The story below is a work of fiction, except the location. All characters named are figments of my imagination. This story contains explicit sexual situations between high school aged boys, (and some girls). If this is illegal, etc., well you know the drill.
Also, because it's based in the past, some of it may not be politically correct as I have tried to be true to 1969.
Thanks to everybody who has emailed me, I appreciate the tips and feedback, especially the help with the music and great lyrics. If you've got some more, send them on to me. Let me know what you think! Flip 1977.flip@gmail.com
Chapter 25
Jake, Lisa, Coop and I all charged up the hill towards the smashing sound that we had all just heard. When we got to the crest of our street, we spotted the gold van that Jake was talking about earlier, the one with the shiny Unicorn painted on its side. Its broken glass was piled up on the pavement like little shiny pyramids, all around the tires. I didn't see anyone lurking around, and couldn't for the life of me figure out who the heck would do such a crazy thing like this and bust up someone's groovy van. I had seen a bumper sticker one time that read: If the van is a rockin', don't come a knockin'. Could this be the downside of that? Maybe somebody who was pissed off at the owner of the van was gonna get even. Maybe some dude was in there with some other dude's chick. Or some dude with another dude's dude. Huh? Who knew? There didn't seem to be anyone around up here, and we couldn't hear or see anything from inside the van, so I was just about to suggest we head back to the party, when all of a sudden we heard the squealing tires of a car fishtailing down the street.
"Shit! What the fuck is going on?" Jake asked. "I can't believe this is happening in front of our houses! We better find out what's going on before someone calls the fuzz."
"Like you say, Roger That Bucky!" I signaled to Jake to follow me while Cooper and Lisa went around the other way. We weren't so scared now, since whoever had busted out the windows took off smokin' down the street. I think we were more curious than anything else. We had crossed the street and were about to step up onto the curb when there was a loud bang, like the sound of metal falling, this time much closer to us. The noise made me stop just before I jumped up on the curb, and peeked around the back of another parked car. I saw a big, really big, burly guy dressed in baggy, filthy, gross looking dark clothes, using the toe of his beat-up shoe to roll around some type of metal bar or pipe. He looked up when he noticed me come around the side of the car, and then locked eyes on me like he knew who I was. That made me feel extremely creepy. So creepy in fact, that shivers ran up my spine and I wanted to run away, but it was up to us to try and stop this wacko. Then it occurred to me that if this was the guy busting out the windows, then who the hell took off screeching down the street and what were they doing?
"Hey, you! Stop it!" Jake yelled from beside me, up towards the crazy dude, and scaring the crap out of me.
The weird guy spun his bulky body around but kept glaring right at me, ignoring Jake, for a minute, straight on, not quite sure what to do next. Looking at him, I couldn't believe how big and dirty he was. He looked like a giant! Finally breaking eye contact with me, the crazy dude reached down and picked up his weapon, that rusty old pipe off the sidewalk, fast and stealthy like a panther. Uh-oh!
"What's he doing?" Jake asked me.
"I'm not really sure," I said. "But I'm starting to get worried."
"I think he's the weird guy I thought was Red Crow, but now I'm thinking he's the guy we saw under our tree house that night. The guy we call the Dark Man. At least, I'm pretty sure."
"Well, he certainly isn't Red Crow, that's for damn sure, but he could be the Dark Man, I guess," I said. "He looks kinda like him now that I think about it."
"Has he said anything to you? What are we going to do?" Jake asked. "We can't let him bust up all of the cars out here on the street."
"Yeah, but someone could get hurt," I said. "Better the cars than us. But you know, I'm not sure he's the one doing this to the cars. He was just looking at the pipe on the sidewalk when I first saw him, but now he picked it up. I'm not really sure, but I think whoever did this took off in that car we just heard."
"Ya think?" asked Jake. "They sure took off mighty fast."
About that time, I became aware of some of the neighbors starting to stick their heads out the front doors and windows of their houses, looky-loos and busybodies trying to figure out what all the noise was about. The Dark Man was really starting to bounce around now, up on his toes and glaring at all of the people staring at him. I think it made him even more nervous, or maybe even mad, `cause he started to bounce up and down on his feet really fast, like he was dancing to some strange music playing in his head. Maybe he'd heard that lounge song my mom kept playing when she was in a funky mood and couldn't wait for my dad to get home and then they'd run up to their bedroom: Watermelon Man by Julie London. I bet he couldn't get that awful tune out of his brain!
Lisa and Cooper had climbed up on the sidewalk, down on the other side of the Dark Man. After a minute, Coop started to slowly creep up and get closer to him, I guess to try and tackle him or take the bar away or something. I think he might have thought the Dark Man was the one busting out the windows. I wished he wouldn't do that because Coop was the skinniest one out of all of us. But I had to give him points for bravery. Maybe he was trying to impress Lisa or it was his lifeguard training kicking in. When I saw what he was doing, and even though I thought this was a really bad idea, I decided to try and keep the Dark Man looking in our direction while Coop crept up behind him, so I shouted, "Hey! Do you know who did this?"
Unfortunately, that was totally the wrong thing to do, because from behind those gloomy dark and scary eyes, he gave me one of the craziest looks that I'd ever seen before in my life. His eyes looked like walking death! It was like looking into someone who was already dead. Holy crap, Batman, this dude's a zombie and he wants to eat our flesh! Then he started to charge me. Shit! Luckily, Coop was coming up from behind him, grabbing at the back of his raggedy coat to try and stop him before he got to me. But that didn't work out too well, because his clothes were so old and fragile that the piece Coop was holding onto just ripped off in his hand, leaving him with a handful of rotting and stinking rags. That only slowed down the Dark Man's run towards me by just a fraction. I don't think he even realized that Coop was behind him because he was so focused on me. I don't know why, but I had the feeling that he was only after one person and that he wanted to kill. And that person was me! He was maybe half a car length away from Jake and me now, and I closed my eyes, curled up in a ball, waiting for the worst to happen. In that split second, I knew I was a goner.
Jake told me later that Cooper tried again to reach out and grab the Dark Man with his other hand. Luckily, for me at least, when he did that, it made the Dark Man spin around really fast, and then, in the deepest and scariest tone that I had ever heard before in my life, he yelled, "Don't fuck with my antenna, you good for nothing son of a bitch!" I opened my eyes just in time to see him slam the bar straight down onto the side of Coop's leg! Ouch. Oh Fuck No! Coop screamed out in pain and terror and then fell down on the sidewalk, clutching his shin and rocking back and forth. He was whimpering and shaking as blood was leaking through his fingers and dripping down on the sidewalk. Luckily, Jake was thinking fast, and he ran the other way around the car, up behind Coop and grabbed him by the arms, then pulled him back to safety behind the parked car before the Dark Man could strike another blow. Who knew what this guy was capable of doing? Shit, how are we going to stop this? Man, I sure hope he wasn't hurt too badly, I thought to myself. Damn, that could have been me.
But then I had another thought: Jake's over there with Coop and Lisa, and now I'm all alone over here. Now I'm really a goner! The second that thought went through my head, the Dark Man stopped dead in his tracks and started looking back and forth at all four of us. First up at me, and then he'd turn his head and look at the three of them. He seemed to be trying to figure us out or something, or who he wanted to kill first.
The three of them took this opportunity to take a few steps backwards and try to regroup and rethink their strategy, and to check on Coop to see how injured he was. I didn't know what to do; I wanted to run but felt frozen in place. The Dark Man was starting to gasp really hard now, his nostrils flaring like crazy, snot running down his face and off his chin. His head was rocking back and forth really fast now, almost like it was going to snap off. His dirty, stringy hair hanging down the back of his head reminded me of a caged bull wearing a bad Eva Gabor wig, who was about to break out and go ballistic and gore someone, like they did in the slums of Tijuana. I was just thankful he wasn't staring at me anymore. Regrettably, the wind had changed now, and it was blowing up the hill towards me. That was bad because this guy was really rank and his odor made me want to puke! But even with his ratty clothes and weird behavior, and that god-awful smell, I felt a little bit of compassion for him. Just a tiny little bit. I really don't know why, and it bugged the hell out of me, but I did. I was pretty sure that Jake was right: This had to be the Dark Man that we had seen under our tree house. I wondered if he'd been watching the two of us all along.
I was totally scared and my adrenalin was way off the charts and I wasn't really sure what we should do now. How were we going to stop him without another one of us getting hurt? While I was thinking about that, something happened that was really strange and surprised the hell out of all of us standing there. I'm not a little guy, but not all that big, either. Maybe a hundred and forty pounds on a good day fresh out of the pool, and mostly muscle from all that swimming I do. The Dark Man dropped the pipe on the sidewalk with a loud clang, crouched down like he was playing defense like one of the Fearsome Foursome guys from the L.A. Rams. He charged up the sidewalk so fast I didn't have time to do anything but stand up and try to defend myself. He was so much bigger and taller than me that he just scooped me up like a burlap sack of Idaho potatoes, threw me over his shoulder and started running up the street. I was so shocked, and scared, that I couldn't do anything. He smelled so bad it was starting to make me want to puke again. He was moving so fast that I barely had a chance to lift my head off of his shoulder and take a quick look back down the street to see my friends, who were paralyzed with fear and couldn't react. They looked at me with terror in their eyes, mouths hanging wide open, in total shock. Then I had a quick realization that I might never see them again. I'd really miss Jake and suddenly I felt super-sad.
We were flying up the street now, the Dark Man totally in control while I bounced around on his smelly shoulder. He didn't even seem winded. I was about two-and-a-half houses away when I took another look and could barely see the three of them start to take off after us. Unfortunately, right about then, the first squad car pulled up in a screeching halt, just in front of them and cutting them off. Chasing the Dark Man carrying me was out of the question for now.
The last thing that I remember hearing was "It's the fucking pigs," shouted out by one of the hippies from across the street at Colt's party, and then, "Let's get outa here!"
The amazing thing was, the Dark Man knew exactly where to run. Like the beat of black wings, he ran past Jake and Lisa's house, past my house, and then up to our garage, where he made a hard left and slipped silently in the side gate, past the Austin-Healey, and then we disappeared into the backyard. Once we were back there, he dropped me off under the tree house. The Dark Man was standing there, staring at me and sizing me up while I just stood there trying to figure out how I was going to get out of this freakin' mess. Surely the cops and Jake would run up here any second and save me.
We stared at each other for a long minute before he said, "You. You're young. You're a boy-man." I couldn't believe that he wasn't even out of breath.
"Almost sixteen," I croaked. Man, I reeked of this guy's stench.
"I didn't do that to those cars. I've been trying to protect you and your boy. Whey-oh."
Huh? My boy? Whey-oh? I cleared my throat and said, "I didn't think that you did that, but why did you hit Cooper?" I asked. "He wasn't going to hurt you. Was it the guys in that other car?"
"I had to. They were rappin' the fat scat. I had to get you alone. Whey-oh. I've been trying for days now, but you always have the boy around. They want to harm him. I know, I've heard. But I can't tell him. It would collapse the regularity. You're walking satellites. Only you can help. There's my ship! I'm getting closer to my home."
What the hell? How does this guy know us? "What?" I said. "Why? How do you know all of this?"
"Quickly, they're coming. The man in the sky comes to me in my head. He lives in the clouds. Whey-oh. He wants me to watch over you and your boy. I see things. Hear things. Bad things. Pieces of strings. You're a special case, from a secret place, way over there. That boy, he loves you more than you can ever know, ever know," the Dark Man said sadly. "Whey-oh."
"What can we do? Who is after him?" Oh man, this was too much.
"I tried. When you see him, tell him I'm trying. I put the snake on his door like the black-haired man in the cloud said. That helped some, but it wasn't enough. Not enough. You have to watch out. Never be apart, never! I will watch too. Make mine a ninety-nine. Remember, I hear things and I see things. I'm getting closer to my home. I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "Whey-oh."
"But who? What have you seen?" I asked. I couldn't tell if he was serious, crazy or really hearing voices telling him what to do. "Why did you pick me?"
"Men in cars. Men in suits. Men in car suits. Bad men tried to wreck van. That's all I can say now, I have to go. Whey-oh. They're coming for you, yeah, they're coming for you." We could hear the yelling and shouting from the front yard starting to get closer.
"Please, what can we do?" I pleaded with him.
"They're coming for you, yeah, they're coming for you. Leave me cigarettes, whey-oh" he said, "and some sticks with red-hots. I like those," then he spun around and ran for the trail behind our house. There were so many questions I wanted to ask him, but he was out of view now, disappearing into the brush. The last thing I heard him say was "You and boy, you're walking satellites. Whey-oh."
The first two cops on the scene busted through the gate next to the garage, guns drawn and pointed at me. Instinctively, I raised my arms up like I was the one in trouble. Fuck-a-Roni! Now what? I didn't do shit.
"Where did he go?" the tall, skinny cop shouted to me.
"Um, I don't know. He just disappeared," I said, turning around and pointing to the brush. "That way. He carried me back here and talked for a second and then vanished." I was conflicted. The Dark Man had just taken me from out in front against my will and scared the crap out of me with his warnings. He really talked funny, but my gut told me he was safe and didn't want to hurt me, and was actually trying to protect Jake and me for some reason.
"He couldn't have just disappeared! Where did he go, goddammit? Is he in the pool house? What's up there? Tell us kid, now! And don't fucking lie!" the other one said, pointing to the tree house. They were getting impatient, but this one had a serious rotten attitude and I instantly didn't like him. He was kinda porky and didn't look much like a cop.
"I said I don't know. I turned around and he just disappeared. I think he's homeless and might just be a little off in the head." Before the tubby cop could say anything else, two more cops came around the back of the garage and motioned for me to come over towards them and stand behind them. They didn't have their guns drawn, but did have one hand on their holsters. Everybody knew that the Pasadena cops didn't take shit from anybody, mentally ill or otherwise, and weren't known for playing all that nice, either. Now I was starting to get worried about what was going to happen next. I didn't want to see the Dark Man get hurt.
"Stand behind us, son," one of the new cops said. Apparently he was the cop in charge now, the big cheese, but a lot nicer then the other ones. "Jackson, look up in that tree house. Murph, go look in the pool house."
The cop, Jackson, the chubby one with the stinky attitude, tried to climb up the tree and in through the trap door. He was really chubby and I was afraid he was gonna get stuck in there and never get down, and then what would we do? We couldn't have Poppin' Fresh blocking the door to our sex palace forever. But he just propped the door open and looked around, then squeezed his fat, greasy gut back out and climbed down the branches, huffing and puffing. "It stinks up there. What do you boys do in there? Holy shit. It smells like butt in there!" he said, as he practically fell to the ground. I thought I heard him say `faggots' under his breath but I couldn't be sure. Thank goodness he didn't do a thorough search up there or I'd have a lot of explaining to do! I couldn't imagine how I'd explain the grass and the vibrator that Lisa had given us that I'd hidden in my stash box. Just then, the cop in the pool house came back out and indicated all clear.
"You guys go back in front yard and wait for the Sergeant," the new cop in charge said. I got the feeling he didn't care much for Jackson.
The five of us went around the garage and down the sidewalk to find a growing crowd of neighbors, cops and hippies streaming up from Coop and Colt's party. Jake ran up and asked if I was okay, and I gave him a smile and told him I was all right. He let out a deep breath and for a minute I thought he was gonna give me a big kiss right in front of everybody. Instead, he shined me his big goofy smile and laughed, "You smell like shit!" Man, I really loved that guy!
One of the cops went to check on Cooper's injury and then a new cop came over to me to find out what had just happened. I guess he was taking over now, `cause he looked like a Marine Drill Sergeant, sorta like Sergeant Carter on Gomer Pyle, but not as obnoxious. My folks had finally heard all of the commotion going on outside, because just about then, I noticed that my dad was making his way through the crowd and was standing next to me, listening while I gave the Sergeant my side of the story
A couple more cop cars came blazing up our street then, narrowly missing some hippies, and more people from the party who had heard the sirens started to filter out to see what was going on. The cops were really outnumbered by the growing crowd from the party, and after having a little pow-wow amongst themselves, they came back and said that they were going to break up the party first and then get some more cops to do a full canvas of the neighborhood. They didn't want any crap from the hippies and thought that the guy they were chasing was probably pretty dangerous and needed to be sent to Camarillo Hospital. They didn't want him to hurt anybody else or even hurt himself. They had to do it this way because there were just too many people in the way now, standing on the curb and threatening to spill over on the street and cause a scene. The hippies and partygoers outnumbered the cops at least four-to-one. Shoot, even one of the hippie chicks raised her arm and fist to show off her hairy pit, but then she went one step further and flashed her big, saggy tit at them. Yuck and double yuck! More of the hippies were yelling `Pig' at them, and telling them to get lost. This was the craziest scene that I had ever seen in my life, and it was right here in front of my house! I even saw a reporter with a cameraman from the Pasadena Star-News in the crowd. I was expecting all hell to break loose any second and then we'd have a hippie/cop riot on our hands.
Luckily, Cooper's injury turned out to be minor. He just suffered a gash in his leg that would heal fine, although he might have a scar. Lisa was all over him, making sure he was all right. Cooper and Lisa decided to head back to Coop's house to help the partygoers get moving and go home, before the shit hit the fan. Once they left, Jake, my dad and I stood around wondering how they were going to find this guy and we worried that he may get hurt if he didn't give up. Our mom's, the Lulu's, were camped out on our front steps while Jordy and his friend Chris, Enzo's little brother, were running around on the front lawn, playing cops and robbers with Sloan. At least they weren't calling each other Pigs.
Time was flying and it was around seven-thirty or a quarter to eight, but we still had enough light for another hour and a-half more. After that, it would be too dark to go through the scrub growing on the foothills to find this guy safely. Many of the partygoers had left by now and the Ramrods, that groovy band, with some help from the crowd, were starting to load their instruments into a big panel van. A cute skinny dude with long hair was telling someone to be careful with his bass or he'd kick their ass. A few more cops had shown up now and were getting into formation in front of our house to start a wide area search. There must be at least thirty-five or more cops standing around, looking at the hippies and partygoers as they slowly left. Cop cars were everywhere! Every once in a while, a hippy on the sidewalk would yell at them and flip them the bird. Some of the bolder guys would grab their balls and jiggle `em at the cops, egging them on. The cop's just shrugged this off, but you could tell they were starting to get steamed, especially Jackson. Jake and I just laughed when we saw that.
Everybody was thinking that the Dark Man had to be hiding out behind our house up in the scrub somewhere because we had that old deer trail that Jake and I used for our nude hikes up to the big rock outcropping where we'd stop and have our sexy fun. Now that I thought about it, I was beginning to wonder if he watched me and Jake get sexy on that rock we'd fool around on. Plus, the trail continued on up to the old water pump building that Jake had been bugging me to take him to. It would have been easy for the Dark Man to run up there to hide out. If he was all the way up there, it was really going to be difficult and dangerous to get him and bring him back down without somebody getting hurt.
The cops had called the Sheriff's Department and requested the search and rescue helicopter to be sent out from the Lamanda Park Station, to fly over the foothills behind our house to see if they could spot him from the air before it got too dark. It showed up a few minutes later, thumping and groaning, and did three or four quick, low flybys, and then radioed in that they didn't see anything unusual. The green and silver Sikorsky Sea King (the same helicopter Tricky-Dick flew in) was no stranger to our neighborhood, its loud blades breaking our usual peacefulness when they had to scout for an injured hiker or look for brush fires. This time they must have had another call that was more important, probably a gang shooting in Altadena, because they didn't stay flying over us for very long. That was probably a good thing, because when it was flying that low, the noise from the blades was so loud that you really couldn't think and it rattled your teeth.
Finally, the time had come and the real action was about to begin. The Sergeant told my dad that he wanted Jake and me to come along with them since we knew what the guy looked like, and because we knew the area and trail. Dad wasn't too happy about that and insisted that he be allowed to go along. The Sergeant was reluctant about letting another civilian go along, but when he found out that my dad was a former MP, the Sergeant consented and he was allowed to go, against his better wishes. The Sergeant had me and Jake lead the group with two sharpshooters in front of us, and a fair amount of cops, maybe a dozen or more, trailing right behind my dad and the Sergeant. They weren't taking any chances with this guy, and I felt a lot better with them on our side, but still, I didn't want the Dark Man to get hurt. Secretly, I was hoping he was going to get away. We started out going up the street and searching all around our backyard and behind the garage. One of the cops even climbed up into our tree house again for another quick look around. This guy was younger, probably a rookie cause he was skinner and he made it up and down in a matter of seconds. If he noticed the smell of sex and grass, he didn't make a comment, but I'm pretty sure he did cause he looked like he was sporting a big banana in his pants when he climbed back down. He caught my eye and grinned slyly at me. Shit, we were busted!
Then we headed up the trail that started just past the big old oak tree, right next to where we buried the snake yesterday. Jake and I went first, right behind by the two sharpshooters, then my dad, the Sergeant and the rest of the fuzz. The temperature was cooler outside now, so we made good time climbing up the steep trail. This gang of guys made a lot of noise and I'm certain that if the Dark Man heard us coming, he'd be long gone by now. We made it to the rock outcropping that Jake and I had hiked to so many times before, in record time. There was no way to know for sure if the Dark Man had come up here or not, because everything looked the same to me. We stopped for a second to catch our breath at the big rock. Most of the cop's seemed to be in good shape, except for two stragglers that were bringing up the rear. They were really huffing and puffing, and I guess they were late `cause they must have stopped for donuts at the Winchell's in Temple City or something. I suppose they gave the leftovers to that cop named Jackson who almost got stuck up in the tree house trap door. The Sergeant came up to me and asked us how much farther the pump house was up the trail and what it was like up there. While I hadn't been up there for a few months, I told him everything that I remembered.
"You always wanted to know what was at the end of the trail, and now you're gonna find out, man," I whispered to Jake after the Sergeant left.
"Yeah, but I didn't want to find out like this. Shoot, this is really freakin' crazy!"
This next part of the trail was narrower, and sloped down sharply on our right. That side was so steep and rocky that very few bushes or trees were able to grow there. The farther you hiked up, the deeper the canyon became. One slip and you'd be in a world of hurt, that's for freakin' sure. The other, or north side of the trail, was almost vertical and the loose rocks always fell down on the path while you were hiking, almost like they were daring you to move forward. You had to be real alert on this part of the trail because the sand and dirt was slippery and made it easy to fall flat on your ass. I told the Sergeant that the pump house sat on a wide clearing, sort of sticking out on a point, with a small dirt area surrounding it. I went on to describe the building and told him that rusty old pipes stuck out the back and went straight up a narrow canyon to the left, out the back, held up by old rusty wires screwed deep into the rock walls. How they got there is anybody's guess, probably old timers on bunch of old naggy burros. There were plenty of places for someone to hide back there, although that side of the mountain was so steep that it was almost impossible to get back in there. The pump house itself was about eight feet tall and about ten feet square. There was an opening on the trail side of the cement building that used to have an old steel door, but that was long gone now. It sat sadly alone in the dirt, and except for the door, there wasn't any other way to get in or out. The roof was flat and was also made of poured cement, just like the rest of the old building.
I remembered the one time that my dad had hoisted me up there on the roof. The view was really bitchin' from up there, looking out all over the wide valley down below. The steep canyon fell away on three of the four sloping and rocky sides. The first time I saw it I thought you could see for freakin ever! There wasn't anything inside that I could remember except dirt and rocks that crunched under your feet, and some old pieces of rusty machinery off to the side. The Sergeant decided that he didn't want us in the lead anymore because it could be dangerous, and instead, we were to follow him and two more cops. That left my dad with the rest of the donut eaters in the back. That was probably a good idea, I thought, and made me feel a little safer. If the Dark Man got shot, I didn't want to see it.
The next ten minutes were quiet as we trudged up the second half of the trail. We still had enough daylight, but I was pretty sure it wouldn't last much longer. The cops around us were all in good enough shape and the dusty trail seemed to be clear of any rocks or debris allowing us to advance quite rapidly. Actually, the trail looked like it had been used quite a bit recently and cleaned of rubble, which I thought was weird. Now I was almost sure that the Dark Man was living up here and he'd come down to the rock outcropping to watch Jake and me get sexy with each other. Freaky McDeaky!
Every so often, we would hear a noise like a rabbit or a squirrel or something scurrying away, or a branch snap, and then everybody would stop and look around. Our nerves were really starting to freak us out, and you could see beads of sweat start to break out on the cop's foreheads. Finally, we came to the last switchback before we reached the pump house, maybe twenty-five feet from the open door. The cops in the lead signaled for us to stop and the two sharpshooters quietly headed closer up to the old dilapidated building.
We could see them clearly ahead of us as they surveyed the area, pointing their big shiny guns this way and that. One of the guys shouted out to anyone inside to "show themselves or pay the fuckin' consequences". They didn't get a response, and the mountain went eerily still all of a sudden. The crickets, birds, and even the planes flying overhead were completely quiet, like they knew what was gonna happen next. One of the cops turned around and gave a short hand signal to the other guys waiting with us, and three more cops quietly circled the small building and drew their guns out, as well. This was totally exciting and I quickly looked over at Jake, who was standing next to me, bug-eyed and open mouthed. He was totally excited too.
The weather had suddenly changed: low, moist clouds with a hot and humid wind out of the south. The old-timers called this earthquake weather. If it was or wasn't it really didn't matter because it seemed appropriate for the scary situation we were in.
Like I said, Pasadena cops don't fool around, and this event was no exception. The two guys with the bigger guns got on either side of the wide opening, getting ready to storm the small room. They both double checked that a round was chambered in their big guns and then adjusted the strap around their shoulders one last time. I had never seen a gun like they had up close, but it looked huge and scary to me. For so many people up here on this small patch of mountain, it sure was disconcertingly quiet. Just when I was beginning to think the Dark Man wasn't up here, I thought I saw a shadow through the door. But I must have been mistaken because it happened so fast and nobody else seemed to notice it. The two cops sent some more signals to each other to tell them who was going to go in the door first. The cop on the right tugged at his ear for good luck, and I knew we were ready to go. The hairs on my arms were really standing up now, and I had goose-bumps all over my body. Then things started to happen so fast, that it was hard to tell what order they took place.
That same cop moved like he was about to go in the door to the pump house, but before he could do that, there was an ear piercing howl that was made even louder by the weird acoustics of the big, empty, cement room. I don't think that it was a word, really, but it was loud enough to get everybody's attention and make us all freeze in place. The cops around us signaled for us to get down on the ground and they did the same, quickly drawing out their service revolvers and pointing them out in front of them. Shit, it looked like we were about to take out the Vietcong! They weren't sure what was coming at them, man or animal, but whatever it was, they were ready. The two guys at the door hesitated for just a second, and I guess that was their big mistake.
We were all still lying down in the dirt. We figured that the Dark Man was inside the building, hunkered down in a dusty corner like a caged bear. But he wasn't! It turned out to be a nursing coyote just trying to protect her little pups. She was just doing her duty and when she saw an opening, she took it. Catching everybody by surprise, she jumped up and bolted out the door, up through the air and straight onto one of the waiting cops, knocking both of them to the ground with a giant thud that was so hard, little rocks came loose and rolled down the side of the sandy cliff, showering all of us with gravel and dust. I covered my head with my hands, by instinct, but kept my eyes open to see what was going to happen next. The cop that the coyote fell on was so startled and winded, he unwittingly squeezed out a single shot that resonated off the step canyon wall, and then a millisecond later, hurt our ears. Holy shit! Rolling around with the angry and scared coyote, he kept trying to reach out to grab the gun, but every time he tried to grasp it, it was just millimeters out of his reach. Unfortunately for the cop, he didn't get to it in time.
Before he could get to the gun and fire off a round into the coyote, one of the cops right behind me on the dirt trail had jumped up and tried to tackle the coyote off of the downed sharpshooter. It was Jackson, of course, trying to be a hero! As the chubby cop awkwardly wrestled with the big animal, the sharpshooter scooted out from under them and reached out for his gun. On his knees and not taking the time to line up his shot correctly, the first bullet went wide, ricocheted off the steel door frame of the pump house and then sailed barely inches over our heads and down the canyon below. I instinctively pushed my face in the gravel, not that it would have done any good at that point. The loud noise made the coyote go ballistic and she sunk her teeth deeply into Jackson's crotch, coming away with flesh and pieces of ripped uniform. Jackson let out an agonizing scream that probably was heard all the way down the trail, and maybe down to my house, causing all of us to wince and cringe. Why the other cops hadn't taken a shot at the animal by now I couldn't say-they must have been squeezing their balls between their legs in sympathy or they didn't want to risk hitting Jackson with a bullet. Only the sharpshooter was unfazed and he got off two more rounds, hitting the coyote in the head and hind quarters in two rapid bursts. Unfortunately for Jackson, before the coyote died, she took one last hard chomp on his privates, nicking an artery and causing blood to start squirting out between his legs.
Nobody could have ever imagined this horrific of a scene, and I think we were all in total shock. Jackson sat there for a second or two, still on top of the downed coyote, weighing his options, while blood continued gushing down and out of the zipper area of his blood soaked dark blue uniform, pooling on the top of the dead coyote's brown fur. For just an instant he looked up from his crotch, straight at me, pale and terrified, but I could swear he recognized me and gave me a menacing look. He mouthed the word "Why?" and I got the feeling he was blaming me for his predicament. Then he looked away, off into the distance down the valley below. Blood was really squirting out now and the sight of it made me feel queasy. Sensing that this was an enormous fuckup, he stood up, barely, and we could see that half his dick had been bitten off! He wobbled around a little and then tripped over the downed coyote. He didn't fall, but took two faltering steps backwards toward the ledge, waving his arms for balance, looking for some help from somebody, anybody. His feet couldn't find purchase and he slipped in the sand, and then, amazingly, he disappeared over the edge of the trail and down the canyon below!
It happened so fast and was so gruesome that everybody was freaked out, and none of the cops had any time to react. We all got up and raced over to the ledge, peering over it and looking down into the steep chasm below hoping he was okay. Even though the sun had just set behind the ridgeline and the shadows were long, we could easily see the outline of Jackson's body sprawled out on the sandy floor of the deep canyon below, easily three or four hundred feet down. Little rocks and gravel were still raining down on top of him and pooling on his body.
He wasn't moving.
"Shit!" was all that the Sergeant said.
"Carson, are you all right?" one of the other cops said to the guy on the ground.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just got the wind knocked out of me, that's all," he said. I think he was in shock seeing his fellow officer die like that. Hell, we all were.
Everybody was quiet now, taking turns to come up and look over the ledge and then down at the dead cop. It seemed kinda weird to me that no one seemed surprised that Jackson was dead. I guess they were used to him doing dumb stuff like this. I looked over at Jake, and while he seemed okay, I was sure that horrific scene would stay in his mind forever, just like it would for me. It's not every day that you see a cop's dick get bitten off.
After taking a quick look inside the pump house, the Sergeant got on the radio to coordinate the retrieval of Jackson's mangled body. Then he gathered us all around and told us that he and another one of the cops were going to stay up on the bluff top to help facilitate the rescue, since they had a clear view of the grisly scene down below. It was almost dark now, and he wanted everybody off the trail before we wouldn't be able to see and make it back down safely to the street. He didn't want to lose anybody else, and I didn't blame him.
We all got together, in a straight line, and we started down the trail. Nobody talked much along the way, and instead we focused on the slippery path in the dim light and forgetting about Jackson's crotch being ripped apart. Most of the cops had their flashlights on so we could see pretty well, and hopefully no one would slip and fall. I was following a couple of the cops and Jake and my dad were right behind me. That made me feel better. It was creepy being up here at night, and the fact that I just saw a guy get his privates eaten off, and then fall off the cliff, creeped me out even more.
It's always faster going downhill, and even though it was almost totally dark now, we made it to my backyard in pretty good time. The cops went through the gate and out onto the street. Dad, Jake and I wandered out to the front yard to meet up with everybody on the lawn. They'd all heard the gun shots and were really frantic, and they were relieved when they found out that we were all okay. Mom came up and gave me and Dad a great big hug, slobbering kisses all over us. Jordy was either hanging off of me, or Dad, and wouldn't let either one of us go. Even little Chris gave Jake and me a big hug while Sloan was dancing around at our heels, sniffing at me and trying to figure out why I smelled so bad. Lisa and Coop came up to us and I was surprised when they both gave me and Jake big hugs and kisses too. They had come back up from Coop's house when they heard the gun shots. I guess they were really worried about us up on the hill and were glad we didn't get shot.
Most of the cop cars were starting to leave by then, and the long, white Cadillac ambulance with those huge windows and big, domed light bar, was turning around and heading for the canyon just to the west of us, Kinneloa Mesa. We could hear the Sheriff's chopper circle towards us off in the distance as it hovered around the canyon, helping to coordinate the rescue team below move Jackson's dead body out.
Finally, everything started to wind down. The cops took our statements and the reporters tried to talk with us and get some pictures. By then, the neighbors all had their fill, and the story had been told and retold a hundred times. Coop took off for home too, but only after getting a quick peck on the lips from Lisa. The Miller and Mariano families, plus little Chris and Sloan, all headed inside to try and wind down. It was tough because physically we were beat; emotionally we were still on high. Plus, it didn't help that Jordy and Chris had us replay the shooting scene over and over again.
After everybody was talked out, Jake and I took a quick shower so I could get the Dark Man's stink off me and then headed out to the tree house to sleep, against our parent's objections. Neither one of us had much to say, and I knew we probably wouldn't sleep very well. We got Sloan up in the tree house with us and just as I was about to close and bolt the trap door, I thought I saw a glimpse of the Dark Man, standing behind the bushes next to the garage, but I couldn't be certain. I wasn't sure if I should be feeling scared or safe. We unrolled the cowboy sleeping bags on the shag carpet, stripped off all our clothes and laid down. Neither one of us felt like doing anything sexy with each other, especially after everything that we just had been through. Sloan felt the need to protect us, and, after a few spins around to find the perfect place, snuggled down at our feet. Jake threw his strong arm over my chest, pulled me tight to him and in seconds he was fast asleep, snoring lightly into my back, totally exhausted.
As for me, I stayed awake for a long time that night, thinking about what the Dark Man had told me. I wondered if I should tell Jake. And if I did, how much? I wondered what was going to happen next. I wondered who was after us, or more specifically, Jake. And why? Why did that dopey cop have to get shot and die? All of these thoughts kept racing around in my head like a slot-car on a super-fast track down at the rec-center. Then I heard a twig snap down below us, under the tree house, and instead of being scared, I felt that someone was looking out for us. That's when I pulled Jake in tighter and I finally fell asleep. Whey-oh.
Sorry this chapter took so long to post. I've always felt this story should be about quality and not quantity. I could not have done this chapter without the awesome help of my editors Jason T. and Hans. They're the bomb! I owe both of them big time. Seriously.
No offense to the Pasadena Police, but it was a turbulent time back then and for the hippies, cops weren't your pals. For this chapter, I researched the lingo, so please forgive some of the descriptions if they offend you. That's just the way they talked back then, man.
Thanks again for reading, Flip. 1977.flip@gmail.com