A blind man, an invisible man and a ghost walk into a bar. Two of them go “Ahhhh” and the ghost is fine but on hearing them goes “Ahhhh” in solidarity. I just thought of that… You wouldn’t believe what I’m going to tell you because it sounds like the start of a joke but my story does involve these exact trio… supposedly.

I didn’t witness this myself but it was the blind man who came to me asked for two pints of beer and told me someone he was seating with was hearing voices from a ghost. I asked him when and he said “This night.” I looked at him with raised eyebrows. “I could hear you raising your eyebrows.” It’s just, there hasn’t been anyone here other than him.

Then I got thinking, there was a time the door was blown open by the wind. Could that be the ghost?

The blind man continued. The man next to him said the ghost was telling him, the man next to him not the blind man, that he, the ghost, was actually the previous owner of the bar.

“I can hear your eyebrows creasing upwards.” The blind man said. And he was right. The previous owner was my dad and he was dead. A shiver shook down my spine and vibrated my nerves to no end. I braced the counter to keep my balance.

“Can you hear… the ghost?” I asked. This was a perfectly valid question given that he had impressively heightened hearing abilities.

“Nah, are you stupid? Should I continue or do you have any more stupid questions?”

“Actually I do, have a question. Is the man who was next to you still in the bar.”

“Yes, he’s right next to me now.”

I looked and saw clearly no one next to him. At first, I considered that my dad the ghost was actually sitting next to him. But then I shook it off. Ghosts aren’t real. Then I thought, would it be wrong to tell the blind man that he, the blind man, couldn’t actually see the man next to him because I couldn’t see him either. I looked at the two beers I had handed him before and it appeared like he was drinking from both simultaneously but his hand had only ever been on one.

“It’s like you have seen a ghost. Your heartbeat went up but I think you’ve calmed down now.” The blind man stated.

“The thing is… I can’t see the fella you say is next to you.” I replied with scepticism.

“He told me earlier that he came into the bar and was minesweeping the leftover booze.” The blind man said ignoring my observation. “That’s why I got him a beer and besides, I can clearly hear two other heartbeats. One is yours and one is his.” I stood incredulously. I was speechless.

This was making sense in a strange way.

“Can he speak?…”

“Nah, he said before that if he did, you would charge him for drinks in the future.”

“Did the ghost say anything else… to him?” Him as in the invisible man.

“Yeah, he ” (the ghost) “told him “ (the invisible man) “to tell me “ (the blind man) “to tell you “ (me) “that you should do better to get in more people to the bar than just us.” I just stood there, frozen in place.

“Well?” The blind man said. “What are you doing?”

“He’s just standing there.” Another voice said.

I ran out of the building as fast as I could and you are the first person I’ve told. I’m guessing by your silence, you don’t believe me, I knew it.