"Well, let's hear it then!" the bartender said and Robert chuckled again.
                          
"That's the spirit, kid! Grab a drink and get comfortable, you're in for a quite a tale!"
                          
And so, Robert Elm began his story.
                          
"It all began back in November, 1962. I was living in a small town in rural Iowa. Back then everybody knew everyone else like family; it was a safe place, that's why my family settled down there back when the area was a barren patch of farmland. Through the entirety of my teenage years I was chasing a girl named Elizabeth. I can practically see her now. As time went by, our relationship grew. After high school we bought her uncle's house on 4th street and slowly learned to live together as a soon to be married pair. This was a struggle to say the least. Back when I was a younger man I had a fiery temper that seemed to grow as we became closer to one another.
                          
I remember one specific instance when I heard she had wrecked my dad's Ford. I... I hit her across the face with a trashcan lid... I had never regretted anything more in my life, it wasn't even her fault. Every morning for the next month I would come downstairs to see the pale, red bruise on her face and immediately get too choked up to speak. It was a wonder she kept me around. One night everything fell apart. I can't even remember why, but she left me on the side of the road and told me to, 'Find your own way home, you sack o' crap!' I remember my heart sinking as she pulled away, and I began to wander the side of the empty country road.
                          
I'm unsure of how I got so sidetracked, but after about an hour of hysterical rambling I had ended up halfway into one of the cornfields bordering the only road in and out of town. There I was, sobbing profusely, lashing out at the corn stalks with my fists, and wailing 'Elizabeth!' and 'I'm sorry!' at the top of my lungs with only the birds and the occasional scarecrow bearing witness. I hobbled aimlessly for what felt like hours, screaming and crying over what I had put my beloved fiancée through until I decided to sit down in a barren patch about fifteen feet across to catch my breath and form an apology for my eventual homecoming.
                          
After inspecting the area for any signs of danger, I laid my head down in the soft dirt to rest my eyes. Several hours of blissful tear-free sleep passed before I was pulled awake by rustling in the stalks. My heart skipped a beat and a chill ran down my spine, I bolted upright. Before me, a massive shape garbed in a shimmering black cloak slid out from the rows of crops. It moved towards me slowly, as if it were floating across the ground, though its feet were clearly visible and it appeared to be human. It had pale wrinkled hands that hung at its sides as it drifted closer. It drooped its hooded head and spoke squarely into my face in a dry monotone.
                          
"Good evening, traveler."
                          
Stunned I got up from the dirt and asked, "Who are you?"
                          
He answered, "Just a man on his way to a meeting."
                          
I looked at him, bewildered. "Why are you here?" I asked.
                          
He looked up and said, "I enjoy taking the scenic routes, so much more peaceful than the hustle and bustle of the roadsides. Now, what I am wondering is who you are and why are you here." As I look back I am surprised at how eager I was to reveal so much of myself to a total stranger.
                          
"My name is Robert," I said sheepishly. "My girlfriend dumped me out here 'cause we got in a fight and I hit her and she cried and... And..." The tears were welling in my eyes again.
                          
"Say no more, friend," the man interrupted as he waved his hand. "I offer you a proposition, you may come with me, attend my meeting, my friends and I shall cheer you up, and we will take you back to your home in the morning. How does that sound?"
                          
A smile slowly formed on my face as I thanked the hooded figure. I reached out to shake his hand for his patronage, but he quickly recoiled claiming there was no need to thank him.