Around Midnight

Dardanelle

Huh? How did I get here? I’m in the forest and I'm surrounded by huge mountains covered with rocks. “Sniff.” The air smells clean. “Sniff.”  I didn't know eagles could fly so high. They just ride on the wind.

Why am I here? I have to sit down on a rock. There’s my watch on the ground. Hey, what the…I’m looking at these huge hairy arms with black hands and…It’s me. My arms, my hands, my chest; I’m hairy all over. My face feels like it's not me. No-o-o! My hands look like thick puffy black leather. Hey, I don’t even believe in Bigfoots!

My black box did this to me. Why didn’t that yard sale lady tell me what it was? How could that box change me…into a Bigfoot?

I’m naked! My clothes are busted off.  No, no, no…this is not happening. I’m dripping with sweat.

Calm down, Cody…look around…my shirt, it’s split and torn,  my levis are over there…and my shoes? They’re ripped wide open…one sock is hanging in the tree…so weird.

How could this happen to me? It was just a black metal box with knobs and lights; almost nothing. Incredible. Nope, this is not a furry costume, and ouch, it’s real.

Mom will be angry ‘cause I didn’t mop the kitchen floor.

“Jake! I’m ruined,”…my best friend; he’ll never talk me again, sob, I didn’t even wait for him after I promised I would, sniff.  “God? I need you to get me back; please God, will you help me?”

Silence…the sky is blue, I can smell the pine trees and I hear the sound of water like a river. The air is fresh and clean, kind of cold in my nose, but I’m feeling hot in this fur.

Maybe it’s a good thing Jake’s wasn’t there…because then we’d both be here. I’m all alone and I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. How am I going to get back?

Jesus? I’m scared, sob.

Stop the tears. It’s not going to fix the problem. Yeah, I’m really crying now. I can’t even see from crying so hard, sniff, everything is blurry. What am I going to do? I want my Mom. How will I ever get back to normal? Sniff.

“God? Are you there, God? Help me, please; I don’t want to live like this. Oh, please God.”  This isn’t happening.

Run! I’m running…I’m running but where to?  This fur’s awful. I have to find a river. What if somebody sees me? I need to look around before I move. Ok, I can go.

Mom will think I was kidnapped. Jake will be angry. He’ll know I turned on the box. “Please God, don’t let them be mad at me. I need my Mom and Jake. Help me, God. It’s me, Cody; remember when we had that talk? You won't let me get caught, will you? I’ll die if they put me in a cage. I don’t want to be a science project. I couldn’t live in a cage. How can this be? I don’t believe in bigfoots! This is so weird.”

I have to hide as I go. It’s dumb to stay in one place. If one person sees me the bigfoot hunters will be all over the place. They’ll find me…and what will I say? ‘Oh, sorry fellas, this is a costume, the real one went that way’.

Okay. I need to take a break. Not yet. Not in the open. I’m huffing and puffing. Okay. I have to get a hold of myself. Think, dude, I need to find signs of the places so I can figure this out.  t ‘Dardanelle’…Oh, yeah, we camped here when I was 8. I remember a map at a store, but I’m not sure which way. I guess I’ll find it eventually. Okay, I can smell water, it’s that way...keep going, and keep thinking. Look around, Cody. Mountains are steep. Water has to run along the bottom. Go around to the backside of the mountain; further if I see people. Oh, yeah, there’s the river. I stop and stoop and look around. No people. Okay, down to the river. I see a perfect pool.

In no time I'm in the cool water…it feels so good. It’s not a bath but it’ll do for now. How could I be so stupid, messing around with that box, and not even knowing what it was for?

How am I going to live? I need to think of a list. Okay, 1. Food.  2. A bottle for water.  3. Soap. Uh…what else? Food! Yeah, but what?

I’m looking around. Those cattails are food. I’ll just yank it out and swish it around in the water. I’ll try it…oh, it’s sweet, not a strong flavor, not bad.     

I wish I could stay in this water all day but time’s passing. There could be hikers and I can’t take a chance on being seen. I’ll sit in the shade for a while to air dry myself. Scanning the mountains I can see what looks like caves, there’s moss…that’s north, so it’s colder that way. Jake, such a cool friend; I’m so glad he taught me that. The sun is more than a hand’s width from being overhead. I know that means it’s about 10:30. I need to explore.

Let’s see, its Saturday…so much has happened; I can’t believe this. There will be campers, kids and fishermen. If anybody sees me, what should I do? Chase them? Run away? Throw rocks?

There goes a fish; they don’t even notice me. My nose and something in my head says ‘catch it and eat it!’, but the Cody in me says ‘No, dude, you don’t want to eat raw fish.’

Well, what would you do? I just got to do it and not think about being a wimp. I seem to be more of a wild animal with a human kid in my head, so that’s what I have to do. Animals eat raw fish, so here I go. Here comes another one swimming around so if I just get in and reach down, splash! I can’t look him in the eye;  my nose is twitching from the fish smell. I know this fish is going to be yummy. Yum!

I actually ate it. Yes, it tastes pretty good. You don’t want to eat the tail. It’s like chewing on a comb. I spit it out but I saved the eyeballs for last; pop! They feel kind of like yogurt-covered grapes and they squirted pretty good when I crunched on 'em.  Man, it feels like I didn’t eat anything. Another one, right there; splash! Gotcha, big boy. Sorry fella’, I win, you lose, fishy. My tummy feels better.

I actually have to lap up water like a dog. Two more fish for later, just in case I run into problems. I’m soaked. I have to shake off like a dog, too.

Now I’m off to look for a cave. I’ll climb up this mountain and take a look. I like the smell of the spicy cedar, but not these purple flowers. Their smell feels like dust in my nose and it hurts.

It’s amazing how strong I feel. I bet I could knock one of these trees over.  Actually that was easy. I grabbed the top of a tree and broke it off. Man, just like that, snapped it like a pencil. Climbing this steep hill is so easy. In no time I’m at the top and I can see for miles in all directions.  The forest is pretty thick with pine and cedar trees. Walking over pinecones and pine needles in my bare feet is cushiony. When I went hunting with my grandpa he taught me that twigs make a crackling sound. The deer bolt when they hear that. The squirrels and birds see me; that’s okay but I don’t want scary animals to know I’m here. I sure don’t wa