Creature Keepers and the Swindled Soil-Soles

by Peter Nelson

  “You do that, map boy. I’m paddling over to those giant toe boulders.”

  Jordan looked up. In the distance were five roundish rocks sitting in a row, each one a little smaller than the next. They looked exactly like massive toes, and matched exactly the rocks drawn on the map. Jordan tucked it away, then paddled to catch up with Abbie. “I was just about to suggest that, per the map’s instructions.”

  They ditched their geese between the first and second toe boulders and gathered up their gear. There was a small, pebbly beach hidden behind the wall of toes, and a steep trail leading behind that into the thick trees covering the mountain. Jordan and Abbie threw their backpacks on and began hiking up the trail.

  7

  The path leading up Mount Breakenridge was easy to follow, but tough to climb. It cut back and forth across the face of the mountain, growing steeper as it went higher. Every so often they would get a glimpse through the trees at the lake below. At the first vista they could see their little goose boats stashed between the toe boulders. At the second lookout point they could make out Echo Island in the distance.

  As it grew darker, the forest trail began to grow fainter. Jordan and Abbie were thankful to reach a plateau where the mountainside leveled out before rising up again. The flat ground in this area was a tapestry of grayish solid rock and rich, dark-brown soil. Where there was dirt, giant sequoia trees stretched toward the sky, looming so high that Jordan and Abbie couldn’t see their tops.

  Jordan sat down at the base of one of these thick trees. It was near pitch-black now, as the moon had not yet risen high in the sky. He pulled out his flashlight and studied Hap’s map, while Abbie glanced around the peaceful resting spot.

  “I can’t find where the trail continues up,” Abbie said.

  “That’s because it doesn’t.” Jordan looked up from the map. “We’re here.”

  “We’re where?”

  “Syd’s place. According to the map, it should be right here.”

  Abbie looked around again. “I don’t see anything. What does the map say?”

  “It just marks this area in a grove of trees, with a big red X.”

  Jordan and Abbie both immediately started looking around on the ground. Abbie stopped, looked up, and smiled. Jordan looked up at her.

  “What’s funny?” he said.

  She giggled. “Like there’d be an actual X on the ground.”

  Jordan smiled, then started giggling, too. They were both so exhausted from such a long day, they were soon rolling in laughter.

  BOOM! A deep, loud thud shook the ground beneath them.

  “What was that?” Abbie whispered.

  “Probably a small earthquake. They’re kinda common around here—”

  BOOM! RRRRUUUUMMMMBLLLLE! This thud was followed by a short tremor. But this time they felt where it came from. They both looked over to their left. Something large and dark moved in the distance, disappearing into the shadows.

  “C’mon!” Jordan turned to chase after it. Abbie held back.

  “Jordan—what if it’s Gusto?”

  He took a step toward her. “We’re official Creature Keepers now. If it’s Gusto, that’s all the more reason to go after him.”

  She nodded. “Let’s go.”

  They ran to a thick patch of underbrush beneath a grove of trees and stopped. “Right here,” Abbie said. “Whatever it was, it disappeared right—”

  BOOM! CRACK! HISSSSSSS! Another thud sounded directly behind them. Jordan and Abbie spun around. A wall of steam was blasting out of a large split in the solid rock floor—a split that had not been there a moment before. The steam caused them to stumble back into the underbrush. The moon had begun to rise and was shining its silver light across the plateau, through the dissipating steam.

  A shadowy form appeared within the steam. Backlit by the moon, it had a ghostly look. But this was no ghost. It was not Gusto, either.

  “Sasquatch,” Abbie whispered.

  The hulking silhouette loomed at least eight feet high. Its long, dangling arms hung at its sides, and its thick legs stood anchored by incredibly enormous feet.

  Jordan mustered his courage and stood up. The steam felt warm and wet as he reached his hand toward the figure in the moonlit mist. “Hi. We, uh, we come in peace. My name’s Jordan, and this is my sister, Abigail.”

  Abbie stood beside her brother. “Hey,” she said softly.

  “We’re your new Creature Keepers. It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Bigfoot.”

  The steam faded, leaving just the creature standing before them in the moonlight. They could hear it breathing, its massive chest heaving up and down

  “My name’s Syd.” It slowly lifted a giant leg. “NOT BIGFOOT!”

  BOOM! His gigantic foot thundered down on the ground just in front of Jordan and Abbie, shaking the earth so hard that the two of them bounced a foot in the air. It also caused a new split in the rock beneath them, a crack that crossed the first, forming a large, deep X in the stone.

  An X that swallowed Jordan and Abbie whole.

  “AAAHH!” The two of them plummeted into the rock crevice for just a few seconds. Their screams were suddenly met by a louder sound rising up beneath them.

  HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! The burst of steam caught them and blasted them back up and out of the X-shaped chasm, pushing them high above the ground. Tumbling in the warm rush of moist air, Jordan looked down at the ground a hundred feet below. He could see the Sasquatch in the moonlight, staring up at them.

  The force of the steam lifted them higher and higher, until they hit a large, dark green tarp camouflaged in the high branches. It stopped them like a soft ceiling, and they dropped into a netting system that stretched like a huge hammock across the trees above the forest floor. Jordan and Abbie bounced at an angle off the uneven netting, then tumbled into a series of wide, split, hollowed-out logs connected to form a long slide. They skidded down the logs, zigzagging through the trees, until they were finally dumped onto a great wooden platform.

  Jordan was shaken and bruised but otherwise okay, and still warm and moist from his thermal steam shower. He pulled himself up and found himself standing on a deck. He stepped to the railing and looked over the side. They were hundreds of feet in the air, securely cradled among the branches of the towering sequoia trees, and completely hidden from the ground below. Jordan turned around slowly. He looked across the vast wooden deck, and faced a perfect secret tree house.

  The structure was simple, modest, and incredibly beautiful. Its construction looked to be exclusively of logs, trunks, bark, and branches, as if the trees themselves had created the house in their image, or given birth to it, and were now supporting, protecting, and watching over it.

  “Should we go in?” Abbie’s voice was quiet. She stood facing Jordan, with her back to a doorway. She seemed to be as awestruck as he was, and he understood exactly why she was asking. He felt the same hesitation—not out of fear, but respect. This was a sacred place. To barge in uninvited somehow didn’t feel right.

  On the other hand, they were Creature Keepers.

  The heavy pine door creaked as they pushed it open. Jordan and Abbie stepped inside to find a clean and cozy living space, warmly lit with scented candles.

  Just inside the door was a small kitchen with a wooden counter separating it from the bigger part of the room, which looked to be a den. Along one side wall was a bay window looking out onto the trees. A small table and two matching wooden chairs beautifully carved out of tree stumps were positioned at the window. Near the back wall was a heavy coffee table that sat before a large couch upholstered in soft, worn buckskin and adorned with a wool blanket draped over one arm. Near the corner was a doorway leading into another room.

  Against the other side wall was a bookshelf, which held no books but had framed pictures, posters, and what looked like toys and figurines. Beside this was a small table on which sat an old television. It seemed slightly out of place, but only in that this was Bigfoot’s home in a treet
op tree house halfway up a mountain in the middle of the wilderness. Other than that, the TV was a charming relic that fit in with the cozy decor quite nicely.

  “Do you think he even has electricity up here?” Jordan asked, eyeing the TV.

  Click. A small lamp answered his question, lighting up the room and scaring them both. Jordan and Abbie spun around to see the same hulking figure as before, standing perfectly still just outside the open doorway.

  Jordan couldn’t help but notice something peculiar: the Sasquatch’s front door looked too short for him. He and Abbie watched as the silhouetted cryptid moved to the corner of the deck and seemed to slip off a pair of high-heeled boots, stepping down out of them. Suddenly he could fit through his door, with room to spare overhead.

  “You guys almost made me miss my favorite show,” he said as he entered.

  Jordan and Abbie got their first good look at the Sasquatch. Syd didn’t look any different from what they and the rest of the world had come to know in all the hoaxed photos, bad movies, faked videos, and Weekly Weird News covers they’d seen: a broad-shouldered, big-bellied, fur-covered apelike creature with a smaller, almost human-sized head. But he did seem a lot shorter. Looking down at his feet, they quickly saw why.

  Syd flopped himself onto the couch, clicked on the TV and put his feet up on the coffee table. The ground-shuddering clodhoppers that had cracked open solid rock were now pale-pink little tootsies at the ends of his thick, furry trunk-like legs. Syd noticed them staring, tossed a blanket over his feet, then pointed to theirs.

  “House rule number one: leave your shoes outside. You won’t believe the forest crud that you’ll track in here. Go on. Just put ’em next to mine.”

  Jordan and Abbie removed their sneakers and placed them outside the door beside Syd’s gigantic, furry, muddy foot-boots. They rushed back in to find Syd watching TV. He reached for a bowl on the coffee table. It was filled with what looked like greenish-white gummy worms. He popped a few in his mouth.

  Jordan swallowed hard, glanced over at Abbie, and stepped forward. He cleared his throat, then opened his mouth to speak. Syd held up a large, furry hand. “House rule two: no talking when my show’s on.”

  Jordan and Abbie turned their heads from the mighty Sasquatch relaxing on the couch, his little pink feet all warm and cozy somewhere under his blankie, and joined him in gazing at a familiar face on the television.

  “Stay tuned, there, Squatch-Watchers! Coming up next is me, Buck Wilde, live from the heart of Sasquatch central! Don’t go anywhere ’cause it’s time to . . .”

  8

  Abbie was standing at the bookshelf looking at the pictures, posters, and paraphernalia that filled Syd’s den. It was a Sasquatch shrine, complete with toys, coffee mugs, action figures, and even a lunchbox. “Jeez,” Abbie muttered to herself. “Self-obsess much?”

  Buck’s voice blared from the television. “All right, all right, all right! You Squatch-Watchers at home keep your eyes peeled, ’cause tonight we’re gonna catch that overgrown varmint! My infrared thermomolecular night-sensor goggles have picked up something big and nasty out in these woods, and I got a strong feeling it’s that stinky ol’ freak of nature, the Sasquatch! C’mon!”

  “HAW-HAW!” Syd let out a deep belly laugh. He was totally enjoying Buck Wilde: Squatch-Seeker! “Yeah, Buck! Come and get me! Man, this guy’s the best.”

  “Mr. Bigfoo—er, Syd,” Jordan quickly self-corrected. He was still standing in the same spot, staring at the chuckling cryptid. “Uh, do you know who we are, and why we’re here? Y’see, Hap asked us to come hang out with you, while he’s away. . . .”

  Syd looked up from the TV at Jordan. Then he looked over at Abbie standing in front of his portrait gallery. Then he shrugged. “Yeah, he told me.” He moved a pillow on the couch to make room. “Now sit down, will ya? Your dogs must be barking—that was no easy hike up here, and you two made pretty good time.”

  Abbie sat down on the end of the couch. “Wait. You watched us?”

  “More like felt you.” Syd said, staring at the TV. “Nothing moves on this mountain without me feeling it. I can tell you when a grub farts. Oh, that reminds me”—he held out his bowl of the greenish gummies—“care for a grub?”

  “Ew,” Abbie said.

  Jordan spotted a good opportunity to bond with Syd and seized it. “Don’t mind if I do!” He plopped himself down on the couch and picked up the bowl. Not only were these actual grubby-grubs rather than gummy-grubs, they were, in fact, alive. The plump little worms squirmed under Jordan’s nose. Syd glanced sideways at him. Jordan picked one up and forced a smile.

  “Don’t mind if you do,” Abbie said.

  Jordan shut his eyes and popped the slimy grub into his mouth. He felt it squirming on his tongue and bit down hard to stop the horrible sensation. This only replaced that sensation with a way worse one—grub guts exploding inside his mouth. He turned pale as he swallowed, then turned to Syd and gave a trembling thumbs-up.

  Syd wasn’t watching. His attention was back on the television, where Buck Wilde had dramatically discovered a nest of raccoons.

  “Ooh, close call!” Syd hollered. “Better luck next time, Buck!”

  Abbie looked at Syd, trying to figure out if he was being sarcastic or not. She hoped he was. “Yeah,” she said. “He should change the name of his show to Buck Wilde: Raccoon Wrangler.”

  “HAW!” Syd snarfed a laugh so hard, a grub flew out of his nose. Jordan felt his stomach turn, as Abbie giggled. Meanwhile, Buck went to a commercial.

  “You watch this show every night?” Abbie said.

  “Never miss it,” Syd said. “Mostly because it’s the only thing I can get. Buck does his show just down the other end of the lake. I’m kinda famous on it. Hap set up a special satellite dish to catch the show out of the air. I love it.”

  “What else do you like to do, Syd?” Jordan asked as he tried to wipe off his tongue.

  “That’s easy. My schedule is sleep all day, get up, eat, walk the fault line to prevent global seismic catastrophe, come home, eat, watch TV, go to bed, repeat.”

  Abbie glanced at Jordan. “Uh, what was that one in the middle?”

  Syd thought for a second. “Eat, probably. Okay, quiet—Buck’s back on!”

  Hours later, the cozy wooden room was filled with white noise as the television static cast a dull, gray light on Jordan, Abbie, and Syd. Of the three creatures sitting on the couch, only one was still awake.

  Even though this had felt like the longest day of his life, Jordan couldn’t sleep. He sat beside Syd and stared at him as he snored loudly. Jordan reached out and gently touched the fur on Syd’s arm. It felt softer than he thought it would—for some reason, he’d expected a pricklier coat.

  He turned and looked on Syd’s other side. Abbie had her head on his shoulder, dreaming peacefully. Jordan didn’t understand how she could sleep, knowing that for the time being, at least, they were Bigfoot’s Creature Keepers. Jordan was pretty sure that if Bernard and Doris back at the CKCC knew what Hap had asked them to do, they’d send someone more qualified immediately. But Bernard hadn’t given any instructions on how to contact the home base, or if it was safe to do so. And if what Hap said was true, that he didn’t have faith in the CKCC and wasn’t planning on alerting them, who knew how long it’d be before someone came.

  That meant that he and his sister would have to stay on the lookout for Gusto. It sounded to Jordan like Hap’s Gusto paranoia was just rumor. But Jordan also knew that Gusto should never be underestimated. He knew he had to keep Syd safe.

  Jordan looked back up at the snoring cryptid. He was going to be the best Creature Keeper Syd had ever had. Help, hide, and hoax, he thought to himself. It occurred to him that Syd’s strict routine could be dangerous. He knew what Hap said about sticking to it, but Hap didn’t know Gusto. He’d have to do something about that schedule.

  Jordan thought about his strong need to prove something, and not just to make up for his horrible mist
ake that destroyed the Fountain of Youth elixir. Deep down, the thing he felt he had to prove was for himself—that he had what it took to be a real Creature Keeper.

  This was his chance.

  “SNORT!” Syd’s buzz-saw snore suddenly shifted gears. His great body jerked, and he mumbled something in his sleep about being chased by a giant raccoon. His arm flopped over onto Jordan’s lap, landing on him like a big bag of wet sand.

  Jordan winced in pain, but he didn’t mind. He smiled up at his creature, then shut his eyes tightly, wishing with all his might that the sun would hurry up and rise. This was going to be the longest night of his life, too.

  9

  “Jordan. Jordan, wake up . . .”

  Jordan opened his eyes. Abbie was hovering over him. His sister’s face was not the first thing he especially liked to see in the morning, but he preferred it slightly over her fat, scaly lizard, Chunk. He rubbed his eyes and looked around his room. Then he remembered he wasn’t in his room.

  He sat up on the couch and glanced around the tree house. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, and he could hear birds chirp from the branches outside. It was beautiful and peaceful—and Jordan couldn’t care less.

  “Where is he?” he asked. “Abbie, where’s Syd?”

  “Sleeping,” she said, nodding at the doorway beside the couch.

  Jordan got up and peeked into the next room. A huge pine sleigh bed took up nearly the entire space. Lying in the middle of it was a massive lump of fur, snoring away like a giant baby.

  “All right,” Jordan whispered. “You’d better wake him up.”

  “Pff,” Abbie scoffed. “And why would I do that, exactly?”

  “Because you’re his Creature Keeper, and he can’t just sleep all morning.”

  “First, you’re his Creature Keeper too, so you can wake him up. Second, morning came and went hours ago. It’s, like, three in the afternoon. And third, sleeping all day is number one on his schedule, remember?”