The Feral Man

The Feral Man

Aaron Smith

Twenty years ago a father and son were walking in the woods. The father said,

"I am tired of dealing with you boy so we are going to teach you how to take care of yourself."

They reach a shack at the back of the property.

"You live here and do not cause any problems. Take care of your chores and leave me alone."

The son looked quietly around the place.

A few months later the son was petting a dog outside the shack. His father walks from the house back to the edge of the property and said,

"Today we are going to teach you to hunt boy. You will be feeding yourself and staying back here quietly."

They headed into the wilderness.

The father and son were walking with guns looking around. An animal sound was heard nearby, they looked but saw nothing. They continued walking for a long ways.

"I think I see something. Point that way and see what you can do."

The son crouched down and took aim. A long wait and then a fire. The father said,

"You missed."

He starts beating his son.

The father said,

"You little bastard, that was an easy one!"

The son started crying. This went on for a long time.

Twenty years later in a real estate office a secretary and broker are going over paperwork. The secretary says,

"We are getting late lease payments from a property that is normally on time. I have tried contacting them and gotten no response"

Broker,

"Are we in range to be talking about an eviction notice?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then I will go talk to him about it."

A car pulls up a dirt driveway, there is no sign of inhabitants. The broker gets out of the car and looks around. The complex is eerie, with broken down machine parts, bits of hunted animals, and no sign of utilities usage. He gets to the main house and says,

"Anyone home?"

Silence responds, so he starts looking around. There are signs that they keep dogs there, kennels and puppy bowls. It can be little understood that someone lives here much. Suddenly a young man walks out of the woods, carrying a knife and sharpener.

The young man growls.

The broker screams, runs back to his car, and drives quickly away, leaving the feral young man behind.

At an adult rehabilitation institution several months later a few psychiatric workers are going over paperwork and having a meeting about a case. The residential worker says,

"So the police found him out in the woods, apparently his father had kept him there for twenty years hunting and he never picked anything from English to what a full time job is."

Case manager,

"Do you think he bonded with the dogs? This case is similar to common feral children stories.

Psychologist,

"He is very slow but somewhat responsive to attempts to civilize him. Thus far we have gotten him to be less defensive, so there is none of the snarling that was earlier reported."

Case manager,

"How about we call him puppy boy for now?"

Later in the institution a group is being held. Several mental cases, a few ex-druggies, and the feral man are sitting in a circle. The residential worker says,

"Hello. When someone says that, now what do you say?"

A few in the group respond,

"Hello."

"Very good. Today we are going to go over some basic social norms in order to train you for going back out to society. Now everyone likes making friends, yes?

A few in the group, not including feral man, respond,

"Yes."

"That is the way it is supposed to be. Could any of you share for me what some of your goals in gaining social skills are?"

One group member raises their hand.

"Yes?"

"I want to figure out how to get along with my family."

"That is a very good goal, I hope we can help you figure that one out."

Later at meal time the residents of the institution shuffle through a cafeteria line. A resident assistant goes and gets feral man a tray.

"Here you go."

The feral man starts eating the food with his hands, eating like it is a life or death situation.

"No! No! You use the silverware."

The residential worker grabs the spoon and puts it in feral man's hand. He looks at the residential worker, holding it without doing anything for a while.

"Here - "

They move feral man's hand towards the plate to pick up some food then move it towards his face.

"Eat it!"

Feral man eats the food, then looks at the residential worker, wondering why they are interrupting a meal.

Even later feral man has a meeting. Also present are the residential worker, the case manager, and a nurse. They are sitting around a table in a quiet setting. The case manager says,

"So we are here to talk about your long term case plan. Do you understand?"

Feral man looks at him blankly.

"You have been placed in this group home in order to try to help you develop some skills to succeed in society. At this point we have no long term plan besides keeping you here for a while. Does that make send?"

Feral man says,

"Miss woods."

"I would not be surprised if you miss the woods but this is the situation for now. We are going to continue working with you on language, social skills development, education, potentially all the way to job placement."

Nurse,

"All of us simply want the best for you and your future. Have you been feeling alright? Do you eat enough and are you cooperating with bathing?

Feral man stares at the nurse blankly.

"Okay, maybe those are questions he is not ready to answer yet.

Residential worker,

"Let us know if you need anything.

Some days later in a medical examination room feral man is sitting on a table while there is equipment around. The nurse is preparing for something and says,

"Today we are going to do a routine blood draw. Do you understand?

Feral man does not respond. The nurse gets a needle and begins preparing for the draw. Feral man has a flashback of his father holding a knife and yells,

"NO KNIFE!"

He shoves past the nurse and runs out of the institution.

Somewhere amidst urban streets feral man walks around looking at everything. A driver yells,

"Get off the road!"

The city is dirty and noisy, crowded and bustling. Feral man continues to walk for a long ways throught it. Eventually he finds a dog outside picks it up and says,

"Puppy."

He drops the dog and continues walking until sundown, when he falls over someplace and sleeps.

The next day he gets up to get moving into a more suburban area. He is not happy with the situation due to lack of sleep and hunger. He looks around and see woods in the distance in one direction, so heads that way.

After a ways someone pulls over and hands him a $20 bill. Later that day he uses it for toilet paper. That evening he comes across some gangsters and one says,

"Hey, you! What are you doing in my neighborhood?"

Feral man looks at him, getting angry.

"Get out of here or we are going to have a problem!"

Feral man continues walking, trying to figure out why someone is yelling at him. The gangsters attack, and a brawl ensues, leaving feral man beaten. He walks on until nightfall.

He gets going again the next morning and today finally reaches some woods. He is very happy to have found something familiar again, and heads in this direction for a long ways.

Somewhere in the forest he passes a few farms and is nearing mountains in the distance. There is wildlife about and occasionally streams. He sleeps under trees and is growing increasingly miserable.

He is passing a small human inhabited area at one point when he sees some food left out. He goes cautiously towards it and finds no one around. He starts eating and continues doing so crudely.

Then a young couple walks up and the male yells,

"Hey, that is ours!"

Feral man looks up and looks at him angrily. He backs away from the yelling and heads in his own direction.

He continues to travel through the forest, making way across trails without much general direction. He is at peace in the wilderness, it at least makes sense even if there is no possibility of survival. He continues this way until digging somewhat of a bed for the night.

He is now at the western edge of another increase in common human habitations. There are more roads here and he is out in the open, but continues along the way.

Not before long someone pulls up, a native man, who says,

"Hey, welcome to the reservation. What are you doing out here?"

Feral man looks warily at him, wondering if he should run away.

"Well move along, only tribal members live here."

The native pulls away, leaving feral man to continue on his way. He continues walking, seeing some other people. Eventually he finds an abandoned house and goes inside to sleep.

He wakes the next day and goes to bathe in a river nearby. There are families playing with children and some people around. He goes back to the abandoned house and is alone for the rest of the day.

The next day he gets up to look around again, not liking the people around but liking the place he found. He wanders for a while until someone again stops him and says,

"You like the land here, yeah? You a tourist or what?"

Feral man looks at him, more calmly as things seem friendly there.

"I do not know what you are doing in town but we do not see white people here very often, wish you the best."

Feral man continues walking around, the n goes to return to the house. Along the way he starts hearing some drum beats, and goes to investigate the sound. He ends up outside the window of a community area, inside they are dancing and drumming. He stays and watches for a while, then leaves.

The next day he goes out walking again and is quickly stopped by two tribal police, one of whom says,

"Hey! What are you doing in town?"

Feral man gets scared as this person is obviously serious.

"Not want to talk huh? Gotten a few calls about you, time for you to move on bud."

Feral man wonders if there is going to be another fight.

"It is that way."

He points.

"Since you are looking confused. Here, have something to eat before you go, you look like you need it.'

The tribal policeman hands feral man a sandwich and a bag of chips and waits for him to leave.

"Arhus go with you."

Feral man starts walking, the tribal police vehicle following, and he continues in that direction. He stops to eat the food, then walks on into wilderness area, continuing on without much idea of what is ahead.

He continues walking for a long ways until at one point is along the road, the only place he could find without obstruction for a ways. Suddenly a woman pulls over in a truck and says,

"Do you need a ride?"

Feral man thinks for a minute, then realizes he knows a word for this one.

"Pretty."

"Oh no you aint talking to me like that brute!"

She drives away and dials 911 on a cell phone.

"Police? There is a rapist hitchhiking on the side of the road..."

Feral man watches her drive away, and continues on preferring wild area as usual. There are more farms along out there yet still some wilderness he stays in at night.

He goes on for a ways before passing some people on horses. Feral man has never seen horses before and does not know what they are so this is quite a sight. One rider says,

"Howdy neighbor."

The riders pull up near him and stop.

"You look like quite the wreck, you doing alright out here?"

Feral man looks fixedly at the horse and approaches it.

"Well I guess you aint interested in being friendly, but you can pet the horse if you want."

Feral man just looks at the horse for a while, then the riders leave.

He continues travelling, hungry and thirsty by now and nowhere near anything familiar. He goes on for a ways until running into a farm. He decides to stay the night in a chicken coop on the property.

The next day the farmer opens the chicen coop, gun in hand, and says,

"Get up, who are you and what are you doing on my property?"

Feral man wakes up and looks at him warily, he knows what a gun is.

"Not going to answer questions, huh? Well from the looks of you would forgive you the night, come outside and we might be able to get you a shower and such.

Feral man follows the farmer out of the chicken coop.

"How about this, you look like you could use a rest, you work off a few days here and we feed you and such?"

Feral man keeps looking around. The farmer looks at him questioningly and walks on thoughtfully. They get feral man a shower and some food, while working on this the farmer talks to his wife.

"I think he might be retarded, he aint answered no questions and keeps looking around like he has no idea what is going on."

The wife says,

"I wonder where he is headed."

"Well I will show him around and see if can get some chores out of him.

The farmer shows him some haybales, they grab a few and go disperse some to the cows. He gets him a shovel and shows him how to muck out stalls, which takes most of the day. That evening they milk the cows, and feral man gives it a try.

That evening they wash feral man's clothes. The farmer checks the pockets for identification, finding nothing. Later he is talking to his wife.

"I think he is just a simpleton, he could not figure out what the machines are for or anything."

"However he got here it is nice to have some help for a while."

The next day is restacking haybales, when the farmer comes up for a conversation.

"You should be getting back on the road now, no idea what is with you but you aint said a word and you still do not seem to understand that am going easy on you not calling the police and all."

Feral man stares at him.

"Get going."

The farmer points down the nearby road. Feral man understands enough and moves on.

Feral man travels on, preferring any wilderness he finds and sometimes stuck along roads. There is beginning to be more forest and less habitation. After a ways he is passing a small country church. Someone comes outside to talk to him, and says,

"Hey, where you headed friend!"

Feral man looks at him, wondering what he wants.

"Alright, well I will not keep you, just remember to read your bible and follow Jesus!"

Feral man keeps going, soon passing the church and heading on past the farmlands. After a while he comes to a large forest area and gladly heads into it. He walks for a ways into the woods and finds a pine comb which he tries eating. He manages to down some and gives up on this exercise. Further into the forest.

He travels on for several days, sleeping under trees. After a while he finds a stream and gladly drinks out of it. Birds are singing sometimes and things are tranquil. He sees squirrels and is probably thinking about hunting. After several days he comes across a park ranger who says,

"Hey, do you have a camping pass to be out here?"

Feral man finds this man aggressive so keeps moving in his own direction.

"Hey, come back here!"

The park ranger catches up and stands in front of feral man.

"If you do not have a camping pass I am going to have to ask you to leave."

Feral man keeps trying to go in his own direction. The park ranger grabs at him, and feral man shoves him to the ground, then runs off.

Feral man continues through the woods that day and several more. He climbs a tree at one point to look around. He is getting very thirsty and such by now but has nothing he can do about it. He continues for some ways until the forest begins to thin and there start to be buildings again. He sleeps outside one of them and wakes to someone yelling at him.

"You! Get off my property!"

Feral man continues moving. After a while he reaches a small town and a police person passes him and looks at him. Feral man continues walking but soon several squad vehicles pull up and police people get out:

"YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!"

Several police tackle feral man, who roars at them. He fights to get free, managing to shove a few off for a while but finally getting handcuffed. They shove him in the back of a police vehicle and send him away.

Feral man is processed into a jail facility. He refuses to dress himself so the police do it for him. He is placed in a dorm room cell and when everyone lines up to eat he is left out. Several days pass.

After a few days he is taken to a court hearing. Among other court people a judge is present, who says:

"Sir, to this time you have been uncooperative. Unless you provide us with information regarding your identity it will take us a while to process your case. You are charged with sexual harassment, assault, trespassing, and resisting arrest. Do you understand?"

Feral man does not like this situation. He is taken out of court.

Several days later the guards figure out he has not been eating and hand him a tray and leave. The other cell inmates start commenting,

"He does seem kind of stupid, I wonder if you can take things from him?"

The cell inmate walks up to feral man and tries to take a piece of cornbread off his tray. Feral man stops him and a fight starts. The cell inmate keeps trying to hit feral man and soon other inmates have pitched in until it is a gang beating. The jail guards soon intervene. Feral man is taken to a solitary cell.

Several days later feral man is taken to another trial. The residential worker from the institution is present. The judge says,

"We finally discerned your identity and found where you had escaped from. While I was inclined to think you needed to start acting like a proper citizen, they tell me a different story. I have been told you speak some, could you do so?"

Feral man is quiet for a while and does not do anything.

The residential worker raises his hand and asks if he can be allowed to speak, then says,

"Can I try something?"

"Sure"

"Hello."

Feral man looks around for a while then responds,

"Hello."

The judge says,

"In light of his simplicity I am inclined to pardon him over these matters. We will reconvene in the near future."

Feral man is taken back to his cell.

The next day a mental health worker comes to evaluate him. The guards get him out of the cell and sitting at a table. They say,

"So I hear they sometimes call you puppy boy. Sounds like you had quite the trip.

Feral man is wondering what this is about.

"I was give a copy of some vocabulary they went over with you. You want to leave correct?"

"Leave."

"Okay, so that tells me where you are at. Now I am going to perform some tests.

The mental health worker moves their finger one from one side to the middle and one from the middle to the other side to see if feral man tracks. Then they get out a pad of paper and a crayon. They draw a crude rabbit and then start asking questions.

"What is this?"

"Bunny."

The mental health worker then points in two directions.

"That direction is where your shack was. You remember where you used to live? That direction is where the institution was when government first picked you up. You remember you ran away from there? Now can you point in the direction of the shack?"

Feral man thinks for a few moments, then points in the right direction.

"Very good. Thank you for your time."

Feral man is taken back to his cell. He sits morosely wondering when he can leae and where wilderness might be.

Several days later feral man is taken to another trial. This time he is alone. The judge says,

"You present a difficult case. While I was inclined simply to a jail sentence, you have been requested for a return to the institution you were previously held at. What I will do is drop the charges against you. Where to send you is a different matter. The state hospital could both reeducate you and hold you from running away, but I am told you present no mental symptoms. In light of this you will be placed in work release and allowed to visit the institution during the day as an alternative."

Feral man is growing increasingly unhappy under this circumstance.

After some time a prison release truck comes and transfers feral man back to the city where he started. He is in jail for a while then transferred to the appropriate facilility.

Some time later at the institution the residential worker, case manager, nurse, and psychiatrist are having another meeting. The residential worker says,

"Well we have learned all kinds of things about him, it feels strange trying to keep him here when he could figure out so much wilderness survival and wants a girlfriend on his own."

Nurse,

"We definitely need to keep track of him as that was a lot of dehydration he suffered along the way."

Case manager,

"From this point we should focus more on training hii in life skills as that seems to be the need.

Feral man is escorted into the institution where he started out and led to an interview with the residential worker.

"It sounds like you spent a good amount of time in the forest. Can you say forest for me?"

"Forest."

"Very good. We are going to be keeping a close eye on you and keep seeing whether we can rehabilitate you to society. You are probably not going to like the facility they keep you in at night but there is nothing we can do about that. We will continue with groups and more individual training during the day."

Many days pass until one day a news crew shows up at the institution. The newscaster says,

"Could we speak with puppy boy and take a few snapshots."

Resident assistant,

"That should be alright, I can try to ask him."

The resident assistant goes and finds feral man.

"Some people are here who would like to be your friends. Would you like to make some friends today?"

Feral man, looking much better off, simply looks at her placidly.

"Okay, so we are going to give this a try, come along.

The news crew has set up a table, two chairs, and a camera in the dining area. Feral man is directed to sit on one side while the newscaster is on the other. They start filming. Newscaster,

"So I heard you had quite the tragic experience that brought you here, and an adventure when you ran away as well?"

Feral man looks around questioningly.

"Let me ask you a question, can you say puppy for me?"

"Puppy."

Newscaster, (speaking first to the crew).

"(Let me take it from here.) So after running away it seems you figured out everything from what girls are, to one story we had called in tells us you worked on a farm for a while, and the police found you after that. We can only surmise you survived out in the forest most of the rest of the time."

Feral man is looking at him quietly.

"That should be about it."

Feral man is escorted out of the room and the news crew wraps up.

"So that is the story of someone society lost. Workers at the institution do not know if he will ever readjust to society, but what is clear is he would very much like to lead his own life however simply even if there is no place for him."