The Haunted Car

When old Trevor Tarpin fell back in through the door of the "Bird in Hand" twenty minutes after he had said his final good night and left for home, no one was surprised, for they well knew Trevor was always seeing something on the way home. The Gray Lady, the Black Dog, the White Horse and other shapes and shadows and all apeard at some time to strike terror into his poor old heart, to send him back to the safety of the inn.
So, as he leaned against the wall trying to get his breath, he caused only a momentary pause in the placid activity of the bar. One of the card player looked up and said jovially:"Back again, Trevor?" and that was all.
It was Homer Morgan who did the right thing by the old man, buying him a drop of rum to drive out the terror, listening to his story, and taking him home in his car.
As soon as they had gone the disagreements started. Some supported old Trevor, others thought he was a silly old fool. It started quietly but spread until the place was in uproar.
As soon as there was a lull, Dai Davis hammered his pint pot on the table and shouted:"Order, lett's have order!", over and over again until he had quiet. "Listen", he said. "Listen to what I have to say. You can make of it what you like, it's a true story, and it happened only last week. After I've told it you can arque about old Trevor."
"Last Saturday", he continued, "we were playing rugby at Church End, and we won. After the game we went to the club for supper, and after supper we had the usual concert, and the jugs of beer went round. I drank my fair whake, and to cut the story short, I lost the rest of the team and missed the bus home. I was a bit late, but some fool said I'd gone home by car, so they went without me.
I started walking, hoping to get a lift. Now it's a good three miles, and at that time of night, for it was twelve, there's not match traffic about. It was raining, and I was getting pretty wet outside when along came this car. It came up from behind me with lights full on, traveling quite slowly. I stepped into the road to wave it down and then stepped back again smartly for it didn't stop, it went on by.
It was travelling so slowly that I thought it was slowing for me, so running alongside I opened the door and got in.
And then I got shock - there was no driver! No driver, no passenger, nobody in the car but me - and along we glided smoothly and silently, with no sound but my breathing and the drum of the rain. The engine wasn't running, there was no one at the wheel, and we ghosted along slowly and dreamly through the rain.
I sat there a bit frightened at first, but it was warm and dry, and we were going in the right direction and so, sleepy as I was, after a bit sat back an relaxed. We came to the corner by the bridge, and I thought I might have to do something, steer or brake or even jump out, but no.
In through the open driver's window came a hand, floating in green and drowned-looking by the light of the instruments, a hand that took the wheel and turned it so that we swung around the corner as neat and sweet as you like. My neck prickled, and the sweat dropped off my top lip when I saw this, but I wasn't harmed in any other way. The hand vanished and we moved on, slowly down the road. At every corner the hand came in and I was no longer afraid. We finally came to the first set of lights, and the lights were against us. Sure enough, the car stopped, waited for the change, and on the green, away we went down the street towards the second set lights in Market Lane. These, too, were red, and again we stopped and waited for the change.
Here I was at the end of my journey and I opened the door and hopped out. There I stood on the curb in the rain, watching the ghostly car go on, silently an dreadfully gliding up the road, till it's taillight disappeared around the corner.
I stood there under the traffic lights for about ten minutes, thinking about what I'd seen, and smoking a cigarette. There was no one about at all - just the lights blinking, red, amber, green, and my thoughts and the hissing rain. I was just about to go, when a man appeared out of the darkness and asked for a light. He was soaping, sopping wet, water was running out of the bottoms of this trousers and squeezing up out of the eyelets of this shoes, and his hair was plastered to his cheeks. I gave him a few matches out of the box in pocket, and we smoked together in silence.
I'd been thinking about this haunted car, so I started telling him. "A funny thing happened to me", I started. "I was walking back from Church End about an hour ago." He looked at me in disbelief. "From Church End?". I said:"Yes, why?" He looked at me strangely, looked at my dry clothes, then at his wet ones, and said:"I've just come from there." It was my turn to look at him oddly, for we'd passed no one on the way. "Yes", he said, "my Austin run out of petrol there and I had to push the ruddy thing all the way back here, in the rain."
Now, I'll have one more pint of beer and get off home.