I’m shocked you wanna hear more ‘bout me. Honest to god! Most folks just tell me to shut up. They think I’m a liar. “Cain’t no’ne be friends with a monster but in their imagination, Micky,” that’s what they say to me, but it’s true! It’s all true, I swear on my Meemaw’s grave it’s true. Aw, I know you believe me, I know. I jus’ get riled up is all.

Well, there was ‘nother monster I knew from Meemaw ‘n’ Pawpaw’s house out in Justinville. I think I met ‘er when I was ‘round ‘leven years old, so that’d be around… 1960. God, that was so, so long ago… Anywho.

It was the dead'a night, ‘n’ I was dead asleep. I got woke up by an incessant tap-tap-tappin’ on my window. I woke up ‘n’ looked outside ‘n’ saw the shadow of a girl starin’ at me. I threw myself back under the covers ‘cuz I was terrified. I thought she'd go away, but she just kept on tappin’. So, I crept up real slow-like to the winder, ‘n’ looked out ‘n’, shore ‘nuff, there was a girl out there lookin’ right back at me.

She was the most purdy girl I'd ever seen in my life. She sorta favored the Choctaw folks from the reservations. She wore all their same clothes, ‘n’ had a face just like ‘em. Meemaw ‘n’ Pawpaw’s house was real close to one, so I figured she musta come offa one of’em. She motioned for me to pull up the winder ‘n’—lemme tell you, when the purdiest thing you ever dun seen in your life tells you to do somethin’, you gon’ do it.

She asked me my name ‘n’ a’course I said “Micky.” She said her name was “Chukfi,” ‘n’ I thought it was the purdiest name I ever heard. I was lovestruck. We talked for I dunno how long. It coulda been seconds or hours, but it’d’ve all been the same to me. She told me her favorite thing was playin’ in the woods around the creek, ‘n’ that she loved seein’ how purdy the stars were at night. Just about e’rthin’ she said I agreed with wholeheartedly.

The next night she came to me, she asked me to come out into the woods with ‘er. Now—word’a caution from an old man who knows better: Don’t go into the woods with strangers. It ain’t safe, not one bit. But, I was just a kid, an’ I was dumb one.

Anywho, I crawled right outta my winder without a second thought. We ran out together into the woods. We chased each other around, tackled each other, raced each other, climbed trees together, ‘n’ had a grand ole time together. When we were done ‘n’ got all tired, we’d lay down in the grass ‘n’ stare up at the sky. We stared ‘n’ stared, ‘n’ I felt like it was all perfect.

We started goin’ out like that just about every night I was in Justinville. Those were some'a the best nights in my life at that point. She stopped showin’ up as often. I figured she got more busy with somethin’, maybe ‘er folks found out she was runnin’ off ‘n’ were bein’ more strict with ‘er. At some point she also stopped takin’ me out to the woods, ‘n’ started actin’ all depressed. I asked ‘er what’s wrong, ‘n’ she told me not to worry about it.

As much as I wanted to do what she said, I couldn’t. I worried a lot, especially when she went a long, long time without coming back. I thought she'd never come back. But finally, on one'a the last nights I ever spent at my Grandparents, she showed up at my winder ‘n’ asked me out into the woods again.

When I tell you I hopped outta that winder so fast. I was outta bed so quick I almost forgot my shoes! We went out to the woods, but this time we didn’t do any playin’ or chasin’ or climbin’. We skipped straight to layin’ on our backs beneath the stars.

It was real quiet. Even the crickets ‘n’ the frogs weren't makin’ their usual ruckus. So, it sorta scared me when she sat up ‘n’ started talkin’ all the sudden.

She said, “Micky… I got somethin’ I oughtta tell you.”

“Yeah?”

“You prob’ly don’t wanna hear it.”

‘N’ I thought, “Dern, then why’d you say som’n’?” but I didn’t say that, I said “Well a’course I do! I wanna hear e’rthin’ you got ta say!” I think sayin’ that made ‘er even more sad, ‘cuz she put her head between her knees.

“S’not fair. I didn’t ask to be born.”

“Why d’ya say that, Chukfi?”

“Cuz I’m a monster. I’m a horrible monster and I gotta hurt people to live.”

“Well you don’t seem like much of a monster to me, Chukfi. Yer too purdy to be a monster.”

That made ‘er laugh. I thought “what’s funny,” but I didn’t say it. I was jus’ happy to see ‘er smilin’. She looked back up at the sky, ‘n’ her face went right back to bein’ all sad ‘n’ serious.

“I wish we could spend the rest’a our lives together, Micky.”

“Well why can’t we?”

Then she called me stupid, ‘n’ we both got real quiet. It kinda hurt, but I wadn't really mad at ‘er. Figured since she was so upset she was just sayin’ things. She prob’ly didn’t mean it like that. She kept lookin’ at the sky, so I looked at it with her. It felt different now. The wind picked up, ‘n’ the crickets started chirping. They both sounded so sad, like they were cryin’. The sky looked upset, too. None a’the stars were in the right place, ‘n’ they all moved too fast.

I closed my eyes, ‘n’ not a second later Chukfi grabbed my face ‘n’ kissed me right on the lips. I was all sorts'a surprised, but lord knows I wadn’t gonna complain. It was real weird, though. Her fingers felt just a little too long, her lips were kinda fuzzy, ‘n’ her nose felt cold ‘n’ wet, ‘n’ it seemed like it was flat to her face.

She stopped kissin’ me ‘n’ took a step back. She was taller, ‘n’ had back legs like a dog or a horse. She’d grown black fur all over ‘er body. ‘Er fingers were long ‘n’ had claws on the ends of ’em, ‘n’ ‘er head’d turned into a rabbit’s head, with big, blue eyes set on either side’a it.

I didn’t feel scared, gosh, what’s the word. Intimidated, that’s right! She was gorgeous ‘n’ awesome ‘n’ terrifyin’ all at once. I started thinkin’ she mighta been an angel. I guess I looked scared, though, because she got real upset. She turned around ‘n’ started runnin’ away—faster than I'd ever seen anything move in my life!

I got up ‘n’ tried to chase after ‘er—lord, that was the fastest I’ve ever ran before—an’ since! I ran ‘n’ I ran ‘n’ I ran, ‘n’ I yelled “Chukfiii!” as loud as I could deep into the woods. I felt like my heart was ‘bout to burst, but I kept on runnin’ ‘n’ runnin’ til I tripped on a tree branch. I couldn’t get back up—felt like I was glued to the ground. I started cryin’, ‘n’ I kept yellin’ ‘er name til I started coughin’ ‘n’ I couldn’t no more. I could hear my heartbeat real loud, I couldn’t hear anything else over it. I was so tired that the rhythm put me right to sleep.

I woke up in my bed the next mornin’ with my winder shut. That’s my least favorite part of the story. Waddya mean why? ‘Cuz it was all a dream. I know Chufki was real, she had to be, but I’m sure she was just a human ‘n’ I dreamed up that last night. I think she just lost interest in me. What’s always been weird to me, though, is that my legs that mornin’ felt mighty sore, even though I ne’er actually ran.

Huh? You think so? Y’know, I ne’er thought about that. That makes a whole lotta sense. Thanks for tellin’ me that. That makes me feel better.

…

You know what? Let’s go up to Justinville next weekend, just you ‘n’ me. It’s only an hour or two out from here.