...a true story...

Did I ever tell you the one about the skinwalker I saw? I know I probably have...but here it goes again. We were driving on a single lane highway, twisting through the cold, New Mexico night. Mike was driving, I was the passenger, and Dave was in the back. We were talking about what nights such as that inspire you to. I would periodically gaze out the side window, trying to make out the desert plants stretching on forever. On one of those looks, I saw a flash, though a very clear one, of a very tall creature, almost all black except for a white head. It's arms were so long that they reached the ground. It used them to lope along at an incredible pace - keeping up with the car. This was only maybe ten feet away from our car. I looked away, then back, and it was gone. I rushed to tell the others, but they just thought I was being dramatic, or letting the scenery take my imagination on a ride. When we stopped for the night, I quickly sketched out a little drawing of what I saw...
Months later (that was in March - now we are in September) at school we had a visiting artist who did these performances on stilts, stilts for both her legs and arms. She wore animal print material all over, and the stilts made her lope strangely. I saw her perform in the streets during the Westport Art Fair. I took pictures. It reminded me of what I saw...I told some people the story, but they thought I was strange.
A few more months go by and the pictures are developed. I took them over to my sister's to show her, plus tell her the story. She was wide eyed, then told me she teaches a story of Native American (Navajo I think) origin in which they talk about creatures similar to what I described, called Skinwalkers. Little kids in the Southwest will hear them on the roof-tops trying to get in. Actually, one of her friends who lived in New Mexico saw one too. I felt...relieved that someone believed me and that I had really seen what I had seen. I was also slightly freaked out, but not really.
I don't know what inspired me to write this today. The mood just caught me I guess.