Blabber Monster

Blabber Monster at Baby Bee Motel

Trucker Bill dropped Lohbado off at Baby Bee Motel and kept on going. Bill wanted to make time. Bill said he was glad to have given Lohbado a ride. Lohbado said he had enjoyed Bill’s company.

A friendly man, about sixty, greeted Lohbado as he walked up to the registration desk at the office. Two fifty-dollar rooms were left. When Lohbado asked if there were any ghosts at the motel, Fred assured him there weren’t.

    “We do exorcisms every six months. As long as you keep your nose clean, lock the bathroom door and close the blinds, you’ll be OK. We did have a problem in room 9, a blabber demon. The Blabber Demon has a lot of information on people, personal stuff, like social/economic status, sexual preferences, anxieties...”

    “That’s not exactly the whole story Fred,” said his wife, who came out of the back room to see who was checking in, “We’ve had a lot of trouble in room 9 lately. Someone even saw the Blabber Monster. We call him BM for short. BM gets confused by conflicting reports. It's been stuck at this motel for almost a year. It's like a leaf in a whirlwind, spinning around the property, unable to leave.”

    “What does BM gossip about?” asked Lohbado, leaning on the counter, after he signed the register book.

    “Mostly love,” said Ruth, “Who slept with whom... Nobody could care less. Time moves. BM got stuck.”

    “It’s kind of a sad joke,” said Fred, “So much fuss over stuff that nobody could care less about. I have an idea how to get rid of the monster, if you’d be willing to help.”

    “Sure, no problem,” said Lohbado.

    “We’ll meet out beside the sign in an hour, after you check in. Make like you're giving me money in exchange for a manila envelope filled with polaroid snap shots of a nude couple in bed. Make like it’s somebody you know and you’re paying me to get the photos and hush it up. BM will smell something and is sure to come. BM thrives on scandal.”

"I've had those photos for years," continued Fred, "A honeymoon couple took them in room 9 and forgot them in a bottom drawer. For the past year, room 9 has been nothing but trouble. The other night, a trucker came shouting into the office. He demanded his money back and said there was something wrong with room 9. The trucker hallucinated somebody in the next room had the TV on full blast. The trucker wanted peace and quiet. Just one quiet night in a bed, away from the truck. That’s all he asked. Ruth and I put our heads together and figured it must be BM."

An hour later, Lohbado and the motel manager Fred ended up in room 9, where Lohbado planned to spend the night. Fred brought over Bohbohs Pepperoni Pizza in a box, all dressed, with extra cheese. Lohbado and Fred cracked open a six pack and sat at the little table by the window. They spread snapshots from the manila envelope on the table.

Fred took out the Polaroid Land Camera with a huge flash that used blue flash bulbs. A few photos taken with that camera should be enough to scare BM away forever. BM loved to spread malicious gossip, but feared exposure. To be captured in bright light and recorded on film would spell extinction.

 Sure enough, at midnight, BM floated into the room and hovered over the photos of a nude young couple in room 9. The demon sighed and hummed as it zeroed in on the snap shots. Fred pressed the shutter, a pop of bright light from the blue bulb, poof!

The demon screamed. Exposed by the camera, BM loosened its grip. It let go and went the way of all thoughts. Only Fred and Lohbado would remember the strange occurrence of the Blabber Demon.