village were afraid wolves might steal their sheep."
"Wolves can't eat sheep, they'd get hairballs."
"No, baby, wolves are like dogs. They wouldn't get hairballs."
"If I ate a sheep I'd get hairballs."
"No, you wouldn't eat the wool. But back to the boy, he watched the sheep at night and nothing happened. The sheep slept, no wolves came, and he got bored. So one night he yelled 'wolf' even though there wasn't one there."
"Did he get in trouble?"
"Yes but not right away. All the villagers woke up and ran to the field, but there was no wolf. Well, the next night he did the same thing."
"Why?"
"I think he was lonely and wanted the other people to think he was doing a good job. So he yelled 'wolf' again and the people came out to see, but not everyone."
"You said he cried wolf."
"He did."
"He's not crying he's yelling."
"For this story," Tom said, "it's the same thing. So two nights in a row the boy cried wolf but there wasn't one there. On the third night there really was a wolf."
"Were the three little pigs there?"
"No, they were in the barn. So the boy yelled 'wolf' and nobody came. The wolf caught one of the sheep and the boy yelled 'wolf' again but nobody came. The wolf ate the sheep and the boy yelled 'wolf' again but nobody came."
"Why not?"
"Nobody believed him. So when you say you see a racoon and there isn't one there, people might not believe you after a while."
"But there was one, with spider legs. A coonspider."
"Alexis, it's one thing to tell a story when everyone knows it's fake, but if you say it's real and it's not that's lying."
"But I saw it."
"Okay, baby, we'll look harder for it the next time we're here."
"You don't believe me." Alexis pouted and only answered Tom with a yes, no, or grunt until the reached the car. Tom had seen her react like that when she didn't like something or didn't get her way. He tried to give her space and time, to work things through on her own, but he hoped this was just a phase she was going through. He did not want this trait of silence to carryover to her teenage years.
The next week they went to the lake for their Wednesday hike. They stopped at the bridge and watched the ducks, then hiked to the ampitheatre and around the firepit.
When they were close to the peninsula, Tom said, "I promise I will watch for racoons."
"It's okay, Daddy, maybe they're like unicorns."
"What do you mean?"
"Grownups can't see unicorns," Alexis said like it was a fact he would just have to accept.
And he did accept it, because you can't argue with a five year old's logic when they claim only kids can do or see something. They walked the trail to the end of the peninsula. Alexis watched the fish. A bullfrog croaked to its own tempo. A few little bugs and bees flew between flowers.
After a few minutes a red dragonfly landed on a reed at the edge of the lake. Tom had never seen a red dragonfly. It remained there, balanced on the top of the reed.
"Alexis," Tom whispered. "Come here and take a look at this." He waited for her to come over, then pointed over her shoulder at the dragonfly.
"Wow, what is it?"
"A dragonfly."
"It's so red." Alexis stepped forward to the edge of the water and looked down. She leaned forward and stepped out toward an underwater rock.
Tom grabbed her shoulders. "No, baby, I don't want you to fall in." Relieved that she listened, Tom watched the red dragonfly for a few more minutes until it flew away. Tom realized he didn't hear the bullfrog anymore. He had been so enamored with the red dragonfly that he did not know when the bullfrog had gone silent.
The red dragonfly returned, landed on a different reed, and remained motionless again. Alexis watched the red dragonfly though it did not move. Minutes passed and Tom felt uneasy. He did not know if dragonflies sat still for minutes on end, and he knew of no red dragonflies. But when he thought to take a picture of it, the dragonfly flew away.
"Aw," Alexis said. "It flew away."
"Come on, baby, let's go."
"I wanted to take it home."
"I know," he nudged her shoulder and guided her toward the trail. "But where would we keep him?"
"He's a dragonfly, he can fly around the house."
"I think the cats would eat him."
"Not if they can't catch him."
They laughed and continued along the trail. Tom looked at the blue cylinder hanging from the tree. It looked like it had not moved at all since the previous week. Not even a spin in the breeze.
"Daddy," Alexis tugged on his hand and stopped.
"What, baby?"
"Coonspider." She pointed along the trail.
Tom looked ahead. In front of them, near the bench on the peninsula, was a racoon. It was between them and the only way off of the peninsula. Though not large, it was a wild animal, and it stared at them.
"It's just a racoon," Tom said.
"Un uhn." Alexis shook her head.
The racoon stood on its hind legs, and its other legs appeared from underneath its belly. Only four more legs, its front and back legs were racoon legs, but the spider legs were black. Black and hairy like a tarantula. It stared at them with soulless eyes and bared its fangs.
"Daddy."
"Don't worry we'll be okay."
The coonspider took a slow, deliberate step toward them. Then another. The spider legs made it wide enough to block the trail. It hissed at them.
"I want a pesagis."
Tom understood what she meant, the pegasus could fly. "Get on my back, baby, it's time for a piggyback ride." He knelt on one knee and helped her onto his back. "You hold on tight now, right?"
"Uhuh."
"I'll run and jump right over it then keep on running to the car. You don't let go."
"Hurry."
Tom stood. The coonspider widened its stance and lowered a little, but stretched its front raccoon arms and paws toward him. As crazy as the thought it seemed to him, Tom thought of a football linebacker before the start of a play. But this play was not for a ball, this play was for him and Alexis. Tom stepped forward to run and saw another coonspider farther along the path behind the first one. He thought he could jump over one, but the second would see it happen. Maybe even expect him to do it again.
The first one chitted a rapid clicking noise.
Tom heard a response chitter behind him. Alexis shrieked. There was a third one that had snuck up on them from behind. It was the biggest raccoon Tom had ever seen.
The third coonspider grabbed Tom's leg and bit. It felt like a searing heat flashed in his leg. Tom jumped and screamed. The coonspider fell off, tore a chunk of Tom's calf with it. Tom almost fell from the extra weight of Alexis on his back. But it was that extra weight, the reminder that if he fell the coonspiders would pounce, that helped him remain upright. Despite the pain, he kicked the one that had bitten him. His foot slammed underneath its jaw. Little bits of blood and flesh sprayed out of the coonspider's mouth, and Tom realized the flesh he saw was his own.
The kick lifted the coonspider into the air. It flipped over and landed on its back. The other two chittered with a furious pace. The clicks drowned all other sounds except Alexis's screams.
Hobbled by the missing chunk of muscle from his leg, Tom ran as fast as he could in the only clear direction he could go on the trail. Out to the end of the peninsula. He looked over his shoulder. The two coonspiders were faster than him, getting closer. Tom stopped at the edge of the lake and looked at the shore on the other side. He knew he could swim to the other shore.
"Daddy," Alexis screamed.
The chitter of the coonspiders approached.
"Can you swim across the lake?"
Alexis tried to answer but was not coherent through her cries. Tom glanced about, frantic for another option, and saw the sandbar island. Tom ran toward the stepping stones. The sandbar island was closer to the o
ther shore. If the coonspiders swam slower than him, he could get to the other side even if he had to pull Alexis along with him. He bounded into the water, onto the stepping stones.
The murky lake water soaked into his leg wound. It quenched the fire that lingered from the bite, but when he emerged from the water the wound itched. He wanted to scratch the hole, press on it, punch it if he had to just to make the feeling stop, but he could not. Not in front of Alexis. He had to remain calm and strong.
Tom looked around, hoped there were no coonspiders already waiting on the sandbar, but he saw none. He looked to the end of the peninsula. The three coonspiders were there, staring at him. The one he had kicked dripped blood from its mouth, its lower jaw hung at an odd angle.
Jawbreaker, Tom thought. That's your name now. He felt a boost of confidence upon seeing the coonspider hurt.
Jawbreaker stepped into the water, and Tom felt his newfound confidence melt away. The coonspider pulled back and shook the water from his leg. One of the other coonspiders pushed Jawbreaker away from the water's edge and took two steps into the water. It turned back when the water became deep enough to touch the fur on its belly. Jawbreaker turned and walked to the trail, disappeared behind the trees.
"They can't swim," Tom said.
Alexis's cries continued. Tom hoped to calm her and tried to put her down so he could talk to her face to face. "Baby, please. We're safe here. They can't swim."
She would not budge and continued to cry.
"Alexis, please. Let go and get down. We're safe here."
"No we're not."
"There's no coonspiders on the island."
"It's not an island."
"Of course it is, look at all the water around us." Tom turned a little, careful not to lean on his bitten leg too hard. There was