Page 15 of Captured on Film
“How big?”
Josheb tugged at his beard and shook his head. “Must besomething else. Can’t thinkwhat, but this isn’t right.”
“Why not?” Caleb pressed.
“I mean … if these were squirrel tracks, those suckers wouldbe as big as Nessie. Bigger, even.”
“We’re tracking giant squirrels?”
“No. We’re tracking bigfoot.” Josheb grinned. “The squirrelsare incidental.”
He was laughing it off. Maybe even dismissing it. But hemade Caleb snap some pictures so he could compare the tracks to a field guidelater.
Which got Caleb to thinking. How big could a figment get?
Stomping Grounds
“Find anything?”
“Not really. Foraged some things for dinner.” Josheb shook afistful of greens and patted a bulging pocket. “Just need to see what the creekhas to offer in the way of protein.”
“Need me to fish?” offered Caleb.
“That’d be great.” Josheb gestured toward the woods.“There’s a good spot not far. Stone’s throw. You can’t miss it.”
Caleb gathered the gear and checked his compass. Eastwardtrail. Downhill. It didn’t take long for him to pick up the sound of runningwater. But he was catching something else, too. A scent.
Sort of sweet, but also sour. A little like flowers, butwith a heavy, sticky quality. Honey? Yes, it was possible they were close to ahoney tree.
Closing his eyes, Caleb listened for the telltale hum ofbees.
He was still standing quietly, sifting through sounds, whenJosheb ambled over with his arms stacked with kindling. “Why are you zoningout? The fish don’t catch themselves.”
“Do you smell that?”
“I just got the campfire going.”
“Not smoke. It’s sort of sweet. A ripe smell, I guess?”
Josheb inhaled slowly, took a few steps away and breathed inagain. “You’re right. Smells like a distillery to me.”
“Liquor?” Caleb frowned thoughtfully. “As in moonshiners?”
“Well, we’re not on the right continent to score some monkeywine. Which is too bad.”
“You out of beer?”
“Didn’t say that. Just wouldn’t mind sampling something froma wild reserve. But honestly, this could be a combination of a couple ofdifferent smells. Some flowers have a special stink for luring in thepollinators, and I’m thinking some of your figments would qualify.”
Stinky flowers. Caleb nodded. “Makes more sense than someonerunning a microbrewery way out here.”
“If you were serious about studying those things, you couldprobably chart a whole new ecosystem.”
“Why don’tyoudo it?”
“Not me.” Josheb waggled his eyebrows. “I’m here for theapex predators. Much more interesting than streaking crickets and boozy bees.”
Caleb couldn’t help being skeptical. His brother wanted bigfootto be real, so he believed they’d entered his stomping grounds. By the sametoken, Josheb didn’t find insects and amphibians all that interesting, so theiractivities were easily dismissed.
