The creature was still hidden behind some trees, but the top of its head had to be eight feet off the ground. Devan and I both slowly stood up, trying not to make any noise. I took a step forward to get a better view, but Devan held me back.
“I know you’ve faced wolves, but I wouldn’t recommend getting too close to something that could eat you,” he whispered.
I nodded. He was probably right. I took a step back, and a twig snapped loudly beneath my foot.
The creature turned toward the sound, and I could just make out its small, dark eyes shining through the branches, gazing directly at us. Its intense stare never wavered as it licked its paw—or was it a hand? The beast seemed injured. Then, suddenly it let out a mournful howl, unlike any bear I had ever heard. My heart pounded in my chest, and somewhere in the fog of confusion and fear, my mind calculated a means of escape should this thing come after us.
But, instead of charging, it disappeared back into the forest.
Devan and I exhaled the breath we’d been holding, and turned to each other, the same confused look on our faces.
“Was that . . . ?” Devan’s voice trailed off.
“I don’t know what that was.” I turned back to stare at the empty space where the animal had stood. That had to have been a bear—a weird bear with long fingers, walking on two legs.
Suddenly, the strange howl sounded again, but from a bit further up the hill.
“Oh my god,” I said.
Devan jumped up, and began rummaging through the pockets of his cargo pants until he came up with a small recording device. “Now I’m not saying it’s anything more than a bear, but we might as well get a recording, right?”
A throaty whooping sound floated down to us through the trees. Devan hit record. The whooping howl continued for a moment, and then silence.
“Maybe we can still get a photo!” Devan moved to follow the beast, but I grabbed his arm and turned him back to face me.
“Wait,” I said. “Let’s think about this for a second. What if that was just a bear? And it’s wounded? The best thing we can do is leave it alone.”
Devan’s eyebrows knitted together. “But what if it wasn’t? What if it’s what we’ve been searching for all this time?”
“I just . . . I always thought there was a logical explanation. I never believed in even the possibility of Bigfoot being real until I saw . . . whatever that was. And, now . . .” I said, “I’m not sure I want people to know about it.”
Devan stared at me with his mouth open. I was shocked to hear myself saying this, too. Proof of Sasquatch would mean instantly winning the competition, being assured of the money and my college dream.
I grasped his hand and pleaded with my eyes. “Now that we’ve seen something, it feels wrong, almost evil, to exploit an obviously gentle creature. He deserves some privacy, right? I’m sorry, but maybe we should just let the Sasquatch remain imaginary. Which he probably is anyway,” I said, crossing my arms, prepared for a fight.
I was sure Devan would argue with me, or even go off on his own to hunt the creature down. But instead, he nodded and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “Okay. If you love the Bigfoot, let it go, right?” Devan said and pressed play on the recorder.
The whooping howl rumbled out from the recorder. “A-whooo, a-wooo, a-wooo.”
“Is it me, or did Bigfoot tell you to kiss me?” I asked.
“A bear told me to kiss you, but either way I think it’s good advice.” Devan grinned, and replayed the recording, full volume, to enhance the sound.
“Woooo . . .”
Devan wrapped both arms around my waist, pulled me to him, and, with his lips hovering above mine, whispered, “Even if he is imaginary.”
Joyfully, I closed the distance between our lips. We kissed, giggling at the now far-away howl of our new maybe-not-so-imaginary friend echoing down the mountains.
Heavy breathing, not our own, interrupted our fun. An out-of-breath Hal traipsed up the hill. “Guys, we gotta go. It’s time for the last challenge. Ugh, what is that stench?”
We just wrinkled our noses, shrugged, and followed him back to the set hand in hand.
When we arrived at the base camp, Devan pulled me toward him and put something in my pocket. It was the audio recorder.
His eyes bore into mine. “I want you to have this.”
I opened my mouth to refuse, but he held my wrist.
“Let me do this for you. If you can use the recording, you should.” His eyes crinkled when he let my wrist go. “You never know when I’ll need a personal physician again, so you better go to school and study.”
I sighed but nodded. I did promise I would let him take care of me, too. “Okay. I’ll take it. I was thinking about NYU for pre-med. I hear their anthropology department isn’t too shabby either.”
Devan’s eyes sparkled at that idea. I gave him one more kiss then went to where my parents and sisters were huddled over their equipment.
• • •
“Bigfoot hunters, we’ve come to the close of the competition.” Jake paused for dramatic effect. “As we move into the last challenge, the teams are tied: the Bergers scored big in the tracking challenge with their extra big footprint, but the Netherfield team took the trophy in the audio-visual challenge with their snapshot of a possible Sasquatch. Then Devan and Sam split the points for identifying the fake clues. So this is it. Winner takes all.
“As you may know, most Bigfoot hunters go their entire lives without ever seeing a Sasquatch, but we have faith in our contestants. For the final challenge, our competitors will have one last chance to bring in conclusive proof of the existence of Bigfoot. Each team will have twelve hours to use every resource at their disposal to find the best evidence they can. This can be audio, visual, DNA, or any other type of physical evidence. Maybe one of you will capture the beast alive!” Jake’s weak laugh was almost as obnoxious as he was.
“Remember, contestants, you only have the next twelve hours to collect the best piece of evidence you can before you must return here for judging,” Jake continued. “And don’t forget, this is for the win! Good luck to both teams.”
Jake clomped off the set.
I caught Devan’s eyes and wondered if he regretted giving me that recording now. A gentle grin formed on his lips as he returned my gaze, and I knew he was okay with his decision.
I mouthed “thank you” and he gave me another reassuring smile.
I grabbed my pack and followed my family, Hal, and Dave.
“We’re going to head further up this time,” my dad said. “I think we’ll have the best shot up there. I suggest we focus on luring a Wood Ape toward us with calls, and then try to capture a photo or vocal response. It’s low-tech, but it could work.”
I touched the recorder in my pocket. This was perfect.
We hiked for the next hour and a half, set up the tents in record time, and prepared the fire for later. Luckily, we went in the opposite direction of the Bear-squatch. I didn’t want to lead anyone to the animal.
“Okay gang, are you ready to get started?” my dad asked.
My mom gestured for us to join them. “Yes, honey,” she said. “We’re good to go.”
“We’re going to spread out in opposite directions and each take a video camera and an audio recorder. I’ll go with your mom and Sophie. Lyssa and Sam, you can go in that direction. We’ll practice howling and see if we get a response. We’ll meet back here in time for sundown. I don’t want you wandering in the woods at night, even with a tranq gun.”
Before we headed off, Hal cleared his throat. “Can I get a quick shot of all of you howling together?”
My shoulders slumped. This was almost as bad as the Shalom Sasquatch T-shirts.
“Of course,” my dad said. “Ladies, let’s first do a moaning howl.” Then to the camera he added, “This is the sound fully grown male Sasquatches are known to make.”
He cupped his hands around his mouth, forming a megaphone and let out a long, ris
ing howl, which we followed. “A-woooooo.”
“Good. Now we’ll do a whooping noise, that’s also often commonly heard.”
This time we all placed our hands by our mouths, ready to repeat his whooping sounds.
“A-whoop, a-whoop, a-whoop,” we all said. By the time we were finished, a giggling fit had overtaken us, and I had forgotten about feeling embarrassed in front of the camera. Sophie and I danced a little jig in time to the howling and only stopped when our ribs hurt from too much laughing.
“Got it. That was great,” Hal said, chuckling at our silliness. “I’m going to follow along with Myron, Sophie, and Brenda this time, since I got a lot of footage of Sam already.”
My mom kissed Lyssa and then me. “Be careful girls. We’ll see you in a little bit.”
Lyssa and I walked to our designated spot. She took out the camera from her pocket and I pulled out the audio recorder. “You’re louder. Why don’t you howl first?” Lyssa said.
“Okey dokey.” I went through the motions until my throat hurt. I thought I heard a coyote or something in the background and Lyssa got excited. Good. When I produced the tape that Devan and I recorded she wouldn’t be surprised.
We continued until we were both out of breath and were losing our voices. A few more animal sounds made it into the background, so we left, satisfied with our work.
By the time we got back, my mom was making everyone hot dogs, Sophie had a pot of soup going, and my dad was cooking corn on the cob in tin foil over the fire. They looked more or less content.
My mom twisted her neck back and forth. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’ll be glad to get back to our own beds.”
“And our own showers,” Lyssa said.
I took in my family sitting around the campfire and smiling, even after everything that transpired since we packed up the minivan. “I don’t know, I think there are some things I’ll miss about being here,” I said, stuffing a hot dog in my face and then nibbling some corn to the amusement of Hal, who caught me on camera with a face full of food.
“Seriously?” I asked. “Don’t you have better things to film?”
He shrugged and put down the camera to eat his own dinner.
I took advantage of the camera being off to tell my parents about my new relationship with Devan. They weren’t all that surprised. My mom said she had seen it coming a mile away, and had already told my dad. Lyssa, of course, had known all along. Sophie was the only one who didn’t realize what had been going on.
“But I thought you hated him,” she said, with wonder.
“I thought I did too, for a while. But I guess I judged him too quickly. He’s really great. Beyond what I could have imagined. He’s so caring with his friends. He’s ridiculously smart and funny, and honestly, almost as nerdy as me.” I was suddenly shy trying to describe my feelings for him.
Lyssa saved me. “I knew it! I’m totally getting you a gift card for Dairy Queen for your birthday.” I elbowed her in the ribs, and she shoved me away, with a smile.
Once everyone was full, the food was put away and the fire out, we shared the evidence that we all had collected with each other. My parents had some audio that was fine, but not great, plus a few very blurry snapshots that didn’t show much of anything. When I played the recording Devan and I captured, which was much clearer and deeper than the others, my dad stood up and gave me and Lyssa huge hugs.
“Wow! Wonderful job, girls.”
Mom got in on the hugging action, too, but quickly pulled away. “We should all get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.”
I squirmed in my sleeping bag for hours, nervous about our final judging. Every few minutes, I reached into my bag to make sure the recorder was still there. I hoped the recording would be enough to give us the win, but I wasn’t confident. What if the judges liked whatever the Netherfield team presented better or if DeGraw swayed everyone against us?
I groaned, but eventually managed to fall asleep for a few hours, still clutching the digital recorder in my sweaty palm.
The next morning, we packed up the camp for the last time and headed to the Myth Gnomers base camp.
Colin and Beth were standing with Jake, Dr. DeGraw, Dr. Bruckmeier, and Jeff Duckworthy. Devan, Caroline, and Kyle were already there, waiting with their equipment and camping gear.
I swallowed. I didn’t think I would be sad for it all to be over, but the reality of not getting to see Devan every day just hit me. He gave me a little wave, seemingly thinking the same thing.
Colin and Beth set up the shot, told Jake where to stand, and called “Places!” before I could talk to Devan. I had no idea what they were about to present. Their stony expressions gave nothing away. Although I assumed they would be more excited if they had actually seen something.
So maybe we still had a shot at winning. My stomach churned with anxiety.
“Bigfoot hunters and Sasquatch fans, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for,” Jake began. “It’s time to reveal the evidence for the final challenge. And for this last round, we’d like to welcome back all of the previous judges.”
When he said that, the three judges stepped forward into the shot.
“We’ll start with the Bergers,” Jake added.
My mom smiled at me. “I think Sam should present this time.”
I patted down my hair and stepped forward. “Well, we took turns howling and whooping, which is low-tech, but seemed to work because this is what we captured.” I played the two samples, first my parents’, which was faint and could’ve been a coyote. Then I switched recorders and played the whoops that Devan and I had captured.
Jeff Duckworthy clapped. “That’s what I’m talking’ about. I’m not sure what kind of animal that is, but he sounds pretty big.” Dr. Bruckmeier nodded her tiny, bird head furiously. Dr. DeGraw seemed unimpressed, however.
Jake strode across the set to the other team. “Okay, well, thanks, Bergers. Let’s see what you’re up against.”
I took a deep breath and held it, glad my presentation was over, but tapped my fingers against my thighs, nervous to see what would come next.
“I understand Caroline will be presenting today,” Jake continued.
Caroline cleared her throat. “We set up an iPod and portable speaker system and blasted a section of the woods with sound. The recording we used was that of a supposed Sasquatch, in distress. We hoped this would encourage others of its kind to investigate. We then retreated about a quarter mile downwind, and sent up a drone with a high-definition camera to observe the area from the sky.”
“A what?” Duckworthy interrupted.
Devan jumped in. “A drone. It’s a small, lightweight, remote-controlled helicopter type thing. It’s virtually silent and equipped with the best HD and infrared cameras.”
“Hmm . . .” Duckworthy stroked his beard, then added, “Well, what’d ya get?”
The Netherfield team glanced at each other and hesitated. Caroline wore a stoic expression. “We were able to capture this image.”
A very blurry shot of the tops of the trees appeared on the monitor, and below the thick branches was a black shadow.
“We believe that this black mass here,” Devan pointed to the shadow, “is perhaps a Sasquatch.”
“More like a blobsquatch,” Lyssa said under her breath. I held back a laugh.
Dr. DeGraw snorted. “Anything else?”
“Unfortunately, at this point, there were, um, mechanical issues,” Devan replied.
“I crashed the drone,” Kyle added, looking at his feet. “Totally my fault.”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “I’m so done with you putting yourself down, Kyle. It’s not like we knew how to operate the drone either.”
“Yeah, but you would’ve been smart enough to figure it out.”
Caroline groaned. “You’re smart, too. Your IQ score is two points higher than mine.”
“Seriously? How do you know that?”
“Hacker, remember?” She mimicked ty
ping on a keyboard.
Kyle grinned and high-fived his sister.
There was a tense moment of dead air, as the judges waited for the Netherfield team to add any final remarks.
Finally, Duckworthy jumped out of his chair and said, “I think we have a clear winner here. You ask me, that photo wasn’t much to look at. But those howls, now they were something.”
“And what do the other judges say?” Jake asked.
Dr. Bruckmeier pushed up her glasses onto her head. “I tend to agree with Jeff. While I remain a skeptic, the Bergers’ recording is certainly intriguing.”
“Dr. DeGraw?” Jake turned to the final judge.
She waved her hand to dismiss the conversation. “Yes, yes. It’s a better piece of evidence.”
“It’s unanimous. Congratulations to the Bergers, who have won this Myth Gnomers competition and will walk away with bragging rights and two hundred thousand dollars!” Jake smiled into the camera before shaking my family’s hands for the benefit of the television audience.
I exhaled the breath I had been holding for what seemed like hours as the facts sunk in. Everything was going to be okay, now. The house was saved and college was possible. We had won. We came, we saw, and we kicked very cute prep school butts. I even managed to make a couple of unlikely friends, despite myself.
As soon as the cameras were off I flew into Devan’s arms and kissed him. Sophie and Kyle were pretty cuddly next to us, too.
We stopped kissing just in time to witness Dr. DeGraw unclip her microphone and toddle our way.
“I hope you’re proud of yourselves,” she said to Devan and Kyle, and Caroline who had walked over to where we were. “This should have been easy money and good exposure for the school.”
“You know what?” Devan asked, putting his arms tightly around my waist. “We are proud of ourselves.”
She let out a dramatic sigh. “Then you aren’t who I thought you were.”
Devan winked at me and kissed the top of my head. “Good.”
Dr. DeGraw didn’t say anything further, but just let herself into the Jeep.
Caroline threw an arm around her stepbrother’s shoulder. “You know the best part of this being over?”
Sasquatch, Love, and Other Imaginary Things Page 23
