by Tracey West
“What’s that?” he wondered aloud.
Curious, he walked toward the sound until he came to the edge of the cliff. Clouds floated in the air as far as he could see. This was where the world ended.
The buzzing noise got louder. In the distance a flash of color broke through the clouds.
Migo shielded his eyes with his hand. “Wow. What is that?” he wondered. It looked like a giant bird with wings, but no feathers.
Migo didn’t know it, but he was looking at a small airplane. A trail of smoke poured from the plane’s propellers. And it was heading right for Migo.
Whatever it was, it was about to crash into him!
Chapter Three
A Smallfoot!
Migo turned and ran as fast as he could. The plane zoomed toward him.
“Aaaaaah! Stop it! Get away!” Migo yelled, looking over his shoulder as the creature chased him.
Wham! The plane hit the ground behind Migo, sending up a blast of snow in its wake. Migo jumped down into a ravine to hide, but his feet hit a sheet of ice, and he slid up and launched into the air! He landed right on top of the plane and rode it like a cowboy riding a bucking bronco. Then the plane hit a bump and flung him forward, headfirst into the snow.
He popped out of the snow to see the nose of the plane skidding toward him. It stopped inches away.
Migo sighed with relief. “Whew!”
Then the cockpit burst open and the pilot shot out of the plane. His parachute opened up, and Migo watched, wide-eyed, as the pilot slowly fell back down to the snow. The parachute covered him.
Curious, Migo slowly approached the pilot. The man crawled out from under the parachute. Migo had never seen anything like the pilot before. He was so small! And where was his fur?
“Ahhhhhhhh!” the pilot screamed. Startled, the man jumped back, slipped, and landed on his back with his feet facing Migo. The Yeti was amazed.
“Look at your small foot,” he said, which to the pilot sounded like growls and snarls. Then it hit Migo. “Smallfoot” was a word he knew—a word from the stones. “Oh my gosh, it’s a Smallfoot!”
Excited, Migo leaned in to take a closer look, but a blast of wind filled the parachute and sent the pilot flying away from Migo into the clouds.
“No! Come back!” Migo yelled.
The pilot was gone—but the Smallfoot’s craft, the airplane, was still there.
Migo made his way to the village as fast as he could, heading right to Main Street, yelling, “Everyone! You gotta see this! Come here!”
He stopped in the middle of the market stalls to catch his breath. Some of the Yetis noticed him, and a group of kids ran up to him.
“I. Saw. A SMALLFOOT!” Migo announced.
The Yetis all began to chatter excitedly to one another.
“What did he say?”
“He can’t be serious!”
“That’s impossible!”
“Just follow me and see for yourselves!” Migo said. “Come on, everybody!”
Curious, a group of Yetis followed him. Thorp, who was the Stonekeeper’s son and Meechee’s brother, was patrolling the village while riding on his mammoth, when he spotted them leaving. He turned toward the palace.
“Dad!” he called out.
Migo, meanwhile, couldn’t wait for everyone to see the craft of the Smallfoot. But before he could get there, a hungry yak tugged on a piece of greenery near the plane. The ice cracked, and the snow underneath the plane loosened. This sent the plane tumbling down the hill, but then it stopped at the edge of the cliff, teetering.
“It came at me from the sky in some sort of hard, shiny, flying thing!” Migo was saying as he led the villagers toward the crash site. “It made a sound like—eeeooooowwww! It’s right this way.”
Migo crested a hill—just in time to see the plane fall over the cliff and disappear into the clouds.
“No, no, no!” Migo wailed. He watched helplessly as a wind blew away the tracks that the craft had made in the snow.
He turned to the other Yetis. “It was right here!” he insisted. “Look, I swear! The shiny flying thing, that’s what the Smallfoot shot out of. It was like, poof!”
He made a parachute shape with his arms.
“And then a big fabric thing landed on top of it, and it was like, whaaaaa! And when it saw me, it sang the most strange, beautiful song, like, aaaaaaaaaah!”
“Ahh!” the Yetis repeated.
“Almost,” Migo said. “It was more like, aaaaaaaaaaah!”
He looked around. “It’s probably still around here somewhere,” he said. “Let’s look for it!”
One Yeti got a look of panic on his face. “Still around here?”
“It could be in the village!” someone else cried.
“It could be at my house!” someone yelled.
“GET THE CHILDREN!” another Yeti shrieked.
The Yetis started freaking out, all talking at once.
“Wait. Hold on, everyone,” Migo said. “The Smallfoot didn’t seem all that scary. It was kind of cute.”
At that moment Thorp entered the scene, riding his mammoth. He blew on a large horn. “Everyone! Make way for my dad! I mean—the Stonekeeper!” he announced. “Sorry, Dad—uh, Stonekeeper.” He shook his head. “I blew it.”
The murmuring of the crowd calmed down, and the Yetis fanned out as the Stonekeeper arrived, followed by Meechee.
“Good morning, everyone. How are you?” the Stonekeeper asked.
Dorgle came running up behind them, and his stomach dropped when he saw Migo at the center of attention. This could not be good.
The nervous Yetis fired frantic worries at their leader:
“Stonekeeper! He saw a Smallfoot!”
“He said it might still be out there!”
“He said it fell from the sky.”
The Stonekeeper smiled calmly. “Now, I know that Migo has gotten you all very anxious with his little ‘story,’ ” the Stonekeeper began. “But there’s nothing to fear, because it isn’t true.”
“But I saw one,” Migo insisted.
“No you didn’t,” the Stonekeeper replied.
“I did,” Migo pressed.
The Stonekeeper smiled. “You couldn’t have seen it, because it doesn’t exist.”
“I know, I know. Because a stone says, ‘There’s no such thing as a Smallfoot,’ ” Migo replied.
The Stonekeeper pointed to one of the stones on his robe. “Yep. Right here. Clear as day.”
“I know, but it was right there in front of me!” Migo said.
Thorp climbed down from his mammoth. “Hey, Migo. How did you know it was a Smallfoot?”
“Because . . . it had a small foot,” Migo replied.
Thorp looked at his father. “Dad?”
The Yetis began to murmur. Migo sounded very sure of himself.
“Daddy, clearly he saw something,” Meechee said.
“Oh, I’m not denying he saw something,” the Stonekeeper said. He walked through the crowd, making eye contact with the villagers. “Most likely he slipped, fell on his head, got confused, and saw a yak.”
The Yetis nodded in agreement.
“Because if Migo is saying he saw a Smallfoot, then he’s saying that a stone is wrong,” the Stonekeeper continued.
“Oh no,” Migo muttered. Nobody was allowed to say that the stones were wrong.
“Is that what you’re saying, Migo, that a stone is wrong?” the Stonekeeper pressed.
Before Migo could answer, his father did it for him.
“Nope!” Dorgle said loudly, pushing his way through the crowd. “He is not saying that.”
He turned to the Stonekeeper. “Let me talk to him. Kids, right?”
The Stonekeeper nodded, and Dorgle pulled Migo aside.
“Migo, what are you doing?” Dorgle asked in an urgent whisper. “Challenging the Stonekeeper? In front of the whole village?”
“Dad, what piece of advice have you always given me?” Migo asked.
/> Dorgle’s eyebrows furrowed. “Don’t eat yellow snow?”
“The other one,” Migo said.
“Never pee into the wind.”
Migo shook his head. “Dad, you raised me to always tell the truth.”
“But if it goes against the stones, then it can’t be true,” Dorgle pointed out.
“If I say I didn’t see a Smallfoot, then I’m lying,” Migo said.
Dorgle looked at his son. He knew Migo believed what he was saying. Dorgle had no idea what to say.
The Stonekeeper approached them. “Migo? I thought you wanted what was best for the village,” he said.
“I do!” Migo replied.
“Then are you still saying that the stone is wrong?” he asked.
The Yetis all focused on Migo, waiting for his answer.
“If saying I saw a Smallfoot means that a stone is wrong, then I . . . I guess I am,” Migo said bravely.
The Stonekeeper shook his head. “Oh, Migo. It pains me to say this. It truly does. But you leave me no choice. Disobeying the stones is a grave offense. From this day forward you are banned from the village.”
The Yetis gasped in shock.
“What?” Migo asked.
“Until you are ready to stand before us all and tell us the truth,” the Stonekeeper said.
“I am telling the truth,” Migo said.
The Stonekeeper turned to the crowd. “That’s all, everyone,” he said. “Back to work. Let’s make it another perfect day.”
Dorgle stepped in front of the village leader. “Stonekeeper! Please! That’s my son.”
“Just give him a little time out there to think,” the leader replied. “He’ll come to his senses.”
Little Soozie stared up at Migo with tears in her eyes. He didn’t know what to say to her. He’d been teaching the kids that the stones were always right. What would the young Yetis think of him now?
“Soozie—” he began, but Thorp rode up on his mammoth and got between them.
“Hey! You’re banished!” he barked.
Migo watched all his friends walk away in disbelief.
Thorp rode away, and the other Yetis slowly made their way back to the village, leaving Migo all alone.
Chapter Four
Percy
On the same day that Migo was banished from the village, Percy Patterson was taping a segment for a television show deep in a snowy forest with his assistant, Brenda.
“Few can survive the cold, brutal environment of the Himalayas . . . but this ingenious creature defies the odds,” Percy said, smiling brightly into the camera. Still smiling, he held up his left arm, where a spider was slowly making its way up to his shoulder. Dramatically he continued, “The rare Himalayan jumping spider! This week on Percy Patterson’s Wildlife.”
Brenda stood nearby and watched, nodding her head in approval as Percy kept speaking.
“This agile arachnid can lay one thousand eggs at a time and jump fifty feet into the air!” Percy looked at his arm, shook it a bit, and then blew on the spider. It didn’t move.
“Hmm. There’s an element of mental preparation, I’m sure,” he said.
Percy glanced up and saw that the cameraman was yawning. He glanced over at Brenda, who gave him an encouraging thumbs-up. In desperation, Percy snatched the spider off his arm and threw it on his face.
“It’s attacking!” he shouted. “Oh no! The venom! It’s going to my brain! I can’t feel my face!” He whispered softly to Brenda and the cameraman, “Keep rolling, keep rolling.” Percy clutched his throat as if he’d been poisoned.
“Cut,” Brenda said.
Percy continued to ham it up for the camera. He covered one eye with his hand.
“My eye! My eye!” he yelled.
Brenda put her hand over the camera lens.
“CUT!” she shouted. “Percy, what are you doing?”
“Saving our show,” Percy replied. He placed the spider back on his arm. “Me getting attacked by a spider would get fantastic ratings!”
Brenda sighed. “Percy, our show is educational and enlightening, a show that promotes respect of our fellow creatures on this planet.”
“I know. That’s why no one is watching it,” Percy answered.
“That’s why I don’t watch it,” the cameraman agreed.
“Look, Brenda, unless our spider jumps, it’s boring.” As if on cue, the spider jumped off Percy’s arm.
“Hey! It jumped!” Percy shouted happily.
The spider landed on the cameraman, who screamed and ran straight into a wall, shattering his camera.
“Now that was exciting!” Percy said. “Did we get that on film?”
“No,” the cameraman muttered.
“Of course not,” Percy said. “All right. I’ll just have to go over here and interview a piece of bark, shall I?”
Percy turned to leave and WHAM! He slammed right into the pilot, who stared up at Percy with wild eyes.
“Y-y-yeti,” he said.
“What did you say?” Percy asked.
The pilot took a deep breath. “My plane . . . crashed. In the snow. Teeth, claws, huge!” He grabbed Percy by the shoulders. “I SAW A YETI!” he shouted.
Percy’s face suddenly lit up. He had an idea. He smiled at the pilot.
“A Yeti, you say? Let me buy you a cup of coffee and you can tell me all about it.”
The pilot looked anxiously at Percy. “You believe me, don’t you?”
Percy grinned again and patted the pilot’s arm reassuringly. “Of course I believe you. I can’t wait for you to tell me alllllll about it.”
Chapter Five
We Believe You
Migo didn’t know what to do. Lost in thought, he walked along the cliffs, through the ice and snow. Finally he sat down on a rock and watched the snow whirl around him. A gust of wind swirled past his ear and sounded like Miiiigo. Migo gasped and looked to his left, then to his right.
“Who’s there?” he called out.
He heard it again.
Miiiigo.
“Smallfoot, is that you?” he said. “Ugh, maybe I am going crazy. No wonder no one believes me.”
“We believe you.”
Migo whipped around to see Gwangi emerge from the fog, followed by Kolka and Fleem.
“Oh, it’s you guys,” Migo said.
“Miiiigo,” Fleem said. He turned to Gwangi and Kolka. “Is it just me, or does he look disappointed that it’s us?” He leaned toward Migo. “Can’t say I blame you.”
“No, no. Thanks for believing me,” Migo said. “But I’m starting to think that I didn’t see a Smallfoot.”
“You want proof that you saw what you saw?” Kolka asked.
Migo nodded. “Yeah”
“We got proof,” Gwangi said.
“So you believe that I saw a Small—” Migo began, but he was interrupted by Gwangi, Kolka, and Fleem all yelling, “Sssshhhh!”
“They’re listening,” Gwangi said.
“Who?” Migo asked.
“The ears of oppression.”
“Yeah,” Kolka agreed.
“This way,” Gwangi instructed. “Stealth mode.”
Migo sighed. “Could this day get any more bizarre?” he asked to no one in particular. He felt something odd and looked down. Fleem was touching his fur.
“Is this too close?” Fleem asked.
“Uhhh, what?” Migo said, confused.
“You know what you are now?” Fleem asked. “One of us!” Fleem started chanting. “One of us! One of us!”
Migo sighed. He couldn’t go back to the village. And Gwangi, Kolka, and Fleem might be a little strange, but they acted like they had answers for him. And right now all he had were questions.
“I guess you’re all I’ve got, huh?” he said.
“Yeah, I know,” Fleem replied. “Stinks, right?”
They caught up to Gwangi and Kolka and entered a narrow ravine.
“Where are you taking me?” Migo asked.
“
Our leader requests a meeting,” Kolka replied mysteriously.
“You have a leader?” Migo asked. “Who?”
Fleem’s eyes gleamed. “You’ll see,” he said.
They reached a wall of rock. Fleem pulled a switch, and a secret entrance opened up.
“Oh boy,” Migo said.
The entrance opened into a large cave. Gwangi stepped in first and clapped twice. Snails lit up the darkness, revealing a stone stairway that curved downward. They followed it down.
“He’s here,” Gwangi announced.
A Yeti stepped out of the shadows, and Migo gasped.
“Meechee?”
“Hi, Migo,” she said. “Welcome to the secret headquarters of the S.E.S.”
“It stands for ‘Smallfoot Exists, Suckas!’ ” Fleem explained.
“Actually, it’s the ‘Smallfoot Evidentiary Society,’ ” Kolka said.
Fleem shrugged. “I mean, my name has more pizzazz.”
“Smallfoot?” Migo repeated. “Wait, you’re like a . . . secret society . . . about Smallfoot? But you’re the Stonekeeper’s daughter!”
“Look, I love my father, but he isn’t exactly what you would call ‘open to new ideas,’ ” Meechee replied.
“Because questions lead to knowledge,” Kolka added.
“And knowledge is power,” Gwangi said.
“Uh-huh,” Migo said, his mind whirring as he tried to take everything in. He knew he wasn’t supposed to ask questions. But he’d had so many of them, for as long as he could remember! And these guys were saying that asking questions was okay.
“So, you don’t just believe in the Smallfoot. . . . You’ve been looking for one!” he realized. That idea felt strange to him.
Meechee motioned for Migo to follow her. She led him to a map of the mountain on the wall, marked with red Xs all over it.
“See all the red Xs?” she asked. “We’ve been searching the entire mountain, dreaming of first contact.”
“Why are you looking for Xs?” Migo asked.
Meechee rolled her eyes. “We’re not looking for Xs. We’re looking for Smallfoot. And you’ve seen one!”
The four Yetis swarmed him and bombarded him with questions.
“Tell us everything,” Meechee said.
