Cycle of the Werewolf
OCTOBER
When Marty Coslaw comes home from trick-or-treating on Halloween night, the batteries in his wheelchair are almost dead. He goes directly to bed. He stays awake until the half-moon rises in a cold, dark sky. The sky is full of stars, like points of diamonds.
Outside, on the veranda, where a pack of Fourth of July firecrackers saved his life, there is a cold wind blowing. The wind blows the leaves across the yard, and they make a noise like old bones. The October full moon has come and gone with no new murder. It is the second month in a row that this has happened.
Some of the people in the town believe that the terror is over. Stan Pelky, the barber, is one person who believes this; and Cal Blodwin, the man who owns the car dealership in town, is another. They believe that the killer was a stranger, a drifter, someone living out in the forest. And now he has moved on to another place.
Other people in the town are not so sure. Some of these people think a lot about the four deer that were found by the highway. They were found the day after the October full moon. They were killed and eaten.
These people also consider Elmer Zinneman’s pigs that were killed during the full moon in September. The people of the town argue about these things in The Pub while they drink beer and stay warm in the long autumn nights. But Marty Coslaw knows.
Earlier this Halloween night, Marty’s father took him trick-or-treating around town. Marty’s costume was a Yoda costume, with a rubber mask, an old robe and an old stick. Marty’s dad takes Marty in their van because the van has a ramp that Marty can use to get in and out of the van easily.
Marty buzzes in his chair up and down the streets. He carries his candy bag on his lap and they go to all the houses on their street, and then they visit some houses downtown. He visits The Pub, which has a large bowl full of candy for trick-or-treaters.
By the end of the night, Marty visits dozens of houses downtown. He comes home with his candy bag full to the very top. He also comes home with a piece of terrifying, almost unbelievable knowledge. He knows. He knows who the werewolf is.
At one point during Marty’s trick-or-treating tour, the Beast himself, now safe between moons of insanity, has put candy into Marty’s candy bag. Because of the Yoda mask, the monster cannot see that Marty’s face has lost all of its color. The Beast also cannot see that under Marty’s costume gloves, he is holding the stick so hard that his fingers are white.
The werewolf smiles at Marty as he puts candy into the bag, and pats Marty’s rubber head. But it is the werewolf. Marty knows. But Marty knows not just because the man is wearing an eyepatch. There is something else. There is some vital similarity between this man’s human face and the face of the beast that he saw in the full moon so many months ago.
Ever since Marty returned to Tarker’s Mills after his attack, he has been looking for the monster. He is sure that he will see the werewolf sooner or later. And he is sure he will recognize him when he sees him, because the werewolf will be a one-eyed man.
After the attack, Marty told the police about how he hurt the werewolf’s eye. But Marty doesn’t think the police really believe him. Maybe it’s because he is just a ten-year-old boy. Or maybe it’s because they were not there on that July night when the confrontation happened. But it doesn’t really matter. Marty knows.
Tarker’s Mills is a small town. But the small number of people live far from the town center. So Marty has not seen anyone with one eye. And he knows that if he asks people in the town about it, his mother will discover that he is trying to be a detective. And she will not like that. She thinks the attack has traumatized Marty for the rest of his life.
On the way home from trick-or-treating, Marty’s father thinks he is quiet because he is tired from all the excitement. But in fact, that is not the case. Except for that night with the wonderful bag of fireworks that saved his life, Marty has never felt so alive!!
As Marty lies in his bed, he thinks about meeting the werewolf. Marty’s family is Catholic. They attend St. Mary’s church on the west side of town. The man with the eyepatch, the man who put candy into Marty’s Halloween candy bag, the man who smiled at him and patted his rubber Yoda mask, is not a Catholic. The Beast is the Reverend Lester Lowe, of the Grace Baptist Church.
“Sorry about your eye, Reverend Lowe,” Mr. Coleslaw had said as the Reverend put candy into Marty’s bag. “I hope it’s nothing serious.” The Reverend Lowe had smiled, then said that he had to have his eye removed because of a tumor. But it was the Lord’s will, and he was not having difficulty living with just one eye. And he said with compassion that some people have worse problems than he does.
So now Marty is lying in his bed on this cold October night. The moon is only half full. The question he asks himself is this: What does he do now that he knows who the Beast is? He doesn’t know, but he understands that soon he will have an answer to his question.
Marty finally falls asleep. He sleeps deeply and he dreams the dreams that young boys have. Outside, in the cold night air, the wind blows hard. It blows through the trees in the October night. It blows and sounds almost like a howl.
OCTOBER
