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The old man had been somebody.
He made it through the Great War unscathed

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as a radio telegraph operator. While
sending messages, he learned a bit about

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business and investing. He was surprised
by the information that went out to the

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upper echelon in the naval fleet.
From that information, he planned his career

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for after the war, and he
did well. He married way above his

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class after the war and invested in
stocks no one else knew anything about.

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During the Roaring twenties, he had
amassed a fortune. But then that dark

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day in nineteen twenty nine, just
like that, he lost it all.

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He tried to make do, but
his wife was accustomed to so much more,

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and she fell into a deep depression. He didn't find the arsenic bottle

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until a week after her funeral.
For a man who had once been a

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celebrity of sorts, he now shunned
human contact. He left the mansion and

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settled on an old shack in the
Louisiana Swamp, dressed in old, raggedy

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clothes, his hair and beard left
to grow wild. He spent his days

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walking the bogs and swamps, fishing, hunting, gathering his own food,

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doing what it took to get by. The locals would see him now and

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then, and he became a sort
of boogeyman in the area. You kids

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better watch out, old man will
is gonna get you. The depression finally

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ended. We went to war again
in the forties, and the economy boomed,

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and Lucius Clay stayed right where he
was. He didn't care anymore.

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The Cables were a nasty bunch of
people, always in trouble, fighting,

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stealing. The town of lou Ray
considered them white trash. Their mama was

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a good woman who married a bad
man. The marriage lasted for six kids

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to be born, and then Jameis
Cable vanished, leaving Miss Cable with nothing

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but six growing boys to feed.
South Louisanna in the fifties. No work,

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no husband, no money, but
she did the best she could.

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The three oldest boys rived at gas
station two counties over and were on the

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run from the sheriff. Now they
took to the swamp until things blew over.

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A younger brother would bring them food, but they needed a plan.

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They couldn't stay down there in that
swamp forever. They ran across an old

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shack out there and no swamps,
And ya knew where the old hermit lived.

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The plan made sense to them.
They had it all worked out in

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their head. They came up to
a shack about the edge of dark.

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Their boat motor had quinn on them. They said, was it okay if

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they camped outside of shack until morning? But by midnight they had drunk all

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the whiskey they had. Little brother
hadn't brought food for days. Now they

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were drunk, hungry, and mean
that old man ain't as scary as Mama

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said, the oldest cable said.
They wondered why the old man lived out

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here like this. Had to be
hiding out like they were, probably ribbed

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a bank or something. Lucius was
a legend, and folks said he had

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a fortune stashed somewhere on that place, enough for them to leave the area,

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hell enough of them to live like
kings. But they needed to find

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it. They took turns beating the
old man. If he didn't give them

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what they were wanted, they're going
to have to kill him. But it

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was something he didn't have. After
an hour, the old man broke told

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them boys the money was buried in
a swamp, and if they'd quit beating

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on him, he'd lead them right
to it. He grabbed an old lantern

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and a shovel and he led them
limping out into the swamp. He circled

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and turned and changed direction, going
north and then east and then back north.

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The cable boys were lost, and
the old man knew it. He

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knew that swamp like the back of
his hand, and he could find his

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way out in the dark. And
that was his plan. He figured.

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It was pushing about three in the
morning. He had to work fast.

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Now. An ancient cypress tree stood
in the distance, and he waded through

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the deep section to get to it, pointing at the base of the tree.

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It's right here, boys, it's
four feet down. Well, start

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digging. Old man took the shovel
and he started digging real slow, playing

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up his injuries and acting like he
had trouble catching his air. Impatient with

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the old man, one of the
cable boys yanked the shovel out of his

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hand and began to furiously dig,
making the hole wider and deeper, cussing

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when he hit a route and water
seeped into the hole. It ain't here,

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God, damn it. Give me
the shovel, boy, the old

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man said, and he stabbed it
into the hole now filled with black water.

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You hear that, that's a box. All you gotta do is dig

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it up. All three cable boys
gathered around the hole and the old man

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backed up. One of the boys
kneeled down to reach into the water.

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The shovel hit the back of his
head. Lucius was old, but he

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was still a fighter. The cable
boy dropped the lamp into the hole and

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it went out. The youngest cable
heard the wish of a shovel right before

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it hit him in the face.
There was now so dark none of them

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could see, but the old man
knew where to step, and he casually

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walked away. He got behind a
big oak and gave his eyes time to

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adjust, and the cables were talking. A gunshot shattered the night. It

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made the old man jump, but
they couldn't hit him. Shooting randomly,

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they couldn't see. The old man
turned and walked deeper into the swamp,

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staying on a vein of dry ground, and a sly grin increased his cheeks.

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Back at the tree. The cable
urchins were slowly getting off the ground.

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They couldn't see anything. The blackness
of that place at night will suffocate

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a man how we getting out of
here? Said the first? Well did

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you pay attention to how we got
here? Another set? Well, I

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figured you were watching, said the
third. And they stood in that black

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water, the only humans left on
earth. A tree trants cracked like a

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stick of dynamite and echoed through the
swamp. The old man was way off

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now, and they heard him laughing. But something else was near, and

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it was closing on him. The
cables turned and wasted their last three bullets,

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and then everything went quiet. The
youngest brother was the first to go

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steal, jaws clamped onto his waist
just above his belt line. The predator

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didn't pounce on him, No need
to waste calories. It like feeling its

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teeth sink into the flesh and taste
the blood leaking to its mouth, and

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in a quick motion, it backed
away. With the screaming twenty year old

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clamped in his jaws, all the
brothers could do was listen to him,

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diging that water to make an escape
that would never come. And soon the

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water settled and the screaming stopped,
and the only ripples remained. Where is

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he? What the hell was that? The oldest asked, we go to

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get out of here, said the
middle brother, right before he was snatched

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from above by a similar but much
larger beast. No sound, no struggle.

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The beast's mouth covered the man's head, denying him a last scream.

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His last sensation was his own skull
cracking in the mouth of the most foul

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beasts that ever lived in those swamps. Big brother stood in that warm water,

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and he started to cry. He
cursed the day they came to Willis

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Swamp to steal that old man's money. He wiped the mud from his eyes,

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and he pulled his breeches up,
and he wondered which direction to run.

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He ran face in into an oak
tree. He flopped backwards in the

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water. He couldn't catch his wind. That big old nose was broken,

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No air would pass, and blood
pouring into his mouth madeing vomit, a

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foul mix of whiskey bowl and beans
from a can. By the time he

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stammered to his knees, he heard
it heavy panting. It sounded like a

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dog, but it was as big
as a house. It was already standing

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over him. It had made no
noise approaching. Superheated foul breath blew his

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wet hair around, eaten by a
monster were his last words, closing his

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eyes, thinking it wouldn't last long. But the creature stood there behind him,

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covering him with a cloud of rotted
odor. Smaller creatures ran at him

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through the water. He was being
fed to the litter, one limb at

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a time. The young one slowly
tore him apart. He was alive for

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most of it. The sun lit
the sky. When the old man walked

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onto his porch. He was tired. Seeing was difficult with his eyes swollen

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like that. He had work to
do, though, be for a minute.

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He sat on that porch and all
the memories of his wife flooded back.

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He missed her. His chin quivered, but then it stopped. No

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bringing her back now. He thought
about finding another place to live, but

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this place would still do. He
only existed now, and he could do

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that here he was going to stay. The cable's boat was pulled on the

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bank. When he pulled onto the
swamp, a heavy piece of channel laid

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on the bow that would hold the
front down. The tin horse evn Rude

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would sink the back in the deepest
hole he knew of, several miles from

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his shack. He punched holes in
the aluminum bottom, and the boat vanished

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under the black water. He watched
the spot for a while in case it

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floated back up, but a guard
fin slowly rippled over the spot, and

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he knew it was down to stay. It took ten days for the law

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to show up. In all the
years he had lived there, the law

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had left him alone. He knew
why they were here, but he also

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knew any evidence of what had happened
was gone. The sheriff walked into the

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tool shed and found him rigging trot
lines. Lucius, how you making it

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out here these days? Well,
I'm doing fine. What brings you out

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here, sheriff, Lucius said,
as he reached for a hook. Three

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boys from the other side of the
county went missing a couple of weeks back.

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We've been looking for him. Their
mama's worried sick. Lucius tied another

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hook and the sheriff waited. I
hate that for her, Lucius said.

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The sheriff shot a brown stream of
spit into the ground, looked at Lucius

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and he said, do you know
the Cable boys? Never heard the name?

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Lucius said, Well, Miss Cable's
one of the sweetest women I've ever

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known, But she wasn't any good
at raising boys. The three oldest ones

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are mean. I'll never know why
good people wind up with such ornery children.

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It's a freaking nature. I think
I've had them all in jail through

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the years. All they do is
cause problems for me. They've caused their

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mama to age way before her time. Lucius tied on another hook. The

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thing is, Lucius, they have
a younger brother. He's a shuttingmouth,

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a little punk. But yesterday we
leaned on him a little bit. We

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knew he knew something. He finally
said that he heard him say they were

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coming here to your place to rob
you and then take off out of state.

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Lucius played the part. He acted
surprised. Why would they want to

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rob me, Sheriff, I ain't
got nothing, the sheriff responded, Lucius,

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you act like you don't, but
most folks around here think you do.

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It's none of my business. But
years ago, when you first showed

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up here, the sheriff at the
time, he did some digging on you.

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You know how we are, Lucius, stranger moves to town. We

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like to know who we're dealing with. Before a retired sheriff Dancy told me

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you came here from New York,
said you're a wealthy man trying to hide

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from something, but he never figured
out what it was. You ain't never

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been a problem while you lived here, and we left you alone. But

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don't act like you don't know what
I'm talking about. In town. You're

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a legend around here. Folks say
you got a lot of money buried in

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this mud. Some say you're the
rich old boogeyman. Lucius thought for a

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minute, and he finally said,
I guess if I had all that money

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buried out here, or if I
was poor as dirt, that ain't nobody's

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business. Is this why you came
all the way out here to ask me

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if I have money buried? Sheriff, No, I'm asking if those cable

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boys showed up here in the last
two weeks, Lucius. According to their

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brother, they were headed this way. Well, I already told you I

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don't know the name, Lucius lied. They came here to rob me.

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You'd have heard from me by now. Well, I suppose so. Looks

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like you've been in a fight with
a shee cat, Lucius. The sheriff

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was looking at his healing wounds on
the old man's face, Lucius forgot about

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the way his face looked. It
was rare for the old man to look

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at himself in the mirror. He
had cleaned the wounds two weeks ago and

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forgot about them. But the old
man never acknowledged the wounds on his face.

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He just kept tying hooks. Okay, then, if you hear anything

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or happened to run into those boys, you make sure and let me know.

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Lucius nodded, and the conversation was
over, and the sheriff left.

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The farmer found the cow lying dead
in the woods. The still born calf

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was near half eaten by the dogs
and buzzards and maggots. He cut the

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cow in pieces and he loaded her
up. In an hour, he pulled

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into the old man's yard and threw
the chunks of the cow on the ground,

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and he left. The old man
always took the meat, he said

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he liked feeding the gaiters. Nobody
understood why, but when they had a

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dead bovine, they brought it to
Lucius Clay when he returned from checking his

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crawfish traps. He loaded the cow
in his boat and slowly trolled deep into

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the swamp, the place he never
went unless he had something to trade.

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The boat ground on the sandbar,
with the motor still running. He hauled

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the parts onto the bank, and
then he quickly got off that sandbar.

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Don't stay too long, don't stay
too long at a safe distance. Now,

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he cut the motor and he waited. It never took him long.

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They always showed up pretty quick.
An adult female broke through the vines and

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onto the bank. It was half
prehistoric wolf and half something that should have

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never born on God's planet, and
it hovered over the decaying meat. One

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short yelp brought the litter, and
they all fed at once. It was

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all gone in five minutes. The
bones dragged off by fighting siblings, making

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noises from hell. The female lifted
her head sniffed the air as if to

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nod it. Lucius nodded back,
and then he vanished into the swamp for

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the next mile. He laughed.
He laughed harder than he had ever laughed.

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He thought about those cable boys being
eaten just like that calf. The

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evil echoed through the swamps as a
chuckle. Years passed and the legend of

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that old man died away. That
old shack is still there, abandoned,

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covered in vines full of cotton mouths
and hornets. If you walk up next

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to the water where that old shaq
is and you get real quiet for a

206
00:17:03.160 --> 00:17:07.920
while, you can hear that old
man laughing, and you can hear three

207
00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:14.119
young men scream. And if you
ever go back in the wooly swamp,

208
00:17:14.599 --> 00:17:18.920
you better not go at night.
There's things out there in the middle of

209
00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:23.160
them woods to make a grown man
die from fright. Things that crawl,

210
00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:29.079
and things that fly, and things
that creep around on the ground. And

211
00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:33.200
they say the ghost of Lucius Clay
gets up and it walks around