.....Did you see it!? did ya!?" The chubby, darkhaired boy stood in the sunlit clearing squinting up into the huge oak. Beside him, bending over to pluck a starthistle thorn out of his bare leg, was a much taller, fairhaired boy. Both boys were wearing red baseball caps and dressed the same; Baggy T-shirts, knee length shorts and hiking boots.

....."What did you see this time Riley, Bigfoot!?"

....."Don't be a cretenoid Curt! It was a badger as sure as I am standing here. It was right up there in our treehouse!" Riley waved his stubby arms in the air excitedly as he spoke. 

.....Curt's sharp, blue eyes got a wicked look in them as he grabbed Riley's cap and quickly rapped him alongside the head with it. As stubby little hands reached for it, it was just as quickly returned. " I hate it when you do that!" Riley whined.

.....Smugly, Curt said, Badger's do not, I repeat, do not come out in the daytime. they sleep during the day and come out to eat at night! Just like ...Bigfoot!

....."Cripes Curt! Would you cut out that bigfoot stuff. You and Codie keep talking like that and one of these days he's gonna show up around here! I saw a movie once ... " Riley was interrupted by a shout from behind them.

.....High in a nearby digger pine tree, Squirrel watched as the third boy walked out of the thicket and into the clearing to stand beside the other two boys. This boy was different in that he carried something on his back.

.....Codie was the oldest of the three boys by two months, exactly eleven years old. While Curt was the wiser of the three, Codie was a born leader, the captain of their little "Red Cap" brigade. Quite the prankster. He tied his long red hair in a neat ponytail, pulled straight back, away from a high forehead. His skin was so white, save for rust colored freckles, that it looked like alabaster. His rust colored eyes were like those of a cats, and appeared twice the size behind his thick glasses. Codie was about to play a humdinger of a prank on his two comrades. He'd had it planned for weeks, and everything was now in place. "Okay Redcaps! Let's secure the area. Curt! You take the left trail and Riley, the right." This was something they did each time they came to the treehouse. They would meet at the old oak's massive trunk.

.....Riley walked carefully along the trail near the canyon's edge. Where it narrowed, he had to duck under a manzanita bush. Something furry brushed against his face. It was a smelly patch of coarse, orange colored fur. Upon looking around the area he could see other similar patches of fur caught on the branches. Riley searched the dusty trail ahead and found a great big toe print there. Riley felt the blood drain from his head. At that moment his stomach lurched!

.....Squirrel had been watching from above. Curt had also found fur high up on a branch. He put it up to his nose. It smelled curiosly like dog fur. Looking around, he noticed more, and also some huge, fake looking footprints in the thick, red dust at his feet. It didn't take him long to figure out that Codie was up to his tricks again. The fur was obviosly from Codie's black canandian lab, Timber. Curt chuckled quietly to himself and continued on to the tree trunk. He'd play along with it. It would be worth it just to watch Riley blow a gasket.

.....Codie sat indian fashion high up in the treehouse. From his blue backpack he pulled out a large bag of unshelled peanuts, and a tape recorder. As he shelled a nut and popped it in his mouth, he turned on the tape recorded. the tape began wind and suddenly the air was filled with the roar of Jurassic Park's T-Rex. Codie rolled backwards, made a tight fist and while punching at the air yelled, "Yes!"

.....As the roar filled the air, Riley let out his own blood- curdling howl, which nearly equaled that of T-Rex. He then took off as fast as his stocky legs would go. They felt like they were made of rubber and he stumbled and nearly fell several times as branches tore at his t-shirt. It didn't take him long to reach the oak tree's base.

....."Nice touch!" said Curt as he began to run, making a good show of waving arms wildly in the air.

.....High up in the digger pine, Squirrel's fluffy, grey tail twitched in alarm as she thumped her foot wildly on a limb. She watched with her black beady eyes as the two boys noisily climbed up the ladder onto the treehouse where their comrade sat waiting...smugly.

.....Out of breath and wild eyed, Riley began to blurt out, " Bigfoot! Bigfoot! Down there! Fur and footprints. Did ya hear it!?" Riley's round head darted back and forth from one boy to the other. Something wasn't right.

.....Codie then burst out laughing while Curt, too, joined in. Riley stopped mumbling and just stared, mouth open wide. "I been whomped," was all he could say.

.....The shadows grew longer as light faded up in the treehouse where the Redcaps sat munching their peanuts. They chattered like a bunch of squirrels.

....."That was a great touch! Putting old Timber's fur in the brush like you did," Curt said to Codie. Then he added, "You didn't really fool me for a minute."

....."Yeah," added Riley between mouthfuls of shelled peanuts, "you didn't fool me either with all that stinky, orange- colored fur! Cripes, what did you do to it to make it stink so awful!?"

.....Codie suddenly looked strickened. "Wait a minute. You mean Timber's black fur!?

...."No, I saw orange colored fur!" Riley repeated.

.....Squirrel stopped her munching and listened as a mighty howl ripped through the canyon walls. Fuzzy, gray lips curled into an unmistakably sly smile as the rust-colored figure lumbered along in the canyon's depths.