Curtis is a friend of mine who I don't get to see very often. A short time with him, walking through his lot near the Gibson River, he told me about a noise he heard some time ago. Not just any noise, but a "snap", then a "crack". This did not last a day, it went on for weeks. Or so he remembers.
Curiosity got the better of him, having heard this for long enough, he decided to venture into the bush to find out what it was making the noise.
We stopped, shortly after he told me about his mid day stroll into the woods. He looked up, covered his brow with his hand and peered into the distance.
"There" he said. I gazed and saw a cedar tree, uprooted, lying against another tree.
"I reckon it was the winter. Ice in the roots. Lot of trees coming down."
I didn't completely buy that excuse, there were still several trees upright looking healthy.
"Maybe just wind", I said, followed with "Yeah, it's been a hard winter"
"Did you hear it come down?" I asked.
Curtis paused, turned and looked at me.
He chuckled.
"If a tree falls in the woods......."
I stopped him before he could finish.
"Ok, I get it. So how do you know this is what it was?"
"I saw it. Right in front of me. Like it was waiting for me to see it."
"That would be rare", I said.
"It was", he replied.
Like I said, it was a short time with him. I had an appointment to deal with, knowing that I was tight on time, left his lot with a promise to return.
Got a phone call later that night. It was Curtis. We chatted for a bit, a computer program I told him about was giving him some trouble. We fixed the issue pretty quickly and I chatted with him for a while afterwards
"What do you think about me putting a camera on your property, you have a good amount of wildlife up there"
His answer was not what I expected.
"You can put out whatever you like but if your still looking for the monster monkey your not going to find it in these woods".
"But you told me you believe it exists? Didn't you? I could swear you said that you share the woods with something"
"I do", he said. "But its far greater than a monkey or ape. Its a wise man of sorts. This thing is on a different level of intelligence. A different plane altogether. We are none the wiser."
Now, Curtis realizes that I post stuff every so often about experiences, asking if I could quote him, knowing that he would let me use the recorder on the phone to make sure I got exactly what he was saying. I think he was a bit humbled by this. "You can't tell me that its just man and beast. There has to be something else. Too much difference between us".
I knew what he was saying, in fact, mildly concurred.
"You mean something in evolution or another form of human?"
"Humans are not meant to be outside. Whether its evolution that caused this, having a roof over your head and trying to avoid getting wet, I doubt it. We are born in water. Why can't we survive outside?"
"Something between us and some sort of ape. Hybrid. That seems to be a good term. I'm kidding about your monster monkey. Bigfoot isn't right though. It more human. Smart human."
A refreshing perspective.
I told Curtis I would post this after his approval. He consented, but reiterated, its a hybrid smart human, if anything.
I asked, would it matter if it looked more like a ape? Would you call it a human?
He said "when I say the word cat, do you immediately think of a housecat?"
"Yes", I said, "I do".
"So what happens when you see a 200 pound Puma in your backyard?"
Yeah, I got his point. It is perspective.
Thanks for the chat Curtis. And thanks for letting me post.
