The Sasquatch Escape (The Imaginary Veterinary) by Suzanne Selfors

sasquatch.
    Everyone started talking at once. “Henrietta? Where have you gone?” “Why can’t I see anything?” “Is this a dream?” “It’s not a dream. It’s fog.” “Henrietta, I can’t find you.” “This is pudding day, not fog day.” “Where am I?” “Henrietta, I love you!”
    “Ben!” Pearl called from the floor. “It’s clear down here.”
    Ben dropped to his knees. He had a perfect view down there because the fog bank floated about two feet off the ground. By pushing the kit along the floor, he managed to crawl to the exit. Pearl and the sasquatch were already outside by the time he got there.
    “Phew!” Ben said as the door closed behind him. “We almost got caught.”
    Ben thought Pearl might say something like, “Wow, that was really smart to use that fog bomb,” but she didn’t say anything. She stood, her neck craned, staring at the sky. The sasquatch towered next to her, its face also turned upward.
    Ben slowly rose to his feet. This time he didn’t wonder what sort of bird it was. This time he didn’t feel silly for thinking it was a dragon. It circled lazily, then dove behind some trees.
    “It’s going to the factory,” Pearl said.
    This was the first time Ben had seen the sasquatch standing at its full height. “How are we going to get it back to the factory without people seeing it?” he asked. “We don’t have another fog bomb.”
    “I’m not sure,” Pearl said. “It’s huge!”
    Ben didn’t know why, but he didn’t feel afraid of the gigantic beast. Maybe because it wasn’t growling at him. Or maybe because it wasn’t glaring at him. Or maybe because it was scratching one of its feetand whimpering. Then it scratched the other foot. It whimpered, then scratched some more. “Mr. Tabby said Dr. Woo was treating it for foot fungus,” Ben remembered. “It probably needs its medicine.”



That’s when a siren’s howl filled the air. The sasquatch’s hands flew to its ears as the howl grew louder. Ben peered around the side of the senior center. Fog leaked out the front door as a Buttonville Police Force car pulled up to the curb. A woman with dark glasses stepped out. “It’s your aunt Milly,” Ben said.
    “We need to get out of here.” Pearl looked up at the sasquatch. “We’re going to take you home,” she told it. “Do you—?”
    “Don’t ask it questions,” Ben reminded her.
    “Right.” She broke off another chocolate chunk. “We can avoid the streets and sidewalks by cutting through the forest.” She handed the chunk to the sasquatch. It popped the chunk into its mouth. “Let’s go.”

18

    S ometimes I ride my bike back here,” Pearl explained as she led the way down an overgrown trail. “This path will take us straight to the factory.”
    To Ben, a boy who had spent most of his life in the city and on the beach, the forest felt like an eerie place. The sun trickled through the leaves, casting weird shadows. Strange sounds rustled among the treetops. Dr. Woo’s guidebook had said that sasquatches live in the forest, and Ben could see why. If the sasquatch stood still, it wouldprobably look like a tree trunk and blend right in. But because it was following a girl who was feeding it chunks of chocolate, it didn’t blend in at all.
    “Go easy on the chocolate,” Ben told Pearl. “We can’t run out before we get there.”
    “I know, I know,” Pearl said as she handed the sasquatch another piece. The creature seemed perfectly happy stomping along, collecting the offerings. Ben was starting to get used to its nasty scent, the same way he’d gotten used to the scent of hamster droppings.
    “You know what I don’t understand?” Ben said. “If this thing lives in the Imaginary World, then how did it get here? And where, exactly, is the Imaginary World?”
    “When we meet Dr. Woo, let’s ask her,” Pearl said.
    “You think we’ll get to meet her?”
    “Sure. We’ve rescued the sasquatch. The least she can do is thank