Yes, but the reading of the story just helps the reader to resolve the ambiguity. It does not get rid of its existence or the possibility of its misnterpretation. And I am not saying that I'm against clear writing. In fact at this point I'm not saying much of anything. Just backpeddling. All I was trying to say, and I admit I did it poorly, is that things are more complicated than imagined and that sometimes a hyphen might not be the solution. I mentioned commas as another possibility. Rewriting might work, too.