heaven and ale
Disclaimer: I do not own the Simpsons or it's characters.
Chapter 2, Holy Spirits.
"Ok, let me see if I understand you, God boy. For one hour everyday, you want to turn my bar into a tint church?" Moe asked and Ned shook his head.
"No, sir, not exactly. But you know how mixed drinks have names like Manhattan, Grasshopper or even, God forgive me, Sex on the Beach? Well, my idea is to have mixed drinks that have Christian names." Ned explained, hopefully more effectively.
"Hm, then what about those bible verses and sermons you were talking about?" Moe asked and Ned shifted on the stool he was sitting on.
"Well, sir. My thought process is to have a bible verse served with every drink; at least the Holy Hour drinks. There can be a different verse everyday. So if one of the partons have a didilly too much then they will have the card to read in the morning. That way it is a constant reminder of God's love. And as for those sermons I mentioned, well sir, those could be done once a week and they don't have to be a very long." Ned said and Moe sighed as he leaned against the bar top.
"I don't know, Ned. This could drive away some of my customers. I really can't afford for my business to get worse." Moe admitted and Ned glanced down and then back at Moe.
"You know, the good Lord has a plan for all of his children. Some are born to be leaders of cities or countries, and some people are born to make a small change that makes a big difference. Now I can't tell you how successful this will be, but you should know that you have the church behind you. And what the hey, I'll be here every Holy Hour to help you with your business in whatever way I can." Ned said as he placed his hand on Moe's shoulder. Moe looked up into his eyes and suddenly he felt as if he could do anything. Well, except...
"Ned, I haven't mixed drinks in years. And since Homer was the one who gave me the Flaming Homer recipe, I don't know if I can make up any drinks." Moe said and Ned patted his back.
"Oh, that's no problem. Just come over to the Flanders house and we can mix a whole bunch of things together. You could come over tonight if you like." Ned said and Moe blinked.
"Tonight, oh, well, I don't want to be an inconvenience." Moe said and Ned laughed.
"Oh, don't be silly. Rod and Todd have a sleepover at their grandmother's house tonight. They've been wanting to go over for a while now, and since school starts next week, I made the plans. It'll just be you and me getting straight down to business." Ned said and Moe shrugged.
"Oh, your too positive to ignore. Ok, Neddy boy, I'll do your Holy Hour." Moe said and Ned stood up and placed his hands together.
"Thank you Jesus, praise the Lord." Ned then turned to Moe.
"I think your sign said that you closed at around 10, so I'll see you later." Ned said and Moe shrugged again.
"Alright, Alright. I'll see you later." Moe said and Ned smiled, before waving goodbye.
As Ned left the bar, Moe sighed and looked at the blob that was the passed out Barney on the bartop. He always took a 30-45 minute nap around this time, and with business being so slow, Moe really shouldn't kick him out until Barney runs out of money.
His customers were becoming less frequent and more memorable. Each one if them comes in at theit usual times and if any of them havr plans then they leave by 8, or more likely they stay until closing.
Moe thought back to when he briefly called his bar 'Flaming Moe's' and how crowded his bar was. Everyone enjoyed it, and people didn't have many complaints about the building or him. As difficult as it might be to work with a man with a 'PHD in mixology', it might help get the bar back in the hearts of the people in this town.
Moe contemplated on this matter for hours. Even thought it sounded like a good... No, a great business opportunity, there was something that felt off about the whole deal. Even the thought of getting Helen drunk was amusing, and yet Moe couldn't shake this feeling that doing this Holy Hour would change something.
Moe smiled as he remembered his old Italian grandmother who use to tell him that intuition or a gut feeling was your mind's eye telling you of future events to come. But how could serving Christian drinks with Ned effect him? Moe's gut was screaming that change is coming, but what really worried Moe, is that he couldn't tell if this was a positive or negative feeling. And as Moe walked towards the pristine Flanders house, the feeling only became more intense and a lot more confusing.
But as Moe extended his hand to knock on the door, it swung open and something hit him right in the stomach. As Moe toppled to the ground, he saw another figure fall beside him and he soon heard a girlish squeel.
"Oh, my stars. Moe, Todd, are you two ok?" Ned said and Todd sat up.
"I'm ok, daddy. I am sorry that I ran into you, Mr... Uh, Moe." Todd said as he rubbed his head, and Moe quickly muttered gibberish before rolling to his side.
"I'm fine, kid. I wasn't expecting you so I didn't prepare myself for playtime." He said then smiled and Todd smiled back.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that Moe. But you see the Todd-meister accidently forgot his bible so we needed to come back and get it." Ned explained and Moe nodded.
"So you make your kids read the bible every night?" Moe asked as Ned helped Moe off the ground with his shockingly soft hands.
"Make them read? By golly I only force them not to have bible storied if they get in trouble." Ned said and Moe rose an eyebrow at this and then turned his attention to Todd who was hugging his bible tightly.
"Huh, well I guess that you need to drive your boy." Moe said and Ned gave a nervous chuckle.
"That's true, are you ok?" Ned asked and Moe crossed his arms.
"My left arm hurts a little, but I was holding two beers. I brought one for each of us, so I can drink one while your gone. I just, uh... Need to find them." Moe said looking down and then suddenly the two males jumped at the sound of Todd screaming.
"There's glass in your arm and red stuff is coming out!" Todd said and Moe lifted his left arm and looked at the back of it.
"Well, what do you know, I found one of the beers." Moe said calmly.
