Page 5 of Squatch Out!
Brian and Tony nod their agreement, but Darren’s expression flickers with confusion. As if the idea of not caring about proof is something he can’t quite comprehend.
“I’ll never forget my first sighting,” Brian reminisces. Pushing his empty plate away, he leans back in his chair and jumps right into a retelling of the first bigfoot he saw as a long-haul trucker.
“It was the middle of the night, and I was just outside Missoula, coming back from South Dakota. There was a rest area coming up, and I was planning to stop there for the rest of the night, since my drive time was up. I was getting tired, but the second that hairy bastard stepped out of the trees and right into my headlights—well, that woke me the fuck up!” His dark eyes snap to me, and he quickly apologizes. “Pardon my language.”
I shake my head and give him a wave, letting him know that it’s fine, and I’m not bothered in the least.
“So, I’m standing on the brakes. My tires are squealing; the trailer is groaning like it’s about to jackknife, and that motherfu—er—the bigfoot doesn’t even glance my way. He just strides on by and disappears into the forest on the other side of the highway.”
We laugh at his retelling, and then Brian turns expectantly to Tony. “Your turn.”
“You guys know my story. I’ve told it a hundred times,” he complains.
“Darren doesn’t,” Brian says, then leans back in his chair to hear it again.
“Fine,” Tony says with a huff, but I know he loves telling it. We all do. “So, I was just a kid. I think I was twelve or something.” He leans forward on his elbows and looks around the table at each of us. “My whole family was coming up thecoast from Cali to Washington. One of my uncles died, so we were all coming for the funeral. We were somewhere along the Oregon coast, and we stopped at a little motel right off the highway for the night. It was a total shithole but, when you’re a family of nine, that’s what you can afford. And it was better than everyone trying to sleep in our cramped minivan.
“The motel was tucked up against the foothills of some heavily forested hills, and there wasn’t much more than a gas station with a small market attached for miles in either direction. All of us were crammed into the single room. My parents got the full-size bed with the two babies, and the rest of us curled up on the floor.”
Tony quirks the corners of his lips up then he drops his voice like he’s telling a ghost story. “It’s the middle of the night, and I’m jolted awake by the loudest, most god-awful sound you’ve ever heard. I lay there for a few minutes with my heart pounding, wondering if I was hearing things, when it came again. That time, it almost sounded like a baby screaming, so I panicked! What if it was one of my little brothers or sisters?
“Without thinking, I jumped up and ran outside. Our room was at the very far end of the motel, and except for a dim light above the door, everything was pitch-black. So I’m squinting, looking around, trying to see what might have caused that sound, when I hear it again. My head snaps to the side, and I see it.” Tony’s eyes are wide as saucers as he recalls what happened next.
“The bigfoot was right next to the motel, in the narrow space between the building and the forest. It had to be close to eight feet tall, and it was fighting with a full-grown cougar!”
“Wait. So, the sounds you heard weren’t from the bigfoot?” Darren interrupts suddenly.
All eyes snap to Darren, then back to Tony, who shakes his head. “Nope. It was the cat making all the racket. The bigfootnever made a sound, at least, none that I heard. I was frozen stiff as I watched him wrestle with the cougar until he managed to grab it by the back of its neck with one hand, and just above the base of its tail with his other.” Tony lifts his arms over his head in demonstration. “And then hethrewthat cat into the tree line.”
We chuckle at the imagery. All of us except for Darren, who is still frowning at Tony, his expression shuttered with the same look non-believers often wear. Suddenly it occurs to me that I know nothing abouthisstory. We all have one. No one ever just suddenly believes bigfoot exists. Sure, there are some who thinkmaybethere’s something out there, but only those who have seen it with their own eyes are the true believers. Darren’s name is often bounced around the message boards with a kind of reverence, like he is some kind of all-knowing guru. But beyond that, I know nothing about this man.
After Tony finishes his story with how the bigfoot glanced over at him, lifted its large hand with a wave, and then followed the cougar into the trees, I turn my attention to Darren. “So, what’s your story?” I break off a bite of buttery, perfectly cooked salmon with the edge of my fork. “What was it that made you believe?”
Any one of us might have smiled or maybe gotten a little shy at being put on the spot. Darren’s blue eyes narrow and snap to me with a surprisingly hostile look before dropping to his barely touched NY steak. His jaw goes tight, and muscles flex in his joint from clenching his teeth.
He’s quiet for a long time. Brian, Tony, and I glance across to each other curiously. Slowly, Darren picks up his knife and fork and cuts into his steak with more force than seems necessary. When he lifts his eyes to me again, his expression is eerily blank.
“One of them killed my brother right in front of me.” He stabs his fork into one of the bites, shoves it into his mouth, and begins to chew angrily.
No one talksabout bigfoot after that.
In fact, we hardly talk at all. We finish our dinner, and, in the awkward silence that follows, we each make our excuses that it’s late or that we have to be up early the next morning. Tony and I leave together. Our rooms are a floor apart, while Brian and Darren’s are on the other side of the sprawling complex.
I’m deep in my thoughts until we stop in front of the elevator. “Liv–?” Tony starts.
“Why didn’t you tell me he was coming?” I cut him off. Tony’s face crumples, and his shoulders hitch forward with his guilt. More softly, I add, “I wish you would have, instead of waiting to spring it on me.”
“I’m really sorry.” I can tell he means it. His face is tight with regret. “You’re right, I should have given you a heads-up the second I met them at the airport, but we were already here and—” He shrugs.
I get it. Kinda. It’s just that— “Something doesn't seem right with him.” When I look up, Tony is nodding his agreement. “Do you know anything about Darren?”
“Not really.” He shakes his head. “I know he has a reputation around the boards as being something of a bigfoot expert, but other than that and what he told us tonight—no, I don’t know him at all.”
One of them killed my brother right in front of me.
A chill runs through me as Darren’s words repeat in my head. It’s such a contradiction of mine and Tony’s sightings, where the creatures acted on our behalf. One of them leading me backto my family and the other protecting Tony’s family from a dangerous predator. Honestly, until this very moment, I never considered that they might be dangerous predators as well.
The elevator opens, and we step inside.
