Wednesday, July 28, 2010

60 Second Stories - 3 - The Beer Man


When we lived in Germany, the Beer Man would come to our little gated community every Friday evening. He drove in with his big truck which he stocked with cases of bottled pop, wine and beer.

The previous Wednesday he would come around collecting our orders and on Friday he delivered. You could get a mix of pop flavors in those big one litre bottles or a case of twenty four regular coke sized bottles. The beer could also be mixed and matched and you could get wine.

It was fun because he had this assistant named Clause. Now Clause was mute and only had one arm but he was a giant of a man in every respect. He could carry three of those plastic crates full of bottles with his one arm which was more massive than any bodybuilder I have seen since. To a kid he was seven feet tall. He always had a big smile and gum for the kids in his pockets. We liked him a lot.

Now at Christmas time, Clause and the Beer Man would do their ordinary deliveries but all the army fathers would meet him at the gate and do the lifting and carrying for him while all of them took shots of booze. By the time they got to the last building everyone was smashed and they ate food and listened to music and partied with them and the other German people of our village.

For the kids there were costumes and fireworks and presents. For Clause and the Beer Man there was a big 'tip' collected from everyone they delivered to. Then they usually got driven home by the Canadian MPs. However, once the Dads had arranged for them to be taken home in a tank. I still remember Clause waving his one hand feverishly to us like he was a parade Marshall. It's one of my favorite childhood memories.

10 comments:

Wings1295 said...

Sounds like a great memory, and would make an awesome short story!

Pat Tillett said...

That is a great childhood story!
What a memory...

Leviathud said...

Wow! Talk about a beer drinker getting tanked! Awesome story. I sometimes think your life needs to be in comic format.

M. D. Jackson said...

That's a wonderful story.

Why don't we have beer men in Canada, dammit!

Kal said...

Because the European's are so much more civilized about these things.

Megan said...

You write these memory posts so very well. I can see the whole thing!

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

You really need to share more of your stories, Kal. This is great stuff.
xoRobyn

Sarah said...

I really enjoyed reading this story. My childhood wasn't filled with anything as neat as this.

DrGoat said...

Great story. If everyone had those quaint, true human spirit memories, I think we would be the better for it. I got lucky too. Had a great childhood with lots of love and interactions with kind people with lots of character.

D.I. Felipe González said...

Great story, Cal. Please write more.