Creatures entered our house and left a reward for aiming our Christmas trees toward the woods and creekbed where they live.
As I walked downstairs I detected a new, awful, sickening odor, nearly overpowering me.
The door to the back yard, locked last night, was unlocked this morning.
Just inside the door, a strange object. A leg of meat, of some kind, likely deer, lying on newspaper.
On the desk, a note. But first I threw the leg outside onto the patio, the smell gagging me.
Looking at the note, I read a message in a scratchy script:
Tanks fr the lites. If yu like the deer therrll be moore.
Last summer I caught images on the game camera, and they were so bizarre I didn’t even show Marilyn. No idea what they were, I imagined jokesters or, I hated to think what they might be. When I looked up swamp creatures, the name muck monster popped up, and I’m guessing that they mire in the muck or even in the creek flowage, coming out at night.
To avoid offending them, I held my nose and took in the leg of meat, stashing it in the garbage outside and upstairs.
Again, I decided not to tell Marilyn.
It nowed that afternoon and evening, and the next morning I saw fresh prints coming from the woods to the back door.
Downstairs I again saw that the door had been unlocked. A neat package sat on the desk. I hoped I was more valuable than a leg of venison. Unsure when I should open it or if I should tell my wife. Stay tuned.
Afterthoughts
More to come. I guessed from this unusual event that they lived in a dark, blackened world, but at this time of the longest nights, they enjoyed a little light shining their way.
The thought came back to me, when we decorated our trees last year, that the bright beautiful decorated trees faced the back. I joked to Marilyn, saying: “At least our trees can be seen by anything living back there in the creek bottom.” But, I didn’t want to be right.
