Interviewer- “so you retrieved your shotgun from the closet and headed for the bridge. What happened next?”
buckster- “the bridge is about five minutes from the back porch, and i remember thinkin as i ran, 'black bears will attack if you get between them and their cub.' it didn't make no sense though, billy knew better. Billy knew that if you see a black bear, especially if you see a female black bear, you get out of the area, right quick. Billy's head was always on a swivel, that boy had peripheral vision like i never seen. Didn't make no sense, billy'd never had taken his sister under that bridge if he had seen a bear anywhere round them parts. I figured the bear was hurt or somethin, had gone under the bridge to lick its wounds, and billy and his sister were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I also knew billy knew to play dead, but i had to hurry, just get there and save my boy. I didn't think to bring my knife or cell phone, i just ran.”
(buckster looks out the window, begins wringing his hands together, again and again, as he continues.)
buckster- “couldn't have taken me more than three minutes to get to the bridge. I stopped where the grass met the bridge and listened. I could only hear the water rushin beneath me, so i balanced my shotgun and started down the grassy incline to the muddy embankment. It was getting dark, the trees that line the river pretty much block out the sun anyways, so i had to strain my eyes. I stepped onto the embankment, and what i saw, what i saw...”
(buckster turns to face me, his face flush, his lips trembling.)
buckster- “don't make no sense, mister, it will never make no sense. Weren't no bear, far as i could tell. Sure, it was furry, but it's head was bald, and fat, rolls and rolls of fat, it's ears were pointy, almost had the face of a human being. And its belly, no fur covered its belly. And it was just sitting there, licking its lips with a great big purple tongue. I tell you what, it wasn't scared a me neither, just looked at me, as if we were passin on the sidewalk on the way to the bank. My hands were shakin pretty bad, i looked around where it was sittin, and i saw one of billy's sneakers, one of them nike jobs, and blood. The thing was sitting in a big pool of blood. I stood there, staring at it, it staring at me, for what seemed like eons. And then, it belched, and a hot wave of copper smell and rancid meat filled up my nostrils. I held my hand over my mouth to keep from vomittin, and then, its stomach moved, stretched like, and it was getting dark, so i can't be sure, but i swore i saw the imprint of a hand pushin against the folds of its belly, like someone was in there tryin to get out. Fury welled up in me, i tell you what, a white hot anger boiled up inside me and i raised that shotgun and blew about the entire left side a that monster's face clean off. I raised the shotgun for a second blast but the thing just slumped over on its side, closed its eyes, let out a gurgle. I thought it was dead, i really did, i thought i had killed it dead.”
(buckster lights another in an endless stream of cigarettes, drinks down the last of his bourbon, stares at his cigarette.)
buckster- “i didn't know what to do. I didn't have my knife with me, i couldn't split this thing open and see if it were billy inside of it, so i panicked. I held my shotgun on the thing's head and gave it a few good kicks, and this time for sure, something pushed against its stomach. I distinctly saw the imprint of a hand against the beats's stomach, so i put my hands in its mouth on either one of its jaws and opened its mouth. The thing had rows and rows of razor sharp teeth, tiny, jagged glass teeth, and my hands was getting pretty torn up, so i needed to act fast. I rememeber feeling like a crazy person as i yelled down its throat, i kept yellin, 'billy, hold on son. Hold on billy, its your pa, i'm gonna get you outta there.' i thought about draggin the carcass back to my house, but it was much to heavy. The monster was short, but it was dense, you know, too heavy to lug back to the house. Just as i turned to run for help, the beast's eyes snapped open, it stunned me, i must have stumbled back a step, and the monster got its feet on my chest and kicked me backwards. It was so strong, i went flying backwards, musta knocked my head on one of the bridge's support beams, and i was out cold. Fuckin thing was playin dead on me. Next thing i know, the sheriff's shakin me awake, and the beast and my boy are gone.”
interviewer- “was a search party organized?”
buckster- “yeah. That summer the people in this community musta killed bout every black bear in this county.”
interviewer- “why black bears? I mean, you said it wasn't a black bear that took billy.”
buckster- “yeah i knew that, but who was going to believe my story? Hell, i wouldn't believe my story, hadn't happened to me. No, everyone just wrote off the whole incident to the poor lightin under that bridge and my hysterics. It's funny, you know, you see the world differently when somethin like this happens to you. I mean, how couldn't you? You wonder if you are crazy, you wonder if you imagined a monster ate your boy. And the news, the news has a different tone to it. Like them kids that gone and disappeared down in chile. Or them fishin boats vanished down in cuba. Makes you wonder, really does. Fact of the matter is though, i lost my boy. I lost my boy and he ain't never comin back. Gone, forever.”
(buckster puts his head in his hands and sobs. From the kitchen, a young girl brings some paper towels. Her blonde hair is tied into a bun. She is thin, serious looking, she clutches a sketch pad in the hand not carrying the paper towels. A stern looking woman leans against the doorframe, watching the girl bring her father the paper towels. The girl lays the towels on her father's lap and turns to me.)
melissa jenkins- “you wanna see what the monster looked like, mister?”
(the woman at the door speaks up.)
heather jenkins- “missy has grown into quite the artist, mister. We can't get her to put that pencil down.”
interviewer- “if you wouldn't mind, melissa, i'd love to see your drawings.”
(meliisa cradles the pad in her thin arms, shielding my view from its contents. She carefully flips through the pages, nods as she finds the page she is looking for, and tears a sheet out, hands it to me.)
Melissa- “that there, sir, that the monster who ate up my brother.”
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