Fossil Lake Hunter

A kid decides to find a monster in a lake. Everyone tells him it doesn't exist, but he'll show them!

FOSSIL LAKE HUNTER

by

Stinkycat

 

 

“I’m gonna go semi-pro with this story,” Slick told himself as visions of fame and fortune danced through his head. He’d get this one published in the world’s leading literary journals where it would be picked up for a multi-million movie deal that would finally get him the hell out of this town.  He pressed the tip of his pen to the page of his composition book but could not come up with anything to write. Needless to say, whatever he finally did write would be a work of genius. For now, however, his butt was starting to hurt from having sat on the rocky shore of Fossil Lake for the past six hours. It was a mild spring day with just enough of a cool sea breeze coming off the lake to blow back his hair if it weren’t weighed down with grease. As a matter of fact, his greasy hair had earned him the nickname Slick back in middle school, and, now that he was in high school, there was no shaking that moniker. Who had time to wash all that hair when there were more important things to do? He’d been given a lot of nicknames then. Most he chose to ignore, but Slick appealed to him. He thought it made him sound cool.

The sun was starting to set. He’d been sitting there all afternoon with his trusty VHS camcorder trained on the still waters while he recorded his deep thoughts in his composition book. He was going to prove his teacher wrong. That idiot Mrs. White had laughed at him when he told her he was going to prove there was a monster living in Fossil Lake. In fact, the whole class enjoyed a good chuckle at his expense. Why did she always have to ruin everyone’s dreams?  Sure he got mostly Ds in her class, but he had heart and passion and that’s what really mattered.  He had soul d****t and would do great things. Why couldn’t she see that?  He envisioned the humiliation she would feel when he proved her wrong, and he grew more excited to capture the monster on tape.

He’d read about Fossil Lake in a book and just knew there must be a large aquatic reptile living there. Sure, he hadn’t bothered to read the whole book, but he seemed to recall a picture of a long necked creature like a plesiosaur swimming in that very lake. Even though it was a drawing, he was fairly certain the sketch had been based on eye-witness accounts.

For hours, Slick searched the horizon for movement. He dreamt of the moment he would see some oblong shape protruding from the water. Maybe the creature’s long neck would be tall and erect like the sketches he’d seen in print. He also considered the possibility that the creature could be hiding onshore and would surprise him from behind.  He thought long and hard about that, his butt aching from having sat too long on the rocks. He couldn’t wait for the monster to appear.

When Slick didn’t see the monster by sunset he convinced himself it must be nocturnal. “Of course!” he thought, “That must be how a prehistoric monster has managed to live in a tiny lake in a densely populated urban area without being photographed or videotaped by anyone.  It makes perfect sense.” He would wait all night for the creature to appear. He pointed his camcorder at the water and went to sleep. After all, he needed some rest before school.

The next morning, Slick rubbed his eyes and put the camera and notebook in his back pack.  He’d left his textbooks at home to make room for the camera; after all he didn’t really look at them.  He was sure his family hadn’t noticed his absence. They hadn’t even called.   

There wasn’t time to go home before school, but he didn’t care. He didn’t have a toothbrush but figured no one ever got close enough to him to smell his breath anyway.  He only washed his hair once a week, so no one would mind that. He always dressed in black, so that wouldn’t seem odd. He was slightly bothered by his wet pants though; he hoped that was just water. There was no time for that. He couldn’t wait to get to school and shove his evidence in Mrs. White’s face.

          He ran into Mrs. White’s first period Chemistry class (not his class, but that didn’t matter) and threw the tape onto her desk while dropping the camcorder at her feet with a jaunty laugh. Looking more annoyed than surprised, the teacher asked, “May I help you, Mr. Maccione?”

         “I have the evidence right here.”

         “Can this wait until class?”

         “Right here! I have the video evidence that a dinosaur lives in Fossil Lake.”

         She rolled her eyes.

         “I spent all night filming the lake, and this tape has conclusive evidence that a monster is living there!”

         At this point, Mrs. White looked upon the pitiful creature and whispered, “It’s a two hour tape, Mr. Maccione. Did you bother to change tapes at all, or did you just leave the same tape in the camera all night?”

         “You’re just trying to ruin my life! You hate me for my conservative values! You�"“

         She yanked him by the arm and took him to the hall while the class roared with laughter. Pinning him against the wall she spoke in the kind of whisper that is somehow more piercing than a scream. “You stole school equipment and used a camera with no spotlight or infrared mode, so all you were recording was blackness. By the way, this is a VHS camera, and nobody even uses VHS players anymore. I wish that were the worst of it. You completely misunderstood the book that you are claiming to be the sole source of information about the lake monster. You see, if you’d actually bother to read the book, and not just look at the pictures, you would have seen that the book stated that fossils, not living dinosaurs, were found in the lake. That’s why they call it ‘Fossil Lake,’ not ‘Living Dinosaur Lake.’ Were you paying any attention when I lectured on fossils for a week? Fossils are not living organisms but their mineralized remains.”

        It didn’t matter how long she chastised him because he’d stopped paying attention when they were still in the classroom. The monster was there. She was just jealous she hadn’t been the one to find it. As soon as he could find a VCR he’d prove everything.