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By the time we got to Leif’s compound, it was late. My room was sparsely furnished, but better than I expected. I laughed out loud when I unpacked my panties and bras. I was pleased that Chance had packed them. I could just picture him going through my drawers and packing for me. It was really sweet of him. That was one of the things I loved about Chance... Wait. Where did that come from? I loved Chance? I collapsed on the bed and was just lying there when my phone rang.
"Hi, Babe. You OK?"
"Sure. How was your flight?"
"Good. The clients are all here and excited to head out tomorrow morning. It's a good group. A couple of them have been on hunts with me before, and they brought along a couple of new guys. It should be a good week. One thing about hunting pythons in the Everglades, you're almost guaranteed you'll find them. It's kind of the opposite of most of my cryptid hunting trips. How are you getting along with Leif?"
"We've had a rocky start, but it'll be OK."
"That explains the strange texts he sent me. What's going on?"
"He thought you sent me here to play a prank on him. He didn't believe the stories of my wilderness adventures. I know he's your friend, but he's kind of an ass."
"I assume you've straightened him out."
"He understands what I want to learn. We'll see how tomorrow goes."
"Do you want me to talk to him?"
"If he's texting you, then you'll probably have to, but I don't need you to fight my battles for me."
"I know that, but don't feel like you have to stay if you're not able to get what you need from it. He's a good guy. I wouldn't have sent you there if I didn't trust him. I seem to remember you telling me I was an ass a time or two. You are unbelievable, Babe. I can't blame the guy for that."
We hung up a few minutes later, and I got ready for bed. I could hear Leif’s deep voice laughing from somewhere down the hall. I suspected he and Chance were having a talk. My first reaction was to think they were laughing at me, but I knew Chance better than that. He had my back. I fell asleep visualizing shooting Glenda, my new gun not the witch from the Wizard of Oz and hitting the target every time. Glenda and I are going to be great friends. I'm sure of it.
XXX
Chance woke me up early with a phone call before he headed to the Everglades for his hunt. I found a much more pleasant Leif waiting for me at the breakfast table. We talked about the plan for the day while I ate breakfast and filled my to-go cup with Earl Grey tea I made with the tea bags I brought.
"I'll go get Glenda and be right back."
"Glenda? Who the he... heck is Glenda?
"Glenda, my new gun."
He laughed. "Sure. I'll meet you and Glenda out back at the shooting range."
I think Leif was surprised that I handled the weapon well. He didn't seem pleased that I kept up a running conversation with Glenda as I went through the drills he gave me. It really helped me though. It was like Glenda and I were in this together.
"OK. We'll keep working on this, but you've got the basics," Leif said. "More practice will improve your success."
"Great. We got this, Glenda," I said as I packed away the gun.
While I cleaned Glenda and put her back in my room, Leif, set up for my knife lesson. He explained each of the types of knives now displayed on the table that had held our guns and ammo before. He told me a knife could be a useful tool in the wilderness as well as a weapon. I knew even less about knives than I did about guns before I moved to Idaho, so I took a lot of notes and ask a million questions. I was surprised that Leif didn't get frustrated with me. Like Chance, he seemed to have infinite patience with me because I wanted to learn.
He went over the best knife for various uses. We covered everything from a Swiss Army knife to a machete. I would be adding three knives to my regular gear—a Swiss Army knife, a folding knife that was larger and stronger than the Swiss Army knife, and a fixed blade knife.
"Don't worry about the details," Leif said. "I'll email Chance the list of what I think you should have. He may have preferences of his own for you. Let's talk about using the fixed blade knife as a weapon.”
He had strung up a couple of dummies. To me, they looked like a cross between a store mannequin and a scarecrow.
After a break for lunch, we went through drills with the knife. One of the dummies, had areas spray painted red like the center of a target. Those were the spots that I was supposed to stab if I needed to incapacitate someone.
"How does this relate to creatures?" I asked, when we took a water break. "It's probably more likely that I'd be needing to take down a bigfoot or a waheela."
"What's a waheela?"
"Sorry. I forget you're not part of the whole cryptid thing. A waheela is a giant wolf-like cryptid. Some say it's part bear and part wolf."
Leif gave me some ideas about how to apply his lessons to animals, but he said Chance would be able to provide more details on the specifics of dealing with a particular cryptid.
We spent an hour throwing knives. I thought it was kind of fun, though it took a while before I could get the knife to travel any distance before dropping to the ground.
"Keep working on it when you have a chance. It's a good skill to have and one easily gained with practice," Leif said. "Let's call it a day."
XXX
"We're you into all this cryptid stuff before you met Chance?" Leif ask as we ate dinner in the kitchen.
"Not at all. My Uncle Harry was a famous cryptid hunter, but I didn't really know that until I moved to Idaho a few months ago."
"Have you ever seen a cryptid?"
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"I saw a large hairy creature I couldn't identify right before Tom was shot. Chance says it was bigfoot. I'm still skeptical."
"I'm not sure I really believe these creatures exist, but I do believe if Chance says he saw something then he did."