Of Men and Monsters

JUNE 25, 1975“This is it?” Matt asked.Mom gave a harried sigh. “It doesn’t look like much from the outside,” she said, far too cheerily if you ask me, “but wait until you get in before you judge.”My brother mumbled something and pushed open the passenger-side door, groaning as he stretched.Drama queen, I thought. I scrambled out of the back seat, and the cool sea breeze hit me. It smelled salty and fishy—and I loved it. On the enthusiasm meter, I was way closer to Mom than to Matt.“What are we even going to do here?” He picked up a rock and tossed it lazily toward the beach.“Are you kidding?” I cried, “the house is practically right on the water!”“Yeah,” Matt said with a glare, “and we don’t know a single person, dildo.”“Matt! Watch your language.”He shrugged and shuffled toward the beach. I followed, keeping my distance.“Take a quick look around, then come right back and help me unload,” Mom called.I waved to acknowledge her then jogged a few paces to catch

JUNE 27, 1975I woke the next morning feeling as though I’d never slept. I remembered waking up a few times from bad dreams, but had no memory of the dreams themselves. I moved to the window, my eyes still caked with sleep and feeling groggy. I wonder how Matt’s feeling, I thought, remembering how my dad always looked the day after. I opened the window wider than I’d left it overnight, letting the blast of cool sea air bring me fully awake. It was a picture-perfect day. The sky was a deep blue, unmarred by a single cloud. The ocean water near the shore looked greenish-blue, with the sun turning the whitecaps silvery as they crashed to the beach. Seagulls made a fuss over toward the marina, and a handful of sailboats dotted the ocean farther out, their colorful sails lending vivid contrast to the darker deep sea.I dressed quickly and ran downstairs, not bothering to check on my brother. Mom was in her seat at the kitchen table, drinking coffee. We exchanged good mornings an

JULY 2, 1975The next several days passed in a blur, but at the same time they seemed to last forever. Mom was working crazy hours at the diner with more and more summer people—“renters” as the townies called them—showing up every day. All the boarded-up cottages were showing signs of life. By the weekend, the town would be at full capacity. Mom’s schedule left me and my brother with the freedom to spend long days and some evenings on the beach with the rest of “the townies.” There were a few other year-rounders besides us, but not many. A number of the kids’ families owned the cottages as second homes. Others had long-term rentals, some were only there for a week at a time. Kelly’s father and Leah’s mother were brother and sister, and co-owned a massive cottage they’d winterized and converted to two separate units. Leah told me it had been her grandparents’ place, but they’d both passed away. On Wednesday, Mom had to cover both the lunch and dinner shifts. We’d been at the bea

JULY 4, 1975“Hey, check this out.” I stared into the little plastic tank that the “Sea Monster Pets!” were supposed to grow in. I’d slept in the day after The Kiss, and Matt and I were just bumming around in my room, reading comics. The storm had passed overnight but a cold drizzle still fell. It was supposed to clear later and we were going to meet the girls at the beach.Matt tossed his comic book aside. “They Come Out at Night” had been a good pastime when we’d first moved in, but girls had proven to be the ultimate distraction. From everything. “Those don’t look like shrimp,” he said, moving next to me to squint at the tank.Something swam in the murky water. They looked like tiny lobsters would look if their claws hadn’t fully formed. Instead, ropy appendages swirled next to them, probing the sides of the tank. I sprinkled some of the food in. The creatures sped to the surface to feed. There were too many to count, but I realized with horror that there would soon be

JULY 6, 1975I woke the next day in a tangle of sweaty sheets, trying to escape something in a nightmare that was already forgotten. My first glance was toward the small plastic tank on my bureau. I could see the shape prowling back and forth even from across the room. As recent as the day before, I’d have to practically have my nose against the side of the tank to see anything.I got out of bed and went to the tank, approaching it cautiously, as if the thing might leap out and get me. Some fragment of my dream tried to surface but didn’t quite make it. Still, it gave me a chill.The creature seemed to have grown again, even since the previous evening. It was probably two inches long but looked bigger because of the constantly swirling tentacles. I sprinkled some food in, careful to keep my hand way above the tank. It went for the flakes of dried fish or whatever the hell it was, but did so with nowhere near the frenzied enthusiasm of the past. I realized with a start that