Mr. Bumps
A couple of yearsago i got a job at the local movie theater as an usher. it was acool job i guess, i was in high school and all of my co-workerswere too, so i made some friends and had a good time. my secondday on the job, one of the managers told me about "Mr. Bumps".
it seems that this Mr. Bumps guy haunted the projection booth and8 out of the 9 theaters. me, being the new guy figured that theywere just trying to scare me and blew it off. about 2 weeks lateri landed a better paying job and quit.
but....
last year i returned to work at the theater as a projectionist. ihad all but forgot the stories i had heard about Mr. Bumps, andhappily accepted the job.
the booth itself is actually kinda spooky, what with lights andshadows dancing every which way while the movies are running. myfirst night i noticed a crack in the wall in the stairwellleading up to the booth and it sort of made an outline of a man'sface.
anyway i worked there without incident for about a month. i wastold that "bumps" as he was known, liked to "initiate"new people, but for whatever reason, he let me be. for at least alittle while.
on thursday nights, new reels are shipped to the theater and theprojectionist has to stay there practically all night and buildthem up. i was sitting at the desk waiting for the last movie toend so i could clean the projector, when i heard the familiar"flap, flap, flap" of the tail of the movie spinningaround. i jumped up and ran as fast as i could down to theprojector to turn it off. there's a second stairwell leading upto the booth, and as i ran past it, i noticed someone standing atthe base of the stairs. everyone had left the theater except forme, so i backed up and took another look. nothing was there.
i sort of shrugged it off and checked my watch. it was like 3:30am. i told my friend to come over around 4, and i'd give him asneak preview of one of the movies i had previously built up. so,i strung it up and went down into the theater to wait for him. asi sat there, it felt like there was someone standing directlybehind me. i figured that it was Sam, and he had come early. buti turned around and there was no one there.
but the door that i had propped open was now closed. i figuredthat he was just trying to scare me, so i went looking for him.
i got to the doors to the theater and met him coming in. he hadbrought two young ladies to my delight, and i proceeded to givethem a tour of the theater, telling them about Mr. Bumps and thestuff that had happened earlier. they told me i was crazy in somany words, so i led them up to the booth.
the whole way up i was saying to myself "please, bumps,don't fail me now." we got up there and started talkingabout it, but i couldn't convince them. finally i told one of thegirls to run down the aisle between the projectors, hoping Mr.Bumps would be standing at the foot of the stairs again. shefinally agreed and took off. she passed the stairs and turnedaround grinning. she began to walk back, saying that she didn'tsee anything and that i was full of it when she walked past thetable. two movie reel cases sat on the table. those things weighlike 50 lbs apeice. just as she passed the table, the cases weredumped onto the floor. she ran back terrified, shaking and cryingand everything else. i sorta just stood there, smiling.
i looked down the aisle and said "thanks buddy."
Mr. Bumps and i always got along pretty good. crazy as it sounds,i used to greet him when i'd get to work each day. if i was in abad mood, i'd ask him not to mess with me and usually he'd comply.but he definately made a believer out of me. not to mention Samand those poor girls who came to visit me that night.