Weak in Body, Strong in Mind and Spirit
Chapter 7: Finding Bitter Nightshade

Pamela and Kimberly awoke early for Little People. The sun was barely up. Puyallup and I spent the night waiting for them to arise.

“Madu, we’re leaving for Caroga Lake,” said Pamela.

“We’re going with you,” said Puyallup.

Pamela and Kimberly giggled. I swear to our Earth Mother, giggling is all they do. No one should be that happy.

“You won’t fit in the car,” said Kimberly.

“We must come to help and protect you,” said Puyallup. “First, we’re going to carry you out of here so you can travel quickly.”

“Pamela, can they come?” said Kimberly. “I can call Danny and he can bring us his truck.”

“But people would see them, because they’d have to ride in the back of the pickup, in the bed,” said Pamela.

Puyallup and I had no idea what they were talking about.

“Well, first you and I need to get to Caroga Lake to see where Bitter Nightshade is, and then we can decide,” said Pamela. “Madu, Puyallup, let’s go.”

Puyallup hoisted Kimberly onto his shoulders, and I did the same with Pamela. We took off at a run.

“Holy shit Pamela! We must be moving thirty miles an hour!” said Kimberly.

“Holy shit is right!” answered Pamela.

“We can run faster when the traveling is flat and easy,” said Puyallup. “We have too many boulders and logs to jump over here.”

As he said that, we both leaped over a large ledge.

“Crap, he had to jump ten feet high!” exclaimed Kimberly.

“I wouldn’t know,” said Pamela. “I closed my eyes a ways back.”

We quickly arrived at Pamela’s conveyance.

“Madu and Puyallup, if we can replace this Bitter Nightshade, we’ll come back for you,” said Pamela.

“No. We are coming with you,” said Puyallup with determination in his voice.”

“You can’t fit in the car!” said Kimberly.

“Conveyance, Puyallup,” I said.

“What is the way and we will follow,” he said.

“Well, you take Pinnacle Road here to the end. Go right, and follow that road to the end,” said Pamela. “Don’t turn onto any other roads. At the end, you take a left. You will see a large brown building on the right, just down the hill. It will be closed at this hour. We’ll meet you there.”

“Alright,” I said.

Pamela and Kimberly entered their conveyance. It turned around, and proceeded down the black conveyance trail. After a time, Puyallup and I heard Kimberly say to Pamela...

“Pam. How fast are we going?” asked Kimberly.

“Um... fifty miles and hour. Why?” answered Pamela.

“Madu and Puyallup are right behind us,” she said.

Pamela and Kimberly then giggled, and Puyallup and I shook our heads.

We arrived at the end of the Pinnacle Road trail and took a right. We saw another conveyance coming towards us.

“Madu, we need to hide!” shouted Puyallup.

“No, keep going!” I answered.

This conveyance passed us. As it did, I heard a small voice say “Mommy! Two Bigfoots are chasing that car!”

We followed Pamela’s conveyance to the end of that trail and turned left. The conveyance turned towards a large brown abode. Puyallup and I were breathing hard.

“I can’t believe this,” said Pamela. “You can run very fast.”

“We can actually run faster for short distances,” I answered. “But now I’m going to sit and catch my breath.”

Pamela was tapping on her light emitting device. She scowled at it and tapped some more.

“OK, I’ve got it. It actually grows around here, but it is more common around the Great Lakes,” said Pamela. “Kim, call Danny for the truck.”

Kimberly took Pamela’s device and tapped it several times.

“Danny? I need the truck. Would you please bring it to Vrooman’s?” she asked.

There was a pause.

“Because our two Sasquatch don’t fit in Pam’s car.”

Another pause.

“Just do it, OK? You can drive Pam’s car home. Oh, and bring two moving blankets,” said Kimberly.

“What are the moving blankets for?” asked Pamela.

“What are moving blankets?” asked Puyallup.

“I have an idea,” said Kim.

We all sat on the grass next to what Kimberly and Pamela called Vrooman’s. Puyallup and I laid down and napped. We were very tired. After a time, a gray conveyance approached. A Male Little Person emerged.

“Kim, what the hell is going on?” asked Danny. “What is this crap about Sasquatch? You know it’s all bullshit.”

“Danny, meet Madu and Puyallup,” said Kimberly, as we both stood up.

“Well I’ll be damned!” said Danny, very much taken aback. “Son. Of. A. Bitch.”

And then he just stood there and didn’t say another word. He looked frozen in place. Kimberly opened a portal on the conveyance and told us to climb in, which we did. She handed us two odd skins.

“Put these over your heads and around you,” said Kimberly, “So only your faces show.”

We did as instructed. Kimberly seemed much like Pamela. When she said things in a certain way, it wasn’t a good idea to ask questions.

“Pam, where are we going?” asked Kimberly.

“Head towards Watertown. Sackets Harbor. Bitter Nightshade grows around the Great Lakes,” said Pamela.

Kimberly’s conveyance took us all away. Soon, we were hurtling down a conveyance trail at great speed as wind made our odd skins flap, but Puyallup and I kept them held tightly around us.

“Madu?” asked Puyallup. “Have you ever ridden in one of these conveyance contraptions before?” he asked.

“No,” I answered.

“Holy shit,” said Puyallup.

“Holy shit is right,” I answered.

“I wonder what that means?” asked Puyallup.

“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully. “But it seems to be appropriate.”

Soon we slowed down and we stopped.

“Puyallup and Madu, stay absolutely still,” warned Pamela. “We have to get a toll ticket, and no, don’t ask what a toll ticket is. I don’t have the time to answer.”

OK then. One of those times when we don’t ask questions.

Kimberly took a little skin through a viewing portal that had lowered and the conveyance pulled away. Soon we were on a huge conveyance trail and traveling very fast. We were passing many other conveyances containing Little People. Some were very large like the big white box where David keeps his Wizard things on his property.

Many of these Little People in conveyances looked at Puyallup and me, especially the little Little Ones. One conveyance was along side of us hurtling at about the same speed.

“Madu?” asked Puyallup.

“What?” I answered.

“This little Little One over here pointed at me,” he said, “and then he stuck his tongue out at me and made a funny face. What do I do?”

“It must be a form of greeting,” I replied. “Stick your tongue out back at him.”

Puyallup did. The little Little One turned and said something to an adult, and then turned back and I watched as he stuck his tongue out at Puyallup again.

“I think I’m communicating with him,” said Puyallup, as he stuck his tongue out at the little Little One again.

This went on for a short time until Kimberly’s conveyance slowly pulled away from their conveyance. Soon, we slowed.

“Madu and Puyallup, we have to pay our toll,” said Pamela sternly. “Stay absolutely motionless. Don’t even blink an eye.”

When Pamela talks like that, don’t trifle with her.

Kimberly’s conveyance slowed as the conveyance lowered its viewing portal.

“That’s $4.75.” said a Little Person in a tiny, tiny abode.

As Kimberly was getting her barter ready, I heard this Little Person speak.

“What in the world do you have in the back of your truck?” she asked.

“A couple of Bigfoot,” said Kimberly.

“Well, they certainly look real,” said this Person. “Good job.”

Pamela and Kimberly giggled as the conveyance drove away.

In a short time, we were driving where there weren’t many Little People about.

“Here,” said Pamela. “Turn here.”

The conveyance slowed, obeying Pamela’s command. Soon we stopped at a place next to a huge body of water. It was the largest lake I had ever seen.

“Pamela, where are we?” I asked.

“Westcott Beach State Park, on Henderson Bay on Lake Ontario,” said Pamela, tersely.

I knew not to ask more questions. We all left the conveyance and Pamela walked over to us with her light emitting device. On it was a picture.

“This is Bitter Nightshade,” she said. “This is what we need to replace.”

Puyallup and I, and Kimberly, looked at Pamela’s device. We then spread out and started looking. It didn’t take long.

“Pam! Here!” shouted Kimberly. “Here’s a whole shit load of it!”

“How much is a shit load?” asked Puyallup.

Here it comes.... here it comes... Kimberly and Pamela giggled. There it is.

“Don’t touch it,” warned Pamela. “Put on gloves...”

She no longer got her words thought when Puyallup and I were pulling huge quantities of this vine away from where it grew. In minutes, we were done.

Kimberly was holding an odd looking dark green container.

“Just throw it in this garbage bag,” she said, which we did.

Soon we were in the back of the conveyance with this garbage bag container of Bitter Nightshade. We were on the huge conveyance trail again hurtling along at a breathtaking speed. Every conveyance we passed, Puyallup would stick his tongue out at the Little People inside. He enjoyed communicating with them and spreading good will.