ART writes--
The last time we saw Adam was the 9th of November, about 8 o'clock
in the evening. He'd received a phone call, we could hear him talking
upstairs, then he came down past us on his way out the door.
"I have to go into town, Melly might need rescuing."
"What's wrong?" Elaine asked.
"Wild party I guess, but I'm not sure if it's true, it was kind of
a suspicious call from Marty Rocken--he's a friend of Peter's and
I could hear that he was lying about something. May be a practical
joke, but I'd better check it out."
"You want me to come along?" I offered.
"Naw, it's probably no big deal. And if it is, I'll handle it
myself. See you later."
And he left. We didn't think that much about it, Adam was a very
big boy, he could take care of himself. He was superhuman, you
know, who could hurt him?
About an hour later the phone rang. I was writing some letters,
Elaine took the call. I could tell right away that something was
wrong.
"There must be some mistake," she kept saying, then called for me.
Her eyes showed horror and confusion.
"What's wrong?" I had a sudden thought of Adam in an automobile
accident, for some reason.
"It's the Chief of Police in Monroe. He says Adam kil...killed...
here," she handed me the phone.
"Yes?"
"Art, this is Earl Chesterson, and I'm calling in my capacity as
Chief of Police to inform you that Adam--your sasquatch--has gone
wild at a big party and may have killed a boy tonight."
I didn't answer right away, couldn't. And when I did, all I could
say was, "Oh, come now." I believe I sounded remarkably calm.
"An officer tried to arrest Adam, but he ran off into the woods.
We think he's going to try to make it home to you folks, so we're
sending out a couple of our boys. If he does show up, could you
just sort of calm him down and talk him into giving himself up
so that no one else gets hurt?"
"Who's been hurt?" I saw a nightmare scene before my eyes:
scattered bodies in the streets of Monroe, King Kong towering
over it all, beating his chest. I wonder how many other people
would envision that too.
"Peter Sinsley," Earl went on, "You know who he is."
"Oh, God, no! I mean, yes, I know who he is. How bad?"
"Well, we think he's gonna die. He's pretty well staved in, looks
like Adam hit him full power. The ambulance took him to Monroe
General, but there's no telling. But even if he does live, Adam's
still looking at attempted manslaughter."
"But how did it happen? Was it provoked? Why...?"
"Look, kind of busy right now, but I'll be out there in a while.
I'll tell you everything I know when I get there."
As soon as Chief Chesterton hung up I dialed the number of Adam's
cell phone. He usually had it on him when he went into town. But
all I got was that irritating message: "--there is no connection
with that number at this time..." Adam's phone was either turned
off or out of range from any signal transfer tower, which was
usually the situation whenever he went out of town...or up into
the hills.
Elaine was waiting with worried eyes while I tried again and again
without success.
"Well, maybe that's better in this instance than his telephone
ringing on and on without being answered," I told Elaine. Not much
solace there.
She started crying, so I held her. We were both frightened and
concerned for our son, and yet were both also absolutely certain
that the story we had heard was the wrong version.
"People will react against Adam just because he's a Bigfoot,"
Elaine reasoned, "he may have been acting in self-defense."
"Or it could be an accident," I said.
"Adam wouldn't hurt anyone, not even Peter Sinsley!" Elaine was
certain of that, but thought it out, "of all people, though... I
wonder if it was Peter who attacked Adam in some way. Maybe even
With a gun?"
"There's no knowing until we find Adam."
"Oh, God!" Elaine whimpered, "I hope he's all right!"
He wasn't, of course.
This is the story we pieced together from the many witnesses of
that evening:
That phone call Adam got was supposed to have been anonymous,
although it didn't work out that way, since Adam was good at
identifying voices, even of people he hadn't spoken with in years.
Marty Rocken had been one of Peter Sinsley's gang back in school,
one of those bullies who had tormented Adam.
"Hey, Adam, you don't know me but..."
"Sure I do, you're Marty Rocken. What's up?"
"...uh, uh..." Marty was obviously surprised or upset to be so
easily recognized, he went on without confirming his identity,
"...anyway I'm calling to tell you that I think your friend
Melly's in trouble right now."
"Melly? All right, I'm listening."
"Yeah, man, there's a hell of a party going on out here at Big
George's, and it's getting kinda like out of control. Drugs,
lotsa liquor, loud music, really cookin, man. Melly's here with
Peter Sinsley and he's totally fucked up, man--and her too. Shit,
everyone here is fucked up on all sortsa shit and they're kinda
like a mob now."
"Melly's a big girl," Adam said, "what's this got to do with me?"
"There's some heavy biker types here--Hells Angels, man--and
they're all worked up about her, getting horny, pressuring Peter
to pass Melly around, y'know, gang bang stuff. And I think he's
gonna let 'em have her, he's pretty pissed at her...something
about you and Melly, whatever. So I guess you're the guy to
call."
"Have you called the police?"
"Hey, I'm not calling the police on Big George, man, no way! And
besides, I got other friends there too, I'm not gonna get them
busted. Melly'd get busted too--she's definitely under the
influence of some illegal substances, man.
"I just don't want to see her get raped by ten bikers, she's too
nice a girl for that, y'know, it ain't right. I just know Peter
will be sorry tomorrow when he's thinking straight again if this
goes down--right now he's too messed up to know what he's doing."
"Did Melly ask you to call me?"
"Shit no, man, she can barely talk; she's all fucked up on drugs.
I called you because you're her friend and you're the only guy I
know who's BIG enough to tell the Angels to fuck off!"
"Big George" Avery had a 50's style rambling one story house out
on Wood's Creek Road, just on the edge of Monroe. Adam knew where
it was, the place was infamous.
Big George was a local heavy, a body building biker in his 40's,
who sometimes worked on the logging crews with Peter Sinsley. He
had a reputation for just about anything, including loud parties
with lots of stoned and drunk bikers. The Hell's Angels actually
did drop in there once in a while, it was that kind of scene.
His place was the hub for drug traffic, fenced contraband, porno,
guns, some violence, the seamy side of Monroe. Everybody in town
knew about it, even the Police, but it's a small town and that's
where everyone bought their drugs, even the Police.
Wood's Creek Road was only 7 miles from us, so Adam hopped into
his car and drove to Big George's place, which was tucked in the
woods on the way out of town.
Adam could hear the party from a distance, driving his Camaro with
the top down. The music was hard and heavy--the house was armed
with amps and speakers of rock concert standard screwed up to top
volume-- and then he came to the rows of cars and motorcycles
parked along the road, far too many to park in Big George's front
yard. Adam had to park a quarter mile from the house, out of the
woods, over on the town side of the highway.
It was fairly warm for a November evening, the windows and doors
were open and heavy-metal music thundered out to where many people
sat outside on the porch or on their cars, drinking, smoking,
talking. They were outside because there were too many people to
fit inside the house. There seems to have been about 200
participants that evening, lots of witnesses, many of whom said
they saw the local Bigfoot approaching on foot from the road.
There was a stir, everyone knew who Adam was and many had heard a
rumor that the famous Monroe Bigfoot might show up this evening
looking for trouble. Peter had been setting up the crowd, it seems,
just as he had arranged for Marty to call Adam and lure him to
the party.
Lots of witnesses, but the two we couldn't interview to put this
report together were Adam and Peter. Did Adam suspect a trap? Did
Peter actually believe he could get away with it? We still don't
know those things.
Adam must have noticed how people almost hopped and ran when they
saw him coming, running not away, but closer, to get a better view
of the promised action. Or got behind their cars for safety. However,
no one ran to greet him.
There are conflicting observations of how he approached: some say
he walked to the house without hesitation, very determined, big
and fearless; others say that he seemed somewhat intimidated by
the crowd and was somewhat nervous.
They agree that just before he went into the house he was wincing
at the volume of the music and took some leaves and rolled them up
as ear plugs, then walked in.
Inside, the house was full of people, the only lights were candles
and strobes. There was a thick cloud of marijuana smoke, people
were dancing madly, singing, drinking, falling over. No one took
notice of an 8'3" tall sasquatch coming in through the door
sideways, and who couldn't stand up straight because the ceiling
was three inches too low. But when he moved through the room,
they noticed him all right.
He was looking around for someone, and as people noticed him they
jumped away, frightened by Adam's size and animal presence, as
well as his expression--stressed by the noise and the strobes and
the crowd of strangers he was trying to pass through--many said he
looked angry. And there had been that rumor about a "showdown".
Peter had started the rumor, just as he had the dog and rape stories:
that the Bigfoot was coming to the party for a showdown with Peter.
This story went that Adam wanted Melly to be his girl friend, even
though she'd told him she couldn't possibly ever do that with a
Bigfoot and especially since she was in love with Peter. So Peter
might have to make a heroic stand against that gigantic jealous freak
to protect his woman. Probably tonight at Big George's party. Hey,
might be cool, be there or be nowhere.
Adam hadn't heard the rumor, but he picked up on the attitude of
those people surrounding him--waiting to see something happen but
standing well back so that they didn't get hurt themselves.
Whenever he tried to ask anyone where Melly was, those he approached
backed away in terror. So he was stranded alone in a sea of party
people. He didn't like it, it was probably embarrassing for him,
perhaps even frightening, since Adam is naturally a pretty timid guy.
But he pressed on resolutely. The music was too high to ask any
questions anyway and obviously irritated him, so he moved to the
stereo system and turned it off. The music stopped and the
silence was deafening.
"I'm looking for Melly Wielson," Adam said for all to hear, "she's
here with Peter Sinsley, anybody seen them?"
No one dared answer: the rumor they had heard was true! --that the
Bigfoot was jealous of Peter and was going to have it out with
him here and now! Everyone wanted to watch, but nobody wanted to
be between them.
Then Big George came into the room, pissed off and loud about it,
coming to deal with whoever was screwing with his stereo system
and turning off the music. That mass of people parted as if it was
the Red Sea before Moses, everyone glad to allow Big George to
deal with the monster filling up the center of the room.
When Big George saw Adam he stopped and his pissed-off expression
suddenly became much more moderate--if not polite. Big George was
a big man, 6'7", bulging muscles, tattoos, long hair and handlebar
moustache, wearing a tough-looking face. He was used to commanding
respect and although not especially cruel, he did rather enjoy
dominating and intimidating people. Nobody screwed with Big George
Avery. But face to face with Adam, his own gargantuan physical
presence was suddenly reduced to comparatively tiny and frail.
"Ah...we don't want any trouble here, please," he said, carefully
and courteously.
"Oh, neither do I," Adam said, even more politely, "excuse me for
intruding, but I'm looking for Peter and Melly. Do you know where
I can find them?"
As mentioned, Big George was good at dominating people, so he caught
the timidity in Adam's demeanor and automatically began to exploit
it. "You know, I don't remember inviting you to this party. Maybe
you'd better just leave."
"Oh, well, sorry," Adam said, quite apologetically, "but I do need
to talk to Melly first, then I'll go."
"No, I don't think so. Peter warned me about you, and I don't want
a heavy scene here, so can just talk to Melly tomorrow. Okay?"
"Uh, well..." Adam looked quite sheepish, unsure of himself.
People looked around at each other: hey this bigfoot's a wimp, and
Big George really does have a set of balls. Big George was aware
that his hero status was taking a quantum leap for making the
Bigfoot back down. He pushed it a little, advancing to Adam and
putting his hand on his elbow to turn him around toward the door.
"Now get!"
Adam allowed himself to be half-turned, still looking through the
crowd for any face he knew, to ask someone else, when his cell
phone rang. He took it from his shirt pocket.
"Adam here."
"Addy, zat you?" It was Melly, her voice was slurred, "Zat rilly
you?"
"Mell? Where are you?"
"I'm...here. Dunno where that ish...so messed up, just a little
cham...champagne Peter gave me, it'll be FUN he says...but it's
not fun! OW! AIIEE! Stop that!"
"Mell? What's happening? Hello, hello?"
"AIIEE! Peter, NO! That hurts! OW! OW!"
"Mell, talk to me!"
Witnesses could hear Melly's shrieks coming out of Adam's cell
phone because that was the only sound in the room, they saw the
bigfoot become agitated, frenzied and desperate. The sound of cries
continued and smacking sounds, but no more conversation. Then the
phone connection broke off.
Big George chose that moment to send Adam away. "All right, you go
take your problems somewhere else, bigfoo..."
He never finished the sentence. As back in school, bullies could
push Adam around because he was a generally reasonable timid soul
who didn't like to cause trouble--but if Melly was threatened...
well then, they were dealing with a force of nature, like a storm
at sea, or an angry god. A mere human's arrogance became utterly
insignificant.
Adam turned on George, lightly set his huge hand down on the man's
relatively tiny shoulder and squeezed just enough to let George
know that he could crush that shoulder flat by simply snapping
his fingers. Suddenly George was sweating. Adam came down on one
knee so that he could look little Big George directly in the eyes.
"Want to tell me where they are?" Adam hissed, face close, his
teeth bared. And at that point he did look rather dangerous,
all witnesses agree about that.
The crowd in that room whimpered and pressed themselves flat back
against the walls, everybody looking for a way out from where a
ferocious bigfoot was ready to go amok, yet each and every one of
them too afraid to make any move to escape.
"Outoutout...out in the guest house in back!" George rattled,
pointing to the back door, offering no resistance whatever. He
also pissed his pants.
Adam released him and stood up. The ceiling crunched as his head
hit it and made a hole, plaster showering down. The Incredible Hulk
had arrived. He headed for the back door and the crowd threw
themselves out of his way, now as the Red Sea parting before
the Wrath of God.
Behind the house was a garage filled with several cars in various
states of repair, motorcycles, oil drums, and a small guest house
built onto the back of that building. There was a light in the
window.
Adam went around to the back of the guest house, to the wide window
through which he could look into a room, and there he stopped, as
if frozen, just looking.
What he saw was a cozy bedroom with the curtains pulled back so
that anyone could look directly in and see the naked couple having
sex on the bed.
Many people had followed Adam out to the back, to see what he was
going to do--it might be dangerous, but it was also very exciting!
Rumor had promised a showdown between a monster and a guy and a
girl, and here it all was, really happening, wow, cool!
Peter was vigorously copulating with Melly on the bed, she lying
with the window behind her, but Peter facing it. Looking up, he
could certainly see Adam looking in.
Adam stepped closer to the glass, merely standing there, watching
them do it. No one could see what he was feeling, his back was to
them, but he didn't seem to be about to go crazy at all. It was
more as if he slumped in defeat, perhaps was even hurt. After a few
seconds he turned, as if to leave.
But then there were slaps, screams and Adam pivoted again toward
the window. Peter was hitting Melly and she was struggling to
resist him. He slapped her three times before Adam made it to the
cabin door. It was locked, so he hit it with his shoulder and went
through the wood as if it were paper, vanishing inside.
Then a very loud heavy-caliber gunshot went off inside the little
guest house. Adam staggered back out the door, obviously shot, and
toppled backwards onto the ground.
|