Chapter Fourteen ~ The Stone-Thrower

as told to macjest by Opie and Fred Swisher

So far, the summer venture was not turning out the way he’d expected. Over the last several months, Opie Swisher had heard from several reliable sources about Sasquatch sightings. Always on the lookout for ways to make money, he’d considered how he could take advantage of this knowledge. He knew that pictures and footprints could too easily be faked. Nope, the only real proof would be an actual body. Opie wasn’t foolish enough to think he’d be able to capture one and bring it in.

Those suckers were supposed to be huge! Probably two to three times stronger than a man, too. He had no illusion about his own strength. The best and easiest way would be to shoot it and bring in the body. Just think how much money he could make selling his story to the news. All he had to do was set up shop out in Joe Country – that’s where his sources placed the most recent sightings – and wait.

Dang it, though, he should have kept his mouth shut. But, no, he’d had to brag in front of his son, Fred. Then, wouldn’t you know, Fred wanted to tag along since, “You’re going out there anyway.”

Fred had some fool notion about prospecting for gold. Idiot. And why in tarnation did he have to drag his kids along? All they were going to do is get underfoot the whole time. Sure enough, as soon as Fred had arrived, he’d dumped the lot.

Opie had tried to make the best of a bad situation. As soon as the sightings of old Sasquatch had multiplied, he tried to figure out how to get everyone else in the area to leave so he’d have an unimpeded shot. That scout troop had sure helped. Must have been their good deed for the day, going out and warning everyone.

It had started a stampede. Almost. Why wouldn’t that batch of teens leave? Opie tried to figure a way out of his problem. He’d learned how important it was not to rush into things. That’s how he’d ended up with Fred. Not that Fred was all bad. He just took after his old man with making bad choices.

Well, since he was stuck with the brats, he might as well try dumping them on that group down river. So what if he passed the kids off as his own? If nothing else, it would keep the kids and the teens tied up and free him up to go hunting.

No such luck. The teens looked at him like he was out of his mind. Fine. He’d find another way to get that group to leave. But the kids had go – now. They were giving him a headache.

“Fred, I can’t have your kids hanging around. You know I’m going hunting. I still don’t understand why you brought them along anyway.”

His son scowled. “Aw, heck, I figured they could help me spot the gold. Darn kids don’t wanna help. Says they’d rather be in town with their ma.”

“So, take them back.”

“Luanne ain’t gonna like that.”

“Too bad. We aren’t either of us going to get done what we want with them hanging about.”

Fred finally agreed and hauled them back to town. Meanwhile, Opie tried another tack to move the other group out since leaving a warning note along with some that other people had left hadn’t worked.

Maybe he could scare them away. He’d wait until Fred got back and run the idea past him.

Fred wasn’t liking the summer any better than his father. Luanne kept complaining how she needed more money, needed help with the kids, didn’t like the way he looked, and on and on till his head felt like it was going to explode.

Maybe this gold hunting trip would shut her up, especially when he struck it rich. He’d figured it couldn’t be all that hard. Except, it was turning bad just like everything else had so far in his sorry life.

That group down river wasn’t helping any. They kept getting in the way. The only thing they’d done right was show him where that old geezer lived. Rumor had it he was loaded.

If need be, he’d take it from the old man. At his age, he didn’t need all that gold anymore. What was he going to use it for? The only hitch had been that kid with the ponytail. That boy was too sharp. Well, at least until Fred had gotten him out of the way.

Darn if those kids didn’t come snooping around the car. That little blond chick was getting pretty suspicious. Maybe if she saw him, she’d back off. Opie moved into her line of sight, holding the shotgun.

It worked. The group hustled back to their camp. Satisfied, he turned to check on Fred to see what he was up to.

Did his father honestly think brandishing the shotgun was going to work? It was time to take some direct action. At least the fur suit from the old man was going to pay off. Fred hadn’t known at first why he’d grabbed the suit while trashing the old coot’s cabin, but it was paying off now.

“Let’s see if I can scare those girls away,” Fred thought as he started slinging stones at them. Girls always scared easier than guys. They’d start crying and then the troublesome group would finally leave.