Part 51 (1/2)
”No. I didn't want to spook it before I was ready to, at long last, unveil this to friends. That's you guys.”
Joey sighed. ”I don't buy it.”
Annja smiled. ”Me, either. How did you keep this to yourself? Most people would have busted at the seams with the urge to tell the world they'd discovered the truth about the Sasquatch. And yet you kept it quiet. Why?”
David shrugged. ”Guess I'm just better at keeping secrets than other people.”
Annja nodded. ”Sure seem to be.”
Jenny looked at her watch. ”Well, when does the nightly entertainment start around here?”
”Should be right about now,” David said. ”If it keeps to its normal patterns and comes by. Of course, it could also be spooked by the presence of you guys.”
”But it's fine with you seeing it?” Annja asked.
”Well, sure. By now it's gotten used to my scent being here. I'm not a threat anymore.”
”And we are.”
David frowned. ”Annja, if you were a creature like this who had survived for so long by being so careful, then wouldn't you feel a little threatened if you smelled someone you hadn't before? Even someone who smells as lovely as you?”
Joey groaned. ”Dude, please.”
Jenny's voice grew terse. ”So what exactly are we supposed to be looking at, then?”
”The outer border of the lights. Sometimes you can see it moving just beyond the glow.”
”And you think it will be here tonight?” Jenny asked.
”I refilled the feed bags earlier today.”
Annja glanced at David. ”What in the world did you use as bait?”
”Venison.”
Joey groaned. ”You killed a deer?”
”I found a dead deer by the side of the road. It was still fresh. Someone must have hit it and kept going. It wasn't spoiled and it seemed a shame to waste it. So I used it. I thought you'd be proud of me for not wasting it.”
Joey frowned. ”It wouldn't have been wasted, anyway. It would have been food for the other creatures in the forest.”
”And it is,” David said. ”It just so happens that the creature in question is a bit larger than the scavengers that would normally get to the deer first.”
”You've done this before, then,” Annja said.
”Yes.”
”Each time with deer?”
David shook his head. ”No, it was a very interesting trial-and-error system. I tried berries for a while and they didn't work. It just left them untouched. I tried leaves and plants, testing to see if it was an herbivore. Not so much.”