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“You know these things ain’t free, right?” Steve said, expertly coaxing one sheep out of the herd.
Jake looked on, happy to let Steve do the work. “I’ll reimburse you? How much does a sheep cost? Like $50?”
Steve laughed. “Try more like $300. These are premium sheep, man.”
“Seriously? Three-hundred for a smelly animal that you then have to feed and take care of? Are you sure you’re in the right line of work?”
“It’s a living,” Steve shrugged.
Though sheep-wrangling was not part of Jake’s array of skills, he did have his part to play. He’d spent the bulk of the day playing around with motion detectors he’d gotten at the hardware store. If he managed to rig everything up correctly, they would trigger his phone to take live video at the detection of the slightest motion, whether from the sheep or the beast.
When he’d come home with all the equipment, Steve rightfully pointed out that Jake could have just bought a game camera instead. Jake acted as if he wanted the challenge of figuring it all out, but it had really just never occurred to him to buy one.
“Okay,” Steve said. “She’s not going to be happy about this. They don’t like being away from the herd. She’ll probably bleat all night long. It’s going to be annoying.” He put a collar around the sheep’s neck, then attached a leash that was bound to a stake in the ground.
“With any luck, the beast will come for her and shut her up,” Jake teased.
Steve gave Jake a stern look, then shook his head.
“Don’t get my sheep killed, man. Scare away whatever comes for it. I’m going to the opening game tonight, so you’re on your own if the ‘beast’ comes calling.” Steve put the word beast in air quotes.
Tonight’s celebration of catching pigskin and helmet-knocking precluded any hope that Jake would have back up. The entire town would flock to the stadium, but Jake couldn’t stomach the thought of so much socializing just yet. In fact, he had been bedridden the previous football season, so he hadn’t been to a single football game since his return to Rose Valley. It was not unthinkable that this could make him the town pariah.
“Oh, hey,” Steve said. “Assuming you don’t get eaten by the ‘beast’ tonight, wanna come over for dinner tomorrow? Cory’s coming over.”
He weighed his options. He didn’t relish the thought of being a third wheel, but he would be within walking distance to the guest house, so he would have an easy out.
“Are you sure? I hate to intrude.”
“Nah. Don’t worry about it. Cory wants to get to know you better anyway. You are living on my property, after all.”
Jake’s feelings on Cory constantly flipped back and forth. Steve had been single for a long time, and Jake wanted to be happy to see him in a relationship, but he worried that Steve had taken the only choice available to him. Steve deserved better than to settle, but the dating pool of Rose Valley was not very deep.
“Yeah, okay, sure,” Jake finally relented.
“Great. It’ll be fun.” Steve started his walk back to his house. “Speaking of which, enjoy your monster hunting tonight.”
“Later.”
As Steve walked away, Jake immediately went to work setting up the equipment. He preferred to stay outside and try to see the creature firsthand, but he thought better of it once he started reflecting on those gory bits of bifurcated lamb. Keeping his limbs intact seemed like the more important goal. And getting it on video would be a crucial start to getting the word out.
There’d been no word from Skylar Brooks since Jake had sent the email, and this nagged at him. Maybe Mr. Brooks would take him and the situation more seriously if there was footage. At the very least, it would provide the third-party evidence that Shandi would need to take this thing public.
As Jake fumbled with the setup, the sheep made a terrible racket. Steve hadn’t been lying about that. Jake had carefully chosen the location of his bait so he could watch from the window of the guest house. Hopefully the beast wouldn’t see fit to go farther and barge into his space.
After he finished up, Jake returned to his guest house, rolled the rickety computer chair to the window and sat down.
Now he would wait.
Jake had a primal instinct to want to see this thing for himself. He had spent a lifetime fascinated with cryptids, always wondering in the back of his mind if it was all merely fantasy and folklore. Tonight, everything would change. Tonight, he would prove something no one ever had.
He found it easy to keep watch at first, the adrenaline of excitement surging through him, but boredom pushed its way in before long. He got up and made some coffee, guzzling it down as fast as he could. The minutes and hours ticked by, and he fought hard to remain vigilant, pushing back against the sleep that threatened to overtake him.
He tried to think about things. About Deirdre. And Shandi. The football game. Perhaps next week, he’d work up the courage to go. It would be a good excuse to hang out with his friends, and there had been a time when he legitimately enjoyed the sport. Yes. He would go next week.
Somewhere lost in thoughts, he lost track of his surroundings as his eyelids betrayed him, and he drifted off to sleep.
