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FREE!!!!HONOBIA

PRINTVOL iii Issue 006

Its almost here the October 4 & 5, 2013 HonobiaBig Foot Conference and Festival on HWY 144 5miles east of Honobia on the Ludlow Rock SchoolHouse grounds .The peacefulness of roamingamong the trees, and gazing across the luscious greenfields at the Big Mountain will treat your eyes toevery color nature has to offer.

Honestly, if youve never attended this Festival,nows the time to start attending. If youre aconsistent attendee to this festival and conferenceyou will not be disappointed in 2013.

The grounds at the Ludlow Rock School Houseguarantees that the Festival will never be called forweather again. The crews have been working allsummer to ready the grounds for an enjoyable week-end of fun, music, games and KNOWLEDGE.

There will be a Day Parking Fee of $10. a car loadeach day so, pack your vehicle with as many peopleas it will hold safely and drive on over. Every person

in the car will receive a ticket good for a chance towin any of the over 20 door prizes to be given awayevery hour (beginning at 10 AM) each day.

Some of the competitive games will be the LimbChunkin, Tire Throwing Rock Rollin,

Camoflagein, andSasquallin. These games will

have Trophy mugs awarded to the 1st place winner.The Big Foot Music Idol for 2013 will be in fullswing on the main stage. This is Karaoke only so

bring your favorite Karaoke song on disc to competewith or you can choose from the Big Foot KaraokeMusic Library.

Feel like running or walking the grounds well thisyear you can. There will be a 2K Big Foot Crossingrun on Saturday morning at 9:30. Be sure and bringyour camera/phone so you can take pictures of

images of Big Foot along the trail. The best picturewill be judged and the winner will receive a $50. Giftcard from Academy. Every registered runner whofinishes the course will receive the Official Big

Foot Crossing Medallion.

Some new campsites have been opened up andreservations are going quickly. Reservations forRV, Pop-ups and Tents are available untilSeptember 30, 2013. No campsites will beavailable after the 1st of October. This is a

RESERVATION ONLY camp ground.

The Big Foot Festival is proud of its Food Vendors.They come prepared to take care of your Hungerepisodes in fine fashion. The Big Foot CoffeeShelter will have the bottomless Coffee Pot andTea Jug and some select snacks from 9:00 am to11:00 pm both days. Therefore youll not have tofret about What are we going to eat!!

The 10 acres that the Ludlow School House was

built on will bring out the nostalgic side ofeveryone. Nestled among the pine trees with aquaint playground you will see why learning wasso conducive for the local children years ago.

Meet old Friends and Make

New Friends at the

2013 Honobia Big Foot

Conference & Festival

October 4, 5, 2013LUDLOW Rock School House. Hiway 144

www.HonobiaBigFootPRINT.comArtwork by Thomas Finley story on page 2

Sept/Oct 2013

Continue on Page 4

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Page 2 Sept/Oct 2013 www.Honobiabigfootprint.com

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Big Foot PRINT 2Mary Lee Williams

BOK ISKITINI

OKSHIMMICHI 3Darryl Williams

Festival Map 4

Festival Schedule 5

Area Events 6My 2nd Encounter 7Glenda Vaughan

Giants in America 8Stewart Taylor

Chuck Enters High School 10Mary Lou Brainerd

Strange Experience 11Meme Strange

Honobia Big Foot PRINTEditor Mary Lee Williams 918-917-3723

[email protected] www.HonobiaBigFootPrint.comDesign & Layout:

Mary Lee Williams & Logan WilliamsWeb Master:

Logan Williams 918-917-0339Contributing Writers:

Darryl Williams, Mary Lou Brainerd, Meme Strange,Glenda Vaughan, Stewart Taylor and Logan Williams.

The Honobia Big Foot Print is a free publication printed every monthPOLICY: The publisher reserves the right to reject or cancel any

advertisement at any time. All articles on events or happenings, areintended to promote interest in the surrounding area. All stories andcomments by contributing writers are for entertainment purposes andnot intended to reflect the views of the publisher. All property rights

including any copyright interest in any advertisement produced byHonobia Big Foot Print, become property of Honobia Big Foot Print

To advertise or send letters to the Editor in this publicationemail [email protected]

A one year subscription may be obtained by sending your name andaddress and check or M/O for $35. To:

Honobia Big Foot Print H.C. 15 Box 10 Honobia, Ok. 74549\Or go to www.HonobiaBigFootPRINT.com and sign up under

Get The PRINT

BIG FOOT PRINTBy Mary Lee Williams

Face book has always annoyed mepartly because Icouldnt see the validity of using it. When Logan

would be working on it Id start tapping my fingersand think he has better stuff to do than waste timeon that!!. Then came the TEXTINGanotheraggravation ,BUT I must make amends with

Face Book. While it does take up a lot of time ithas afforded us some great friends wed never metwithout Face Book.

Which sets the stage for Introducing this monthsBig Foot Print. Although hes never been toHonobia we feel hes made big foot prints here

already.

There are quite a few Big Foot Artist out there, butwhat makes this one kinda special is he lives inLondon, United Kingdom. He linked up with theHonobia Big Foot group early in 2012 through FaceBook and has been very active in being a part ofHonobias events, (long distance).

Originally from Atlanta Georgia his impressions ofBig Foot are funny, heart warming, thought

provoking and sometimes a little scary. He also hasa flair for the Native American Artwork which youcan see on display at the 2013 Festival.

Thomas donated some of his Big Foot Artwork tobe given as door prizes at the Oct 2012 Conferenceand Festival. Since it was rescheduled to April 2013due to weather one of his pieces was given as a door

prize at the April Festival. There will be a display ofhis art in the information booth at the 2013 Big FootConference and Festival where some of his prints

will be for sale and one will be given as a Door Prize.

Weve used hisnewest post for

this issues Frontpage and toannounce theOctober 4 & 5Conference andFestival.

If you would liketo view his workonline go to hisFace Book page Thomas Finley. While there post a

like to his Friends picture and let him know yousaw it in the PRINT

His foot prints will always be in the Honobia Areaand will go all over the world with his artisticabilities. His impressions of Big Foot will touchlives for generations to come

Thomas, we thank you for your generosity and beingan active part in the Big Foot event here in Honobiaand hope someday you will be able to visit us.

Thomas Finley Face Book Page or go towww.HonobiaBigFootPRINT.comand go to his link.

Throughout the paper you will see a newfeature. When you find the code on one

of the ads, simply scan it with your smart

phones QR reader app to be taken to the

advertisers page. This one leads you to our

web site.

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Honobia Big Foot Print Sept/Oct 2013 Page 3

Going up Little River East of Honobia, you will findthat the river makes a turn toward the north Fromthat point it branches out into several smaller creeks,streams and hollows, until it reaches its source southof Kiamichi Mountain. Somewhere between dead manmountain and a peak they call high top.

Growing up along this turn in the river, we fished thosestreams and hunted those ridges without paying muchattention to anything other than goggle-eyed perch,yellow catfish, squirrels, deer and turkey. This is notto say there was or was not anything else there. Justsaying we never paid much attention. On one occasion

there was some attention to the possibility of somethingother than the norm.

It was on a Saturday morning in the early fall. Therehad been a good shower of rain on both Thursday andFriday, so the river was just a little on the rise. Theground was too wet to work in the woods, so my dadsaid we could go fishing. My grandfather and I walkedover the ridge behind our house past the shale pit tothe river. There was a small dancing creek that woundits way through a Briar Patch Bottom and emptied into

Little River, just across from our cornfield. This wasone of our favorite spots to fish. We just got settled in,with our hooks in the water when a light mist startedto fall. Then the fog moved in. This kind of weatherwas not unusual for this area this time of year. I just

pulled my collar up on my jacket and sat quietlywatching the bobber in the water.

Then Papa stood up and puffing on his pipe, he staredinto the misty fog across the river toward the black oak

thicket, just north of our cornfield. His concentrationwas finally broken by the Dancing of the bobber on hisfishing pole. After removing the fish from his hook,

and placing it on the stringer, he re-baited the hook,glance across the river and sat back down on the log.

Did ja see something over there? I asked.Just the Okshimmichi he answered quietly, but

continued to cast uneasy glances across the rivertoward the thicket.

With my interest now aroused, I asked Whats anOkshimmichi? He looked thoughtfully at me forseveral minutes, and then said

Bok-Iskitini-Okshimmichi.

I naturally wanted to know all about it. As ourconversation continued, I learned that years ago therewas a legend about a family of large people that livedin the mountains where the River heads out. All themen had lots of jaw hair. Evidently they were livinghere when the Choctaws came over the Trail of Tears.He called them the Stands Back People. The storycontinued that they didnt reject what other normalhumans were doing in their society, but would justkinda stand back and watch what happened. Sometime

if people needed help they were willing to lend a hand.But if they felt they were no longer needed or wantedthey would justIndian Out.

I asked what tribe they were from. He told me somecalled the Hattak Nita (which is bear man) and somecalled them Hattak Shimbolish (which is Soul or Spiritman). But they definitely had crossed over into a levelof understanding most people thought just a little bit,

well---Out There.I asked him whatever happened to them. He repliedthat maybe some inter-married with other people since

BOK ISKITINI OKSHIMMICHIBy Darryl Williams

one of the women was buried in a small cemetery rightup the creek. Others maybe just moved off to otherareas.

Some say that some of them are still around and oncein a while you will see one or think you did or maybeyou just imagined you did. Sometimes you see them

just standing back in the Bok Iskitini Okshimmichi.Today Im convinced those humans he spoke of, aresomehow connected with the current phenomenon so

popular in our area. Maybe they are todays version ofthose who stand somewhere between the physical andspiritual reality in the Little River Mist.

I found out much later in my research that a possibletranslation of Bok Iskitini Okshimmichi is Little RiverMist.

Editors Note: Most all cultures of people hold the

belief that sometimes physical things reflect a non-

physical entity, and sometimes a not physical or

spiritual entity can appear to be very physical, or

Real. Heres a question: Does something have to

be material or physical to be Real?

For questions or comments or to share info contact

Darryl Williams:

[email protected] or H.C. 15

Box 10 Honobia, OK 74549

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www.HONOBIABI FOOTPRINT.

RAVEL TIPS For HONOBIA BIG FOOT CONFERENCE & FESTIVAL ATTENDEES

Business Name Phone Hours Distance Gas Diesel Pay at Pump Deli Groceries Caf Flats Fixed Tires Car Parts Mechanic R.V.Park

C.J.' S

Octavia580-244-3664

M-Sat 6 am-7 pm Sun 10

am-4 pm10.2mi yes yes yes

yes limited

seatingyes

Grill/

Sandwichesyes yes yes yes

Mountain Country

Smithville580-244-3678

M-F 5 am-8 pm

Sat 6 am- 8pm

Sun 8am-5pm

13.7mi yes yesyes limited

seating

Grill/Hunt

Pizzayes yes

Honobia Creek Store

Big C Towing

580-244-3755

580-244-3020

ue-Thur 9 am-6 pm

Fri 9 am-8 pm

Sat 8 am-8 pm

Sun 11 am-3 pm

5mi yes YES yes yes yes yes

Flood

Nashoba

918-755-4444 Tues-Sat 7 am-6 pm 23.5mi yes yes Sandwiches yes

Clayton Country Store

Clayton918-569-7576

Seven Days a week

5:30 am - 10 pm36.6mi yes yes

yes limited

seatingyes

Grill/Sand-

wiches/ Hunt

Pizza

Free air

Rockin H Valero

Talihina918-567-2162

Seven Days a Week

5:30 am - 8 pm26.9mi yes yes yes

yes limited

seatingyes

Hot-n-Cold

Deli/Hunt

Pizza

air

Scotty's

Cove AR870-387-6031 24 hours 28.5mi yes yes yes

yes caf

seatingyes Yes Free air

Visit our advertisers while

passing through this beautiful

area of Oklahoma to see Big

Foot. Oh yes, tell them you saw

them in the PRINT

The speakers for the Conference are gearing up tocause you to look and think about Big Foot in awhole new way. They will be speaking in the RockSchool House in the Big Room. You will hearfrom Dr. Earnest Ables, Dr. Jeff Duff, StewartTaylor, Glenda Vaughan, Melvin Leeper, LoganWilliams & Darryl Williams.

For your Musical Entertainment the promoters havereally brought in some exciting performers, such as

Indie recording artist Gatling & Hoffpauir, BackSliders Wine, Doug Russell, Crowder High School

Continued from Page 1

Big Foot Festival..Revue, Country Touch, The Believers, and LoganWilliams.

DO NOT forget you Christmas Shopping List!!! Theline up of Craft Vendors will fulfill every gift on that

list with the uniqueness of their crafts. Not only doyou get to know more about Big Foot. You can enjoyshopping in his backyard among the beautiful

backdrop of Nature. Confident that your holiday willbe extremely peaceful and rewarding because youbrought in the most unique gifts specially designedfor that person.

For more information, reservations, or maps go towww.HonobiaBigFootPRINT.comand click on theFestival page. Call 918-917-3723or 918-917-0339

Or E-mail your questions to Honobia Big [email protected] Photo: Thanks to ArtistThomas Finley from London England for hiscontribution to the Big Foot PRINT for use ofhis newest art addition entitled FRIENDSSmile!!!

S /O 2013

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SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

GREENS BUCKBOARD GRILL has been one ofthe favorite regular food vendors to the Honobia BigFoot Conference & Festival each year. Its no wonder,his menu covers just about anything you could wantand the tastes are DELICIOUS!! In Honor of BigFoot he named his specialty dish Big Foot ToesDont miss out on this tasty treat.Were so glad Stan has fired up his grill once morefor this years Event and will once again help theFestival attendees manager their Big Foot Sizehunger.

Tell him you saw it in the PRINT

P 6 S t/O t 2013 H bi bi f t i t

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4th & 5th, 2013ANTLERS, OKLAHOMA

On your way to or from the Big Foot Festival,be sure and stop by the Deer Festival at the

Fairgrounds.

Lots to see and if its difficult to catch abeautiful deer in your cross hairs, you can seethem in the area around the Heritage center.You can even feed them corn without loadingup all the other equipment.

Stop by the Hungry Horse if youre reallyhungry, Their meals always satisfy anyhunger you might have.

For your sweet tooth stop in the Amish Storeand enjoy their fudge, youll not be sorry.

We hope you enjoy visiting this beautiful area

of Oklahoma and hope to see you again.


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302 Second

918-567-3238Talihina, OK.

Mon. - Fri.9 am5 pm Sat. 10 am3 pm

On June 20, 2013, my brother and sister-in-law cameup from Texas (on my Birthday). I ve wanted to go

to the Honobia Big Foot Festival the past four years.

We enjoyed the mountains and the peace and quiet.We stopped at the top of the mountain to stretch ourlegs and take in the scenery.My brother found some ripe dew berries. We ate afew of them---very good.

We stopped at the Honobia Store. They bought me aBig Foot T-Shirt. My sister in law took a lot of

pictures.

Then we drove down the mountain to Highway 259and on to Mena Ar. Just before we got to 259 wesaw three dumpsters ahead on our right. My brothersaid they have community dumpsters. As weapproached the dumpsters I saw a Big Foot justentering the trees. I said Stop, theres a Big Foot.A car was coming behind us so we couldnt stop. Wehad to go on to the dumpsters to turn around and go

back. We couldnt see any sign of him, the trees

were too thick. He was around seven to eight feettall and Dark Brown.

Then about the same time, we all said Hes comingfrom the dumpsters.

Where there had been a fire or the timber was cut wesaw three figures on a ledge, two large and one small.We were pretty sure they were Big Foot. Wewatched them for a while moving around. We weretoo far away to get any pictures of them.

I am looking for my third sighting/encounter and Iwill always be watching.

My SECONDENCOUNTER

By Glenda Vaughan

918-

522-

4453

Mon-S

at

9am-

5pm

12mile

sNortho

fClay

tono

nHwy

2

RODS

SWAP SHOPTarps, Tools, Figurines & Flowers

Come see What we have!!

Glenda has written a book titled Fact not Fiction.She lives in SE Oklahoma and has decided to tellabout her experience with Big Foot. There are otherstories that were told to her also in the book.

You can purchase it through the Big Foot Store atwww.HonobiaBigFootPRINT.comunder the storeIcon for $8.

She is writing her second book now and hopes tohave it published soon.

240 acres of mountain slope andbottoms with meadow,

pine, rocks and creeks.

918 567-3960 Red RiverRealty and Auction306 B Second St. in Talihina

Valerie Templin; Sales Associate

Red River Realty & AuctionKiamichi Countrys Mountain Gateway

www.seokhomes.co www.okpropertyforsale.com918-429-9925 [email protected] 580-924-9595

Call918-917-3723to see your

advertisement here

Page 8 Sept/Oct 2013 www Honobiabigfootprint com
http://www.honobiabigfootprint.com/http://www.honobiabigfootprint.com/

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Stewart & His son were night fishing along a remote

heavily wooded creek bank in North Texas by the

light of the Coleman lantern placed on the pickups

tail gate. Someone or something threw a hugecinder block from the brush line into the water less

that 10 feet from them

I pulled him back from the water watching to largewaves fan out. I was completely bewildered at theunexpected chain of events. What I did know wasthat whatever hit the water was large and didnt float.I also knew if it had hit either one of us, it wouldhave inflicted at the very least, serious bodily injury-

probably more. Feeling quite threatened, I racedover to the truck and grabbed my 357 revolverloaded with hot personal defense rounds.

THATS NOT FUNNY! I yelled out. I HAVE AGUN AND MAY DECIDE TO USE IT IF YOUTHROW SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN!I thought at that time, it was just someone prankingaround with us, but that object came dangerouslyclose to both of us and I didnt appreciate it one bit.Wanting to jack back with whoever it was, I cocked

the hammer back single action, aimed the gun downinto the soft bank beside me, plugged one ear andcracked a round down into the mud. KA-BOOM!It instantly sounded like a huge buck deer taking offaway from us in the thick brush. There was asnapping and cracking of branches from somethingvery big and strong, moving much faster through thestuff than any human I knew of could do.With wide eyes my son looked at me and asked

What was that Dad?I dont know son, but l think its time to go, I

replied. That was my first What in the world wasthat moment. Since that time, I have personallyspoken to people with an assortment of experiencesmuch like mine. Seeing or hearing something bigout in the woods that they have absolutely noexplanation for!

Aided by a small group of knowledgeable people, Ieventually began serious study and exploration of

this interconnecting waterway system and thesurrounding woods. On one occasion, we werefollowed and paced by something large in the thick

brush. It stopped when we stopped, then movedwhen we moved.

GIANTS IN AMERICABY STEWART TAYLOR A dark shape darted across a small creek bed about

75 yards ahead of us. We discovered a partial printgouged out in the dried mud. It was about 7.5inches wide and you can see the toe digs, but thetotal length could not be determined.

Right after this photo was taken, a softball sizedobject landed behind us with a loud thud.On another research trip, I saw a dark shape dartacross the trail in front of me. It was partiallyoccluded by the surrounding leaves vegetation andhappened so fast I didnt get a good look. I movedup the trail to that particular area and scanned my

perimeter, but couldnt make out anything. Thedistinctive feeling of being watched, once againswept over me. I took my camera and shot a seriesof photos all around me.This is one of the photos I took that day. Can youmake out anything unusual in this photo?He is there peeking up from behind a pile of sticks

just to the left of the two trees in the middle portionof this photo. It is a prime example of how wellthese subjects use cover and concealment and the

primary reason most folks never see them.The following picture is an enhanced blow-up of thisprevious photo. You can see the subjects eyes

My intentions were to experience and see formyself that these subjects are very real and dwell

among us. I have no desire to prove anything to theskeptic. They will believe what they want to

believe. My desire is to share with people wantingto know more about the incredible phenomenon.They are very real and live among us.

On another occasion, I was fortunate enough tovideo a young subject in a secluded, very remotearea of Central Oklahoma. It was an area that hadhistory of a family group living there. I was on a

hill side scanning an area down the hill where wecould hear movement. After nearly an hour ofshooting video, I was able to capture a brief clip ofa young one peeking at us. I downloaded a portionof it to U-tube titled, Young Bigfoot CaughtPeeking.Here are two enhanced clips from the video shot atabout 100 yards distance.This is a quartering view of him peering out frombehind the brush. He is looking down to the right

and almost looks like a samurai wrestler.Granted the telephoto lens and light conditions mayhave distorted the images some, but they are a fair

peeking over the branches. I was using a fill-inflash and you can see his right eye reflecting theflash of light. He is also holding a branch with hisright hand putting the green leaves up in front of hisface. This behavior has been recorded before asthey carefully use cover and concealment to

perfection.I never keyed on him when I took this picture, butfound him later carefully reviewing my photos. Idid get a good visual sighting later that morningwhile looking at a brush line through binoculars. Itwas at about 150 yards and the Big Guy waswatching me, peering over a bush very similar to theone shown in the above picture.


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g p g

representation of what I saw that day. Later thatnight, I was blessed with having five from a family

This location gives an excellent 360 degree lookoutfrom the hill. Nothing could approach this ridgewithout being seen early.

This is but a portion of the material I have beenblessed with obtaining over the past several years. Iknow they are real and walk among us, for I have seenthem up close with my own eyes. They are a verycomplex subject that is extremely elusive, yet theyhave and will continue to be seen by many.I have taken many other audios, videos and picturesI plan on sharing when the time is right. Again, Ienjoy sharing with interested folks about what I have

been fortunate with obtaining. To teach and conveythese subjects are a forest people living among us andnot the dumb animal many people would like you to

believe. Some, who have never actually seen one,yet make these totally unfounded assumptions as towho and what these giants of the forest are.

May His warm and ever loving Spirit touch your soulwith goodness!

God Bless You All!

group draw close to me, three of which got to

within 20 feet of me!!

Many in the Bigfoot research community hold tothe unfounded assumption that these subjects are

just a dumb base primate roaming about in thewoods to be driven and hunted like livestock or

wild game. From what I have experienced, thesesubjects possess reasoning and cognitive thinking.They are very much like us in some ways, verydifferent in others.On another occasion in East Texas, I noticed a largeBigfoot sitting up high in a pine tree (Yes they doclimb trees and do it quite well). He was watchingour research party situated down the hill in an openarea sitting up camp. I was able to pull him in witha tripod and a powerful lens and obtained some

descent videos. Here are a few clips from it.This is the actual distance. I first saw him as a darkspot with binoculars scanning the ridge line.

He was in a larger pine tree behind the narrow ones.Heres the Big Guy sitting there on a bent saddle

resting his left hand on the tree trunk.

Here are the trees with three having a bent offset atthe top. I was told by an experienced forester, that ifthe top feeder point of a young pine tree is twisted off,one of the side branches will then become the feederand you will get this offset. I can see one happening

to a young tree, but three in one area? It raises aquestion, was this possibly done years ago with theintentions of having this high perch years later?

Editors Note: Welcome to the Big Foot PRINT,

Stewart Taylor. whose had quite a number of Big Footexperiences. After wowing the April Big Foot

Conference & Festival crowd, he is slated as one of the

speakers for the 2013 Honobia Big Foot Conference &

Festival in October. His articles will appear in each

issue through October.


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CHUCK ENTERS HIGH SCHOOLBy Mary Lou Brainerd

School was well underway. It was reallydifferent this year. Id moved into the tenth grade

and in my school, 7th through 9th grades go to

Middle School and 10th through 12th grades go to

High School.There were new rules in this school. It was a

new building and the designers didnt like lockers, sowe dont have any place to put our stuff. We haveto carry it in our back-pack from classroom toclassroom. I dont know how those skinny little girlsmanage it. They have more stuff than the guys do.

We dont have books at this school either. Weare all issued a little computer they call a notebook.Of course weve had to learn how to use computers

for years, but Im not one of those electronic geeks.We dont have one at home and none of us have anysmart phones either. So, while I know how to turn iton and navigate through it for the basics, Im prettymuch at a loss after that.

First thing we did this year was meet in a largeassembly hall and they told us how to download ourclass schedules into our notebooks. That was okay,

but I have always had a printed copy that I could tapeto the inside of my locker door. That way if I forgotwhere I was supposed to go, I could run by my

locker and check. This year, I have to haul mynotebook out of my backpack, turn it on and thenfind the schedule, by then Im already late for class.

One day as I came out of my Biology class andfranticly searched for the schedule to see where to gonext, a new girl in town came up to me.

Hi, she said. Im Becky Reynolds. Are youlooking for your schedule?

Yeah, I never can remember what comes next.Im Chuck. Are you new to the area?

Yes, she said. My dad works at the lumbermill. Ive noticed you in every class that I have andif you wouldnt be too embarrassed to walk with me,Ill show you to the next class.

Why would I be embarrassed? Id love to walkto class with you, I stammered and wondered whyshe would think Id be embarrassed. She was one ofthe cutest girls Id seen.

When we started down the hall I realized she hada pretty bad limp. Can I carry your backpack? Iasked.

No, Ill manage just fine. But thanks for asking.When we got to the next class, I noticed her seat

was up from mine and over to the side a little. Whenshe sat down, her pant leg slipped up a little and Icould see the metal hinges and braces from a

prosthetic leg. I wondered what had happened thatcaused her to loose a leg so young.

After that class she led me to the next one andthen it was lunch time.

Would you like to have lunch with me? I asked.I usually just eat in the cafeteria. I used to bring mylunch, but now with no lockers, its just too muchhassle.

Sure, she said. We headed down the hall to thecafeteria.

Our lunch was some sort of healthy stuff withbroccoli, rice, and sliced tomatoes. It made a goodsnack, but wasnt what I would call a real meal. Iwoofed mine down then pulled a granola bar out ofmy backpack.

Did you get enough to eat? I asked.Yes, I dont eat too much. Im not really a

picky eater, it just doesnt take much to fill me up.She was so cute, I thought. She had curly light

brown hair, big blue eyes, and a brush of frecklesacross her nose.

I really appreciate you helping me find my nextclass. I have nightmares about it where I just wonderaround in the halls all day long and never get to a oneof my classes.

I enjoy having someone to walk with. Beingnew, I havent made any good friends yet.It wont be long till you have a bunch of friends,

Im sure. You already have me, I laughed.Id say thats a good start, she said.We palled around all week. When the weekend

came, I missed her company. I could hardly get mychores done for thinking about her.

Pop said, Whats the matter with you boy? Youact like you got your head caught in a storm cloud orsomething.

I had never been so anxious to get back to schoolon a Monday. But when I got there, she was absent.She missed again on Tuesday. By Wednesday whenshe was still gone, I went to the principles office tocheck up on her.

Her father came in Monday morning and saidshe would be homeschooled the rest of the year. Hedidnt give any reason, Mr. Garland said. Ithought she was getting along just fine here.

I thought so too, I said. Do you have their

address?We cant give that out to you, sorry.After school, I went out to the sawmill where

Becky said her dad worked.Hi, I said to the first person I saw, does a Mr.

Reynolds work here?

Hes the new assistant manager they brought in.What do you want with him? Hes mean as a bittinhog.

Well, I guess Id better put my armor on then,cause I need to talk to him.

Hes in the office over there.I strolled into the office and saw a man sitting

behind a desk with a Doug Reynolds nameplate on it.Mr. Reynolds? I said.

What do you want, he barked.I want to talk to you about Becky.I suppose youre the kid that was filling her

head with ideas of fitting in. Youre probablylaughing at her behind her back.

Why would I laugh and why shouldnt she fitin? Shes smart and cute. What do you see as the

problem?Shes a cripple! he shouted. Are you blind as

well as stupid?

Whats that got to do with anything? She getsaround just like the rest of us kids and better thansome. Shes fun to be with. I dont know how shelost her leg, but that doesnt make her a cripple thatshould be hid from society.

Ill tell you how she lost her leg; she was in acar wreck. Shed just got her permit and begged hermom to let her drive. She took a corner too fast, shelost her leg, but I lost the love of my life.

So how long are you going to punish her? Iasked. Is she going to serve five to ten years with

parole for good behavior or is she going to serve alife sentence?

I dont know what youre talking about? Getout of here and mind your own business.

Think about it Mr. Reynolds. I think Beckycould get back into school by Monday and not havetoo much to catch up on. Just think about it. Iwalked out of his office and got to my pick-up

before I realized how badly I was shaking.Friday morning as I walked into school, Mr.

Garland caught up with me in the hall. Chuck, hesaid, did you go and see Mr. Reynolds?

I squared my shoulders, ready for the worse,Yes I did. Did he call to complain?

No, he called to see if Becky could come backto school. I dont know what you said, but it musthave been the right thing. Good work, son. Maybeyou should think of a career in counseling.

Probably not, I said with a laugh. But thanksfor the good news.


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The gathering we had attended was over, and allgroups had headed back to their perspective areas.I took my place in line the way we usually traveled.Single file, about one hundred yards apart, steppingin the foot prints left by the one just in front of us.So as not to indicate how many were in the group.

Dont ask me Why, thats just the way weve alwaystraveled.

Im Meme, Meme strange. My kind have alwaysbeen, and continue to replicate ourselves, sometimescompletely unnoticed by the rest of the world, butwere still here, still expanding in knowledge, stillincreasing in wisdom, and thereby still enhancinglife.

As I boogied along my thoughts changed with eachstep. There was a strange, warm, yet empty hollowfeeling in my chest when I thought about that

platinum haired Yeti lookin straight into my eyes.Some say any experience with a Yeti will changeyour life.Grandfather says every event in life is an infomercial.He says in the beginning there was information

STRANGE EXPERIENCEchaotic as it was. The word or wisdom was achieved

by the miraculous development of living organismswith the capacity for selectively exploiting thisinformation in order to survive and perpetuate theirkind.

I know I should show respect to the Grandfathers andGrandmothers cause theyve all been around a lotlonger than me.

Speaking of me, Im still me, and will always be me,thats just who I am, and right now Meme is gettingtired, I was thinking as I stepped out of line to rest

by a little creek a few minutes.

Meme got off the bus my little sister tattled. Better

than off the Wagon said Uncle Chuey as he passedby. Right behind him came my cousin Solo.Dont be twistin off no saplins he joked.

I just sat there a while with my toes in the water andmy ___well, the rest of me in the sand. I watched anorange breasted robin lite on a limb across the creekCONTINUE on page 11


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He tweeted a couple of times. I was just puckeringup my lips, getting ready to send a tweet right back tohim, when I heard the unmistakable voice of a humancoming up the creek.

While his voice was a little off key, he displayed goodtiming. He was singing about a little bit of chicken fry,something or another about a Friday Night and a pairof Jeans that fit just right. I pulled back a bushy limbto get a better look at this specimen.

There he was. He had a rod and reel in his hand, afloppy hat on his head, and was wearing a camo vestwith shiny little fishing lures all over it. He also hadear buds in his ears hooked to an I-pad. AHH, asing-a-long I thought. Just then the aforementioned

robin sent out another extra loud tweet. The fishermanlooked up our way, pulled one ear bud out, cocked hishead to one side and tweeted right back. It sounded alittle different but pretty close. I wondered if I copiedhis tweet exactly and sent it back would anyone notice.Having the heart of a mocking bird like I do, I justtweeted right back. Exactly the way I heard it. Therobin looked at me, looked down the creek, and justflew off as if to say Ill just leave you two birds alone.

After a few tweets back and forth, the fisherman wasgetting closer and closer to me. I thought Id betterexpose myself before he walked right over me. I juststood up and in my own dialect said H-hooowdy.

Its kinda funny how quickly a human can mutate froma cool calm collected bird seeker to a wild man banshee,screaming like a wild cat running through the brushdown the creek bank.

I guess sometimes a tweet that gets replicated too, often

too precise, can just go Viral.

Strange very strange indeed.

Continued from Page 11

sep-oct 2013 hbfp

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