Folklore

         The noise grew louder and more intense.  Rick strained to make sense of the noise.  The sound’s familiarity calmed him a bit, but Lyle’s story played tricks with his mind.  Was it familiar, or was it somehow different? Or was this how Shishwhakas sounded?  Panic crept into Rick’s thinking.  Still clutching his stick with both hands, Rick attempted the best he could to penetrate the darkness with his sight.  When he could not, he glanced over his shoulder to remind himself of his car’s exact location.  While still looking over his shoulder, a family of raccoons emerged from the shrubs and scurried about the edge of the campsite as they foraged for scraps. Rick released his nervous energy by snapping the stick in two and throwing half at the raccoons.  “Dang things are practically tame now!” 

            Everyone laughed as Jeff said, “What, is someone afraid of the dark?  Oooh, look out Ricky, masked burglars are coming to get us.” 

            Rick threw what was left of the stick only half teasingly at Jeff. “Screw you!”

            Jeff easily deflected the branch and asked, “Whoa, why are you so mad?”

            “Lyle told me…” Rick hesitated. He looked down, and gouged the ground with his foot.  He did not want to continue, but he had already started.

            “Lyle told you what?” Julie asked.

            Rick thought about making up a lie, but he thought he would test his friends’ knowledge. “He told me the Shishwhaka might emerge this summer.”

            Todd jumped to his feet and struck a martial arts pose, “A shhh…what..karate?”

            Jeff laughed at Todd then turned to Rick. “The what?”

            “No, I’ve heard about this story before,” Julie said as she leaned forward to speak, “They’re giant flying monsters that swoop down on their victims.”

            Rick said, “No, they’re amphibious…”

            “No, they’re fig…figments of imagination.  There are no such things, you two,” Jeff argued.

            Rick sat silently not knowing what to believe.  He didn’t want to admit that his imagination had overpowered his reason, that he felt like a child scared of something lurking in the night. If they knew how truly frightened he had become, he would never hear the end of it. Uncomfortable with the anxiety this thought produced, Rick shifted the conversation. “Didn’t you have something to say, Todd, before all this started?”

Todd returned to the cooler and immediately assumed the position of “The Thinker”.   “Shh.  I’m thinking about partying.  That’s it, partying.” Todd stood. “Back to my going away party.” He raised his beer. “I’d like to annou-annou-say that I’m going to PSU.”

            “Wow, Purnill State University