Lurking in the shadows Speech coach and photojournalist Mr. Sanda was able to capture a glimpse of the elusive creature Members of the Cardinal speech team were scared speechless on the way to a tournament last Saturday at New York Mills.

Days later, they are just beginning to talk about it.

“We were somewhere by Bluffton when Gemma Shaffer started screaming,” a still-trembling Shelby Wilds managed to tell the Stapled World. “She said she had seen...Smallfoot.”

Fellow speech member Jon Nypan recalled the moment with horror. “We didn’t believe Gemma at first,” Jon said. “She’s in storytelling you know.”

Gemma’s screams confi rmed what bus driver Mr. Olsen had feared he had glimpsed in his sideview mirror just moments earlier.

Speech members recalled that Olsen, the Dean of Students at Motley Staples Middle School, had managed to pull the bus safely to the side of the road before yelling, “Do they even make Nike’s that small?” It would be the last word he would speak for quite some time.

Scared speechless Members of the Cardinal speech team, pictured with their coach Mr. Sanda, are still in shock after a Contacted later by phone at an undisclosed refuge, Olsen spoke in veiled terms. “Yeah, I saw something. We all did. This thing...this small-footed monster...it’s out there and it’s not going away.”

In an unofficial report from Todd County Sheriff Peter Mikkelson (overheard by a waitress at the Spot Cafe in Staples), Smallfoot has become increasingly bold in the past few months.

“They don’t know if he’s upset that his brother, the one with the larger foot, seems to get all of the glory, or if he’s looking for food, or what the deal is,” said the waitress, unwilling to have her name in print. “All I’m saying is that the sheriff was so upset that he forgot to leave a tip. And that got me upset, if you know what I mean. Yeah, I hope they catch this Smallfoot.”

Sightings for Smallfoot are very rare, Mikkelson reported in a later conversation. “He’s very light on his feet...moves like a roadrunner and hasn’t left many clues behind. We did find an odor-eaters insert behind one of the pine trees. Size two.”

Speech coach and photojournalist Mr. Sanda was able to snap a quick picture from his bus window of what eerily appears to be at least a shadow of Smallfoot.

Although he didn’t want to talk about Saturday’s experience, Sanda did say, “The creature resembled the tournament director.”

School counselors have met with the speech team both individually and as a group. They believe, in time, that the students and their advisors will be okay.

Speech team members Aryn Ladd and Patrick Winter did not compete at the New York Mills tournament. Both are grateful to have been spared the psychological trauma.

“I’m not sure why I didn’t compete that day,” Aryn said. “I was having a hard time deciding what to wear...couldn’t find the right shoes to go with my new jeans. The bus was leaving in about 15 minutes and I couldn’t seem to get my left shoe on. It was way too small. I look back now and I wonder if that wasn’t some sort of sign.”