Dan Mangan stopped at the wall of mailboxes in the lobby of his apartment complex. Unlocking his unit, he fingered the various ads, solicitations, and a catalog for fishing supplies before finding a thick cardboard envelope with a bright red warning in bold type: DO NOT BEND OR FOLD. Our engagement photos, he thought. I hope they’re decent. But how could they not be? Meryl is the most beautiful woman in the world. Maybe I won’t look too bad.

With that cheering thought, he rode the elevator to the sixth floor, whistling as he entered the apartment where his fiancée awaited him. She wasn’t in the living room, nor in the tiny kitchen, where a delectable aroma wafted towards him.

“Meryl!” he called. “The engagement photos came!”

“Dan!” The bedroom door opened and Meryl appeared. She was wrapped in one towel, and her dark hair in another, but her glasses were in place. Behind the lenses, her green eyes sparkled. “Let me see!”

Grinning, Dan handed her the thick envelope. Meryl carefully pulled the tab and reached in to get the five pictures they’d selected to enlarge. Dan had proposed during a vacation to Lake Manitoba four months earlier, and they’d decided to have pictures taken there. The first image showed a closeup view of the couple kissing in front of the lake. Dan was pleased to note that only the back of his head was visible.

“Oh, no!” Meryl murmured in disappointment. “I thought this view showed more of your face.” She moved it to the bottom. The second picture showed the two of them seated on a bench in front of the lake, both smiling widely as the sun turned the lake pink and gold.

“I like this one.” Meryl looked up at him. “And don‘t complain. You look like a young James Bond.”

“I don‘t want this one for the engagement announcement or “save the date” cards, though.” Dan frowned. “The horizontal orientation will shrink us down to nothing, and if it’s printed in black-and-white, the sunset colors will just look muddy.”

“I love it, but you’re right. Let’s look at the others.” She moved the second image to the bottom. The third picture was an identical pose, but closer and with a portrait orientation.

“We should do this one.” Meryl tapped the photograph.

“I like it,” Dan agreed. “But let’s look at the last two. There’s a reason we chose them.”

In the fourth picture, Dan and Meryl perched on bicycles, as if preparing to go for a ride.

“This is cute, but what were we thinking?” Meryl asked. “Me in a white dress and you in a suit? And what’s that shadow in the water behind us?”

Dan peered at the image, squinting in an attempt to detect whether the shadow was just a trick of light, or whether it might represent a large fish. He decided it might be either, but wasn’t significant. “Let’s see the last picture.”

Meryl moved the fourth picture to the bottom. In the fifth picture, Dan and Meryl had dismounted from the bicycles, but the bikes were parked on either side of the couple, while they stood almost at the water’s edge. Meryl held a pink-and-white bouquet. The time of day must have been significantly earlier, since the color of the sky was subdued, lacking the pinks and oranges of the other images. Dan tried to remember why they might have engaged the photographer for such a long time, not really seeing the details of the picture. Suddenly, Meryl gave a little scream. “Look! It’s the Manipogo!”

Dan looked at the spot her shaking finger touched. The head of a creature that resembled a cross between a dinosaur and one popular conception of the Loch Ness monster rose out of the water.

“Probably just some fancy Photoshop trick,” he said, feeling that his voice lacked conviction. “She did it for a joke.”

“I hope that was all it was!” Meryl didn’t sound as if she thought much of such a joke. “And I hope she didn’t charge us for it.”

“We can call her tomorrow,” he offered. “Anyway, we can’t do anything about it now, and we’ve got four nice pictures. Your dinner smells delicious. When will it be ready?”

“Everything should be ready by the time I finish dressing and doing my hair.” Meryl reached up and pulled his face down to hers, kissing him even as her towel slipped. Dan returned the embrace, grabbing the towel. “Well, I’m looking forward to it. And maybe we can play some games afterward.”

Meryl gave him a saucy grin. “You’d better rest up, then.” She sashayed back to the ensuite, holding the towel.

Dan watched her go with an appreciative smile, then turned back to the living room, taking the envelope and pictures with him. He looked at the last one again. Could it be real? Had their photographer captured the elusive Manipogo? Even as he pulled dishes from the cabinets to set the table, he couldn’t stop thinking about the creature.

Lake Manitoba was known for containing huge fish that had been estimated at hundreds of years of age. Some people insisted a monster lived in the deep water, as much as ten meters long and several tons in weight. He‘d always believed the Manipogo was a figment of popular imagination—but the legend had existed for hundreds of years among First Nations people. So maybe there was something to it. He wondered what Trixie Belden would have to say about it.

Odds were, she’d blame the same crooks who built the shark and covertly positioned it in the Hudson River—and she’d probably be right.