Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:37:50 -0800
From: Flip McHooter <1977.flip@gmail.com>
Subject: So Cal Summer 1969-Chapter 25

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