Mike Mentzer biography - Mr. America - by Nicolas Chemla

[WrongAdvices]

So glad I didn't buy this bullshit book.

I'm curious, what were you expecting?  Looks like it's running about 15-20% Schmoe content, how high would get you to buy?

[WrongAdvices]

The post 1980 Olympia and 1981 stuff and his being invigorated and the Superstars stuff seems to run against what I always figured was the conventional wisdom that the 1980 loss sent him into a tailspin from which he never recovered.  Anxiously waiting to see what the next chapters bring because in only 2-3 short years Bodybuilding really changed forever with first Bannout's incredible condition in 1983 and the ushering in of the Haney era in 1984.  He could have never beaten 1984 Haney.

[Humble Narcissist]

The post 1980 Olympia and 1981 stuff and his being invigorated and the Superstars stuff seems to run against what I always figured was the conventional wisdom that the 1980 loss sent him into a tailspin from which he never recovered.  Anxiously waiting to see what the next chapters bring because in only 2-3 short years Bodybuilding really changed forever with first Bannout's incredible condition in 1983 and the ushering in of the Haney era in 1984.  He could have never beaten 1984 Haney.

Yeah, his only chance was 81 or 82. If he lost again in 81 to Franco he would probably gone homicidal.

[oldtimer1]

I'm curious, what were you expecting?  Looks like it's running about 15-20% Schmoe content, how high would get you to buy?

Is English your second language?  You're writing in English borders on a sixth grader level of education. 

[Royalty]

▫️

[BB]

1982 -

Mike has locked in seminars and writing work for much of the year. It will take him to Europe, Canada, England, and Japan. He enjoys the work, much of it centered around making people see that Arnold, and by extension, the entire fitness industry is wrong. The pros sell you the high volume scam, and the bodybuilding companies profit from it, mainly by selling you supplements to deal with the overtraining.

There are no multiple ways, only the Mentzer way.

Mike enjoys being a teacher, in his glasses, cord jacket, white shirt, and trousers. His muscular physique still obvious. He also enjoys that he can spend time with Ray, and other European lifters, who he sees as more thursty for actual knowledge. And his ex, Kathy, who still helps him with projects from time to time.

In Amsterdam, he helps Dr Jan Voss develop the theory that there aren't fast or slow muscle fibers, the fibers can simply switch depending on what they're called to do. The fiber color is a function of temperature, metabolic activity, etc..... Mike also adds that every lift should be slow and controlled. Speed is just momentum, and it doesn't cause growth, just injury.

Conan has taken Europe by storm. Mike must admit he loves the film. Milius is a great writer and director. And Arnold is great for simple physical roles. Mike enjoyed the themes of honor and manhood winning over a degenerate culture.

Back in LA, he splits his time between Palm Springs, Golds Gym, and Mastorakis's apartment. He'll let Kathy keep the old apartment. All he asks is for his books, clothes, and records. Most material possessions are a burden he believes. Dave and Mike are a pair of swinging dick bachelors now. Dave and his wife are splitting because she hates California, and wants a normal New England life. Dave has eyes for Melissa, a girl at his gym. Mike thinks maybe he should track down Sandra, the girl from the Mr A, that has sorta become an "on again, off again" with him.

Mike hopes Weider will let him have the long promised editorship of Muscle and Fitness  this year. Mentzer's articles have taken a darker turn. He writes of stresses, and conflicts of the mind that can sap energy, and warns to think hard before becoming a pro. He also writes how the narcissism bodybuilding creates can affect one's life.

Meanwhile Arnold writes simple articles on getting big, and the magazines sell an unreachable dream to simple people. Mentzer hates it.

[BB]

Enter Dorian -

In a small basement gym in Birmingham, a man fresh out of jail has come to train. The gym is called Temple, and has become a temple to the young men that train there now that the ship yards, mines, mills, and factories have closed down stripping many men of their identity. In six months, Dorian has grown to know every nook and cranny of the gym. He spends more time there than at the small apartment he affords as a slaughterman.

He believes in Mentzer and he believes in Heavy Duty. An older member mocks Mentzer as a whiny bitch who knows nothing, Dorian turns up his walkman and ignores him.

But he secretly wonders if the annoyance might've been right that day, as he prepared to take the stage at the Mr Birmingham. The gym owner, his friends, and all others have told him he has what it takes. He thinks back to 78, when he was 16, and saw Robby Robinson, and later, Mentzer on the cover of Muscle Builder. He finds an interest in the strength they project, especially Mentzer. His friends would tease him about admiring "guys in their underwear", but it didn't last long.

In Mentzer's writings, he finds a mentor. A father figure, he'd claim later.

[BB]

Working Out -

In the waiting room Mentzer watches a bank of TVs, some set silently to news. Others to MTv, and its barrage of sound. Mike marvels at how fit everyone's become, and how their clothes match some of the ones you'd see at Gold's. In his hands, he holds the latest issue of 'Work Out", the magazine he's started, and helmed for nine issues as editor and chief.

He is there to meet the main investor's man, if everything goes well, they will double their circulation, and launch near worldwide. He sees it as the intellectual's fitness magazine.

After his articles on the Olympias, he was kept by Weider for about a year, then asked to leave. Mike didn't mind leaving, Weider had taken to making him write about "The Weider Principles", and then editing out or "correcting" anything Mike wrote that Joe didn't like, including things about Heavy Duty.

One day, while delivering his articles to Weider's office, he found that the editor job was filled by a new man. It was then that Weider ushered him into an office, and told him why he wouldn't get the job. "Muscle and Fitness/Muscle Builder cannot be Mike Mentzer Magazine, this new editor will be fair to all methods. You can of course have your column, and a page for Heavy Duty advice."

Mike didn't understand, but he now knew Weider was simply a spineless, honorless old man.

He also knew for the truth to prevail, he'd have to start his own thing. But first he'd do some work for Arthur Jones again.

As Mike, Ray, and their girlfriends settled into Florida, they were also shocked at what Nautilus had become. The Jones compound was now the size of a small military base. First Jones conquered the college football market, then the NFL, many teams attributing their winning to Nautilus programing. Jones also had his sights set on the women's market, winning over Victoria Principal, and in a major victory, Bo Derek. Both were Nautilus girls.

Mike and Ray were to give demonstrations, help develop new machines, and design training programs. Boyer Coe, also with Jones at the time, would work on demo films, manuals, and the like. Boyer also worked hard to get Nautilus in the high-end yuppy Sharper Image catalog.

Things did not go well for Ray though. After refusing to demonstrate a computer added Nautilus machine for Time Magazine reporters, fearing that he might overtrain or injure himself, Jones sent him and his girlfriend back to California.

A few weeks after Ray left, Mike grew bored, and decided he wanted out too. Much of his time at Nautilus was spent watching alligators and crocodiles.

Jones learning of Mike's wish to leave, just asked him to return the company car.

Mike tried to fill his days with more seminars, but he'd grow bored with this also. He could feel the gym winds blowing back toward him in a volume training direction.

The first issue of "Working Out" hit the newsstands in December of 1984. He drank huge amounts of coffee and went back to prescribed amphetamines to get it done. It was not a hardcore magazine, but a softcore one by design. You would not be embarrassed to set it on the counter of the grocery or book store. For the man or woman that wanted to be really fit, but not a grotesque cartoon.

Mike is being ushered in to meet with Krueger, the man who controls the money. The only thing that sits upon his desk is a Apple Macintosh. Mike is an Apple fan, his girlfriend once auditioning for their commercials. He notes that Krueger doesn't greet him all that friendly.

Krueger asks him a simple question - "Are you happy with this last issue?"

Mentzer doesn't understand.

Krueger points out page after page of Mike inadvertently and advertently going after the magazine's advertisers. Gyms, supplement companies, etc..... He also feels Mike's writing is too obtuse for the average reader. They can't sell it. Mike is told they won't be publishing anymore, the money is going elsewhere.

He is crushed by this.

[BB]

Post "Working Out".

Sandra hasn't been happy with Mike for a longtime. In fact, she's been keeping more time with sponsors, she has about a dozen schmoes. She tries to keep them a secret from Mike, but she thinks he knows.

Things haven't been good since Florida, it was so lonely there. All Mike would do is read, talk about "Heavy Duty" and smoke, the latter making him stink. And when they fuck Mike can't maintain a hard on. The schmoes give her the love she desires, they look at her like a Goddess.

During the "Work Out" era, things stayed cool. Mike wasn't interested in love making, just telling her he loved her. Sometimes asking why she won't pick up the phone for him when he's out of town.

She meets with Dave Mastorkis, she thinks the loss of "Working Out" has broken him. He complains of headaches, and sees Weider, Arnold, or both, depending on the day, as the cause for its ending. It scares her. He talks of it constantly. She also thinks that he's hired a private eye to watch her, and even stalks her himself when she won't see him.

She asks Dave for help.

Dave is blindsided by the change in his friend. Dave suggests couples therapy. Mike did it with Kathy, and it fixed him for a while.

Later, Dave is greeted by a ranting phone message Mike left asking why the "Brainless shit would stick his fucking nose into Mike and Sandy's business?" Dave hears a cruelty, a slurred ugliness in his voice as the message tape plays on. Dave's never heard that before. He stops the message, and tries not to think of Mentzer anymore.

[BB]

The headaches are worse. He can't stop them. He feels like a horror movie zombie stumbling around with its head split open by a machete or axe.

He's being held by the bank's security guard. He doesn't want to fight anyone, but the size and strength he still has is seen as a threat. He can feel the guard's own muscles against his. He tries to understand what they are telling him, but he doesn't get it, it's a like a foreign, alien tongue. He knows he didn't take out loans, he never ordered those cash transfers.....

The cops are here now to cuff him, they throw him in the back of a car.

About an hour ago, he'd been sitting in the bank's waiting room, in his dirty sweat suit, looking at everyone with a dead eyed stare. Mike doesn't know if these are people or clones. The bank manager comes out to greet him, he's annoyed. Mentzer's been here twice before, and he's told him he must pay back the money.

Mike is out of money, he doesn't understand this.

For the last three weeks he's been secluded in Palm Springs, on a diet of wine, vodka, and speed. He can't tell you how much he's had, but from the bottles that litter the floor, it's a lot. In his mind, he can hear, and see conversations he's had, fights he's been in. The IFBB has ended their association with him. Restaurants won't serve him.

Everywhere he goes, he sees Arnold's handiwork. Like he was being watched by the unblinking red eye of the Terminator.

Kathy had finally got married to a Mentzer lookalike, how easy he'd been replaced.

Then came the real nightmare. The bank has called. He also notices unopened letters from them on the ground.

The automatic bill payments have stopped. Money has been transferred to foreign accounts. Lines of credit are being pulled. Loans have been made using his house as collateral.

Mike was never one to keep records. Then his mind clicks on a possible answer, the accountant he'd giving power of attorney to after Kathy left. Mike can't find him, he's gone ghost.

Now on his third try at the bank, he's being told to perhaps sell his house to cover his debts. The last real thing he owns.

"You son of a bitch, you flithy son of a bitch!" he screams.

"You'll have to leave." the manager says in the non-confrontational tone they're taught.

Mentzer bangs on the manager's desk, hard, breaking a few things. He's demanding his bank records. Security rushes in, and then the cops.

Two weeks after that, the house is gone.


If he wasn't a totally broken man then, the next news will shatter him.

His father is dead. Despite there ups and downs he loved the old man, who taught him the value of hard work, about honor, about never bowing or breaking.

Mike now has nothing.

He scrounges up the money to go to Pennsylvania. Those at the service will note that Mike looks bitter, and not totally coherent, but they keep it to themselves.

[BB]

Back now in LA, Mike will vanish for 5 years. Vague reports will pop up about him being institutionalized, of incidents like the one at the bank. The truth is, no one knows what happened for certain in most of those unremembered years.

Ray opened a gym in Torrance, Ca, and helped him for a few months as Mike tries to clean up. Ray has a reputation himself. He's lost high society clients like Sly Stallone, by calling them lazy, fat, babyish or any one of a host of other things. He's also fallen into the speed trap.

One day Mike beats a client of Ray's for not respecting the "Heavy Duty" system. Ray commits him before he can get into anymore trouble.

Out again, he sleeps in shelters, on the beach, in his car, or on the couch of any old friend that offers. Sometimes he tries his best to clean up, and sneak into the library to sleep among the stacks. He feels his calmest there.

One day he swears he sees his father, and chases after him. It's not, and the annoyed man and Mike almost come to blows.

Sometimes he smokes snipes he's picked up from the street. The bits of pre-smoked cigarettes cooling his nicotine and tobacco urge.

At Gold's Gym, they talk of nutty old Mentzer. Some say he drinks his own piss. Others say he's violent, beat a man in an inch of his life. Others say he's come to Gold's looking for speed. Other times to find Arnold, once even doing so, and almost fighting him in the parking lot. There was even a rumor he was arrested for directing traffic nude, using a road cone as a bullhorn, and ranting about aliens.

[BB]

At the hospital, where Mike is usually committed, they work to try and mitigate some of the damage he's done to his brain with the amphetamine use. They ask him a battery of questions. After awhile, all he can do is cry, and wonder where it went wrong. 


It's 1988, and life is good for Dave Mastorakis. He's become a trainer to the stars, he counts Jane Fonda, Leonard Nimoy, David Soul, and Sharon Stone among his clients.

He hears a knock at the door, a square figure. He opens it to find Mentzer there, wearing his old seminar clothes, holding what looks to be a shaving kit. He doesn't know what to think, they haven't talked since Mike left that message long ago. David is a little fearful. He's heard the Gold's stories, and Ray, himself, told him the Arnold parking lot story is true. Ray also told him about Mike beating up that client.

Mike wanders in like a mental patient, and asks to use the bathroom, he has a parole appointment. Mike looks around at all of Mastorakis's new wealth. Mike is already in the bathroom shaving before Dave can do much. He tells Dave that Weider killed his magazine. Dave stays silent. With that, Mentzer turns, hugs him, and rushes out the door, only stopping to warn Dave that Weider is after him, so keep their meeting a secret.

[BB]

It was John Balik that rescued Mike in the end. He had seen him staring into a diner window as Arnold pitched "Total Recall". The man that stood before Balik was grubby and barefoot, but unmistakenly Mentzer. He walks over and offers to buy Mentzer a health shake, a mainstay at the diner.

Mentzer tried to put on a happy face as he laid the whole sordid deal out for him. At the end of their talk, Balik offers Mike a column in Ironman, and some free ad space every month.

After that, things came fast. He became a trainer again, and secured a spot at Gold's. Some gossiped, but he kept keeping on. The nature and speed of "Heavy Duty" workouts meant he could train 2 to 3 times as many people per day compared to the average trainer.

Somedays he hated arguing with the non-believers, but that was soon to change.

[BB]

It has taken Dorian less than a decade to make it to the top, and now in 92, Chris Lund has arranged for Dorian to final meet his mentor. They meet at Gold's, Dorian walking straight to Mike, ignoring everything else. He is moved, but shocked at Mentzer's appearence. The giant glasses, the gut, the tabacco stink. But he wasn't going to judge too harshly, he has come to learn from the master. That day he trained biceps with him. They made plans to train again.

Mentzer, himself, was curious about growth hormone. He wanted to learn everything he could about it from Dorian. With each training session, he thought of himself like Dorian's personal Dr Frankenstein.

[BB]

The limo is huge. Mike wants to impress Dorian. Dave, Mike, Ray, Dorian, and his wife are all stuffed in it. Dave can't stop marveling at Dorian's forearms. Both Mentzers are amused by this ,"Yeah Dave, they're  huge, probably the biggest forearms in the fucking world." Mike says. Dorian, good heartedly acknowledges Dave, and tells him he had quite the physique back in the 80's.

Mentzer tries not to care about the Olympia anymore. A year ago, he walked into Gold's, and had to be told Dorian thanked him publicly at his first Olympia win. As Mike watches a grainy recording of it. He can feel something changing. A wound starting to scab over. He wasn't Mr Olympia, but he had some validation on the Olympia stage.

After Dorian's mention, business is really booming. Gold's has a hard time handling all the calls to the front desk. Mike hires an assistant, installs a few new phone lines, and figures out a way to take credit cards. As soon as their credit card clears, they're ready for training. Much of it, involves him telling them to stop training, and call back in two weeks. Their bodies need to rest.

Mike sees other pros embrace him. Lee Labrada uses a system similar to Heavy Duty, Aaron Baker is a client. Actors too, Kyke MacLachlan of Twin Peaks, and supermodel Linda Evangelista.

By the end of the year, Mike has made half a million dollars.

For Dorian's second win, Mike is his guest of honor. Mike is personally touched when Dorian insisted, even when Mike suggested it might be a bad idea, given his history with the contest, Arnold, and Weider.

[BB]

As the Limo pulls up to the Palm restaurant, they exit like a hurd of buffalo, Dorian's tiny wife lost in the shuffle. As they sit, Mike talks to Dorian about philosophy. The waiter brings huge plates of lobster. Dorian tries them for a bit, but is annoyed by the shells. Embarrassed, he asks if he can have a steak instead, rare.

The waiter eyeing them all this time, asks Dorian if he's a footballer, or perhaps a wrestler? Mike cuts in, "That's the most muscular man of all time!"

Back in Venice, Dorian and Mike walk the boardwalk back to Dorian's hotel. Dorian looks around, and can't understand why there's so many homeless in the richest country in the world.

"It's the American dream. You can reach the top, but if you don't work hard enough, you wind up in the gutter." Mike says with a cold, serious tone.

[BB]

Mike sits alone in his apartment. It's a two floor duplex on Reef street, in the area called Marina Peninsula. It was the first big thing he bought when the money started rolling in. It's only real decorations are a giant portrait of Ayn Rand, and a cityscape by Ed Ruscha.

Mike is exhausted, it's been 3 years of hard work. The revised version of "Heavy Duty" is selling like hot cakes, and would sell even more if Mike would tour Asia or Europe again, but he no longer has the stomach for long flights.

It was an ambitious work, with a new clarity. He opens with a quote from Ayn Rand, and gives credit to Jones, and offers praise to Sergio, Casey, Dorian, Lee, Aaron, and others.

He even has kind words for Arnold, praising his power of will to become one of the best bodybuilders.

He receives tons of calls and orders, but unlike the past, he just feels tired now. He, Dorian, and Ray have started PhD sportswear. The PhD standing for "Philosophy of Heavy Duty", Ray had taken the reins on it for Mike and Dorian.

Ray also had his first heart attack. It scares Mike. Both for himself and Ray.

Mike's body is falling apart, he has severe neck pain from a damaged cervical spine, that he attributes to too much youthful squatting. To keep up with the work, he's gone back to steroids, and drinking. Also amphetamines and morphine, depending on the mood he needs. He no longer wants to give lessons at the gym, content to just handle phone clients, and hand out cookie cutter programs.

-----------

Dave isn't sure how to answer Dorian as he meets him in Gold's after a photo shoot. Dorian is now the three time Mr Olympia, and Arnold is starting to poke at him in print. The Shadow has fought him off gamely, and is now asking for Mike. Dave doesn't want to tell him the truth.

Mike has gone nuts again. He's developed an infatuation with the long dead starlet, Jane Mansfield. He believe her not dead, but hiding in New York. He will go there to track her down, and marry her.

Ray and Dave roll their eyes at this, but they know his mind is gone again. Mike give Dave his client list as one last gift.

After an unsuccessful New York trip, he heads down to Florida to see Jones. Jones, a recluse of his own, is at first happy to hear Mentzer is there looking for him, but then he hears Mentzer rambling like a lunatic into the intercom. He asks security to send him away.

[BB]

The year is 1995,

Mike has been asked to stop training at Gold's, the official reason is he doesn't have the proper personal training credentials. He tells them to stick it up their ass.

Instead, he'll strike out on a new venture with Richard, a young upstart, and former PhD student that has come from the east coast to find Mentzer, and hopefully launch a new line of Mentzer books and videos. Mike likes the cut of this kid's jib.

Hope turns to anger upon first meeting, when Mike leave him stranded for a hour at the airport, then tells him to just take a cab. As he enters the Reef street apartment, Mike doesn't greet him warmly, just a "Hey Buddy" before he goes back to watching a LaserDisc copy of Blind Justice*. It's one of his favorite films, he sees it as a metaphor for freedom, individualism, and heroism.

-------------
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwFZlRP-u0c.

[illuminati]

A lot of fiction and speculation. Some of it borders on slander.

  Serge was disqualified because he got repeated warnings from the IFBB not to compete in other federations to which he gave Ben the finger.  He also acted in low budget European movies that were considered at the time in the US as soft porn.  Serge was in the best shape of his life for the 1975 Olympia  but stopped dosing and training when he heard he wasn't going to be allowed to compete. Even with that bump he looked amazing.

The author writes about bulges in the bodybuilding pictures.  I have a feeling what team the author belongs to. Not that there's anything wrong with that. No homo.

Serge was never going to beat Arnold  - no legs, No calves, No Back, Hell he did everything possible to
Not stand straight on as he looked awful straight on - Thats why he was always twisted.

[BB]

1998 -

Mike is in Argentina for tourism. Sex tourism. He sees nothing wrong with it, he's taken up whoremongering the last few years. He likes it, simple supply and demand. He even still sees Sandra from time to time. She gives him relief, he pays her rent. The women he likes physically usually aren't smart.

He'll also do some training and business. Roberto, who paid his way down here, wants to establish a South American arm of "Heavy Duty". Roberto is asking him to develop a new, more flexible version, with perhaps more volume. He's refusing, in the past few years, he's trained 2000+ clients, with no need for more volume. If fact, he sees the need for more rest, perhaps limiting training to once every 5-8 days.

During the night he dreams of Kathy. He wishes it could have worked, there will alway be a hole in his soul for her.

[BB]

1999 -

John Little is woken up in the middle of the night from his Canadian slumber by Mike, his wife wishes he'd hang up, or at least wouldn't pick up this late at night, but Mike and him have developed a deep friendship.

Usually it's productive, but sometimes it takes an odd turn, like the time Mike told him President Clinton invited him on a trip to the moon. It is the ying and yang of Mentzer, for the good, you must have the bad, or at least, the delusional. Mike rambles on about how Jones is a God among mortals. The Golden Ratios, and the secrets of the Nautilus shell.

[BB]

2000 -

Sandra is sitting there, annoyed. A hard look on her from too much alcohol, drugs, steroids, and night life. James, Mike's straight laced accountant is trying to get her to tell him where Mentzer is. She hates James. James, himself, just wants to be done with the whole mess. He can't take this bitch, Mike, or the problems anymore.

Mike has vanished again.

Moreover, he's become loose with his money. He pays hookers, he pays drug dealing friends's bails, he pays Ray's bills, and he pays Sandra's.

James thinks back on all the wasted opportunities.

Richard had left, he handled the personal training certificate part of Mike's business before he got pissed and left. PhD sportswear is  gone too, after Mentzer started screaming at Dorian when Dorian asked him about it.

[BB]

2001 -

Mike briefly adopts a young bodybuilder he found on the beach. Mike, taken with the boy and his understanding of philosophy, allows him to stay at his house sometimes, where they'd get drunk and high, and listen to each other's rambles. Sometimes, when drunk, Mike could get violent, tossing things, and busting up his upstairs bedroom.

One night the boy hears a boom, and finds Mentzer has fallen down the stairs in a drunken stupor.

[BB]

June 10, 2001 -

Mike has cervical surgery after that fall, but that doesn't stop him from trying to complete what might be his greatest work, a DVD version of the newest version of "Heavy Duty". For hours he has polished the script, mixing exercise science, as he sees it, with Radian and objectivist philosophy. All while his young protege preforms the exercises on film.

Ray is has advanced kidney failure from Berger's disease, a rare genetic condition. Doctors have warned him about it for years. It will be fatal. Three days a week, for 4 hours a clip, he must sit for dialysis. Mike usually keeps him company.

Mike and Ray got a surprise call from Arnold, offering cash and well wishes. Mike is secretly touched, but turns down the help.

Mike is set to have his first million dollar year, but Ray is dying, and can't work. Both his kidneys are gone. Mike ready himself to donate a kidney to Ray. During their last visit, doctors find major clotting happening with Ray's blood. They tell Mike to get checked too, the clotting problem is probably genetic.

They'll also tell the brothers Mike is too unhealthy for organ donation. The DVD set will be there last project together probably.

Later at home, after a day of filming, Ray goes straight to bed. Mike heads to his computer. He adds to his website, readies mail orders, and takes a morphine shot.

He also works on his first fiction novel, "The Integrated Man", about a young bodybuilder and his girlfriend that set off to correct societal dogmas, and in turn, elevate the human race. He stops to send his Canadian friend John an email about the good things in his life the past few weeks.

[BB]

It is James that calls Dave to tell him, Dave having moved back to New England after one last body building fling, taking 3rd at the Masters Mr World.

Ray had found Mike gone on the floor. Since Ray has missed a dialysis appointment, they sent someone over to check on them. Ray had climbed back into bed, and died.