Secrets 2: Looking Through Different Eyes

“Hi, Gramps.  What’s up?”  Devin asked as he answered his phone.  He put it on speaker so I could hear as well.

“I was calling to ask you a question.  My dad and I were thinking about going to next Saturday’s game between CSU and Colorado.” 

“Did you realize it’s an away game and it’s being played in Boulder?”

“Yes, we realize that, but it’s not a problem.”

“And did you see CSU’s first game and how badly they got beat by Washington State?”

“Yes, we saw that as well, but we still want to go to the game.  What we were wondering is if you can buy tickets for the game there, on your campus.”

“Yeah, we always have the option of purchasing the tickets for away games on campus, if we want to go to that game.”

“Ok, then would you and Mac like to go to the game with us?”

When Devin looked at me, I nodded.  “Yeah, we’ll do that with you.”

“Then buy tickets for the four of us and we’ll pick you up so we can all ride to the game together.  You can even ask a couple of your friends to join us, if you want.  Just use your credit card and then I’ll give you the cash when we pick you up.  Ok?”

“Yeah, I’m willing to do that.”

“Great!  It’s a night game, but we’ll still pick you up around noon.  Just eat a big breakfast, and then after we drive to Boulder we’ll eat a late lunch at one of the restaurants there.  After that we can check out some of the sights in Boulder before the game starts.  And once the game ends we’ll drive back to Fort Collins and spend the night at the house with you.”

“Ok, that sounds like a plan and we’ll see you on Saturday.”

As soon as Devin ended the call, he asked me a question.  “We told Barry we were going to watch the game with him and his friends, so what are we going to tell him now?”

“Gramps said we could invite a couple of our friends to go with us, so we’ll just tell Barry about the change in plans and ask them to join us.”

“Do you think they will?”

“I don’t know, so let’s drive over to his apartment tomorrow afternoon and find out.”

We had been feeling down due to the CSU loss until Gramps called, but now we were feeling better, seeing we had something to look forward to.  Maybe the team will be able to turn things around, and with this new upbeat feeling, we decided to race upstairs and make love. 

It was wonderful and we took our time and paid particular attention to satisfying each other.  Of course we always tried to do that, but this time we did an even better job at focusing in on each other’s needs.  And when we were done, the effects of the long day and taking care of each other had taken its toll.  We were totally tired out, so after we were done with our love making session, we merely got ready for bed and fell asleep. 

Fortunately, I’d remembered to set the alarm on my phone before we turned in the previous night, so when it went off I turned toward Devin and asked him a question. 

“Do you want to go to the dog park this morning or just sleep in a little longer?”

“I’ve slept long enough.  What about you?”

“I’ve had enough sleep as well, and I’m getting the feeling that you want to go to the dog park.”

“Yeah, I do.  Is that all right with you?”

“Of course.  In fact, it’s the reason I set the alarm for so early, so let’s get ready and go.”

As we started out, I consciously thought about the fact that I didn’t have to look for someplace to stop so Devin could undress and transition any longer.  In fact, it was kind of nice, so I merely set out for the dog park.  After I found a parking spot, I got out and attached the leash to his collar, and then we walked over to the gate and entered.  Preston and Bailey were already there and came over to greet us. 

“Welcome back,” Preston said as he held out a hand for me to shake.  “It’s been a long summer and we’ve missed you.” 

“It certainly appears that Bailey has,” I joked, because she was jumping up and down as she moved around Bear. 

“She’s actually been quite moody until now,” he said as he watched her begin to settle down and sniff Bear. 

“We came here Saturday before the football game, but we didn’t see you or Bailey.”

“Yes, on Saturday I’d agreed to help one of my colleagues lay a carpet in his living room, because the old one was pretty threadbare, but we were here yesterday.”

“Yesterday I slept in, because I was beat after all I’d done on Saturday, so we ended up coming to the dog park around noon.”

“Ok, well at least we’re both here now, so let’s go over to the picnic table and sit down while the dogs get reacquainted.”

I didn’t have a problem with doing that, so we went over and plopped down on the bench at the picnic table and continued chatting.  “I take it Bear’s owner is back as well,” Preston stated.  

“He actually lives in Fort Collins and is a friend of my grandfather’s.  He just hired a middle-schooler who was on summer vacation to walk Bear while I was gone.”

“Then I’m sure both he and Bear are glad that you’re back.  So, what’s your academic workload like?”

“It’s pretty much the same as last year, except I’m taking upper level courses that are harder and will require that I study more.”

“That’s right, you’re a junior (3^rd year) this year.  I keep forgetting, since we only met you last year.” 

“Yes, and I hope this academic year goes as well as last year.”

“I take it that means you did well last year.”

“Yes, I did quite well.”

“What’s your GPA?”

“My cumulative GPA is 3.96.”

“Whoa, then you must have done extremely well both years.”

“Yeah, I guess I did.”

“Congratulations.  That’s not easy to do.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You said before that you’re sharing the house where you live with someone else.  How’s he doing?”

“The house actually belongs to his family, and I think his GPA is 3.94.”

“Damn, you’re both doing very well.  Of course I should have expected that your friend would have been as intelligent as you.”

“Yeah, even though we have different majors, we still compete against each other.”

“And it seems to be working for both of you.”

Eventually, Preston looked at his phone to check the time and then apologized that he had to leave.  I didn’t have a problem with that, since I knew we couldn’t stay much longer either.  In fact, Bear came over to me as soon as Bailey left.

“Are you ready to leave to?” I asked, and Bear barked.

“Ok, let’s go then.”

As soon as we were in the SUV, I started driving back to the house while Devin transitioned and got dressed, and then I looked for a place where I could pull over and we could change drivers.  As soon as I did that, the vehicle behind me pulled up along side us and stopped. 

“Don’t get out yet,” I quickly warned Devin.  “There’s another vehicle pulling up beside us and stopping.  I looked in the rearview mirror and saw him nod that he understood, and then I noticed that the other guy had lowered his window, so I did the same. 

“I’m not from around here and I’m looking for a recommendation for a good place to eat.  I prefer a locally owned establishment over one of those chain restaurants, so can you help me?”

“Do you have a preference as to the nationality of the cuisine?”

“No, as long as the food is superior to one of those chain ‘cookie cutter’ locations.”

“Cookie cutter?”

“Yes, meaning they all have the same or similar menus.” 

“In that case, I think I know just the place you’re looking for.  It’s called Dominick’s Ristorante.  Do you want me to give you directions to get there?”

“No, that won’t be necessary.  I can look it up on my phone.  I just needed the name of a good place to eat.  And you’re sure the food there is very good?”

“Yes, my grandfather takes me there every time he’s in town and the food is excellent.”

“In that case, thank you very much.”

After he drove away, Devin and I changed places, and then he made a comment before he drove away.  “That was kinda weird.”

“I agree, but I’m sure he’ll find my recommendation was a good one.”

Once we returned to the house, we headed over to the dining hall to get something to eat, and my conversation with the guy who had asked for a recommendation came back to haunt me.  It reminded me of what I was missing out on by having to eat here, and when I mentioned it to Devin, he said that he’d just been having the same thought. 

When we finished eating, we walked back to the house, got in the SUV, and drove over to Barry’s apartment.  He answered the door fairly quickly after we knocked on it.  

“Hi, guys.  What’s up?” he said in greeting.

“We came here to talk to you about something.”

“Is it going to take long?” 

“It will only take a couple of minutes.”

“Then let’s sit down and get comfortable.” 

After we were all seated, Devin explained the situation to him.  “But my grandfather said we could invite a couple of our friends to go with us, so you guys can join us, if you want.”

“I’d love to go, but the other guys are counting on me and I doubt they’d be able to afford the tickets.  Hell, they could barely scrape together enough money for the refreshments for the game, so I’d better stay here and watch the game with them on TV.”

“I hope you’re not mad at us for bailing on you.”

“Hell no!  If I hadn’t made this arrangement with the other guys, then I would have gone with you.  You can watch the next away game with us instead, since it’s also being televised.  They’ll be playing Middle Tennessee that weekend.”

“Ok, that sounds good, so we’ll see you then.  I hope you didn’t buy anything already or order the pizzas.”

“No, everything is cool, since you gave me sufficient warning.  I’ll even look to see if I can spot you when they scan the crowd during the game.”

“We won’t be doing anything crazy like painting our faces with the school colors or wearing horns or a ram’s head, so I don’t think the camera man will be looking in our direction.”

“I’ll look for you just the same.” 

“Ok, and then we’ll join you for the next away game.”

“Super, and everything will be the same as we discussed about the Colorado game.”

“Sounds perfect, and thank you for being so understanding,” I added. 

“Hey, I would have gone with you if I could, so don’t worry about it.”

We drove back to the house and packed the things in our backpacks that we’d need for the next day’s classes.  When we finished, it was time for us to head over to the dining hall for supper. 

As we were leaving the house, we saw the neighbor lady’s car coming in our direction.  She must have been out shopping or doing something else, but she pulled up next to us and lowered the passenger’s window of her car. 

“So, you’re back again,” she said in what sounded more like a groan.

“Yes, we’ll be here this year and next,” I replied.

“Oh, isn’t that lovely,” she replied with a tinge of sarcasm in her voice.

“Yeah, consider yourself lucky,” Devin responded.

“With that kind of luck I must be damned.” 

“That will probably happen after you die,” Devin added in a whisper, but it didn’t appear as if she heard him.  She merely raised the window and drove the rest of the way to her house. 

“You could have been a little nicer,” I told Devin. 

“Hey, I was.  My first comment was nice, and she didn’t hear what I said after that.”

“Your first comment was meant to provoke her, even if you attempted to make it sound harmless.  I’m just glad you didn’t say the next comment loud enough for her to hear.” 

“Yeah, yeah, but whatever I said, she had it comin’.”

I decided not to respond this time and merely started walking to the dining hall.  Devin quickly caught up, since he wasn’t prepared for me to leave so abruptly, and then we walked the rest of the way in silence. 

“Com’on,” Devin pleaded, “you know she had it comin’, and she’s going to be a pain in the ass no matter what I say.”

“Yes, I know, but you don’t have to aggravate her further and give her even more reason to be a pain in our asses.”

“Ok, maybe you’re right, but I just couldn’t help myself.  If I was Bear when we ran into her, I would have bit her.  She was asking for it.”

“Her comments weren’t that bad, unless you were trying to read something into them.” 

“Tell me you didn’t get the sarcasm in what she was saying, but maybe I was expecting her to say something worse.  You’ve got to admit, though, it’s what she was thinking.”

“Possibly she was, but I’m not a mind reader, so I wouldn’t know for sure.”

“Very funny, but I get your point.”

“It may be too late, though, because the harm’s already been done.”

When we finished our meals, we walked back to the house.  Since we didn’t have anything else to do, we fired up our laptops and watched some videos online.  I’d been doing it for some time when one of the videos piqued my interest.

“Devin, look at this video.” 

I then started it over for him to watch, and while he was staring at the video, I was watching his face.  It gradually took on a look of surprise and he turn toward me. 

“What do you think you saw?” I asked him before he could say anything.

“That looks like an evil skinwalker running parallel to the car with the passenger filming it.  Did it say where the video was taken?”

“Yes, they were driving on a rural road in northeast Arizona.  That would put them near the four corners.”  That’s were the borders that separate Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico all converge. 

“Then that’s got to be an evil skinwalker.  We’ve got to tell Gramps and Pops, so let me copy the link so I can send it to them.”

After he copied the link, he texted Gramps with it.  A few minutes later he called. 

“Where did you get that video?” he asked without saying hello.

“I was searching for videos online,” I explained, “and happened upon the topic “Does anyone know for sure what this is?”  That’s when I first looked at the video and formed an idea aboout what I was looking at.” 

“How long ago was this posted?”

“I looked at the posting date and it was three days ago?”

“Were there any responses to what it might be?”

“Yes, there were three.  One thought it was a large wolf or coyote with mange, and another thought it was a badly deformed moose.  The last one thought it was made using AI”

“The first guess wasn’t bad, but the second person must have been smoking peyote or something when he wrote that.  I hope everyone agrees with the third guy and assume its AI generated.  At least that will give us a chance to doctor the video slightly so it will actually appear that its AI generated and won’t look so much like an evil skinwalker.”

“But that means there are other evil skinwalkers out there, because you killed the one that we ran across, and they’re ranging farther away from the Utah – New Mexico area.”

“Yes, the one we encountered had traveled southeast to get to where we were, but this one appears to have just moved south.  It’s still in the same general area, although they appear to be expanding farther way from the Ute reservation.” 

“Then you aren’t worried about the problem or others seeing the video?”

“I’m more worried about the evil skinwalkers moving into other areas, but hopefully by the time anyone else sees this video, we’ll have doctored it slightly.  Jacob and I may have to go looking for that skinwalker after the next football game, though.”

“But you’ll need us to go with you.”

“No, you have classes to attend.  We can take care of this on our own.  We’ll just have to get more powerful weapons to use to kill it.”

“Be careful, because you just barely killed the last one.”

“But we know more about what to expect this time, so we’ll be fine.  We’ll just take some high-powered rifles and some special ammo, like armor-piercing rounds.  However, that won’t happen until I have time to doctor the video slightly, so we’ll worry about killing the skinwalker after I get that done.”

“Ok, we’ll trust your judgment.”

“Thank you for bringing it to our attention, because these are the types of things we need to know about.”

After the call ended, I looked at Devin and asked him a question.  “Are your grandfathers capable of making changes to the video?”

“They have skills that I don’t know about, so it’s very possible.  They’re both very capable of doing many things I would have thought were impossible for them to do.” 

“Yes, they both seem to be quite ingenious.”

Since Gramps and Pops were going to handle the problem with the video, I put that part out of my mind, but that didn’t eliminate all of my concerns.  Why did it appear that a skinwalker was in Arizona?  Had it been there the entire time or did it wander off the Ute reservation in Utah?  And if it had wandered off the Ute reservation, was it going somewhere in particular or merely roaming around looking for food?

I was still considering these things when Devin asked me a question. “Are you ready to go upstairs and make love?”

Of course, he didn’t have to ask me twice, so I grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the staircase, and then we both walked up to our bedroom.  We then made out and made love.  Once we peaked, we laid back to rest and recover until we decided to shower, and then we got back into bed, but this time Devin spooned up behind me as we fell asleep.

The rest of the week went by in sort of a haze, because we were extremely busy up until we went to bed on Friday night.  That’s because we were going to the football game on Saturday and we’d be gone for most of the day. 

When we woke up, we got dressed quickly and raced to the dining hall for breakfast.  We ate a lot more than usual, because Gramps told us we’d be having a late lunch when we got to Boulder, and then Devin wanted to make a quick trip to the dog park.  I didn’t have a problem with that, especially since I no longer had to find a place for Devin to undress and transition, and Preston and Bailey were there waiting for us. 

“We were hoping you were coming today,” Preston greeted us. 

“Yes, we squeezed it into our schedule for today, because we’re going with Devin’s grandfather to the CSU football game in Boulder.  Devin is the name of my roommate.”

“Well it’s nice that his grandfather is taking you with him.”

“Yeah, we go to a lot of football game with him and his brother, but most of those games are here.”

“So, this is a special treat.”

“Yes, it is.”

The conversation lulled for a while until we looked to see what Bear and Bailey were up to.  “I love the way Bear gets Bailey to go through the obstacle course with him.  She seems to really enjoy doing that too.”

“And Bear enjoys it as well.”

“Bailey isn’t the same whenever you go home.  I suppose I’ll have to deal with that over Thanksgiving break and again over Christmas.”

“Yes, I’ll be going home for both of those holidays, and Bear’s owner has already hired the same middle school boy to take Bear out for a long walk each of those days.”

“I’m sure Bear is going to miss coming here as much as Bailey is going to miss seeing him.”

“Yes, you’re probably right.  I’m sure neither of them will be happy, but neither will my parents if I don’t go home during those times.”

“Yes, I know, and I wasn’t suggesting otherwise.  I was only pointing out how Bailey reacts when you and Bear aren’t here.”

We talked for a while longer, and then Preston and I agreed that it was time to leave.  We both called our dogs and went out to our vehicles, and when we pulled out of the lot, we headed off in opposite directions.

As soon as Devin was ready, I pulled over so we could change drivers, and then we made our way back to the house.  After we hurriedly got changed for the game, Gramps and Pops picked us up just before noon, and it only took a little more than an hour to get to Boulder.  Even though we’d been there before, we still couldn’t get over how beautiful the location is, since it’s nestled into the foothills of the Rockies.

Gramps then took us to the Dunshabe Tea House for lunch.  They’d made reservations, and while we were waiting for our table, Devin and I looked around the interior.  We were immediately overwhelmed by the multicolored decorative ceiling, which was covered in a variety of colorful unique designs, and there were decorative slender pillars throughout as well. 

When we finally looked at the menu, we were surprised to see that there were dishes from all over the world: Peru, Spain, Switzerland, India, Armenia, the Mediterranean, and of course, Asia.  After each of us ordered a different item, we shared them so we could see what they were like, and we were all pretty full when we finished eating lunch.   

After we left the Tea House, Gramps drove us to Pearl Street so we could walk around for a while.  Of course, we checked out some of the stores and admired the fall foliage, and there were also a variety of street performers to entertain us.  We even stopped at a coffee shop and sat out on the patio as we enjoyed one of their seasonal selections.  Some street performers were nearby, so we listened to a street musician while watching a street dancer.   

After that, we checked out some of the colorful murals that have been painted on some of the buildings.  They actually have a mural tour, but we didn’t take that and merely checked our some of the murals on our own.  After we walked around for a while looking at the murals, Gramps took us to the Bramble & Hare Restaurant for supper. 

After having a great meal, Gramps drove us over to Folsom Field, where the Colorado Buffaloes play.  We were there early enough to avoid most of the rush, although the tailgaters were already there, and it gave us a chance to look around the stadium before taking our seats.  Folsom Field can seat 50,000 spectators, where Canvas Field where the Rams play only seats 41,000 people. 

When the game began, we weren’t sure how our team was going to do, since they’d been routed the week before, and we were even less sure after the Buffaloes scored the first touchdown.  However, the Rams scored right after that, but then the Rams scored again to take the lead.  The Buffaloes tied it up a short time later, so the 1^st quarter ended with the teams tied. 

CSU started off the 2^nd quarter with a touchdown, and the 1^st half ended with CSU leading by 7 points.  Even though both teams were playing hard, there was no scoring in the 3^rd quarter, so CSU was still up 7points when the quarter ended. 

The fourth quarter started with CU settling for a field goal, and then the Rams scored another touchdown, giving them an 11 point lead.  On their next possession, CU had to settle for another field goal, cutting the lead to 8 points, but then CSU failed to score on their next possession.  When CU got the ball back, they scored another TD, and then they went for a 2-point conversion and tied the score.  The game ended with the score tied, so the game went to overtime.

CU won the toss and scored first, another touchdown, but then CSU scored another TD to tie the score again.  The tension was intense as CU started the next series, and they scored another TD and a 2-point conversion.  Unfortunately, CSU was unable to score when it was their turn, so the game ended with the CU Buffaloes winning by 8 points. 

“It was a great game and I’m glad we came to watch it,” Pops stated shortly after the game ended.

“Yeah, but we lost,” I whined. 

“Yes, the Rams lost, but they played a lot better than their first game, so maybe it means they’ll do even better as they play the remaining games of the season,” Gramps added.

“I certainly hope so,” Devin concurred, “because I’ve already bought the tickets for the other two games you guys wanted to come to.”

“And we’ll still come to them,” Gramps confirmed, “because I think the team is going to do all right now.”

We continued talking as the stadium emptied, because we didn’t want to have to deal with the traffic on the way out.  By the time we finally exited the stadium, most of the cars were gone, so we walked across a fairly empty parking lot as we made our way to the SUV.  We were just about there when a car pulled up in front of us and two guys jumped out holding hand-guns, and they were pointing them at us. 

“We want your wallets and your phones!” one of them shouted. 

“I’m afraid you’ve picked on the wrong people to rob,” Pops calmly stated.