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“Well, he wanted a map of the local area and said he was tracking ‘the beast’,” I reiterated, “I’d say he’s probably hunting some big cats.”
“Oh,” he said. Yeah. Oh.
But then I found something.
“Hey, uh, Javi,” I said, tapping his shoulder with the back
of my hand. “Y’heard of el Chupacabra?”
“Like the urban legend?” he asked, shooting me a look
of confusion.
“Look,” I said without answering. On the sixth page of
the search, I’d found an article from almost twenty years ago that proclaimed a series of what had been ruled as being mountain lion attacks were actually done by el Chupacabra. While it didn’t have photographic proof to back up the claim, there was a picture of a person who’d witnessed an attack. My stomach instantly sank.
“The Snowbird,” he uttered in awe. And there he was - the Snowbird. This time wearing a suit, but not looking a day younger than from when I’d seen him. Javier and I exchanged a look that encompassed shock, horror, and confusion all in one.
“‘Special Agent Gerald Krantz, who appeared shortly after local police arrived on the scene, insists what farmer Francisco Gutierrez claims to be el Chupacabra is likely a coyote with severe case of mange,’” I read aloud, taking time to take everything in.