Boogieman Blues 5

“They can dish it, but they sure as hell don’t want to take it,” Dracula frowned as he watched the door close behind the mischievous sprite.

“Worse than people, if you ask me.”

The wolfman snorted his nose in the direction the troll had left.

“By the way, why are you not in your wolf form tonight?” Dracula asked.

“I just don’t fell like it.” The wolfman looked at the table with a sulky expression, unable to meet his friend’s eyes.

“Don’t tell me you’re feeling insecure?”

“Shut up…”

The wolfman sighed.  Imhosen patted him on the back and sputtered out a few garbled sounds.

“I guess you’re right, everybody’s facing some tough time these days,” the wolfman lamented, as Gills came by the table with another round of drinks.

“This one is on the house, fellas! My way of thanking you for dealing with that troublemaker earlier.”

“Oh, sweet!” The wolfman’s demeaner picked up a little after the bartender set a frosty mug of brew in front of him.  “Oh, hey… sorry if I seemed a little insensitive before, you know? About you being gay and all? I don’t have anything against it, I didn’t know, and it caught me off guard is all.”

“Don’t worry about it. All of that is water under the bridge.” Gills said with a pat on his shoulder.  “Drink up, boys!”

“Cheers!” They all took a gulp of their drinks, including the fishman, who downed a glass of pond water and scum that he had also brought over with him.

“No beer for you?” The wolfman eyed the bartender curiously.

“Been cutting back for a while now: My new boyfriend is in A.A. so I got to set a good example,” Gills said with a bit of grief in his tone.

“Well, that’s at least supportive of you. Who are you dating?”

“His name is Steve, and he’s invisible. He was in some industrial mishap that turned him transparent, somehow. It’s kind of what made him turn to drinking in the first place, at least until I stumbled over him one day.”

“One of those chance encounters, huh?” The wolfman asked.

“Well, it was more like I had literally stumbled over his invisible body while he was passed out on the ground outside the bar.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, I better get back to the counter. You fellas enjoy your drinks!”  Gills cleared a few of the empty glasses from their table and headed back to the taps.

“That was informative,” Dracula mused aloud, after trading in his beer for another sip of the blood cocktail he was working through earlier.