The girls all climbed into the wagon and chattered excitedly as they sat down in the loose piles of hay.

            “Have fun!” called Mrs. Carlson as Mr. Luigi clicked his cheek and the horses and wagon slowly started off.

            The wagon creaked along with the soft thumping of the horse’s hooves as they rolled along a dirt road.  Mr. Luigi whistled a happy tune and the girls continued to talk and also tried to see if they could make out anything beyond the lantern light.  But the trees around them were dark and still.  The moonlight offered a little light and thin clouds were now moving across the sky to cover the full yellow moon.

            “It sure is dark and quiet out here,” said Casey.

            “Where do you think we are?” asked Hailey.

            Candace looked around.  “We shouldn’t be too far from home.  We didn’t drive very long.”

            “It seemed like we drove maybe fifteen minutes. We could be up near Sleeping Bear Dunes?” suggested Carrie.

            Suddenly a few twigs and branches snapped in the woods alongside the wagon.  One of the horses whinnied and snorted.  The girls all gasped.

            “What do you think that was?” asked Roxy nervously.

            “It must have been some animal we startled,” suggested Helen as she casually scooted closer to Casey.

            “We probably just disturbed a deer,” said Candace.

            The driver had stopped whistling and now started softly singing an old folk type melody that the girls didn’t recognize.

            Roxy whispered loudly as she pointed behind the wagon.  “Something’s following us?”

            “Where?” the others asked as they strained their eyes to see in the dark.

            “I don’t see anything,” said Casey.

            Jessica let out a small scream.  “I saw it! There just beyond the glow of the light.  It looked like a big person walking kind of hunched over.”

            Mr. Luigi turned around and questioned in his thick-tongued drawl. “What are you saying? You saw something?  People around here say they have seen something like a Bigfoot in these parts.  I was hunting last year and thought I saw it too.”

            “No way! You’re just trying to scare us,” said Trista trying to be brave.

            Even so the girls all huddled closer to the center of the wagon.  For a short time they didn’t hear or see anything and everyone started to breathe easier until a long, low moan came from the shadows behind the wagon.  Again a few branches snapped and crashed in the woods along one side of the wagon.

            “Mr. Luigi, could you go a little faster please? Maybe we can lose this animal that’s trailing us.” asked Carrie with a slight hint of worry in her voice.

            “He’s gone!” cried Jessica pointing to the front of the wagon.