The Journey to Calico
It was only a few hours after I left that I noticed Bigfoot and Dodo following me. They were hiding behind cactus shrubs and whatnot. I could hear Bigfoot trying to hush the Dodo bird.
“I know you’re out there Bigfoot!” I shouted. “I can see you hiding.”
Bigfoot slowly stood up showing himself Dodo in hands. Dodo was gnawing on Bigfoots thumb.
“Dodo say he no want you get lost again.” Said Bigfoot.
“Is that right?” I asked and he nodded with a smile.
“Besides Dodo Know how get to cowboy town.”
“You mean Calico town?”
“Yes, lots of cowboy there.”
“I was told that people of Boysenvale don’t like venturing too far from their lands?”
“That true.” Bigfoot replied. “But I not people, I Sasquatch, and Dodo always go where I go.”
“This won’t be all fun and games.” I said. “I’m going to find Montezuma to help him stop Nefarious.... are you sure you’re up for this?”
“Yes, yes.” Bigfoot insisted. “We help you stop bad witch man.”
“I can’t promise you won’t get hurt…” I added “One of us might even die.”
“It okay, me and Dodo live in forest alone. It get lonely now and even death better than be alone.”
“Well.... okay then.” I agreed. “I guess we’ll trust Dodo... since he knows the way.”
“Yes, yes, Dodo know way, trust Dodo.”
As we made our way through the dessert I decided to try out the boomerang a little more. I could throw it extremely far, to the point where I could barely see it far off on the horizon. It would zoom back to me and I’d catch it in my glove. I could change its size. I liked using it to cut cactus along the way. I kind of felt bad for chopping down all those cacti though.
“I need to practice!” I said to myself arguably trying to justify my actions.
“It okay." Replied Bigfoot, showing me the bottom of his foot. “I no like cactus, they hurt." His foot was covered in thorns!
“Oh no!" I shouted. “Are you okay?"
“It fine, we Sasquatch have strong feet, I no barely feel it."
I made Bigfoot sit down for a moment while I pulled the cactus thorns from his feet.
“What about Magic bands?” Bigfoot asked.
“What about them?” I replied.
“Why not try too?”
“Well, they could be dangerous.” I warned, pulling out the largest cactus thorn from his foot and Bigfoot sighed in relief.
“Maybe you need learn.” Bigfoot replied.
“Maybe.” I replied. “Next foot.”
Bigfoot switched his feet and I began to remove thorns from his other foot.
“Bands hard to use?” He asked.
“Not really.” I replied. “When I use the boomerang, I get a little tired afterward.”
I finally finished removing all of the cactus thorns from Bigfoots feet. Suddenly a squawk and I saw Dodo lifting its tiny claw for me to remove thorns from it too.
“Oh no...” I said playfully. “Dodo do you have thorns too? Here let me check.”
I checked Dodo’s foot for thorns but there were none. Dodo just wanted to join in, so I played along.
“Okay next foot.” I said, pretending to check his other foot for thorns.
“Okay all better?” I asked.
Dodo squawked happily.
We continued on and after much discussion I finally decided that Bigfoot was right, if I were to help Montezuma I’d need to learn how to use these operator bands. We would need the right spot to perform, Somewhere I could protect Bigfoot and Dodo just in case things were to get out of hand…Eventually we came upon a large boulder, Bigfoot and I agreed that it was a suitable place to try.
We would be extra careful and I would only try one. I looked at the Operators bands on my arms.
“Which of the three should I use?” I asked.
“Merry go round not sound so scary.” Bigfoot replied.
“Okay we’ll try it.” I said climbing to the top of the boulder.
I had Bigfoot and Dodo climb up to the top with me.
“If anything bad happens” I added. “We’ll hide behind this boulder for protection.”
I looked at the band on my arm and yelled out. “Merry go round!”
The metal band flashed a blinding white light. Soon the ground began to shake and rumble. We could feel the vibration through the boulder. Then a large stampede of animals rushed out from the distance towards us! Hordes of Horses and tigers, ostriches and giraffes. There were lions and pigs, along with camels and Zebra. I think I might have even seen a few large rabbits in there also! There were thousands of them. The ground quaked and rumbled all around us as we watched the stampede flow below us parting around the boulder then back together like some kind of animal river. The giant heard headed off into the distance before disappearing completely out of sight. After all the commotion Bigfoot was a little shook up. I could tell the power of this band was a little much for him. It surprised me too. I had no idea how powerful these things really were.
“Where Dodo?!” Bigfoot panicked.
“You’re holding him.” I chuckled reminded him.
We continued on and eventually came upon the train tracks Speaks with stories had told me about. We followed them a ways finding a steam locomotive parked at a water tower in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t know why at the time but this locomotive looked extremely familiar. Like I had seen it somewhere before. It had the number “41” On it. When we got to it I noticed there was a young man maybe fifteen or sixteen sitting by himself resting in the train cab. I decided to say hello.
“Excuse me?” I asked. “Is this train headed to Calico?”
The young man jumped up startled.
“What in tar nation is that?!!” Said the young man pointing at Bigfoot. He quickly hopped atop the coal tender grabbing a shovel in hand prepared to attack.
“Woah! Hold on buddy. That’s just Bigfoot.” I replied hands in the air trying my best to calm the young man. “He might look a little intimidating at first but he’s actually harmless... He’s nice.”
The young man looked us up and down. Bigfoot had Dodo in his arms and was covering the bird to protect it.
“See...” I said to the young man pointing at Bigfoot whom looked terrified. “He’s more afraid of you than you are of him. The young man dropped the shovel climbing back down from the tender then redirected his attention to me. He looked me up and down, showing interest in my attire.
“Are you an Engineer?” He asked.
“I don’t know.... I don’t think so.” I replied. “My names Michael.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Said the young man.
“I’ve lost most of my memory.” I replied. “I’m still trying to put my mind back together again.”
“Well, golly!” He yelped. “You sure do dress like one!”
I looked at my attire and his, he was wearing pretty much everything I was. Overalls, leather gloves, a flannel long sleeved shirt and a similar hat.
“My names Jeff.” He said shaking my hand. “How can I help you?”
“We need ride to cowboy town.” Said Bigfoot.
“Oh my goodness!” Jeff astoundingly replied. “It talks too?”
“Yes.” Bigfoot replied. “I talk. So do Dodo.” Bigfoot squeezed on Dodo and it let out a loud squawk. “See.” said bigfoot. “Dodo talk.”
I asked Jeff if he could give us a ride into Calico but he said that he’d need an Engineer to throttle the train. That he was only allowed to watch the fire. Proclaiming that it took two people to move a locomotive. One to give it fuel and water, keeping it hot and the other to make it move. I asked him where the Engineer was, he told me that there was a large storm last night, and the Engineer, his brother, had disappeared after that. Saying they had gotten a letter from the pony express earlier yesterday about the storm. He showed me. It was the same letter from Montezuma that Coast and I had received from the pony express.
“That evil Nefarious must have taken him.” Said Jeff. “If I ever meet him I’m gonna give him my fist!”
“That’s why we’re headed to Calico!” I replied. “I need to find Montezuma and help him stop Nefarious, so we can bring back the people he’s taken.”
“You can bring my brother back???” Jeff shouted.
“That’s what I’ve been told.”
“Then we need to get you to Calico!” He declared. “.... But this Locomotive ain’t going anywhere without someone to drive it.”
“...Could you teach me?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” Jeff sighed. “It takes months of training in order for anyone to make this thing move. But I guess we have no choice, we need to at least try.”
Jeff pointed out the train throttle to me and as soon as I touched it I could remember all the names of every part of the locomotive and how to make it work! I touched each part calling out their names one by one.
“I guess you are an Engineer!” Jeff cheered.
“It’s so strange." I said. “I know how it works. Like I’ve used it before, I think I remember using it!”
“Maybe you Train man in other world?” Bigfoot asked.
“Maybe.” I replied.
Jeff was shocked when he heard that. Asking me lots of questions about the other world. Questions that I couldn’t answer.
“Is this monster from the other world too?” He added.
“I no monster!” Bigfoot snapped.
“Okay, okay.” Replied Jeff. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.... I’ve just never seen anything like you before. I’m sorry okay?”
“.... Okay.” Bigfoot sighed. “…But I no monster.”
I could tell that Bigfoot had been called that before. He didn’t like being called a monster. But by his looks most people would think that. Bigfoot was far from being a monster he was one of the sweetest people, or should I say creatures that I had ever met. It must be hard to be judged by your looks before someone has even met you.
I found myself operating the Locomotive almost effortlessly. Jeff was very impressed. We’d be headed to calico in no time, but first we had to make a stop along the way.
I got that locomotive moving pretty good. Jeff was great at firing the locomotive. We stopped in a small town along the way, coupling the locomotive to a train that passengers had begun to board. We didn’t want to stop but we had to take on more water and fuel anyway.
“Train too hot." Bigfoot complained. “Me and Dodo ride in back." The two of them hopped off the locomotive and sat in the first train car instead.
Soon enough the conductor came out of the depot stomping towards us.
“Twelve hours!” He shouted. “How in the world are you twelve hours late??”
Jeff hopped down from the locomotive and took the conductor aside whispering to him as to not discourage the passengers boarding the train. I don’t know exactly what was said but the conductor’s mood changed almost immediately from angry to sympathetic. Jeff hopped back up on the train.
“What were you two talking about?” I asked.
“About the storm and what happened to my brother, we agreed to keep quiet about it for now, don’t want to upset the passengers.”
The train continued to board. It was a small town but there were hundreds of people all heading to Calico just like us.
“All aboard!” The conductor bellowed. I gave out two whistles from the locomotive then I grabbed ahold of the throttle, steam sprayed out its cylinders and dark smoke chuffed out of the smoke stack. Slowly the entire train began to move… We were now on our way.
“This calico must be a pretty popular place.” I said. “There’s a lot of people headed there.”
“Sure is.” Jeff replied. “There’s a lot to do in calico.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Well, anything you could ever need would be in Calico. There’s a saloon. A knife shop, a doctor, a dentist, a bank, there’s a courthouse, you can even get your dirty laundry done. Oh there’s even a theater.”
Jeff and his list went on and on.
“So where else does this train go to?” I said trying to change the subject.
“Well, we circle about half way through Boysenvale, through Calico and the outskirts of Calico, but nowhere else.”
“Why don’t you have a stop at the Boardwalk.” I replied. “Or anywhere else?”
“People don’t like venturing out." Jeff answered.
“Yeah I’ve heard that before." I agreed.
“But do you want to know what my dream is?” Jeff asked.
“What?”
“Someday I wish that this railroad could circle around all of Boysenvale. Make trips all over the known world. Take people to and from all over. But I doubt that will happen in my time.” He sighed.
“You never know!” I replied. “It could happen.”
“Yeah I guess so. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.”
Meanwhile, and what I didn’t know at the time, things were about to go awry on the rest of the train.
The conductor checked the tickets of the passengers that had boarded the train. He had a hole punch he used to mark their tickets. He walked his way through each rail car leaving a trail of circular hole punches behind.
Soon enough he had made his way through the entire train and everyone riding had been accounted for so he decided to wait in his small room at the front of the train where he could eat his lunch. Once inside he plopped down on a wooden chair, leaned back and opened a sack lunch. Inside he had a sandwich, crackers and an apple waiting for him.
“Hello.” Said Bigfoot startling the conductor, whom hadn’t noticed him sitting in the chair beside. Bigfoot was much too big for the chair and he’d rather stand, but he didn’t want to lean over the whole time on account of his massive size.
The conductor jumped up out of his chair screaming at the top of his lungs. This startled Dodo, and Dodo began to attack the conductors’ legs. Bigfoot grabbed the conductor covering his mouth to hush him. His hand was so large it almost fit around the conductor’s entire head. He scolded Dodo and Dodo stopped attacking the poor conductor.
“You no scream Mr. conductor man.” Said Bigfoot. “You scaring Dodo.”
The conductor finally calmed down and nodded, and Bigfoot slowly let him go.
“Please don’t eat me.” The conductor stuttered.
“I no eat people.” Said Bigfoot. “Why everyone think I eat people?”
“Well....what do you want then?”
“We want ride to cowboy town.” Bigfoot replied. “Train boy Jeff say we can go.”
The conductor finally calmed down enough to sit back down.
“Okay.” He replied. “But you two need to keep out of sight. I don’t want you scaring the other passengers.”
“No, no.” Bigfoot agreed. “We no want scare no one.”
“okay… good!” He replied, then opened up his sack lunch.
Bigfoot and Dodo both noticed the conductors lunch. Dodo squawked and Bigfoots stomach growled.
“Now what do you want?” Asked the Conductor.
“You like share?” Asked Bigfoot.
“…Fine.” The Conductor replied handing over his lunch.
While this was happening two bandits masked their faces in bandanas had hopped aboard the last car of the train.
“Alright everybody!” Said one of the bandits as he entered the first car. “Hands up! This is a stick up.”
The two held the passengers at gun point. Each had a loot bag and were grabbing anything they could find, watches, rings, jewelry, but most of all they were searching for gold.
The two bandits made their way through to the next rail car and harassed those passengers also. Suddenly one of the little girls they had just robbed began to cry. Astonishing enough the bandits began to feel bad and one searched through his loot bag and pulled out a necklace he had just taken from her. Trying to hand it back to her.
“It’s okay.” Said the bandit. “We aren’t gonna hurt no one unless someone tries to hurt us first.... okay?”
The little girl was still terrified and refused to take the necklace, instead she pressed her face into her mother’s dress trying to hide.
“You know… I have a daughter.” Said the Bandit. “…She’s around your age, but she is so skinny and so sickly that I worry she might die, because she hasn’t eaten anything in days. We haven’t had any money… but now that you nice people are giving us your things, I’ll be able to buy food to feed her and take her to the doctor so she can get medicine, that way she won’t be sick no more...We’re not bad men, we’ve just hit a long string of bad luck.”
“Come on Billy!” The other bandit mistakenly blurted out.
“Bobby! What did I tell you about saying names?” Billy the bandit replied.
“Oh yeah… Sorry!” Bobby apologized. “But we need to hurry before this train gets to Calico, I’m not dealing with the sheriff today!”
“I’m just going to leave this here for you.” Said Billy placing the necklace beside the little girl. Still she buried her face in her mother’s dress sitting beside.
As the bandits entered the next car one of their boot spurs caught on one of the seats and the bandit fell to the floor. He accidentally pulled the trigger and a loud blast came from his revolver. The bullet hit a cast iron heater in the corner before ricocheting off then blasting through a window. The bandit leaped back up to his feet before any of the passengers could get the jump on him.
Bigfoot and the conductor heard all the commotion happening. The conductor opened the door slightly to take a peek at the rest of the train.
“Bandits!” He whispered.
“Bandits?” Replied Bigfoot.
“Yes, train robbers.” The conductor added. “Try to keep quiet or they’ll find us for sure.”
Bigfoot took a peek too. He could see and hear the two bandits harassing the poor passengers at gun point. There and then an anger grew inside of Bigfoot.
“They not so big.” He growled. “I take care of them.”
“Don’t be silly, they have guns.”
“That okay. I take care of them. They no know what hit them.”
The bandits made their way to the front of the coach reaching the conductors small room. They kicked the doors in and waiting for them was Bigfoot. The conductor quickly took the guns out of their hands while the two were petrified at the sight of this creature of extreme stature. Bigfoot slammed the two Bandits together which made a loud crack like sound, as if someone had taken two large pieces of wood and slapped them together. The force of both of their heads colliding knocked the two unconscious.
It took a while before the bandits woke but as soon as they did the conductor gave them a taste of their own medicine holding the two bandits at gun point forcing them to stand up and walk the entire train handing the passengers belongings back from their loot bags.
Couldn’t let the two get away, so after all was said and done they tied the two bandits up binding their hands behind their backs and gaging the two with the bandannas they had used as masks.
The passengers were amazed that Bigfoot, this creature, had decided to help them. surprisingly enough, he was able to befriend a few of the passengers… the children mostly.