6
"What exactly did she look like?" Jack was animated as Toshiko rushed to get a sketch going of the woman.
"Feckin dangerous!" Rhys spluttered as he glared at his wife "I said me and Annie should stay home. You were all 'no Rhys we are a family and we need to be together' well bullshit to that."
"Rhys. Focus. How tall was she?" Jack demanded slowly.
"Ah… yay high" Rhys held his hand over his head and Owen nodded.
"Seven to eight feet. They say the females are smaller but more dangerous. Especially with a cub" Owen said gleefully.
"That's what she called her kid. Her cub. Sounded right weird" Rhys pointed at him.
"Rhys. To me!" Jack glared around the roman and then asked "Describe her."
"Long messy hair that sort of covered her face like she hadn't brushed it in forever… like the girl form the Ring movie or something… dirty and clumpy, she had a huge bucket hat on that came down over her eyes but I saw them. They were black. And her hands… look" Rhys pulled his shirt up to show the massive imprint left from her slap.
"Fuck. Measure it…wait… camera and a photo with the measuring tape next to it... come on… Toshiko, place your hand inside it…" Owen was excited now. "Holly shit, here we are searching all over the great divide or whatever and you encounter one right here on the outskirts of town. Wow."
Rhys looked at Gwen with annoyance "She was real. Not some Big Foot… or… Middle Foot."
"Rhys… shush."
.
.
Ianto was standing in the foyer, in the middle of it, like he was at parade rest. His hands in the small of his back and that back solidly straight. Jack slowed as he came down the stairs to stare at the man who today wore midnight blue with a fleck here and there of silver like someone had sprinkled stardust on him. So handsome.
"tell me something Mister Jones" Jack said as he neared him. "Are you always so well put together?"
"Well, I have never had a part missing, if that's what you mean?" came the bland reply and Jack snorted with mirth.
"I wanted to talk to you about… ah. Right" Ianto's face changed to one of exasperation and Jack turned to find Gwen coming down the stairs with Anwen, the two of them laughing as they were so pleased with themselves and their matching outfits. "That little one is stepping on toes, she needs to be kept inside for a day or tow so the locals get over the idea of brandishing sticks at her like she's a poisonous snake."
"Did you just call my child a snake?" Gwen demanded.
"I am simply warning you that…"
"And I am warning you and your… your… hick friends that if anyone touches my child, there will be hell to pay!" she snarled in his face, Ianto not moving an inch as he stared her down.
"Christ Gwen, get out of his face" Rhys bellowed as he rushed across from the stairs to pull her back "Sorry about that mate. She's a bit of a mama bear with the little one."
"As are we" Ianto said with a frown "Lots of snakes around here, poisonous ones. Not to mention the possums in the garbage, the racoons with rabies and let's not forget the lynx and mountain lions. This time of year the other mama bears can also trump yours, no problem"
They all stared at him.
"See?" Rhys finally said angrily "I said we should'a stayed home. No nooooooo, god forbid me and Annie get some feckin peace and quiet. God forbid we might get takeaways without mummy taking the best choices first… horrible."
"I do not do that!" she whined as Jack turned his back on them to smile at Ianto and he went to speak when a hand was raised to silence him.
"You are guests here. Remember that."
Jack found himself nodding mutely, a feeling of… weirdness… like someone had just dunked him in cold water.
He did not like that feeling at all.
.
.
"Hi Doc" Jack said as he entered the old man's living room straight from the huge double doors that looked out over the mountain beyond. It had taken some sweet talking to get this interview and he was glad to be here now he smelt that strange funk he had smelt out in the playground after Rhys's encounter. Go those enhanced nostrils. "Can I call ya Doc?"
"Most do" the old man agreed, settling back into what was clearly his chair, some of the huge and battered sofas seemed as ancient as him and Jack resisted the urge to ask when his mother had purchased them. Instead he chose an armchair similar to the old man's.
"I was sent here…"
"I know why you're here" the old man snorted "you're pissing off the mountain folk."
"I that what you call them?" Jack asked as he found the chair easy to settle into.
"Well… they live on the mountain, ergo they are mountain folk" the Doc grinned "what do you want me to call them? Hicks?"
Jack laughed "I didn't mean… I mean…"
"Squaches" the old man cackled like it was a huge joke "Come on. Remember how they debunked the crop circles as just two brothers with lengths of wood and ropes? Did you think it was any different with that footprint ya fond? You don't have to tell me… you will have found one by now."
"A hoax." Jack sat back and let his hand rub the arm of the chair while he considered things "Low tourist numbers took a jump after the sightings right? This is all an elaborate scheme to get money flowing into the local economy?"
"That's right. Coffee?" the old man rose to wander into the kitchen as Jack covertly plucked the long black hairs he had rubbed from the arm of the chair while he was listening, managing to get more from the largest sofa next to him.
By the time the old man returned with coffee and some cake, those hairs were in Jack's pocket in the specimen bag.
He was not ready to give up yet.