve got the winner right here, my friend… “Sneezing and farting at the same time”!’
Everyone cracks with laughter, except the Vaper. Though the Vaper isn’t playing, he is thinking hard about the question, eyes narrowed and pink, fixed on a faraway place, or perhaps a distant time.
Heavy Metal begins his turn: ‘Right — “What do old people smell like?” The answer is obviously, “My balls in–”’
‘Decay!’ declares the Vaper suddenly, and loudly, killing the chatter in the bar. ‘Decay, isn’t it? That’s what they smell of. Decay. Impending death. Like…’ He generates a serving of particularly gothic graveyard mist. ‘Like their bodies are breaking down even though they’re still… Their eyes are still…’
Silence falls. Vapour churns.
‘Another round of these IPAs, lads?’ slurs Croupier, slapping his cards down on the table. ‘Or is it time to move on to that imperial stout?’
Everyone cheers, except the Vaper.
Vaper just vapes, intensely.
5 replies on “Pub Life: Vapeman Against Humanity”
Are you sure you made the right decision to move to Bristol ….
This wasn’t in Bristol.
How does the croupier on a Mississippi gambling boat dress? All I can think of is a DJ, but that doesn’t seem nearly specific enough.
Like a croupier (elaborate waistcoat, bowtie) but Wild Wild Westified. A steampunk thing, maybe.
(Further requests for the literalising of attempts at flourish in our prose will be ignored.)
*applause*
“Bis!”
Grinning from ear to ear. There’s a fresh BBC situation comedy in there