Mythos- Billy Goat Gruff

Transcript taken from an interview conducted with Robert “Buckster” Jenkins, at 3:15 p.m, the thirteenth of May.

Interviewer- “Whenever you are ready, Mr. Jenkins.”
(Jenkins looks up from his hands, which he has been wringing over and over since i have arrived. His hands are gnarled, crisscrossed with scars.)
Mr. Jenkins- “It's Buckster, everyone round here just calls me plain old Buckster.”
Interviewer- “Okay then, Buckster, why don't you tell me about the day William went missing.”
(Jenkins lights a cigarette, exhales loudly, looks out the window.)
Mr. Jenkins- You know, Bancroft don't have but some 400 people living here. I figured since i was born and raised here in Putnam county, weren't no need to move. It's quiet here, you know, crime is just about non-existent, 'cept for some vandalism or kids joyridin'. I have worked for the trash company for 15 years now, i do my job, i come home, spend time with my family. Every here and again i go fishin', or during buck season me and Billy would go huntin'. That's how i got my nickname, on account of my hunting prowesses. I tell you what, i bet i could put down a fifteen pointer at 400 yards, how good i got with my winchester. Billy loved to be outside, like the wind ran through his veins, couldn't keep that boy inside. He and his older brother were always out back tossin' round the pigskin or ridin' them damn atvs or buildin' a fort, couldn't keep neither one a dem boys in the house.”
(jenkins stops here to put out his cigarette, runs his hand through his wiry hair, looks directly at me.)
Mr. Jenkins- “So you wanna know about the day I lost my boy, huh?”
Interviewer- “If it isn't too much to ask. I understand your loss, Buckster, I really do. My brother was lost in the Manhattan subway incident. If this is all too difficult, I completely understand, i can come back another time or we could end the interview right now if you please.”
(Jenkins shakes out another cigarette, tilts his head to look at me, as if weighing me up. He strokes his stubbled chin, nods.)
Mr. jenkins- “No, no, ways i figure it, people need to know. Can I offer you a drink?”
(i shake my head no.)
Mr. Jenkins- “Hope you don't mind if i indulge then.”
(Jenkins pours himself a healthy glass of some type of inexpensive bourbon, returns to his seat facing me.)
Mr. jenkins- It was easter 'bout 4 years ago. We had just gotten back from church, boy o boy, you shoulda seen Billy boy rutchin' in that pew, chompin at the bit. See, Heather and i had gotten him a brand new rod and reel for easter, or the easter bunny had, you know? Well we pull up the driveway and i had barely stopped the car when billy was out and up the front stairs, back out in 45 seconds flat, i tell you what. That boy loved him some fishin'. I'd see him on the internet, taking notes on making his own lures, seeing when carp or rainbow season started, couldn't get enough of it. You see, billy was a good sportsman; patient, with a good nose for when to drop a line or take a shot. So billy comes barreling down the front stairs and i hold him up, tell him to take his younger sister with him. You see my oldest boy, Matt, had been visiting some friend at VTU that weekend, and the missus and i rarely got any alone time, so i figured what better time than a gorgeous, cloudless easter sunday for some afternoon delight. And you know what, billy didn't mind one bit. You should of seen him with his sister, so kind, so gentle, always watchin' out for her, god, that boy loved his sister. Made me think of the type of man he was growin' into, what kind of person he was going to be...”
(jenkins puts his glass down and cradles his head in his hands for a second, before standing and filling his glass yet again. He sits, tears welling in his eyes, but not falling down his cheeks.)
Mr. Jenkins- “So heather and i watch those two, walking hand in hand, billy with his rod and tackle box, missy with the new bright yellow ball the easter bunny had brought her. Breaks my goddamn heart, i tell you, burned in my brain, that picture.
The Kanawha River is about a five minute walk from our house, you just follow a path out in back, and you are there. Billy loved to fish off of old man hasting's bridge, on account of all the bugs that had built their nests on the underside of the bridge. See what i mean bout billy being a good sportman? He knew that the carp and trout would be under that bridge, feedin' on the insect larva. Boy was a damn fine fisherman.”
(Jenkins looks at his hands again, won't meet my eyes.)
Jenkins- “So bout 2 hours or so go by, heather and i have finished our business and are sitting on the front porch, planning on what vegetables to plant in her garden that year, when we here the back door slam. Them kids never were a quiet bunch. But something feels wrong, you know, somethin' was amiss. Then came the hollerin'. Heather and i bolted up and into the house, and there is my darling missy, blood coatin' her pretty easter dress. And she is crying, that way people cry when they are out of breath, or scared to death, or maybe both. I got down on my knee and tried to calm her down, it took some time. I remember asking, 'missy, missy baby, are you hurt? Where is billy? Where is billy, baby?' that is when she stopped crying, straight off. She looked right at me and said, 'a monster took him, daddy. A monster took billy.' I couldn't imagine what the tarnation she was goin' on about, but she became instantly calm. “we was on the bridge, daddy, billy was fishin, i was playin with the pretty ball the easter bunny brung me, and i bounced the ball too high daddy, i bounced the ball and it went over the bridge. I started to cry so billy took my hand like you and mommy tell him to and we climbed down the hill to get my ball, under the bridge. And then, and then,' and the tears came again. I think at this point i began shaking her, and heather took her from me. Heather picked missy up and fought back tears as she said, 'what happened then, sweetheart, tell mommy.'
Missy looked right at me, 'a monster tried to bite me, but billy pushed me out of the way. The monster bit billy, daddy, a monster bit billy and there was blood. Billy screamed for me to run, so i did. I ran and now the monster has billy.'
I didn't think, i just went to the closet, loaded shells into my shotgun, told heather to call the sheriff, and sprinted for the bridge.”