Chapter Six ~ It Had Hands

as told to Janice by Honey

Honey sighed with relief when Miss Trask rose from Tank’s majestic chair and declared it time to leave, in order to prepare their evening meal before dark. Not that she hadn’t enjoyed the visit to the old miner. No, in spite of the good company and the interesting things to see, Honey’s anxiety had been increasing as their visit stretched to a couple of hours. It had taken such a long time to get here and she wasn’t sure how long it was until dark, or what would be in the dark with them when darkness came, as it inevitably would.

She took one last look over her shoulder as the trees closed in around them and shivered.

“Are you cold?” Hallie asked, from just behind her.

Honey shook her head. “Just thinking about things, and the long way we have to go to get back and wondering whether we really can get there before it gets dark, or is about to get dark, which is almost as bad.”

“It’s quicker walking downhill than up,” Hallie pointed out. “We’ve got plenty of time.”

“That’s a relief.”

Honey lapsed into silence, taking comfort from Brian’s presence right in front of her and Hallie’s right behind. The rest of the group were close, too. Most of them were silent, though somewhere at the back of the group someone was talking. Honey wished they would stop, so that she could listen to the sounds of the forest around them.

They stopped, every so often, for a short break and to drink a little water from their canteens. Honey tried not to fidget each time, but she still felt a growing impatience to get back to camp. She wasn’t even sure why, since their camp wasn’t all that much safer than where they were right now, but at least it felt safer, somehow.

They had gotten about halfway back, and were stopped for one of their rests when Knut snapped his fingers and exclaimed, “Rats! I forgot to pick up Tank’s bag of dust.”

Immediately, an image of Knut picking up a vacuum-cleaner dust bag sprang into Honey’s head and she couldn’t help but share the idea, giggling as she did so.

Knut smiled back at her. “Maybe I’d better go back,” he suggested. “I can catch up with you if you’ll poke along.”

Honey opened her mouth to voice an objection, but Di beat her to it. When Miss Trask agreed, the matter was settled and they all set off along the trail again. But Honey didn’t miss seeing the look shared between the Belden siblings – but not the ones from Sleepyside; she meant the other Belden siblings. It looked to Honey as if they didn’t agree with the idea that they should all just stick together, but for some reason none of them said anything aloud, other than Knut saying he’d just charge Tank’s purchases when he made them. Honey pondered this as she walked along.

A thin, mournful cry interrupted her thoughts and sent them scattering. Fleeoweep…

“Did you hear that?” Hallie asked, while further back in the group Di shrieked and said something to Trixie that Honey couldn’t hear.

“It sounded distant,” Brian commented. “But that might have been just my imagination.”

Behind them, Cap echoed Brian’s thought, but his voice carried more authority. They set off once again.

When finally they reached their camp, Honey’s anxiety raised a couple of notches, instead of easing. As soon as she could see it, she knew that people had been there. Her glance took in the torn grocery sack, with BEWARE OF THE BEAST written on it in lipstick. Trixie headed straight for that one, but Honey bent to pick up an envelope tucked under a water pail.

She gasped. “This one says, ‘Go home now!’ Oh, how awful!”

Then, as she looked up, she noticed the camp table. Someone had taken charcoal from the dead fire and written on the washable surface. Annoyance rose up in her, overriding the anxiety. What a silly thing to do! And what a wordy message to write there: EVERYBODY’S CLEARING OUT. ADVISE YOU DO THE SAME.

Honey stared at the black letters on the tabletop and knew that they would not, they should not leave. Around her, the others were talking about the man they’d spoken to earlier, the man from Walla Walla, who had tried to get them to leave. He had caused a panic, it seemed. But whether that was a bad thing was a matter for debate among the others.

She found a cloth and started cleaning off the table, but the surface had been scratched and the charcoal caught in the scratches. She would need to get some water to get it properly clean.

Then her name was spoken and she jolted back to attention. Miss Trask was assigning tasks to each of the teens, which seemed to be a good idea, because everyone was calming back down again, but Honey hadn’t the slightest idea of what she was supposed to be doing. As her friends hurried off in all directions, she turned to her former governess.

“I’m sorry, Miss Trask, but I didn’t hear what you told me to do.”

The older woman smiled. “No. I didn’t think you did. You can make a salad and I’ll have a try at getting that table clean.”

Honey nodded and set about preparing the salad. Across from her, Mart and Di peeled potatoes and chattered as they worked.

“Look at this one.” Di held up a potato with a knobbly end. “It’s almost like a little, fat man.”

“Possibly,” Mart agreed. “However, it appears lacking in the matter of arms and legs.”

Di rolled her eyes. “You need to use your imagination.”

“I would rather imagine myself consuming the potatoes, after they have been cooked, naturally.” He sighed. “I wonder what form they will be served in today? And what will they accompany?”

“Salad,” Honey supplied. “At least, I suppose that the salad and the potatoes will both accompany something else, but I wasn’t really paying attention when Miss Trask was handing out jobs, and so I don’t actually know.”

“Whatever it is, I trust it will be just as delicious as everything else we’ve eaten thus far on this trip.” Mart put down his fully-peeled potato and selected another from the pile. “There is something about the fresh air that makes everything tastier.”

Across on the other side of the camp site, a station wagon pulled up behind Cap’s truck and its driver struck up conversation with Trixie and Cap, who were working on starting the fire.

“Not sure I like the look of him,” Mart commented, nodding in that direction. “Whatever he’s saying, Trixie doesn’t like it.”

Di shivered. “I wish we hadn’t come here. There’s suspicious things happening everywhere and it gets so dark at night and I hate all of the strange sounds, that I don’t know what’s making them, but if I did know, it would be even worse.”

“I think I know what you mean,” Honey answered, “but I’m not sure I feel the same way, because this is such a beautiful place and even though there are some suspicious things, I’m not sure that everything is suspicious, or if it’s just that we’re in an unfamiliar environment and nothing is quite how we expect it to be.”

“Yes, but I think what I mean to say is that I’d rather go along on trips to London and New York than the middle of nowhere,” Di explained. “I’m not a middle of nowhere kind of person.”

“We’re all here to help you,” Mart assured her. “And look: the interloper is departing.”

“Good,” Di answered. “And thank you.”

He smiled back at her and they talked of other things.

Jim walked through the kitchen area a short time afterwards, carrying a fresh supply of water.

“Did you see the man in the station wagon earlier?” Mart asked him.

Jim shook his head. “No, I’ve been down at the creek. But Trixie tells me that he wants to shoot the sasquatch and he wanted us to mind his kids while he did it.”

“To mind his kids?” Di repeated, astonished. “But we’re complete strangers to him!”

Honey frowned. “That does sound like a strange thing to ask.”

“From the description, he’s a bit of a strange man,” Jim commented, as he left.

From then onwards, Honey hardly had time to think about any of the strange happenings of the day, because Miss Trask returned to set them all to work again. As one of the more willing cooks in the group, she had plenty to do. It wasn’t until the meal was cooked and they all sat down to eat it that she had a moment to relax.

A glance around the group showed her that she had done all of her tasks well. Everyone was eating and talking, and none of them seemed at all unwilling to eat the things she had prepared. Honey’s satisfaction at a job well done was interrupted, however, by the sensation of being watched. Her eyes darted around the clearing.

Not far away, a young man leaned against one of the pine trees. His dirty clothes and scruffy hair and moustache gave him an uncared-for appearance. As she watched, he pushed off the tree and wandered closer.

“Guess you’ve heard the news. There’s a beast on the prowl,” he commented, as he neared them.

Jim made a short affirmative response, and Honey heard the warning note in his voice. The man did not seem to notice.

“Are you prepared to defend yourselves?” he asked, looking around as if he might see weapons lying around everywhere. There weren’t any, of course, and Brian told him so, but added that since their group was so large, that the numbers added a level of safety.

Honey breathed out a soft sigh, as she looked around at her group of friends. Safety in numbers. She liked that idea. But the man didn’t seem to think much of it. Next thing, he was asking where they were from and Mart was telling him.

“Thought you sounded like outsiders,” he commented. “My name is Fred Swisher. I’ve got a camp down crick a ways.”

He made a vague gesture with his thumb as he spoke, but Honey had no idea where he meant. She did notice, however, that while he was talking his eyes were on the plate of biscuits Miss Trask had just placed on the table and she started to wonder about that camp and whether he had enough to eat.

“Are you hungry, Fred?” she asked him. “We have enough to share.”

He jumped at the chance, sitting right down at the table with them and politely asking for the butter. He proceeded to eat several, partly confirming Honey’s suspicions. When he’d eaten his fill, he headed off down the trail again, calling warnings behind him.

Honey didn’t listen to the next part of the conversation, so caught up was she in her thoughts about Fred and whether he was okay. Then Trixie’s voice broke into her musings.

“Swisher! That was the name of that other man – the one with the kids. I wonder if they’re related.”

She turned to her friend and asked whether the two men had looked alike.

Trixie shrugged. “Hard to tell, with all the hair on Fred.”

She got up to start clearing the table and the rest of the group followed suit. Cap made sure that every single thing was as clean as could be before they could gather around the fire and Honey was glad that he did. Just the thought of the animals who might want to come and steal their leftovers was enough to motivate her to put extra effort into cleaning.

“Want to tell ghost tales?” Hallie asked, when they were finally gathered around the fire.

Di, of course, set up an immediate protest and Honey was about to back her up when help came from an unexpected quarter, namely Cap, who suggested that they sing. And sing they did. Honey leaned back and listened to the harmonies, which seemed to soar up to the stars above.

And then a vehicle’s approach cut into the serene mood. A pang of anxiety flashed through her. Would this be yet another warning to leave? The vehicle pulled up and three men got out. One of them greeted Cap by name. They didn’t seem like they were about to try to make them leave.

Cap drew the three men closer and introduced them as Will, Jinx and Bo, whom he knew from the Forestry lookout. Apparently, they had a story to share – and a scary one, at that. Honey shot a look at Di, who looked alarmed, but Trixie was already on the task of comforting her.

“Cap, I just saw the doggonest sight I ever hope to see!” the one called Will told him, while wiping his brow with a bandana. “Like Bo said, we’re heading south for Big Dick creek, coming from Wallace.”

Honey almost gasped at the name of the creek and shot a startled look to Di and Trixie, but neither of them seemed to have noticed.

“Just before we got to the pass,” he continued, “I got this whiff of an uncleaned stable – where there are no stables. Then something stood up in the bushes. I swear it was seven or eight feet tall. It put a hand across its face to shield its eyes from the headlights; then it disappeared.”

The sasquatch! Honey thought to herself. They’ve seen it, too.

One of the others suggested that it might have actually been an elk or a bear, which Honey did not believe for one single moment, but Will contradicted that at once.

“But hands, Bo,” he insisted. “It had hands.”

The teens started peppering the other two men with questions, but it seemed that Will was the only one who’d seen the creature. They all believed he’d seen something – after all, he was shaking like a leaf, and he insisted that they would be, too, if they’d seen it – but overall, Cap’s friends seemed a little sceptical about the whole thing.

And then Knut asked about where it had happened. The answer was apparently in a place the description of which Honey didn’t quite understand. They mentioned something about an old log chute, which sounded intriguing, but the location meant nothing to her. Knut and Cap both seemed to know exactly where they meant.

“Don’t worry, ma’am,” the one called Jinx said to Miss Trask. “That’s on the north side of the saddle. It would take a while for Will’s nightmare to walk this far.”

“I’m sure it would,” she answered, in a nice, steady, calm voice that made Honey feel calmer.

But then the conversation turned to the sasquatch scare in their very own campground, and Cap’s sighting of the beast and all of the more likely places than here that a sasquatch might properly be. And then Cap brought out a theory about the poor creatures being displaced by something, maybe an impending eruption somewhere, and the way that animals sometimes get displaced when their habitat was destroyed and have to find a way to live somewhere else, which had Honey almost feeling sorry for the poor things – no, actually, she was sorry for them, especially since there were people like that man earlier, who want to hunt them.

As if picking up on her thoughts, one of Cap’s friends made a comment about people with their guns being more dangerous than beasts, and with that they were off into the night. That little moment of calm that she had felt at Miss Trask’s words seemed as far away as the cold stars above.

And then Trixie stood up and declared, “Gleeps! That was good news!”

Honey’s mouth dropped open, even as Mart started arguing with her about her definition of good when they’d just heard that someone else had seen the thing.

“Yes, but this time it’s so far away we’ll get a good night’s sleep without anyone having to stand guard,” she pointed out, quite reasonably in Honey’s opinion.

At once, the whole group’s spirits rose. The boys, in their enthusiasm, wanted to put out the fire immediately, and started a back and forth on who would get to do it. Hallie had to remind them that they needed its light a bit longer, or they all would have been stuck wandering around in the dark with no idea where their tents were. But common sense prevailed and soon they were in their tents. Honey snuggled into her sleeping bag, with Trixie next to her.

“Wanna giggle and gab?” Hallie asked, from the tent opposite.

A smile spread across Honey’s face as she, Trixie and Di all shouted, “Wanna!”