Page 4 of Ten Mountain Men

What the actual fuck? The only thing I feel is this woman’s bony-ass hands bruising my arms.

I free myself from her grip. “Are you psychic?”

“Yes,” she says quickly, but I know when people are lying. I’ve made a bloody career out of pulling the truth from people. “And I’ve foreseen it. You will be eaten.”

Now it’s my turn for my eyes to narrow, skeptical. She knows something, but it has nothing to do with the spirit of death hovering around me. She knows about Bigfoot. She doesn’t want me to expose him to the world. That’s got to be it. But wouldn’t proof of a mythical creature actually existing nearby be good for her business?

Still, there’s no reasoning with some people, and I don’t have all day to stand here letting her try to talk me out of my plan.

I attempt to look very afraid. “Maybe I will go to the Wilderness Haven Retreat and Lodge after all.”

She nods. “Smart girl.”

“Now, just let me figure out which of your lovely items I want to purchase and I’ll be on my merry way!”

“To the Wilderness Haven Retreat and Lodge,” she adds, pushing. Then, “I hear their mud masks are heavenly.”

I shudder, because I hate mud, but say, “To the Wilderness Haven Retreat and Lodge!”

“Go right now,” she says. “You don’t have to buy anything. Just go.”

But the display of wooden sculptures in the corner has caught my eye.

I walk over, stooping down to get a closer look at the intricate carvings. I’ve never felt the tug to own something just because looking at it made me feel a spark of joy, but…

I smile and pick up a carved bear. It won’t fit in my glove compartment, but it’s too beautiful to be hidden away.

I’m tempted to tell her I want it, to take it to the cash register and have her wrap up my new treasure with care. But I’m not going to start collecting stuff that doesn’t serve a purpose. She said I didn’t have to buy anything, so I’m not buying anything.

“Thanks for letting me use your restroom,” I say.

“Enjoy your stay at the Wilderness Haven Retreat and Lodge.”

I nod, smile, but my destiny is calling. And it’s up on that mountain.

Bobcats and rockslides and lack of running water be damned. I’ve got Bigfoot to find.

Chapter 2

Goldie

My memory doesn’t fail me, though my footwear is letting me down. The blisters forming on my toes are screaming as I trudge up the narrow, nearly invisible pathway through the woods. These boots are not, in fact, made for walking. But I had to leave my car all alone at the bottom of the mountain when the road ended in a muddy parking lot, and for the past two hours I’ve ventured forth, my camping gear strapped to my back as I crunch through fallen leaves, a determined smile on my face despite my blisters.

“A smile is a frown wearing its Sunday best,” I even said to myself at one point—a quote by my mother, which is why it’s kind of a confusing one. She’s a bit of a mess. And we never even went to church.

But now my smile has widened—not just wearing its Sunday best, but a red carpet–worthy ball gown. Because I’m on the right trail, I know it!

My hands start to shake as I grab the camera cord around my neck. This is the spot. This is where it all happened. I can hear the river, the exact roar and hush of the rushing water, just as I hear it in every memory of that terrifying day.

I had wandered off, away from my friends, trying to find a little privacy—because my small bladder was just as much of a curse when I was a kid as it is now. I’d just found the perfect bush to squat behind when I found myself face-to-face with the bobcat.

Like any sane person, I’d turned to run, and in classic Goldie style, I lost all balance and tripped. Falling, falling, falling, but before I could face-plant into the ground and become bobcat breakfast, I was scooped up by a massive pair of strong, shaggy arms.

And the funny thing is, I was never afraid, not of the Sasquatch—because that’s what I realized held me in those massive and massively hairy arms. A Sasquatch. The real Bigfoot. And he wasn’t a monster, not at all.

He had the kindest eyes.

Now, twenty years later, I’m close to where he saved me, I can feel it in my bones.

---