Part 1 (?)

Jimmy looked down the bar as he set his scotch down. He could swear he had seen that big number down by the bar somewhere before, but he was probably just hullicinating. He did it often enough. Once, he was driving down the road, when he swore Bigfoot jumped out in front of his car. The stunning thing to Jimmy wasn't that Bigfoot would be found in his portion of the country, or would be jumping out in front of cars, or even that he existed. It was the fact that Bigfoot was holding a parasol over his shoulder, much the way that a Victorian Lady might have, twirling it around by its stem as it lay on his shoulder. That was the part that forced Jimmy to nail the brakes, and swerve into the ditch. Otherwise, he most likely would have just gone around Bigfoot, chalking him up to his awkward hallucinations, and continued on his way. But the parasol, that got him. None of his halucinations had ever appeared with a parasol before, let alone the horrific electric blue one that Bigfoot had been cavorting with. That had scared him straight, and he started taking his meds again, the vile liquid that the doctors prescribed him to keep his mind in check, kept him from having his nightmares. He had them, even while he was on his medicine, but they were different. There wasn't a specific thing that haunted him anymore, but a vauge feeling of doom that always crept into his sleep. That was worse, actually, he once thought, not having a face or name to assign to his fear, it was just there, all the time, mocking him. The doctors said it would go away. It hadn't.

"Here," came a voice over his shoulder. It was Erin, his bartender. Well, not really his bartender, but if they ever went out anywhere together, he would always introduce her as "his bartender" and she would introduce him as "her lush." It was a great little bit that got a few laughs, and thats all they wanted. She was a good-looking blonde of 42, who had managed to keep every curve God had given her, even after the two kids and the divorce. She was 14 years his senior, but they got along far too well. Erin understood Jimmy. "This one's on the bar." She was always buyin' him drinks, and he was always buyin' her drinks, so everything kinda evened out after awhile. "Thanks," Jimmy said, a smile breaking out on his face. "You're half-way decent for an old broad." Erin glared at him playfully. "It won't be so long before you're my age, honey, and you still won't be man enough for me. I'll be the hottest babe at the retirement home, and you won't be able to get any." She stuck her tounge out at him, and pranced down the bar to wait on some other customers. He was going to say something about how drinking your meals through a straw can be sexy, but she was already out of earshot. He went back to taking sidelong glances at the big guy down at the end of the bar. He wore a long coat, and a large fedora that covered a portion of his face. He looked to have a fairly substantial beard, and a nasty smoking habit, as he chain smoked Lucky-Strikes down to the filter. Jimmy kept an eye on him. "I know him from somewhere," he said to himself in a hushed tone. It was at that instant that it happened. The door to the bar was kicked open, the lights flickered, and in walked a monkey. "A rhesus monkey," thought Jimmy, and he turned back to his scotch. He no longer responded to most of his halucinations, and just took it as a sign that he was to live in a mad world amongst mad happenings with mad people who never took a notice of anything but how far up the ladder they were. He felt a tug on his sleeve, and looked up to see Erin, staring at the floor where he had seen the monkey with eyes as big as the hubcaps on a '54 Chevy. He turned around. Turns out everyone was staring at the monkey, only he had ignored it, which was odd, because of all the people in the room, he was the only one whom the monkey had his pistol trained on.

Continued in part 2(?)