The One With The Ghost of Central Perk
By: Jana~
*****~*****
--"Hey Pheebs…" Joey greeted his friend casually as she entered Central Perk, followed by similar greetings from the other four friends…
"Hey guys!" she greeted cheerfully, her high spirits obvious…
"What's with the great mood?" Chandler asked…
"Oh, well, I've just had the greatest morning ever!" she replied enthusiastically… "My grandma stopped by for a visit!"
Everyone stared at her blankly for several moments, Ross the first to speak up…
"The grandma that's… dead?"
Phoebe nodded… "Yeah!"
"Wow…" Chandler mused… "I bet the fare on that cab ride cost a fortune."
"Ok, Pheebs, hang on a sec…" Rachel joined in… "Are you saying that your grandma's ghost came to see you this morning?"
She nodded… "Uh-huh!"
"Cause the breakfast menu in the afterlife sucks?" Chandler quipped…
"Honey…" Monica tried the more reasonable approach… "Why don't you start at the beginning. What happened exactly?"
"Well…" Phoebe began… "I was sitting on the couch, breezing through a magazine and eating a bagel when I heard this noise. So, I went to go see what it was…"
"That's when people in the movies get killed…" Chandler whispered to Joey, who chuckled…
"And I went into the kitchen…" she ignored Chandler, continuing… "And there she was… rummaging through the fridge." She sighed as she thought about it… "I asked her what she was looking for, but she didn't answer. I think she was looking for the yogurt she was trying to buy the day she died."
"Did she say anything at all?" Joey asked, now very interested in the story…
"No, not really… but she smiled at me!"
"Are you sure it was her?" Rachel asked…
Phoebe scoffed… "Well, I do know what my own grandma looks like."
"No, I mean, are you sure it wasn't just a dream?"
"It wasn't a dream."
"Well, maybe you imagined it?"
"I didn't imagine it. Y'know, I know you guys don't really believe in some of the stuff I believe in, but you could at least try not to look at me like I've lost my marbles."
"I lost my marbles once…" Chandler chimed in… "Couldn't play Chinese checkers after that."
"It's not that we don't believe you sweetie…" Monica soothed, ignoring her fiancé… "It's just that… well, maybe there's another explanation…"
"Sometimes dreams can seem very real…" Ross added… "I remember this one dream I had… I was late for class, so I ran out without my pants…"
"Yeah," Joey interrupted… "I had that dream as a kid…"
Ross shook his head… "No, no… I had that dream last week."
Phoebe sighed… "You guys are always scoffing when I tell you about stuff that I really believe in! You always dismiss me like I'm crazy!" She pointed at Ross… "Especially you!"
He seemed shocked… "What? I can't help it if I don't believe in this stuff." he stated… "No more than you can believe in evolution." he added with singsongy sarcasm…
Phoebe scowled… "So, because I told you I didn’t believe in evolution you've decided to mock my beliefs?" she asked indignantly… "How old are you?"
"Look, I'm not mocking your beliefs… I believe that you believe you saw your grandmother's ghost. I for one just don’t believe in such things."
"It's one of those 'have to see to believe' type things I think hun…" Rachel added…
"We're not saying it's impossible…" Monica further explained… "It's just… well… improbable."
Phoebe sighed, exasperated… "So, none of you believe me?"
"I believe you!" Joey announced proudly… "I totally believe in ghosts and stuff! Like, during this one play I was doing… at this really old theater… if we would stay late enough at night, we'd hear all kinds of weird things!"
"Really?" Phoebe perked up… "Like what?"
"Someone moaning… footsteps… it was all really creepy…"
"Maybe it was just a night janitor." Ross surmised… "Or maybe a cat…"
"A cat with tap shoes?" Joey asked… "It sounded like tap dancing…"
Phoebe shivered… "Ooo… I just got goose-bumps!"
"There's lots of ghost stories out there…" Rachel sighed… "It's just people with overactive imaginations who are prone to suggestion…"
Everyone looked at her, odd expressions on their faces, Rachel not known for her in-depth analysis of the human psyche…
She looked at each of them… "What? I read it in a magazine…"
With gestures of understanding, they all looked at one another and nodded before moving back to Phoebe's sighting…
"Phoebe, we're glad that you had such a neat thing happen… it's just… most people wouldn’t be so quick to believe it was real unless they saw it for themselves…" Monica clarified… everyone agreed.
"Well, next time I see grandma, I'll ask her to visit me on a schedule more convenient for you all!"
Joey casually pulled out his planner and started flipping through the pages… "Wednesdays are best for me…"
*****~*****
--Monica, Rachel, Ross, and Chandler had all left the coffeehouse for work, leaving a, for the most part, unemployed Phoebe and Joey on their own…
"Hey, Phoebe, you wanna split a scone with me?" Joey asked casually, digging up change from his pocket. Phoebe's silence caused him to stop his foraging… "Pheebs?"
"I'm just so upset!" she snapped, looking upset…
"Well, we could split a muffin instead…" he suggested, mistaking her tone and expression as directed at him…
She looked up at him, only then realizing that he was awaiting an answer… "Either is fine Joey…"
"What's wrong?"
"It's the rest of the gang…" she sighed… "Always dismissing me. It's always 'we don’t believe you're psychic Phoebe', and 'we don’t believe your mom's inside this cat Phoebe', and 'we don’t believe your dead grandma came to visit and look for yogurt Phoebe'!"
"Yeah. It's the same with me! It's always 'you can't pass for 19 years old Joe', or 'you can't possibly shove that many Oreo cookies in your mouth Joe', or 'You can't keep that award cause it's not yours, Joe'."
"And you proved them wrong with the Oreos!"
He chuckled as he signaled for Gunther… "Yep! And with the award too!" When Phoebe gave him an odd look, he got defensive… "The actress didn't want it!"
"Wish I could prove them wrong… somehow show them…"
"Yeah?" Gunther asked as he approached…
"Scone or muffin Pheebs?" Joey asked…
She turned to Gunther… "Muffin."
"To split." Joey added… Gunther nodded as he walked away…
"Help me out Joey, how can I prove it to them?" Phoebe asked seriously…
"Take a picture next time your grandma visits?" he suggested…
"Yeah, maybe… not sure if she would show up on film though. Some ghosts don’t ya'know."
"What about a video camera?"
"Same thing. Besides, I don’t own one…"
"Here's your muffin." Gunther said as he set the muffin down in front of them.
And that was normal enough, but, what was not so normal was the fact that right smack-dab in the middle of the muffin was a sharp knife, sticking straight out of it. It looked like the muffin had been stabbed, and Phoebe and Joey shared looks before looking to Gunther…
"What?" Gunther asked off their looks…
Phoebe shook her head, looking away… "Nothing." When Gunther walked away, she leaned in to Joey… "He's a bit odd, dont'cha think?"
"Yeah, just a bit…" he said sarcastically, as if that were an understatement. He took the knife out of the muffin and cut it in half, grabbing his half and cramming it into his mouth as he handed Phoebe her half on the plate.
"I bet if they saw a ghost for real, they would totally wet themselves…"
He nodded, swallowing before speaking… "Man, that would be funny!"
"They wouldn’t have the patience to wait around for one to show up though…"
"Yeah, true…"
"Unless…" An evil grin spread across Phoebe's face, and Joey looked at her… confused… "What if… we help the ghost show up at the right place and at the right time?"
Joey still looked confused… "Like have a séance or something?"
"No… like, we set it all up."
He shook his head and shrugged like he still wasn't following her…
"A prank Joe…" she explained further… "We pull a prank."
Slowly, his facial expression showed understanding, and he smiled… "Sounds fun! Count me in!"
"Hee-hee! Ok, great… here's what we do…"
*****~*****
--Phoebe and Joey strolled into Chandler and Monica's apartment, continuing a conversation they had obviously started before…
"I'm telling you…" Phoebe said to Joey… "It's every Halloween…"
Joey looked amazed… "Wow…"
"What are you guys talking about?" Monica asked as she continued to cook for her friends and fiancé…
"Oh, nothing…" Phoebe waved dismissively… "You wouldn't be interested…"
"Why not?" Rachel asked, involving herself in the conversation as well…
"It's just about ghosts… you know, stuff you don't believe in…" Phoebe replied…
"It's just so weird! Ya'know? You go to a place every day of your life and you never even realize it's haunted!" Joey turned the conversation back to Phoebe…
She nodded… "Yep, I know."
Chandler stood and joined them in the kitchen area… "What's haunted?"
"Central Perk." Joey replied…
"What?" Ross was now involved… "No way is Central Perk haunted!"
"Always the skeptic, eh Ross?" Phoebe scoffed… "Just cause you don't believe in it doesn't mean it isn't real."
"Central Perk haunted?" Monica asked… "Who's haunting it?"
"And why?" Rachel added…
"Well, what happened was…" Phoebe began to explain… "Before it was Central Perk, when it was still the bar, this one guy, a vagrant, came in almost nightly. He'd drink till drunk… beg for money from other customers, then leave several hours later… always without leaving a tip. Well, one Halloween night, the bartender snapped… started yelling at the guy about never leaving a tip. And, well, one thing led to another… and the bartender chopped the guys hand off."
"Oh my God!" Rachel exclaimed, thoroughly engrossed in the story…
"He didn't have medical insurance, so he didn't get treatment for the injury… he bled to death." Phoebe sighed… "Now, every Halloween, his ghost comes in to Central Perk looking for his hand…"
Ross rolled his eyes… "Oh please…"
"It's true!" Joey insisted… "And the guy who did it is still out there, free as a bird…"
"They never caught him?" Monica asked…
"Nope…" Phoebe shook her head… "And, actually, you know him…"
Monica, Rachel, Ross, and Chandler all looked shocked… "What?"
"The bartender was… Gunther."
"What?!" all but Joey and Phoebe shouted…
Phoebe just nodded…
"Wait, wait, if that were true, why is he not in jail?" Ross asked in a disbelieving pretentious tone…
"They never could pin it on him…" was Phoebe's quick reply…
"Why would he still be working there?" Rachel asked shakily…
"To protect the scene of the crime. To watch over the evidence…"
Monica looked curious… "Evidence?"
"What evidence?" Rachel rephrased Monica's question…
"The hand…"
"Oh, this is ridiculous!" Ross snipped… "I never remember reading anything in the papers…"
"It was never in the papers…"
"Then how did you find out about it?" Chandler asked, trying not to show how spooked he was over her story…
"He was someone I knew… from my days on the street. A mutual friend told me about it… she was with him when he died. She knows the whole story…"
"Why didn’t she go to the police?" Monica asked…
"There was a warrant for her arrest."
"Then why didn’t you go to the police?" Ross asked…
"Cause, I didn’t want attention drawn to me… at the time. Besides, without her testimony, it was all hearsay." They all just stared at her… "Didn’t you ever wonder why they changed it from the bar to the coffeehouse? The 'situation' was why Chris sold the bar to the guy who turned it into Central Perk."
"Y'know," Rachel spoke up… "I worked there for years, and I never remember anything weird… like ghosts… or that Gunther was a killer…"
"Well, the ghost only comes around on all Hallows eve. That's why Gunther always closes up early on Halloween…"
Rachel's eyes grew wide… "You're right! He does do that!"
"And, you've seen how weird Gunther is… you think he's just that weird for no reason?"
"It always seemed like a harmless kind of weird…"
"And, didn't you ever notice how he would never let you go down to the basement storage room to get the extra coffee filters?"
"Yeah! He did always insist on doing that himself!"
"Oh, c'mon guys! There is no way Gunther is a killer!" Ross insisted…
"He didn't mean to kill him." Phoebe calmly explained… "He just snapped and chopped off the guy's hand. The guy bled to death cause he couldn’t afford medical attention."
"How do you know the ghost shows up every Halloween?" Monica asked…
"One of the waitresses told me. She used to close, and nothing ever happened… till that one Halloween night. She quit after that. I saw her when she was picking up her last paycheck, and I asked her why she quit. She told me she saw a ghost… that the place was haunted. The ghost kept screaming about his hand. Freaked her out. That's when Gunther changed the hours on Halloween… so the waitress closing would be out early."
Ross made a scoffing noise and walked away…
"Well, even if it's not true…" Monica added… "It's sure a good ghost story!"
*****~*****
--Monica, Rachel, Chandler, and Joey all sat on and around the large couch in Central Perk, talking about the story Phoebe had relayed the day before…
"I just don't know if I believe it…" Monica admitted… "I mean, I guess it could be true…"
"Well," Joey spoke up… "I believe her."
"Yeah, but, c'mon. Gunther?" Rachel asked, not so sure she believed that Gunther could be so violent...
"Yes?" Gunther asked, hearing his name…
They all jumped and Rachel immediately stammered for what to say… "Uh… well… um… oh! I need a muffin!" she announced nervously…
"To split…" Joey added, with which Rachel gave him an odd look… "What? I'm hungry!"
Gunther shook his head and walked away…
"See? I mean, c'mon… does he seem like the violent type?"
"Well, maybe not now… cause he's not angry…" Joey offered…
"True… but still…" Rachel muttered to herself…
Just then Gunther walked up with a muffin, a sharp knife plunged into the middle of it… "There you go."
They stared in shock at the impaled muffin, then they looked to one-another, their eyes wide and mouths open…
*****~*****
--"I'm telling you Ross," Rachel explained… "I really think there might be something to her story…"
"That's ridiculous Rach."
"The story makes sense… and you shoulda seen Gunther today…"
"Why? What did he do?"
"He brought me a muffin, and--"
"Oh, he brought you a muffin?!" he asked with heavy sarcasm… "Wow! He must be a dangerous killer."
"Ross! I had more to say!" He gestured for her to continued. "When he brought it to me… it had a knife sticking out of it! Like he'd stabbed it!"
"Well, that's pretty flimsy evidence…"
"Oh, I know, I know… but, I'm just saying…"
"Sorry Rach, but I would need a lot more evidence than a knife in a muffin…"
*****
--Ross walked in to Central Perk, and seeing that none of his friends were there, he decided to get his coffee to go. He approached the counter, Gunther immediately popping up from behind it, startling him…
"Hey Ross…"
He looked at Gunther skeptically for a moment, then forced a smile… "Hey Gunther… what's new?"
"Nothing…" he replied, then his expression changed to somewhat wild… "Except, I got this new knife!" He pulled a machete out abruptly and brandished it at Ross, which caused him to jump back…
"Ummm… going-- Forget the--" Ross stammered as he backed towards the door… "Gotta go…"
*****
--"Seriously Mon!" Ross told his sister… "He looked like a psycho! I mean, who buys a machete?"
"People trying to hack their way through the jungle?" Chandler quipped…
"Now do you believe Phoebe's story?" Joey asked as he grabbed a beer from the fridge…
"I don't know…" Ross shook his head… "I don't know. But, it sure got me thinking…"
Chandler chuckled… "Cause you didn't have thoughts before?"
Ross ignored his quips… "I'm not saying I believe that Central Perk is haunted… I'm just saying that I think it's possible… possible…" he emphasized… "That something is up with Gunther."
*****
--They watched Gunther stealthily as he worked, looking away quickly when he would glance their way. They spoke in hushed tones, and when he would approach, they would stop talking all together. Every time he asked if they needed a refill, or anything at all, they would jump and act all nervous and flustered. It was starting to cause suspicion…
"Hey Gunther, can we get 2 lattes and a cappuccino please?" Phoebe requested, her being the only one willing to go up and place the order…
"Sure." He replied easily, stealing a quick peek at the others from her group as he started to fill the order. "Hey, Phoebe, what is up with the rest of your little clique?"
"Huh? Why do you ask?"
"They keep staring at me! And, they're acting all… jumpy."
"Stress at work." She informed, trying not to chuckle… "Just ignore them…"
He nodded, handing Phoebe the drinks a moment later.
As Phoebe was handing the drinks out to everyone, Gunther came from behind the counter to clear off a table nearby. He gathered the mugs and plates, then collected the tip money…
"Stupid lousy tippers…" he mumbled to himself… "It's not like it's hard to figure out people. Double the tax. How hard is that? Someone should teach them a lesson…" His words faded as he walked away…
He hadn't meant for anyone to hear him… he was just complaining to himself… but the friends gang heard him…
"Oh my God! Did you hear that?" Rachel asked with quiet anxiety…
"I did." Chandler replied…
"Now do you believe Phoebe? Mr. Skeptic…" Monica asked her brother…
"What? So, Gunther was mumbling about a bad tip! That doesn't make him a killer! And it sure doesn't mean there's a ghost here haunting the place either!"
"Well, if you still don't believe her…" Joey spoke up… "Why don't you come here on Halloween night and prove her wrong?"
"That's ridiculous…" Ross scoffed, a small nervous chuckle accompanying his words…
"Why?" Rachel asked… "I thought you loved proving people wrong…" she goaded…
"I do!" He shook his head when everyone laughed at his admission… "I didn't mean it like that. It's just… I mean, I would love to prove there is no validity to the story, but, Gunther isn't gonna let us in."
Chandler smirked… "Cause he's the killer?"
"No," Ross countered… "Cause he isn't gonna want customers here when there are no employees here."
"Well, there is a way around that…" Rachel informed, and they all looked to her… "I shouldn't know this… but, there is a spare key to the back door… and I know where it's kept. I could get it."
"Oooo… this could be fun!" Monica chirped…
"Waiting for a handless ghost…" Chandler interjected… "Not my idea of fun."
Monica snuggled up to him… "But you'll do it for me, right hun?"
Chandler raised his eyebrows in curiosity… "What's in it for me?" She whispered something in his ear and his eyes grew wide… "I'm in!" he announced enthusiastically…
"Well, I'm in…" Joey added, a quick knowing glance between him and Phoebe undetectable by the others…
Rachel raised her hand only slightly… "Well, I'm game."
Then they all looked to Ross…
He rolled his eyes… "Fine. Count me in too." He muttered… "Just a waste of time though…
*****~*****
--Around nine in the evening, on All Hallows Eve, the six friends gathered in the hall between Chandler and Monica's and Joey and Rachel's apartments…
"Nice outfit Joe…" Chandler stated as he looked his friend up and down…
Joey, dressed all in black, including a black knit ski-cap and black gloves, looked down at his clothes before looking back to Chandler, his brow furrowed…
"You're not a cat burglar Joe… or a ninja. We're going to watch for the handless ghost of Central Perk… not to rob the place. Or fight off Power Rangers."
Joey scowled in response… "I know that. I just thought this way, I'd be inconspicuous."
Chandler forced himself not to chuckle… "Oh, yeah, ok… cause that outfit doesn't call any attention to you at all!" he mocked…
"Where's Phoebe?" Rachel asked, changing the subject…
"She's on her way…" Monica informed… "What about Ross?"
"What about Ross?" Ross asked as he entered the hall off the stairs…
Rachel turned abruptly at the sound of his voice… "Oh, there you are!"
"Yep. Present." He mumbled apathetically… "Let's get this pointless venture under way…"
Monica shook her head… "We're still waiting on Phoebe…"
Ross sighed… "Great. Drag the night out further…"
Just then Phoebe appeared from behind the corner off the stairs… "Oh, chill Ross. The ghost supposedly doesn't show up till closer to midnight anyway…"
"Then why are we going so early?"
"Cause, we don't want to miss it!"
"Speak for yourself…"
"If you're so sure this is all hogwash, why are you going?"
"To prove you wrong!"
Phoebe smirked… "We'll see…"
*****~*****
--"Do you think anyone would mind if I grabbed a muffin or something?" Joey asked as the group all sat around the dark and closed Central Perk… "I'm hungry!"
"What else is new?" Chandler joked, looking extremely bored…
"What time is it anyway?" Rachel asked, stretching and yawning a moment later…
"Twenty minutes till midnight…" Monica replied tiredly…
"Well, it's no surprise to me that we haven't seen anything…" Ross gloated…
"Just give it time…" Phoebe answered back… "I'm sure it won't be much longer."
"You know what this reminds me of?" Rachel interjected, followed by everyone gesturing with words and motions for her to continue… "It reminds me of that Halloween Charlie Brown special. Y'know, the one where Linus waits in the pumpkin patch all night, hoping to see 'The Great Pumpkin'?"
"How does this remind you of that?"
"Well, cause, Linus believed 'The Great Pumpkin' was coming, and Phoebe believes this ghost is coming. And Lucy mocked Linus, and Ross mocks Phoebe. And, well, it's Halloween…"
"This reminds me of my most boring day ever…" Chandler complained… "Multiplied by ten."
"Look, it's not gonna be much longer, ok? Have some freakin patience!" Phoebe barked quietly… "Spirits don’t have the same attention to time that we have…"
"Yeah!" Joey backed Phoebe up… "Stop your whining!"
Chandler scoffed… "Oh, well, if that ain't the pot calling the kettle black!"
Joey looked offended… "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm hungry! I want a muffin!" Chandler did a poor, over-dramatized imitation of Joey…
"Would you two quit your bickering!" Rachel ordered…
"Yeah! You're gonna scare off the ghost!" Phoebe added…
"Oh, right… sure…" Ross patronized…
Phoebe glared as she pointed at him… "Would you please just open your mind like this much?!" she asked, holding her fingers up to gesture an amount…
"Oh, he couldn't do that…" Monica informed condescendingly… "Then he would have to see and admit that his way of thinking isn't the only way of thinking."
"Hey!" Ross exclaimed… "I don't think my way is the only way!"
"No… you just think your way is the only right way!"
"Oh, please! That is so not true!"
"Ya'know, guys, technically, we're not supposed to be in here… so maybe you should stop making noise!" Rachel ordered…
"Right, cause that's what'll get us in trouble…" Chandler quipped… "Not the breaking and entering… but the noise…"
"Can you stop being sarcastic for like 2 minutes?"
"I don't know… I've never tried…"
"Well, you should know… it's annoying…"
"As annoying as Ross' closed mind?"
"People need to stop saying that!" Ross snapped…
Several overlapping conversations and arguments started to make quite a commotion, any attempt to keep their voices down slowly fading as the bickering continued…
"Ssshhh!" Phoebe hissed… "I think I heard something…"
All the noise and talking stopped, everyone straining to listen. It was faint, but there was a noise of some kind…
"What is that?" Monica asked, to which no one responded…
The noise seemed to be getting louder, but it was still very faint. After a moment, what looked like a severed hand could be seen crawling across the floor…
"Wha-- Is tha-- Is that what I think it is?" Rachel asked with a shaky voice…
"It has to be mechanical…" Ross insisted…
Rachel pushed him slightly… "Go see."
"I'm not gonna go see!"
"Someone should go see!" Monica grumbled…
"Well, it's not gonna be me!" Ross assured…
"Well, don’t look at me!" Chandler added…
"Me neither!" Rachel whispered harshly…
"One of the 'brave men' should go see." Phoebe suggested…
"Yeah, well, count me out." Chandler replied…
"Oh, geeez…" Joey huffed… "I'll go!"
He hesitated only briefly, then started to inch towards the hand, now several inches ahead of where it had been. After only a few steps, he stopped cold…
An ominous figure appeared from the back, quite suddenly, and approached the hand. Joey froze where he was, the rest of the group hid behind the couch, peeking over as they watched.
The 'ghost', dressed in vagrant clothing, his left hand gone and his left sleeve and arm covered in old blood, leaned down and picked up the hand, attempting to attach it to his wrist. It dropped back to the floor with a thud, and the 'ghost' stared at it briefly…
"That is not my hand!" he announced in a spooky voice, pointing at the hand… then he looked up. He made eye contact with each of the cowering friends before pointing at them… "Where's my hand?!"
There was a flurry of movement and noise as Chandler, Ross, Monica, and Rachel attempted to get to, unlock, and get out the front door…
"The bottom lock!" Rachel screamed… "The bottom lock!"
Chandler dropped to his knees and immediately began fumbling with it when they all heard distinct laughing.
Turning, they saw Phoebe, Joey, and the 'ghost' all standing there laughing at them.
"What's going on?" Rachel asked…
"I think we've just been had." Chandler answered…
"Big time!" Joey laughed.
The four formerly scared group of four slowly walked towards their mischievous friends…
"This is Hank…" Joey introduced… "Hank, this is Chandler, Monica, Rachel, and Ross."
Hank waved… "Hey. Sorry about scaring you like that…"
"Uhn! I wasn't scared!" Ross snipped defensively…
"Oh please!" Phoebe chuckled… "You were so scared!"
"Was not!"
"Freeze!" A voice from behind them ordered, and they all slowly looked to where the sound had come from, seeing two police officers with guns drawn and pointed right at them.
"Uh, officer, we can explain…" Monica offered…
"No talking! Hands up!" the second officer barked…
"Great going guys!" Joey whispered, upset… "You must've set off the silent alarm!"
*****
--"So, you see officer…" Phoebe finished explaining… "We weren't trying to rob the place or anything. We were just playing a prank on our friends."
"Ok, I'm here!" Gunther announced as he walked through the door… "Where's the perp? Anything stolen?"
"Perp?" Chandler asked with a sarcastic tone…
"The seven of them are right there…" The officer pointed at the couch, and the two chairs next to the couch…
Gunther looked at them, immediately recognizing them… well, all but one of them…
He sighed… "I know them. It's fine. She," he pointed at Rachel… "Used to work here. The others are regulars. They're harmless."
The officer nodded… "Ok, you're free to go." he told the seven pranksters and victims of the prank… "But, next time you feel like pulling pranks… try to do it where you are legally allowed to be."
"Yes officer…" "Absolutely sir…" and other various acknowledgements came from the seven of them…
Gunther stared at them scoldingly as the police left, and the group looked down out of remorse…
"We're sorry Gunther…" Phoebe apologized…
"Ya'know, I see enough of you during business hours…"
"I know. We're sorry. It won't happen again…"
He looked at the new guy for a moment… "You I don’t know…"
Joey did the introductions… "Gunther, this is an acting friend of mine, Hank. Hank, Gunther."
They shook hands, then Gunther gestured towards the door… "Leave now, so I can lock up…"
They all nodded and headed for the door…
"Night Gunther!" Phoebe called out… "See'ya tomorrow!"
Gunther sighed… "Right."
*****~*****
--"You can deny it all you want…" Phoebe teased Ross… "But you were too scared!"
"Ok…" he admitted… "Maybe I was scared… but not cause I thought I was seeing a ghost!"
"Yeah…" "Sure…" "Right…" came the replies from the rest of the group…
"Oh, please… I didn't think it was a ghost! I think I'm a little smarter than that!"
"Uh-huh…" "Right…" "Whatever…"
"C'mon! It's just that… he was creepy looking!" Ross defended himself…
"Well, I'll admit… I was freaked out!" Rachel interjected…
Monica nodded… "Me too!"
"Me three." Chandler added…
"And… what was the point to this prank?" Ross asked… "Cause it's not like you proved the existence of ghosts. You just scared everyone…"
"I knew there was no way to get a ghost to come on your schedule, so, I created a situation where a 'ghost' would appear." Phoebe explained… "And, if you believed for even a second that what you were seeing was a ghost, then you have to admit that it is at least possible that ghosts exist."
"Well, I never thought I was seeing a ghost…" Ross replied evenly…
Joey shook his head… "Pretentious to the end…"
They all looked at him for a moment, amazed by his choice of words…
Ross turned to Chandler… "Would you stop buying him word-a-day toilet paper!"
Monica looked at her watch… "I gotta get going…"
That prompted Rachel to check her watch also… "Oh! Me too!"
Chandler stood up when Monica stood… "I should too probably. Doug is on my back about a report that's due…"
"And I'm due back at the museum…" Ross added.
"Hey, Joey…" Phoebe gained his attention… "Wanna go to the movies?"
He smiled… "Sure!"
They all headed for the door after leaving a tip on the table, then Rachel, Ross, Chandler, and Monica all looked at each other for a moment… just short of leaving. They watched as Phoebe and Joey walked out the door, then the four turned back and discreetly left a larger-than-usual tip for Gunther before walking out the door to embrace the crisp November afternoon.
THE END
Thanks for reading!