The Sighting
Eddie
nudged Cathie closer to the corner of the barn.
“I can’t see,” Cathie said.
“Shh. Just listen.”
The kids knew it was impolite to listen to other people’s conver-sations, but the topic captured their attention.
“I’m telling you, Tom. If it wasn’t Bigfoot, it was something just as big. It broke trees in half like they were nothing.” Mr. McAfree was having trouble convincing their dad. “But it was the scream that got to me. It was the most inhuman thing I’ve ever heard.”
Dad laughed. “I don’t mean to doubt you, Fred. It’s just that every few years there’s a Bigfoot sighting on this mountain, and people’s imaginations start running wild.”
He slapped Mr. McAfree on the back. “Well, thanks for delivering that corn, Fred.”
Mr.
McAfree got into his pickup truck and rolled down the window
for one last warning. “You mind what I said, now.
Be careful up by the dam.”
Dad stepped away from the truck, still laughing as Mr. McAfree drove off.
Eddie and Cathie looked at each other, their eyes wide.
“Bigfoot. Is he like the abominable snowman?” Eddie couldn’t disguise his excitement.
Cathie
nodded. “A huge hairy creature. Ten feet tall and
three feet wide.”
That description caused Eddie’s eyes to grow even
larger, not with fear but with interest.
“Let’s go see for ourselves,” he said.
Cathie hesitated before answering. She didn’t want to be outdone by her little brother, but she wasn’t so sure she wanted to see Bigfoot.
“Come on,” Eddie insisted. “We’ll get Marie to go along.”
Their older sister was fifteen and wasn’t afraid of anything. Or at least that’s what she liked people to think. Eddie played on this pride to talk Marie into going along for the adventure.
“This is silly,” Marie insisted as they walked up the hill toward the dam. “There’s no such thing as Bigfoot.”
She did her best to sound bored with the idea, but her eyes darted back and forth, watching for any sign of danger.
Eddie and Cathie walked ahead until they reached the darkest and scariest part of the road just before the dam. The trees on both sides of the road grew close together, and the underbrush was so thick it was impossible to walk through. Cathie hung back to walk with Marie.
Suddenly
there was a loud crack. The kids froze in horror.
“What was that?” Marie’s voice was shrill.
“It sounded like something big,” Cathie whispered.
Eddie felt a lump in his throat, but curiosity got the better of him.
“It
. . . it was just a branch breaking,” he said as he
walked to the side of the road and peered up through the
trees. He could barely make out a large, dark shape. . .
.
The squeal made him jump straight into the air. It was just
as Mr. McAfree had described it—a howl, a growl, a
moan, and a scream all wrapped into one.
Then the worst happened. The creature started crashing through
the trees right toward them.
“Run!” Eddie yelled.
Cathie had already abandoned Marie and was running as fast as she could down the road. Eddie soon caught up to her. He was sure the thing was snapping oak trees in half as it came, but he didn’t look back until they reached a curve in the road.
Then he suddenly remembered Marie and grabbed Cathie’s arm. They stopped and turned. Marie was nearly paralyzed with fear as she stumbled down the road toward them and waved her arms wildly.
“Help me!” she cried in a feeble voice.
Cathie and Eddie looked at each other. They had to go back.
The noises were fading away as Cathie and Eddie ran back. Each one grabbed an arm and practically dragged Marie down the road.
When there was no sign of pursuit they slowed down, but none of them spoke. They walked home quietly, each convinced that they’d had an encounter with Bigfoot.
When they reached their driveway they noticed Mr. King’s pickup. He was standing by the corncrib talking to Dad. They tried to slip into the house unnoticed, but Dad motioned for them to come over. Reluctantly they obeyed.
“Were you kids walking up by the dam?” he asked.
They nodded slowly.
“You didn’t see anything up there, did you?” Mr. King asked.
Eddie glanced at his sisters. Neither of them looked willing to reply, so he squared his shoulders and spoke up.
“Um, like what?”
“My
prize pig broke out of the barn two days ago,” Mr.
King
said. “You wouldn’t think a six-hundred-pound
boar would be so hard to find, but no one seems to have
seen him.”
Dad laughed. “Maybe you should go see Fred McAfree. Something tells me he saw your pig.”
He glanced toward the kids, almost as though he knew what had happened. Cathie smiled lamely.
“How silly,” she said. “Who could mistake a pig for Bigfoot?”
Marie jabbed her with an elbow.
Dad cocked an eyebrow. “Who said anything about Bigfoot?”
