“Ben! Are you okay? Oh my God, you are white as a ghost!”
As she reached him, Ben felt his legs begin to give way, and his surroundings begin to spin. “I’m sorry Mom.” was all he could say, and then he lost conciousness.
When he finally opened his eyes, he looked around and realized he was not in his own room. On his left, his mother looked as if she was sleeping with her head in her folded arms at the edge of the bed he was laying in. The room was dimly lit, and Ben noticed from looking out the window that it was night. He had a clear tube stuck in his arm. His throat was dry and sore and he felt very weak. There were flowers and cards and —presents— on the bedside table and on the window sill. He reached over and touched his Mom’s arm.
“Mom?” he croaked.
His mother lifted her head at the sound of his voice. She looked different. Her eyes were red and swollen. She had been crying.
“Oh my God Ben! You are awake!”
She stood up quickly. She walked around almost comically in a couple of small semi-circles. Ben noticed tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. She wiped her red eyes with the backs of her hands. She looked confused, one minute looking like she would run out of the room, and the next minute she was back in the bed-side chair and hugging him.
“Oh Benny, I was so scared!” she cried as she hugged him tightly.
A minute later she was back on her feet again. She almost ran out of the room through the open door, and she called out very loudly this time: “Nurse, my son is awake!”
Ben learned later that after he had passed out in the clearing. His mother had called an ambulance, and he had been asleep in the hospital for three and a half days. He had caught pneumonia and the doctors feared he might die. Matt had gotten sick as well, and the story he had told his parents had involved a black bear, rather than the Hell-hound, so the incident at the mansion had never been revealed.
Ben’s own parents had not questioned him at all about Matt’s story. It was not extraordinary to them that the boys would run into a black bear in the early morning hours in the north woods. His mother doted on Ben, hugging him and telling him how much she loved him and lavishing him with gifts each new day that he spent at the hospital, which spanned the length of nine days. When Ben finally returned home, he was under strict orders to rest for another week. The time passed by for him very slowly.
When things were finally getting back to normal and Matt was allowed to come by, the boys avoided talking about their misadventure. They both wanted to put the incident far behind them. Later, when they rowed for the first time on the lake, they made a conscious effort to avoid the west side where the mansion property was located. They had no wish to even catch a glimpse of the place, and they avoided it at all costs. The discomfort they felt on the water was palpable, and as the days and weeks went by, they spent more and more time on their bikes than on the water.
One day, the boys decided they would hunt for pop bottles that they could find along the gravel roads which led to Nerroth’s store. They would trade them in for the refund money. The empties were worth two cents apiece, and a day’s work of finding them could sometimes amount to as much as two dollars. They walked their bikes, each one taking turns pulling a wagon load full of noisy bottles tethered to a bike by a rope.
“What is that Matt?”
“What?”
“Down the road, on the other side of the ditch.”
Matt looked way down the road at the object. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s a deer or a small black bear that’s been hit.”
The boys kept moving steadily in the direction of the dark shape, each on his own side of the road, occasionally picking up bottles as they went. As they drew closer to the dark object, it looked to them like a man laying down. They also had seen something small move from the woods to the man, and then back into the woods.
“Matt, did you see that?”
“Yeah. What the heck was it?”
“I can’t tell. It was too fast and too far away, but it looked like—”
“Is that a —?”
“It’s a man lying there Matt. I wonder why a man would be laying down in the middle of nowhere? What was that other thing we saw, a raccoon?”
The boy’s pace slowed as it became clear to them that it was indeed a man lying ahead of them on the roadside. Ben crossed to the side where Matt was walking, opposite the stranger. They cautiously moved forward.
“Ben?”
“What?”
“Do you think he is okay, I mean do you think he might be dead?”
“I was thinking the same thing myself.”
They stopped their bikes.
“Should we get a closer look at him Matt?”
“I don’t want to. I think we should turn around.”
“What if he’s sick or something and he needs help?”
“You can go if you want to, but I am staying right here where I am.”
“Well, I will, but if he grabs me you ride like hell and get some help.”
The man rolled from his side and lifted himself to a half-sitting position on his elbows.
“What on earth are you boys carrying on about? A free man has a right to take a rest now and then doesn’t he? It’s one thing tryin to sleep with all those bottles rattling, but being called a dead man now, that’s another. Come to think of it, I do sleep like I was de-ceesed now and then.” He let out a laugh.
“Sorry mister, we didn’t see you move once from a quarter mile down the road.” Matt said.
The old man sat upright and it looked to the boys that he was literally swimming in his dusty clothes. He had long white hair which fell almost to his shoulders from under a wrinkled fedora hat. His face was covered with a shortly cropped white beard. The lines on his face had the look of a road map, and when he smiled the boys noticed he was missing some of his teeth. He wore a grayish-green pair of chinos with a black tee and a gray sport coat. His shoes revealed his socks in some places, and on one foot, the socks revealed one ancient big toe. It was clear to the boys that they were talking to a real honest to goodness hobo. They couldn’t believe their good fortune and then Ben said, “You better be careful where you sleep mister, we saw an animal eyeing you up close a couple of minutes ago. My mom says lots of animals in the north woods can give you rabies and then you need to get thirteen shots in your stomach if they can’t find the animal and cut its head off.”
“Is that so young man? And what kind of critter did you see?”
“We couldn’t tell, it was too fast and we were too far away.”
The old man had a wry smile on his face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rather large harmonica. “Well, sonny, tell me more about this awful woodland creature. Was it biggish or smallish?” He licked his lips, seemingly preparing himself to play the harp.
“It was small, about the size of a raccoon or maybe a porcupine.”
“What’s your name young man?”
“Ben.”
“And who might I ask is this other toe-headed character?”
“My name’s Matt.”
“Well Ben and Matt, I am pleased to make your acquaintance. My name is Regola, Samuel Regola, but most folks just call me Sam. What would you say if I told you I could call wild animals right out of the woods with this here harp?”
“I’d say seeing is believing.” Ben said coyly.
“Well said, well said. You boys have any change in yer pockets? You see, some coins are needed as part of the equation which calls the exotics, that is the exotic critters from the woods. It never works on everyday animals such as raccoons, or porcupines or possums. Without the coins though, the call would not work.”
The boys reached into their pockets and produced seventy-eight cents between the two of them, and handed the change over to the man. He looked at the change in his hand, and did some figuring in his head, and decided that it would be enough to make the animal call happen.
“Okay boys, you stand here, and you stand— here.
” He positioned the boys in a precise way by nudging them this way and that with his free hand.
“You must stay perfectly still or you will break the charm. And this is very important, do not fuss about or run when the exotic comes out of the woods. Calling the critters can sometimes make them a little edgy, or nervous, and if you run or make any sudden moves, the incanted critter may make a move for you in it’s hypnotized state.”
The boys stood rigid as two statues where the man had placed them. They were excited, and maybe a little afraid of what was to come next, and neither of them wanted to break the charm.
The man began playing a bluesy version of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” on his harp. The boys watched in amazement as a monkey came flying out of the woods at full bore and leaped into the air landing on the man’s left shoulder, and upon doing so, grabbing a quarter out of the opened palm of the man’s left hand. It happened so quickly the boys just stood there stunned as the monkey eyed the two of them from the man’s shoulder.
The man stopped playing on his harmonica and said; “Well what about that! I called a white-headed capuchin monkey right out of the woods of Wisconsin! What are the odds! Why, I am glad I didn’t play “Nellie the Elephant” or we mighta caused a stampede.”
The boys knew that they had been had, and the man really had the monkey as a pet, but it didn’t matter to them. The seventy-eight cents that they had given the man was well worth the show. The monkey kept eyeing each boy in turn, and it seemed to them that the animal was not overly friendly even though it had an almost human-like smile on it’s tiny face.
“Say boys, I was not being totally up and up with you about this here monkey. His name is Morris the third and he is my travelin partner. I started out organ grindin from town to town with Morris’ grand-pap. With each new town it would be okay for awhile, but afterwards, the townsfolk would get annoyed at my playing and run me out. Then, when I returned the next year they would make me go around town, or keep to the outskirts because they said a was disturbin the peace. I had a run with the big tent circuses with Morris’s pap for a stretch, but in the end, they said I was a little too advanced in years to be in the big shows and I should work the carnivals. I had to trade in my barrel organ for this here harp, but we still get by okay playing carnivals and such. Say boys, my bones are tired and my dogs are barkin. You wouldn’t know where a man might rent a place that takes exotics would you?”
Ben told the organ-grinder about his family resort, a thing that he would regret for many years to come. The stay for the old man in cabin number six would last little more than a week, ending with the old man dying of natural causes in his sleep. The stay for Morris, however would be a few years, resulting in the loss of business and ultimately, the loss of the family resort.
CHAPTER SIX
Therapy Part Two ( Present Day )
octor Levine continued with his questioning: “Ben, let’s examine the segment in which the old man hugs you at the coctail party. Why do you think that the old man is hugging you in the dream?”
“I don’t have a clue. I only knew the old guy for about a week. Maybe he is trying to apologize for having put me through hell with that monkey for all those years.”
The doctor jotted down something in his notebook and asked: “You say you only knew the old man for a week. What kind of association did you have with him? Would you call it friendly?”
Ben wasn’t sure where the good doctor was going with this line of questioning. “Doctor Levine, my association with the old man was this. I would bring him a plate of food which my mother would cook for him each night at dinner time. Mom didn’t cook for the guests normally, but she felt sorry for him looking so thin, and she shared our dinner meals with him. He pretty much stayed to himself in or near the cabin the entire time, and to tell you the truth, I stayed as far away from cabin six as I could. When I would bring the food, the monkey would be on the cabin roof, watching me with those beady little eyes, and to tell you the truth that monkey gave me the creeps. So, in answer to your question, I would say that my few words a day with the old guy would categorize my association with him as almost non-existent.”
“So you think that the old man in the dream may be apologizing for having left the monkey behind at the resort after his death. You said on your first visit that after the monkey came into your life, you were unhappy. Why is that?”
Ben thought about how he would begin. “Doctor, I know that this may sound kind of loony so I am going to come right out and say it. The monkey was the cause of all of my family’s problems from the day the old man died. I tried to tell my parents how wicked it was, but they didn’t believe me. It is as if the little creature had a spell on them.”
“Now Ben, you know a monkey having supernatural powers—”
“No doctor, what I am saying is that the monkey acted one way in front of grown ups, and another way around children. He knew how to behave when the people that mattered were around.”
Doctor Levine raised one eyebrow but did not reply. He made more notes and waited for Ben to continue on his own.
“I am not sure how to begin. My parents were kind of disconnected with me back then. It was not that they didn’t love me, but rather they were busy running the resort. My dad spent a lot of time in the evenings keeping company with the guests. He was an affable man, and I am sure he thought that by befriending the guests he would foster long term repeat resort business. My mom supported this role by preparing hors d’oeuvres and mixing with the female guests. From across the clearing I would hear the laughter which always made me smile, but being too young for that sort of entertainment, I would be off playing with Matt or some of the other cabin kids. I am sure that it may not have been easy for them to be entertaining night after night, week in week out.”
“When the old man died, my parents were wondering what to do about the monkey. They called the Milwaukee Zoo for some advice, and were happy that the zoo would be willing to send someone to capture and transport the creature back to the zoo. It was a day or two later when entertaining the guests by the house during the usual evening soiree, that the monkey jumped on my Labrador Retriever’s back and rode him around the clearing. The animal must have had some experience riding dogs in the circus or maybe carnivals, because he looked like a miniature Lone Ranger slapping the dog’s backside with one hand, and holding on to the scruff of the dog’s neck with the other. The already buzzed party guests erupted with laughter and the rest as they say, is history. My parents changed their mind and decided it would be a cute thing to have the monkey around to entertain the resort guests. Maybe they thought it would take some of the pressure off of them.”
The doctor kept writing notes in his notebook, occasionally making a gesture with his eyes or uttering “uh huh” to let Ben know he was listening with interest. Ben continued, “The grown ups all loved the monkey. It got rave reviews whenever it rode Bo my dog. Week after week with the arrival of new guests it was the same thing. The predictable burst of laughter from the cocktail parties. The “Oh isn’t it cute” comments. The monkey was on it’s best behavior around the adults, but with the kids, when there were no adults watching, the frigging monkey was different. He was psycho. There was a real dark side to Morris the monkey.”
Doctor Levine looked up above his glasses at Ben. “A dark side?”
“Well, for starters, the little fur-ball was insanely jealous of my dog Bo. When I was near the house with my parents or other adults nearby, I could pet Bo freely. The monkey would only sit on the roof, or on an overhead wire and watch. Again, when the grown-ups were around he would behave. But if you were to try and pet the dog when there were no adults around, watch out. The monkey would attack you. Kids my age were scared to go out when the adults were nowhere to be seen.”
“Didn’t you tell your parents about the monkey’s attacks?”
“I tried telling them. They only thought I was exaggerating. You see, the monkey didn’t attack in such a way as to cause physica
l harm such as bite marks. It was too smart for that. A bite mark would be evidence enough to support my story. It would attack in ways such as jump from a cabin roof onto your back and pull your hair while biting your ears. It would jump on your head and take a dump in your hair. I had to go around the cabins when the new guests arrived, just to warn the kids not to go near the dog when adults weren’t around. Sometimes they would follow my directions and leave the dog be, and sometimes they would learn the hard way.”
“Didn’t the other kids tell their own parents?”
“I am sure they did. The adults would just tell their kids to stay away from the monkey. You know how people are doctor, seeing is believing. As I said, the monkey was charming around adults. It would just run around smiling and acting cute, riding the dog, and many of the adult guests thought that their kids were exaggerating. Maybe they thought that their kids were scared of it because it had a tiny human face and they were not used to seeing a monkey up that close.”
“Are you saying that during all this time, not one adult guest took their child at their word and raised the issue with your parents?”
“Every now and then someone would complain, but not very often. The monkey was far too enchanting around the adults for any complaint to be taken seriously. I lived with that schizophrenic monkey for three years, and I am telling you doctor, he ruined our family business. I am sure that when the resort guests were making new plans the following year, their kids would be adamant about not returning to Spider Lake Resort. Our so called return business pretty much dried up, and it took my parents a few years to learn their lesson.”
“Would you say that it might be possible that something other than the monkey may have caused the family business to fail? Could it be that you may be inflating the monkey’s influence, good or bad on the collapse of the resort?”
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