4. The Old Sailor

Samantha checks out the tiny village of Port Rock, and meets an interesting old man.

                At dusk the pair of federal agents that had arrived in town where the talk of every watering hole and checker board in town.  The stories held that they were part of an elite force tasked with handling any supernatural issues, like the one’s on The X-Files.  They were now in town to clear the swamp of the vampire that had be terrorizing the townspeople for months now.

                At Longman’s the talk was especially strong because Randolph Murphy had seen the pair, in their city clothes checking the place out the previous night.  It occurred to no one to ask Mr. Murphy why he had been out and about at such an ungodly hour.  Mr. Murphy had served in the Navy, and so he knew what the government was up too.  In his 2 years in the military Murphy, the son of a local fisherman, had seen much.  He had filed top secret reports, and had even driven around an Admiral for almost a week. 

                “I tell you boys these damn city folks will want to take in that creature alive so that they can cut it open and study it.  I doubt they have ever seen such a beast, at least not since that thing in Roswell.  I don’t know where they have gotten themselves off to, but you can bet that they will drag in here overwhelmed by the ferocity and power of the vampire.”  Murphy was saying when Samantha darkened the doorway of that particular establishment that evening.

                “I don’t know sir, we have seen some strange things, and most of them were not at all supernatural.  My name is Samantha McDuff, and I am a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security.”  She flashed a dime store badge as if it were true.  “I am afraid you are incorrect in your conclusion that we are in any way interested in vampires.  I don’t believe in the things personally.  We are here on much more mundane tasks I’m afraid.”

                Mr. Murphy stared at Samantha as though he had never seen a female before in his life.  “Pardon me ma’am.  I’m just an old man and sometimes my mouth runs away and I can’t keep up with it.” 

                “That’s a very unfortunate handicap indeed.”  Samantha replied suppressing a giggle.  Though she had grown up in a town not dissimilar from Port Rock, and had seen such people her entire life they still made her laugh.  “We are here to inspect any power plants, water plants or similar utilities.  It is our job to assist the local agencies in setting up security guide lines to prevent attack by terrorists.”

                “And why would terrorists be interested in Port Rock?”  A lady, to use the term loosely, snarled. Samantha eventually recognized her as the night clerk at the Port Rock Motel, Gladys.

                “I have no doubt that no one outside of this county has any interest in the power plant at Port Rock.  They may however have eyes on the five military bases located within a one hundred mile radius of this town,” Samantha said.  “North Carolina is indeed the most military friendly state in the union and with that comes some amount of risk of outside attack.  Because the government cannot supervise every utility department in every town in the state we have chosen a 100 mile radius around the before mentioned bases.”

                “Well that makes sense,” said Murphy grinning toothlessly.  “You know Ms. McDuff I always knew the gov’ment had more going on than what they told these common folks.”  He looked around at the people in the store as if he was not one of them.  “You see I was in the Navy, and I saw some damned odd sights,” He added in a stage whisper.

                “Well, sir.  Let me first thank you for your service to our great country.  Then I must ask you to direct me to the owner of this establishment.”  Samantha said calmly.

                “What you want to deal with that slacker for.  Didn’t I just tell you that I am the only one here abouts with any service record.  Billy Longman owns the place now that his daddy is dead but he don’t come around too much.  You see when Billy was a teenager he went off to one of them confounded colleges and got ‘im some learnin’.  Now he thinks himself too good to serve us commoners around Port Rock.  He won’t even come in here for a cup of his own coffee.  Never mind that it was us commoners that helped raise the boy and kept this heap in business,” Murphy said.  “I reckon that none of the kids nowadays will ever come back after they leave for a while.  Everything is in the cities as far as they are concerned.”

                “Ok, well if Mr. Longman is not available why don’t we go somewhere and have a private word,” Samantha said.  She had seen that this old man wasn’t going to back down on his opinion that no one else in town could be of any assistance.  “We just got into town late last night as you already know, and my partner is a heavy sleeper.  He’s still in the bed snoring.  So let’s go find a nice quiet coffee shop and talk.”

                “Nothing would please me more ma’am, but you see there ain’t no coffee shop in town.  Hell, this dump is the closest thing we got to one of them Starbucks joints.  Now if you’d be willing we can go to my place and get a cup.  My wife’ll be there so we’ll be properly chaperoned and all of that.  I promise I wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

                Samantha agreed.  She had to get someone on their own so that her real questions wouldn’t stir up to much controversy. 

…

                Mr. Murphy lived in what appeared to be a log cabin.  It was neat and the grass was closely cropped.  He seemed to take a lot of pride in the appearance of the place, just like an old sailor should.  “So how long were you in the Navy?”  Samantha asked casually.  In truth the question was anything but.  She wanted to know how much Murphy had really seen during his time and whether or not the man could keep a secret.

                “Not long enough, Ma’am.”  The old man said.  “You see I went through boot camp and was ready for my first assignment on ship.  The week before we set sail I was involved in a bar fight and caught an old Jack Daniel’s bottle upside my head.  They sent me to the brig for the night and then to the hospital where I stayed for almost a week.  Them docs up to the hospital told me that the bottle had cracked my skull and that I was lucky to be alive.”

                “Sounds like it to me.”  Samantha said. 

                “Yeah, I reckon.  When I was released I was put behind a desk.  My C.O. offered me a medical discharge but I refused it.  No sirree, I wanted to be a sailor all my life.  No way I was going to let them show me the door before they showed me some salt water.”

                “So you got healed up and shipped out?”  She asked just to keep him talking.

                “Nope.  They stuck me behind a desk in the Admiral’s office and there I sat for two years.  When my enlistment was up they didn’t offer me to re-up.  So I come home to Port Rock and been here ever since.  That’s my story lady.  I don’t particularly like it but that’s it.”  By this time Murphy had invited Samantha inside and pulled up an extra chair to the table.

                “Did I hear you say something about a vampire?”  She ask in her best wild eyed school girl voice.

                “Oh, yes ma’am.  We done got us one that lives out in the swamp south of town.  At least that’s what them boys that hunt that swamp say.  Ain’t no one actually seen him but they find critters of all descriptions out there cut open at the throat and drained.  Ain’t a drop of blood in the damn things.”

                “If no one has seen him, how do they know it is the work of a vampire.  I always heard that vampires bite their victims.  If it were a vampire wouldn't there be puncture wounds instead of cut throats.  Sounds a little suspicious to me?”  She said.

                “Yes, ma’am.  That it is.  I keeps on tellin’ them boys somebody’s playin’ a trick on im’ but they keep up tellin’ them stories.  I guess it amuses them.”  Murphy said.  “Around here you can only believe about one word in ten that anyone says.  We’re all a bunch of God forsaken liars.” 

                “Mr. Murphy,” Samantha said glancing out the window and seeing the dark falling fast.  “I need to go make sure my partner is okay.  Thank you for the coffee and the stories.”   

                 “Before you go let me get you a cup to go and tell you this.  If you are huntin’ vampires, don’t start here.  Them boys don’t know the difference between a vampire and a turtle.  I wouldn’t waste your time here.”  Murphy added as she walked out.