cMX #2
He snorts. “I’ll tell you as much as I can.
You’ll probably find most of the general info on the fella from the Internet—what he looks and sounds like, all that kind of thing.
” Virgil jabs his chest with his finger.
“But what it won’t tell you is the encounter my best friend and I had with the beast when we were ten years old. Now that’s a story.”
The snack tray I’ve been picking at is swept to the side, and I lean forward. “No way. What happened?”
He presses his lips together and scratches his stubble, chin tilted up as if he's searching for pictures of the encounter in thin air.
“Tommy Jenkins invited me to go camping with him and his folks one weekend in, gosh, I’d say right about this time of the year. We went to sleep not long after dark because we were getting up early to do some fishing. His parents were in one tent, we were in the other.”
Virgil leans back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head.
“I don’t know what woke me, but I tell you what, I was frozen stiff in that sleeping bag.
” He shakes his head. “I looked over at Tommy and realized he’s got his flashlight on inside his sleeping bag.
He later told me he’d heard some crashing around in the woods. ”
My stomach is in knots. I’m a camping junkie, and I know exactly what it feels like when you hear strange noises in the middle of the night. Bears are usually the biggest concern. Even if you’ve stored your food away from your sleeping area, they have incredibly sensitive noses.
“Did you assume it was a bear?”
Virgil nods. “Oh yeah. And I’ll let you in on another thing.
Back then, we didn’t take all those fancy precautions everyone does nowadays.
There weren’t bear canisters or the like.
Being raised in the country gave us more sense than most tourists, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t have a bad run in. ”
I huff. “Even nowadays there are plenty of campers who are reckless. I’ve run into a few over the years while backpacking. Half the time I get mocked for being careful.”
“Son, you can’t protect yourself a hundred percent. Look at what happened to you today.”
Ouch. He has a point. My self-righteousness didn’t keep me from almost getting eaten alive.
“You’re right.” I sigh. “I shouldn’t be so smug.”
He shakes a finger at me. “No, keep following those good habits. But never rely on them exclusively. You’ve got to keep vigilant, stay aware of your surroundings.”
“Agreed. So, what happened next?” The suspense is killing me.
“Well, as you said, we thought it was a bear.” He grunts. “But we weren’t about to get out of our tents and go check. So we hunkered down to wait it out. Figured if we didn’t make a sound, he’d eventually be on his way.”
Virgil leans in, his voice dropping to almost a whisper, “But that’s when we heard it. An unholy noise that I felt deep in my bones, like my soul was being ripped from my body.”
I swallow hard. “Did you see it? What did it look like?”
Virgil pats the air. “Now hold your horses. I’m getting to that. The thing bellows out another howl, but it’s farther away this time. That’s when our ten-year-old curiosity—or more rightly, stupidity—gets the best of us, and we decide to follow it.”
“Yikes. In the dark?”
“As I said, stupid. I tell you, it’s a miracle that kids survived growing up in the seventies.
First, we check to see whether his folks are awake.
I don’t know how they slept through that racket, but they somehow managed.
” He chuckles. “I suppose lugging in all that heavy gear tuckered them out. We did our share, but they got the brunt of it.”
“Right. So you guys went after it.” I really need him to get on with the story.
“We sure as heck did.” He shakes his head again. “I still can’t believe we thought that was a good idea.”
I was going to explode if he didn’t cut to the chase.
“We tried to be as stealthy as possible,” he continues.
“But you can only keep so quiet with that much undergrowth and branches and whatnot. We paused now and then, checking for any unusual sounds, but didn’t have any luck.
All we had was Tommy’s flashlight to see, and after a while, we started worrying we wouldn’t be able to find our way back.
“Right as we decided to call it a night, the flashlight’s beam swept across a group of bushes, and we let out our own howls.
” He shudders. “What we saw… well, I’ve never seen anything like it.
I knew it wasn’t a bear or any other typical animal hiding in there.
At first, I thought it was Bigfoot, but in that moment, I realized it couldn’t be.
I’d never heard of any Bigfoot with horns or glowing red eyes—not like this.
It was as if there were embers burning from within. Absolutely horrifying.”
Virgil heaves a sigh. “Not gonna lie, the next part is a bit of a blur. I froze, Tommy froze, and the beast froze. We were caught in a staring contest that seemed to last an eternity but was probably only a few seconds. I don’t know which of us bolted first, but the next thing I know, I’m tearing through the woods like my pants are on fire. ”
“Wow. So did you already know about the Howler legend, or did you find out after this?”
Virgil rubs his chin. “Well, let me see. It’s been a while, so I’m not sure which came first, the chicken or the egg.
” He chuckles. “It’s all kind of mixed up together.
I suppose I knew there was something called an Ozark Howler from folk legends, but nothing specific.
Talk about strange creatures in the forest usually centered around good ‘ol Bigfoot.”
“Yeah, same. Did you guys get in trouble for running off like that?”
“Nope.” He snorts. “Only good thing that happened that night. When we got back to camp, we pinky swore we’d never tell anyone what we saw.”
“How come?”
He barks out a laugh. “Are you kidding? We didn’t want the kids making fun of us, or our parents finding out we’d been tramping through the woods in the middle of the night.”
I sit back in my chair. Between my promise to Rex and the fear of being ridiculed, I doubt I’ll ever tell anyone either.
“So, you haven’t said anything to anyone until now?”
His eyes turn misty. “I told my wife, because I knew she’d believe me. And she never would’ve teased me about my experience.” He sniffs. “I sure do miss her.”
“She’s…you guys aren’t together anymore?”
He offers me a faint smile. “I lost Becky close to five years ago. She got sick but went quickly. Love of my life, she was.”
“I’m so sorry.” I don’t want to ask for more details. “Thank you for telling me what happened. Gives me a lot to think about.”
“You think what you saw today was mine and Tommy’s beast?”
I wince. “Sure sounds like it. It’s kind of scary that it was roaming around in the daytime like that.”
Virgil nods. “I will say that it’s a bit odd. I’ve never heard any Howler tales where one was seen during the day.”
We sit in silence a moment while Virgil finishes his abandoned sandwich. Then he stretches and yawns. “Welp. Time for me to get a move on.” He chuckles as he rises. “Hope I didn’t scare you more than you already were.”
I smile up at him. “Not at all. At least I know I haven’t lost my mind.” I wrap up my food to bring to my room. I have a mini fridge, so I’ll save it for later. “But I think I’ll do some Internet sleuthing tonight, see if I can learn more about it.”
Virigl laughs again. “Just don’t scare yourself so bad you’re up all night!”
I let out a shaky laugh. “I’ll do my best.”
After he leaves, I go to my room, excited to start digging into Howler legends. But I’ve already got my mind made up about something. I’m going to pester Rex until he tells me all he knows.
I’m not giving up until I discover what he’s hiding.