Hi Peeps! Hey, so it's spring break week here in Pluto. Wiggy's family's off on a Caribbean cruise (lucky duck), so it's just Fatty, Wiley and me hanging out. Dad's promised me that I can go to Space Camp this summer, so that makes up for us not going anywhere during school break.
We've been camping out a lot lately, even though it's still cold and wet, but hey, this is Washington State. It's always wet, even if it's not always cold. If we waited for a dry day, we'd be waiting a long time. Know what I mean?
We've been camping twice this week. The first time was last Saturday, the first day of spring break. The three of us met early at my house, with all our camping gear. Dad grumbled that it takes an army to get me out of bed for school, but that I'm up at the crack of dawn during vacation time. Can't argue with him there. Mom was pretty cool about us going camping down by Crater Lake. I think it was because she looked forward to not having me and the guys hanging around playing video games and eating everything in sight, like we usually do when there's no school. Plus, she said the fresh air and exercise would be good for us. I just smiled and nodded. No sense telling her that we'd be sprawled out on our sleeping bags playing video games.
Anyway, we had a great time camping last Saturday. The weather actually turned out pretty neat. It didn't rain once the entire time, and we were able to build a fire and toast marshmallows and hot dogs and tell scary stories until way past bedtime. It was excellent. Except for the creepy sounds we heard when we eventually did crawl into our sleeping bags. I wouldn't have been that scared if it hadn't been for Fatty chirping up every few minutes that we were going to get eaten. That kind of image tends to stay with a guy in the middle of the night, out in the open. After Fatty yelped out for the fourth time, Wiley finally decided enough was enough. He told Fatty if he didn't shut up, we were going to throw him in the lake, which was like 0 degrees. That did it. Fatty finally stopped whimpering, and we were all able to get some sleep. The next morning, we ate baked beans and hard-boiled eggs, and thought we were pretty cool for putting together such an excellent breakfast. We had a pretty awesome day hiking and looking for arrow heads, and making traps for squirrels and rabbits, although none of them worked, before heading for home around sundown. We decided when we reached my driveway that we would do it again on Friday.
It's Friday, and here we are at Crater Lake again. Only this time, something feels different. You know, off? Like a feeling you get when something's wrong, but you can't quite put your finger on it? Yeah, that's how it feels. Fatty's setting up the tent, which is big enough to hold a family of four really big people, and Wiley's out looking for dry firewood. Me, I'm down by the lake, trying to catch a big ol' fish for dinner. Only it's not as easy as it looks on those wilderness shows on TV. I've already lost two worms, and am sitting here on the shore on a big ol' rock, with the fishing line in the water, with my last worm wriggling on the end of the hook. It's cold and wet today, not like last weekend when we camped. I've got my rain slicker on, but the rain keeps trickling down my face into my neck, making me shiver. This camping trip is starting to suck, big time. I shiver, and hunker down, keeping my head down so no more rain slides down my neck.
I see them now. The tracks I mean. I'm staring at the ground around me, which is wet and mushy. I can see my tracks clearly, slowly filling with water, and some paw prints that look like tiny human feet. Raccoon tracks. But then I see the other ones. These tracks are big. And look human. Except they have webbing in-between the toes. I mean, like real webbing. And they are coming from the direction of the lake onto land. Not the other way around. I swallow. No way, Man. There's no way they're real. I forget about the fishing rod and jump down off the rock to get a closer look. I stoop over, and peer closer.
There's no way around it. They're real. Real big tracks of human-looking, enormous feet. With webbing in-between the toes. I backtrack to where they come from, and sure enough, they end right at the water's edge. I straighten, and my heartbeat goes up a couple of notches. Yep. Whatever he...it was, it came right out of the water onto land. I look around, eyes darting to every corner of the woods. Suddenly, it feels like I'm being watched. My appetite for fresh fish is suddenly gone. All I want is to hightail it back to the campsite, grab Wiley and Fatty and our bikes, and get the heck out of Dodge. (I don't really know what Dodge is, but my dad says that whenever we go to the movies and it's time to head for home, so it's good enough for me).
A rustle in the trees to my left grabs my attention, and I whip my head up, scanning the tree line. It's hard to see with the rain in my eyes, so I'm blinking hard and staring. I don't see anything. Only dark shadows that look like they might leap out and grab me. I feel sick. Like I might hurl my PB&J sandwich out, which won't be a pretty sight. I mean, have you seen what a partially-digested PB&J sandwich looks like? Not good.
"Who's there?" I say, trying to sound older than I am. "Fatty? Wiley? Man, if that's either of you jerks trying to scare me, it won't work." I don't mention that it's already worked and I'm pretty freaked out and I want my mommy. There's no answer. In fact, there's no sound at all. Not even the buzzing of insects or the chirping of birds. The silence around me is pretty deafening, and I press my frozen fingers against my ears, trying to shut out...what? The silence? "You hear me guys? Not funny." The rustling starts up again, and I bolt into action. Before I even realize what I'm doing, I'm sprinting toward the campsite, yelling for all I'm worth. I don't even know what's coming out of my mouth, only that it's loud and sounds like gibberish.
When I reach our camp, both Fatty and Wiley are on their feet and staring at me as if I've lost my marbles. Maybe I have. It's hard to tell.
"Beaks? What the hey?" Wiley blurts out. Fatty is just staring at me, eyes bugging out. I can tell he's already scared, even though he has no idea what's going on. But that's only normal. Fatty jumps when a dry leaf hits the ground.
"Some...something," I pant, doubling over and breathing hard. I have a stitch in my side which makes it hard for me to straighten up. "Web...webbed feet. Big. From the lake." I gesture toward the water, and use my hands to show the size of the tracks I saw, but they look confused. What the heck's the matter with them? Don't they realize some kind of water monster is gong to eat us for dinner? I take a deep breath and try again. "Dudes, there's some kind of tracks leading away from the water. They're huge and they have...I dunno...some kind of...of webbing between the toes. Like real webbing."
They're still staring at me, except now Fatty looks kind of green, like he might actually hurl for real. Then Wiley rolls his eyes and snorts. "Come off it Beaks. What're you saying? That there's some kind of sea-monster that lives in Crater Lake that's running around on dry land?" He snorts again and elbows Fatty, who jumps (told you). "Come on Fats. Let's go check out these 'footprints.' He uses his fingers to make quotation marks around "footprints," which irritates me.
"Go ahead," I say, angry, now that they don't believe me. "I'll just stay here by the fire. But don't blame me if you get dragged into the lake and eaten alive."
Fatty turns even greener. He turns to Wiley, clears his throat. "May...maybe Beaks' is right," he croaks. "Maybe we should just pack up and go straight home."
Wiley rolls his eyes and grabs Fatty's arm. "Stop being such a scaredy-cat. We're just gonna go check it out. And besides, he left the fishing pole behind. We gotta get it or my dad's gonna freak." He yanks Fatty away before the poor guy can protest. I shrug and move closer to the fire to dry off. Let them go. What do I care? If they want to get dragged into the lake by some lake-monster, that's their problem. But I keep looking after them anyway, wishing they would turn around and come back.
When I hear footsteps approaching the campsite, I sigh with relief. They're okay. Awesome! Maybe now we can pack up and leave. I'm suddenly not a big fan of camping out anymore. I jump up. "What happened you two? Chicken out from checking out the tracks?" I peer into the darkness, trying to make out their shapes. I see Wiley first. Only he's way too big to be Wiley, so it must be Fatty. Except...wait. Fatty's not that tall. What...?
Then I see him...it. The creature. The Creature From The Black Lagoon. At least that's what it looks like. He's a very dark green. Almost black in the surrounding darkness. And he's covered with scales that gleam in the light from the fire. And his eyes. Oh Man. His eyes are huge. Like saucer-size huge. And they're glowing, reflecting back the firelight. And his mouth, it keeps opening and closing, like a fish out of water. Only there's no sound coming out of it. I open my mouth and try to scream. Only there's no sound coming out of mine. And I'm pretty sure my mouth is also opening and closing.
So there we are, the lake-monster and me, staring at each other across the fire. My life flashes before my eyes, but it's over real quick, 'cos I'm only twelve, and the only thing left to do is pray for this to be a dream. He moves suddenly and I jerk, scrambling to my feet. I am breathing so hard it's almost painful. I try to move my feet, but they're frozen to the ground. At this point, I realize I'm pretty helpless, 'cos I can't scream and I can't move. I watch as he lumbers around the fire, and it's only then that I see he has a big pole with him. For a split second, I think he's going to hook me on the end of his pole and carry me off for dinner. But then I see it's my fishing pole. Then I see something silvery wriggling at the end of it, and I realize it's a fish.
The creature holds out the pole to me. And waits. I swallow. What the heck? Is he...really offering me a fish? He stands motionless, his mouth opening and closing, watching me with those over-sized glowing eyes. He wiggles the pole, and stares at me. Waiting. Somehow, my feet shamble toward him. I reach for the pole slowly, wondering if it's a trick. My fingers close around it, and he lets go and steps back. I can smell him. All fishy and kind of brackish. (That's a word I learned a while back, and I finally get a chance to use it).
Then he turns kind of lumberingly, like you'd expect Frankenstein's monster to move, and shuffles into the woods. I listen until I don't hear him anymore. But I do hear the others making their way back. I turn and wait for them, feeling a little dazed. If I didn't have hold of the pole and the fish flopping at the end of it, I'd think I dreamed the whole thing.
"Beaks...what?" Wiley says, staring at the pole, then the fish, then me.
"Hey? What gives?" Fatty says. "Dude, did you just pull a fast one on us?"
I shake my head. "It...it came up to me...and...and just handed me the pole with the fish on it." My voice sounds strangled, even to me.
Wiley shakes his head. "Sure it did. Woooo. The monster from Crater Lake lives. And just caught us dinner."
"Not cool Dude," Fatty says, stomping up and grabbing the pole. "Now we're gonna have to wait like forever before the fish is cooked, 'cos I have to gut and clean it first. And I'm starving."
No surprise there. Fatty is always starving. "But...but," I say, sounding like an outboard motor.
"Drop it beaks," Wiley growls, stomping toward the tent. "I'm gonna grab some beans." He disapears inside the tent, then pops his head back out. "Nice fish though. Didnt realize you were a fisherman. My dad's gonna be real impressed when I tell him you caught a big one. He thinks you're all brains and that's about it." Wiley grins and disappears back into the tent.
"But...but I didn't catch it," I stammer. "It was really here --"
"Drop it Beaks," Fatty grunts, slicing open the fish. "Great fish, Man. We'll have to come back again next weekend."
I'm thinking, not a chance, as I stare off into the woods. Deep inside the thicket, I see a soft glow. And realize we have company as we settle down to a yummy fish fry.
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