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September 3, 1975
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Of Men and Monsters June 25, 1975
JUNE 25, 1975“This is it?”Matt asked.Mom gave a harried sigh. “It doesn’t look like much from the outside,” she said, far too cheerily if you ask me, “but wait until you get in before you judge.”My brother mumbled something and pushed open the passenger-side door, groaning as he stretched.Drama queen, I thought. I scrambled out of the back seat, and the cool sea breeze hit me. It smelled salty and fishy—and I loved it. On the enthusiasm meter, I was way closer to Mom than to Matt.“What are we even going to do here?” He picked up a rock and tossed it lazily toward the beach.“Are you kidding?” I cried, “the house is practically right on the water!”“Yeah,” Matt said with a glare, “and we don’t know a single person, dildo.”“Matt! Watch your language.”He shrugged and shuffled toward the beach. I followed, keeping my distance.“Take a quick look around, then come right back and help me unload,” Mom called.I waved to acknowledge her then jogged a few paces to catch
Of Men and Monsters June 26, 1975
JUNE 26, 1975Iwoke tothe sounds of seagulls squawking and waves rolling up to the shore. I’d slept with the window open and the room smelled wonderfully salty. I bounded out of bed and leaned my head out to breathe in the sea air and look out at the beach—it was nearly empty save for a few older people taking their morning walk. I’d forgotten to plug in my alarm clock so I had no idea what time it was. With nothing better to do, I ambled down to the kitchen to see if anyone else was up.Mom was sitting at the kitchen table, smoking, and drinking coffee. She gave me a weary smile.“Mornin’, champ. Sleep okay in the new room?”“It was great,” I replied, telling her about the sounds and smells I’d woken up to.Her face brightened. “That’s great. I think we’re going to be happy here.” Then her momentary brightness dimmed and I knew she was thinking about Matt.“He’ll come around,” I said. “Did you sleep okay?”She shrugged. “Pretty good, I think. It’s just ..
Of Men and Monsters June 27, 1975
JUNE 27, 1975Iwoke thenext morning feeling as though I’d never slept. I remembered waking up a few times from bad dreams, but had no memory of the dreams themselves. I moved to the window, my eyes still caked with sleep and feeling groggy. I wonder how Matt’s feeling, I thought, remembering how my dad always looked the day after. I opened the window wider than I’d left it overnight, letting the blast of cool sea air bring me fully awake. It was a picture-perfect day. The sky was a deep blue, unmarred by a single cloud. The ocean water near the shore looked greenish-blue, with the sun turning the whitecaps silvery as they crashed to the beach. Seagulls made a fuss over toward the marina, and a handful of sailboats dotted the ocean farther out, their colorful sails lending vivid contrast to the darker deep sea.I dressed quickly and ran downstairs, not bothering to check on my brother. Mom was in her seat at the kitchen table, drinking coffee. We exchanged good mornings an
Of Men and Monsters June 28, 1975
JUNE 28, 1975The next daydawned overcast and brooding. I sat by my bedroom window watching the endless crashing of the waves. Sometimes, when I thought about the never-ending cycle of the tides and how long they’d been doing their dance, it overwhelmed me. The sea looked gray and foreboding under the tumultuous skies. Even the gulls’ cries sounded frightened, unsure of what the gloomy day might bring.I hadn’t slept well after our family meeting at the kitchen table. Disquieting dreams plagued my night, though I couldn’t remember a single one. Instead of going down to scavenge breakfast, I grabbed the next issue of “They Come Out at Night” and flopped back onto my bed. The back cover was missing, leaving torn-off, jagged edges and exposing the advertisements on the last page of the comic.There were the usual ads for x-ray glasses and onion gum and joy buzzers and Charles Atlas, but one at the bottom caught my eye.SEA MONSTER PETS! HATCH THESE CREATURES IF YOU DARE!I’d se
Of Men and Monsters July 2, 1975
JULY 2, 1975The next severaldays passed in a blur, but at the same time they seemed to last forever. Mom was working crazy hours at the diner with more and more summer people—“renters” as the townies called them—showing up every day. All the boarded-up cottages were showing signs of life. By the weekend, the town would be at full capacity. Mom’s schedule left me and my brother with the freedom to spend long days and some evenings on the beach with the rest of “the townies.” There were a few other year-rounders besides us, but not many. A number of the kids’ families owned the cottages as second homes. Others had long-term rentals, some were only there for a week at a time. Kelly’s father and Leah’s mother were brother and sister, and co-owned a massive cottage they’d winterized and converted to two separate units. Leah told me it had been her grandparents’ place, but they’d both passed away. On Wednesday, Mom had to cover both the lunch and dinner shifts. We’d been at the bea
Of Men and Monsters July 3, 1975
JULY 3, 1975It rained thenext day. It didn’t just rain, it poured buckets. Real ark-building weather. At one point the wind kicked up and the huge drops flew by the windows sideways. We’d planned on hanging out at the beach in the morning, then going to a place one of the town kids knew where you could jump off a bridge at high tide. The weather had canceled all our fun. Matt and I moped around the house all morning while Mom slept in after her double the night before. She was scheduled to work the afternoon shift that day but thought she’d get cut early if the weather stayed bad.Matt made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and we sat morosely in front of the television, eating and not watching whatever was on. The phone rang and I bounded out of my chair to get it, not even thinking it might be him, but Matt was faster. He talked for a few minutes, ignoring my attempts to get his attention to find out who it was. By the end of the call, he was more animated than he’d been a
Of Men and Monsters July 4, 1975
JULY 4, 1975“Hey, check this out.”I stared into the little plastic tank that the “Sea Monster Pets!” were supposed to grow in. I’d slept in the day after The Kiss, and Matt and I were just bumming around in my room, reading comics. The storm had passed overnight but a cold drizzle still fell. It was supposed to clear later and we were going to meet the girls at the beach.Matt tossed his comic book aside. “They Come Out at Night” had been a good pastime when we’d first moved in, but girls had proven to be the ultimate distraction. From everything. “Those don’t look like shrimp,” he said, moving next to me to squint at the tank.Somethingswam in the murky water. They looked like tiny lobsters would look if their claws hadn’t fully formed. Instead, ropy appendages swirled next to them, probing the sides of the tank. I sprinkled some of the food in. The creatures sped to the surface to feed. There were too many to count, but I realized with horror that there would soon be
Of Men and Monsters July 5, 1975
JULY 5, 1975“Do they lookbigger to you?” I stared into the tank, trying to remember how they’d looked the other day. There were definitely fewer and I assumed the live ones were eating the dead. Maybe the stronger ones were eating the weaker of the living! The thought scared me. I sprinkled some food in and watched with fascination the frenzy that ensued.“Shit, they are definitely bigger—and definitely meaner.” Matt’s voice was somewhere near awe. “Are those ... tentacles?”“I’m pretty sure they are. I thought they were like, claws starting to grow but ... they’re tentacles, all right.” A tingling sensation started in my gut, quickly turning to teeth gnawing at me from the inside. “Do you know of any shrimp that have tentacles? Or anything besides a squid or octopus?”“What am I, Jacques Cousteau?” Matt huffed. “There’s like a billion kinds of things that live in the ocean.” One of the “sea monsters” used its tentacles to lasso another one. Then it
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Of Men and Monsters September 3, 1975
SEPTEMBER 3, 1975The first dayof school had been on my mind for weeks. What kind of reception would I get as the new kid? Because I wasn’t just the average new kid, I was the new kid that had found skeletons on the beach. I was the new kid whose brother was murdered. I was the new kid that had killed his own father.I walked into homeroom, hoping to see a friendly face or two from my days at the beach, but life isn’t always that kind. Sure, I recognized kids I’d seen around town or in passing at the beach, but nobody from the gang I’d gotten to know.Mrs. Caldwell walked in and began roll call. She paused briefly at my name, and I felt the questioning eyes of a few kids, but that was all. The rest of the day was more of the same. Some curiosity, but no cringing or hostility. I sat with Mary and a few other kids from the beach at lunch. We talked about classes and teachers and how we wished summer wasn’t over, normal stuff.I walked Mary home after school and asked her if she
Of Men and Monsters July 11-12, 1975
JULY 11-12, 1975The days of Matt’s wake and funeral were the worst of my young life. Worse than my father’s abuse. Worse than all the nights I listened to my mother hurt and crying. Worse than the time he threw me against the wall. Worse, even, than watching my father kill my brother.The police had found my brother’s body shortly after I’d told Officers Duffy and Gagnon what had happened. Since he’d only been in the water a short time, the wake was open-casket. Seeing my brother made up like a wax doll in a grotesque parody of sleep was an abomination. It made me angry, not sad.Leah came, hugged me, and said she was sorry, but she was distant, cool. Her father was not with her. Besides my mother, I felt the saddest for Kelly. She was devastated, as only a teenager losing her first love can be. She held me for a long time in the receiving line, shuddering uncontrollably. Mary showed up after Leah and Kelly, and stayed by my side. Everything had changed between the four us, but I d
Of Men and Monsters July 8, 1975
JULY 8, 1975Scenes from“They Come Out at Night” played in my head as Matt and I lugged the metal tub into the house. We’d waited all morning for Mom to leave for the lunch shift at the diner, hoping against hope she wouldn’t hear that thing sloshing around in the bathroom. Either that, or she’d figure out that we were waiting for her to leave, and that we must be up to something. Somehow, we got through it, and as soon as she left, we were in motion.Along with an oversized net, the tub was easy enough to pick up at the local fishing shop, once we’d filched the money from Mom’s not-so-secret hiding place where she kept her tips. The house next door had two or three young kids living there and their toys were always scattered all about the yard. We had our eye on the red wagon.The plan was to get the creature out of the bathtub with the net, dump it into the metal tub, and hide it in the backyard until dark. Then, we would put the tub on the wagon and lug it across the street
Of Men and Monsters July 7, 1975
JULY 7, 1975“Ican’t believeyou were on the news!” Leah was bouncing on the balls of her feet. Mary watched with a goofy grin from her lounge chair. Those skeletons, I mean—” She gave an exaggerated shudder.I tried to shrug it off. “It was no big deal.”“Hey, what’s wrong?” Leah put a hand on my arm, her excitement gone. I guess I suck at hiding my feelings.Mary chimed in, “You okay?”I shook my head. It was just the three of us, the others had started a game of volleyball. “I fucked up,” I said flatly. “Now my father knows where we are.”“Oh, shit,” Mary stood and came over to Leah and me.“Yeah,” I said, “oh, shitis right.”Leah’s face fell. “Are you going to leave?” Her voice trembled.I remembered the conversation I’d had with Mom and Matt when we’d decided we were staying. It was easy to be brave when we didn’t really think he was coming. Now, it was only a matter of time. Hearing the sadness in Leah’s voice, though, strengthened my resolve. “No,” I sa
Of Men and Monsters July 6, 1975
JULY 6, 1975Iwoke thenext day in a tangle of sweaty sheets, trying to escape something in a nightmare that was already forgotten. My first glance was toward the small plastic tank on my bureau. I could see the shape prowling back and forth even from across the room. As recent as the day before, I’d have to practically have my nose against the side of the tank to see anything.I got out of bed and went to the tank, approaching it cautiously, as if the thing might leap out and get me. Some fragment of my dream tried to surface but didn’t quite make it. Still, it gave me a chill.The creature seemed to have grown again, even since the previous evening. It was probably two inches long but looked bigger because of the constantly swirling tentacles. I sprinkled some food in, careful to keep my hand way above the tank. It went for the flakes of dried fish or whatever the hell it was, but did so with nowhere near the frenzied enthusiasm of the past. I realized with a start that
Of Men and Monsters July 5, 1975
JULY 5, 1975“Do they lookbigger to you?” I stared into the tank, trying to remember how they’d looked the other day. There were definitely fewer and I assumed the live ones were eating the dead. Maybe the stronger ones were eating the weaker of the living! The thought scared me. I sprinkled some food in and watched with fascination the frenzy that ensued.“Shit, they are definitely bigger—and definitely meaner.” Matt’s voice was somewhere near awe. “Are those ... tentacles?”“I’m pretty sure they are. I thought they were like, claws starting to grow but ... they’re tentacles, all right.” A tingling sensation started in my gut, quickly turning to teeth gnawing at me from the inside. “Do you know of any shrimp that have tentacles? Or anything besides a squid or octopus?”“What am I, Jacques Cousteau?” Matt huffed. “There’s like a billion kinds of things that live in the ocean.” One of the “sea monsters” used its tentacles to lasso another one. Then it
Of Men and Monsters July 4, 1975
JULY 4, 1975“Hey, check this out.”I stared into the little plastic tank that the “Sea Monster Pets!” were supposed to grow in. I’d slept in the day after The Kiss, and Matt and I were just bumming around in my room, reading comics. The storm had passed overnight but a cold drizzle still fell. It was supposed to clear later and we were going to meet the girls at the beach.Matt tossed his comic book aside. “They Come Out at Night” had been a good pastime when we’d first moved in, but girls had proven to be the ultimate distraction. From everything. “Those don’t look like shrimp,” he said, moving next to me to squint at the tank.Somethingswam in the murky water. They looked like tiny lobsters would look if their claws hadn’t fully formed. Instead, ropy appendages swirled next to them, probing the sides of the tank. I sprinkled some of the food in. The creatures sped to the surface to feed. There were too many to count, but I realized with horror that there would soon be
Of Men and Monsters July 3, 1975
JULY 3, 1975It rained thenext day. It didn’t just rain, it poured buckets. Real ark-building weather. At one point the wind kicked up and the huge drops flew by the windows sideways. We’d planned on hanging out at the beach in the morning, then going to a place one of the town kids knew where you could jump off a bridge at high tide. The weather had canceled all our fun. Matt and I moped around the house all morning while Mom slept in after her double the night before. She was scheduled to work the afternoon shift that day but thought she’d get cut early if the weather stayed bad.Matt made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and we sat morosely in front of the television, eating and not watching whatever was on. The phone rang and I bounded out of my chair to get it, not even thinking it might be him, but Matt was faster. He talked for a few minutes, ignoring my attempts to get his attention to find out who it was. By the end of the call, he was more animated than he’d been a
Of Men and Monsters July 2, 1975
JULY 2, 1975The next severaldays passed in a blur, but at the same time they seemed to last forever. Mom was working crazy hours at the diner with more and more summer people—“renters” as the townies called them—showing up every day. All the boarded-up cottages were showing signs of life. By the weekend, the town would be at full capacity. Mom’s schedule left me and my brother with the freedom to spend long days and some evenings on the beach with the rest of “the townies.” There were a few other year-rounders besides us, but not many. A number of the kids’ families owned the cottages as second homes. Others had long-term rentals, some were only there for a week at a time. Kelly’s father and Leah’s mother were brother and sister, and co-owned a massive cottage they’d winterized and converted to two separate units. Leah told me it had been her grandparents’ place, but they’d both passed away. On Wednesday, Mom had to cover both the lunch and dinner shifts. We’d been at the bea
