Chapter 1

I hiked in the Cascade mountains of Washington state. I hiked alone which I knew wasn't recommended but I was an accomplished hiker. I hiked alone because I was a loner.

I didn't intend to grow up a loner but it just happened. I think it started when my parents divorced when I was nine. I shut down and clammed up. I never had the nerve to ask Kim, the cute girl in school, out. I was easily intimidated by other kids so I became a target to bullies.

The trail flattened out which eased the strain on my legs. I was 32 and in good shape but my hikes tired me out. Like most people who exercised, I loved the feel I got, almost like a rush, from exercising.

I did grow out of my shell some. I survived college living in close proximity to other students in a dorm. I even survived a required speech class. I dated a couple of times in college. Two times. That was it. I was too nervous and awkward so when I asked the girls to go out a second time, they would let me down by saying something like, "You're a great guy, Travis, but we just didn't hit it off. Let's just be friends." Friends! Bah! I didn't want just a friend. I wanted a girlfriend.

I had hiked this trail several times. It was so isolated and the scenery was so spectacular. I was away from the world and all the people in it. It temporarily pushed down my ever present feeling of loneliness that I felt even when I was in the midst of people. I actually felt lonelier when I was with people than when I was alone.

I graduated as an accounting major and found a decent paying job. I was immediately inserted into the middle class. I worked primarily with numbers so it was the perfect job to hide away from others.

There was that day when I meet Amanda. She lived in the same apartment complex I did. We hit it off and right away I thought she would forever be the one for me. She was absolutely gorgeous and with Amanda I finally lost my virginity at the age of 25. I loved being with Amanda and felt so special to be with a girl like her but her old boyfriend resurfaced and I become a footnote in her life. It hurt so much. To be that close to someone and have it ripped away. The pain was unbearable. I didn't want to feel that again. I closed back up in my shell.

I ducked under a low hanging branch. The large circular trail that I had mapped out would soon decline and turn back toward my starting point.

I never got back out of my shell after Amanda. I said the bare minimum to my coworkers. I never went to bars or any other places to meet people. I was alone. Deep inside, I wished things were different. What if my parents hadn't divorced? What if I had the guts to ask Kim out when I was in high school? What if Amanda's boyfriend hadn't come back?

I walked faster to get those thoughts out of my head. I didn't want to feel sad. The reason I was out here was to clear my head and feeling nothing from my life. I could temporarily block out the world when I was up here in the mountains.

"Ahhh-ooooh!"

I stopped in my tracks. That was the weirdest moaning sound. I heard and saw animals now and then but overall they stayed clear of me. Animals wanted nothing to do with me and I wanted nothing to do with them. I listened intently for a minute but heard nothing. I continued on.

"Owww-ahhh!"

What in the world was that? I hesitantly went off my trail to see if I could spot the source of the sound but also wanting to avoid being seen in case it was a large dangerous animal.

"Owwww-ohhhh!"

The sound was closer. I pushed through a thicket of tree branches.

"Oh!" I couldn't help but softly utter.

A large furry creature looked directly in my eyes.

I turned to run.

"He-help!" it called out.

I stopped.

"Please help," it said.

I slowly approached. This hairy bipedal creature couldn't be what it looked like. It just couldn't.

"I'm stuck," it said. The creature's right foot was in a hole in the ground and its torso was stuck underneath bushes. "It's kind of embarrassing."

I nervously advanced. Its body fell in such a way that he couldn't get his foot out. Its voice sound male so I guess I could call it "he" instead of "it".

"What are you?"

"I'm what you call Bigfoot," he said.

"Bigfoot is a monster truck."

The creature shook his head and mumbled, "Hick."

"I heard that!" I didn't think he was in a position to make fun of someone who could aide him.

"Please help me."

"How do I know you won't eat me once I rescue you?"

"Do these teeth look like they bite very well?" He smiled.

I wasn't comforted. "They certainly do!"

Bigfoot rolled his eyes. "What I wouldn't give for a different set of choppers so I could really sink my teeth into a good cheeseburger."

"Cheeseburger?"

"What's wrong with that? You like them, don't you?"

"Yes, but..."

"You don't think I can get to this size from nuts and berries, do you?"

"No," I lied. Bears got that big on nuts and berries.

"So are you going to help me or do I have to continue moaning and hope someone smarter than you will happen along before I die? I promise not to eat you."

I moved next to his trapped foot.

"Right away," he said.

"What?" I shouted.

"It's a joke."

"Not funny!"

"I get the one human that doesn't have a sense of humor. Why didn't I listen to my mother and stay on the home planet?"

"You're an alien?" I said.

"If you free my foot, I will tell you everything you need to know about me and my friends."

"You're not the only bigfoot?"

"You think I'm going to come out here alone? There's about twenty of us. Me and Brenda are an item."

"Brenda?"

"Yes."

"But ... oh, never mind. I'll get your foot out."

I had a shovel in my backpack. I started to dig around his foot.

"So what's your name?" he asked.

"Travis ... Travis Taylor."

"Thank you, Travis."

"Sure."

"I'll explain things once I'm free and I'll take you to meet my friends and I'll make this worth your while by granting you three wishes. My name is Bob by the way."

I stopped digging when I heard his name.

"Bob?" I said.

"I don't have a fancy name like Travis."

"Your name is Bob?"

"Would you keep digging?"

This felt like a dream.

I continued to dig until finally he could pull his foot out. He slid out from under the bushes and stood. He was big. I took a nervous step back.

"Thank you, Travis."

He was faster than I expected and before I knew it, I was wrapped up in his arms in a big hug.

"Sure ... Bob," I gasped out, feeling like I was about to be crushed.

He let me go. "Follow me. I'll introduce you to the gang."

So here I was walking behind Bigfoot, a bigfoot named Bob, in the Cascades.

"Ow!" I said.

"Why did you pinch yourself?" he asked.

"Never mind."

We walked for about thirty minutes before I thought about the fact that I was well off my normal path. I took out my GPS.

Bob said, "They don't work this close to the mountain."

"Which one?"

"Mount Everest."

"Mount Everest!"

"You really are a humor deficient human."

"Well if you actually said something funny."

"You may be a stick-in-the-mud, hick, but I like you since you helped me."

"You said something about wishes. What did you mean by that?"

"In due time. I have to get approval from the boss but since I'm the boss, they're shouldn't be a problem."

"So you're the number one bigfoot?"

"That's me. Bob the biggest bigfoot on Earth. We don't call ourselves bigfoot, of course. Here we are."

I didn't know where "here" was but Bob pushed some tree and bush branches away and we walked through. I came face to face with rocks and the mountain went nearly straight up at this location.

Bob put his hand on the center rock and the rocks disappeared before my eyes. Bob entered and I slowly walked in looking carefully at where the rocks once were. I passed through and the opening closed up behind me. The entrance was black from this side except for a lighted sign that had letters in some strange script and also said "Exit".

"What does that say?" I asked.

"Exit."

"No, the other lettering."

"Exit. Some bureaucratic idiot thought we should have "exit" written in the native language of the area we resided in. Humans aren't supposed to be in here."

"A human is in here now," I said, trying to make Bob see that the "idiot" was right.

"You can't get out without one of us opening the door."

"Oh." Okay, he had a point. Knowing where the exit was but not having the ability to get out definitely defeated the purpose.

We walked on and soon entered a massive computer-like room with about ten other bigfoots.

"Bob," said a female. "You're alive."

"Thanks to this guy." He pointed at me.

Each bigfoot either hugged Bob or shook his hands. I thought more attention would be put toward me since I was the human in their secret "cave".

"So what happened?" a male asked after all the greetings.

"It's so embarrassing!"

"Then you for sure have to tell us!" someone said.

"I stepped into a hole and fell forward entangling myself in undergrowth. I couldn't get out. This is Travis. He's my Androcles."

"Andrew who?" I asked.

"Androcles. Don't you know your mythology?"

"Not that one."

"There's this lion with a thorn in his paw and Androcles pulls it out. Later on, the lion returns the favor by not eating Androcles when he's thrown to the lion."

There was that eating theme again. I didn't like it.

"So," Bob said to the others, "I'm going to pay back Travis and let him pick three places he can change his life."

"Money," I said. "I want lots of money."

"It doesn't work that way," Bob said. "You hungry? Thirsty?"

"I'm a little hungry."

"How about some zergle?"

"What's that?"

"It a manufactured food. It tastes like bear colon. It's delicious!"

I rolled my eyes. Bob still thought he was funny.

"Brandy?" Bob said. "Will you take Travis to get something to eat?" He turned to me. "Go rest and then I'll talk to you about your three wishes."

"Come this way," Brandy said in a sexy voice.

I couldn't tell who said that.

One bigfoot stepped forward and she looked like all the other bigfoots...

"It's nice to see a human again," she said as we walked. "We haven't had contact since we were on the 'Six Million Dollar Man'."

"The TV show?"

"Did you ever watch it?"

"In reruns."

"You humans are so short-lived. We showed up on the TV set and they thought we were all in costume. They used us as recurring characters for several episodes. I got Lee Majors autograph. I have it framed on my wall over my bed."

"Ow!" I said.

"Why did you pinch yourself?"

"Never mind."

We entered the dining area apparently.

"Have a seat," Brandy said.

In a couple of minutes, she brought over a glass of water and a plate with what look liked yellow refried beans.

"Zergle," she said.

"Uh..." I said. There were no utensils.

"We use our hands for everything."

I scooped some up with my hand and put it in my mouth.

"Gaaaa!" It was hideously gross. I grabbed the water and drank furiously.

"Good, isn't it?" said the apparently most inobservant bigfoot ever.

"I'm sorry but I can't eat this."

"You don't like it?" she said shocked.

"It ... it tastes like..."

"Bear colon."

Gaaaaa!

"Could we go back to Bob so we can talk about these three wishes then I can go home?"

"Sure but the wishes will take longer than a couple of hours. Not here but there and you will want to take time to decide what to wish after each wish is fulfilled since it changes things We haven't done this before. I should let Bob tell you everything. He's your lion."

I sat in a chair in a room that I guess was Bob's office since he was head honcho, commander-in-chief, the big bigfoot.

"Three wishes," Bob said with a smile or the best a bigfoot could muster a smile. "You get to choose three times in your life and go back and relive them."

"Relive them?"

"Yes and change them for the better if you want. Or the worse but I can't imagine you wanting to do that." He chuckled.

"So my three wishes are sending me back in time to live a part of my life again?" This was incredulous.

"Yes. You'll have one week per wish. You go back with all your current memories intact and you can use them to alter the outcome of your life so that when you return to the present, your life is improved."

"Time travel? This is for real?"

"It is."

"But you've never done it before so how do you know..."

"With humans. A couple of us have gone back without altering human events. The worse that's ever happened was some guy got grainy footage of one of us running in the forest."

"What about the abominable snowman? Is he one of you?"

"Abominable snowman? Don't be stupid. Do you believe in Santa Claus too?"

"I didn't believe in you until a few hours ago."

"Good point. You'll want to think about this seriously so I want you to sleep on it. You don't have to know all three wishes right now because your first wish could change what you do with your other wishes. Let me know when you've figure out your first wish."

I think I knew what my first wish was but Bob was right. I should think about it. I was still somewhat in a state of shock so I needed to consider this seriously.

I had dinner with the bigfoots, politely declined the zergle, and ate only nuts and berries. After dinner I observed the bigfoots working in their computer room or control room or whatever it was and by the time Brandy escorted me to sleeping quarters I still didn't have the slightest clue what they were doing in the room.

The bed was a large woven straw-like mat on the floor with a pillow. There were no covers or blankets but I wasn't hot or cold. The temperature was regulated though I expected it to be cold considering how furry a bigfoot was.

I pondered what wishes I wanted and could come up with no other place to start than my original thought.

I fell asleep and slept surprisingly sound.

"So Travis," said Bob the next morning in his office. "Have you decided on your first moment in time?"

"I have," I confirmed.

"And what is it?"

"March 27th" and I gave him the year also.

"And what event are you trying to change?"

"It's the day my mom returned home early and discovered my dad screwing his secretary in their bed. It led to their divorce."

"I see and how old will you be?"

I mentally counted back to make sure. "Nine."

"You will have all the memories and experiences and knowledge you have now when you return."

That's what I was counting on. I was going to stop Dad from doing his secretary.

Bob said, "You will wake up on the morning of March 27th. You will be the first human ever to go back. It might take up to thirty minutes to get your bearings and sometimes there are odd gaps in your memories. We haven't resolved all problems yet."

"Okay."

He clapped his massive paws together. "So are you ready?"

"Yes." I was more than ready.

"One week. If you try to stay awake to go past the time, the system will force you asleep."

"I just need today."

"You still will be there the whole week."

"Sure." It was going to be really weird attending third grade as essentially an adult.

"Okay," Bob said. "Follow me."

There was an armed guard in front of a doorway. I hadn't seen any of the bigfoots armed before.

"Hi Bill," greeted Bob. "How's it hanging?"

"Great," Bill the Guard answered. "Brianna thinks she's pregnant."

"Then it's hanging really great!"

"Sure is!"

Bob put a hand on the door and Bill did the same. The door slid into the wall. I followed Bob through.

The room reminded me of a hospital laboratory. The room had a horizontal cylinder in the middle with all kinds of cables attached and multiple monitor screens.

"Come on over here," waved a bigfoot in the room. "Have a seat."

There was another bigfoot next to him and two more on the other side of the room.

I sat on the four-legged stool.

"Put your arm out and make a fist," he said.

He put a rubber tube around my upper arm. This was just like taking blood work.

The other bigfoot, a female, said, "This will just be a quick sting."

"Ow!" I reacted. Instead of drawing blood, they poked me with a needle and injected something into me.

"This causes you to come back after a week," she explained.

Not a problem. I had everything under control for my first day back in time.

"All done," the male said, spraying my arm.

"What's that for?"

"Stops the bleeding and disinfects."

"Okay." I stood and felt woozy. I grabbed the counter for support.

"The shot also makes you sleepy," Bob said.

The two lab tech bigfoots guided me to the cylinder. The other two fervently checked monitor screens and typed into keyboards The cylinder opened.

"Climb on in," a female cylinder operator said.

I was so drowsy that the lab techs had to help me in.

"Nightie, night," said Bob with that weird smile of his.

"Ni..." I said and didn't even hear the cylinder close around me.

I woke up and something was wrong. This wasn't my bedroom but it looked oddly familiar. I sat up in bed and discovered my body was different.

I was here! I was a nine years old again. I raced to the bathroom in my pajamas and stared in the mirror. It was me when I was nine! I was really here!

I returned to my room and made my bed. I then went through my dresser and decided on what to wear.

"I thought I heard you up."

I turned to the voice. It was my mom! She looked so young. It was so good to see her like this again.

"You made your bed," she said shocked.

I looked at my bed. Was that a big deal?

"I'm going to take a shower," I said.

"Without being told? You made your bed and you're taking a shower on your own. That's great!"

I obviously forgot what kids were like and that I was probably a normal irresponsible kid.

"I did it for you," I said then added, "Mom."

"That's sweet of you Travis. I like that."

"You're welcome." My voice sounded so weird. It was high pitched since I wasn't close to puberty yet.

"Don't take too long in the shower. Breakfast will be ready in a half hour. You remember I'm going out with some friends this morning."

I certainly remembered. Dad counted on Mom being gone. I was home but he distracted me by letting me play video games. I didn't even know Jenny was in the house until later when Mom came home earlier than expected and caught Dad screwing Jenny in their bed.