Tales from WannaBea Farm

The Scream

I huddled, trembling, in the corner of the room, hiding under my blanket, so scared my limbs were jerking, trying to keep my teeth from chattering, waiting for the inevitable scratching at the window. Why didn’t Grandpa and Grandma come home? Surely they heard the screams. They were only as far away as the commissary, playing canasta with the residents of the other cabins. Bubba was supposed to be home with me, but as usual he had sneaked out as soon as they left, leaving me all alone in the little log cabin at Caddo State Park.

The screaming started again, sounding amazingly like a woman in fear for her life. Shortly afterward I heard it scratching at the window, trying to get in! Terrified, I curled up even tighter in my blanket, trying to make myself as small as possible, finally crying myself to sleep.

I loved the park. It was quiet and peaceful with huge, moss laden cypress trees and squirrels scampering everywhere. I would wander through the park looking for the fairies that I was convinced were lurking around the twisted roots of the great cypress trees. But I always had to be alert and keep a watchful eye out for the cotton mouths. They were mean, poisonous snakes and when they opened their mouths the inside was snow white unlike the water snake that looked so much like them. Even though the water snake was not poisonous, they had a vicious bite and many people bitten by them just up and died from shock, which I could certainly understand. They stayed mostly down by the lake where I was forbidden to go by myself, but they occasionally ventured up near the cabins.

Grandpa had worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps and helped build the park but it was now a State Park, so why were they living here? It didn't really matter, I was just curious to know. Where did my brother go when he sneaked out at night? Why didn't he stay and protect me? Why did that panther seem to always scream and scratch on the window when Bubba was gone? I had so many questions.

It had stopped raining the day before and even though I was glad that now I would be able to get out of the cabin and go out and play, I hated to see the rain stop because for some reason the panther never came near when it was raining. I was so afraid of the panther; Bubba had told me how much it loved little girls because they were so tender, and he would always pinch my arm to emphasize how tender I was.

“Bubba”, Grandpa said, “I’ve got something to show you after you finish your breakfast”. Curious, we gobbled down our pancakes and followed him outside. Our neighbor’s rabbit cages were torn apart; the rabbits were all dead, and all around the cages were huge cat prints. Then Grandpa led us around the cabin where he showed us more footprints.

Under the window where I always heard the scratching was Bubba's bare foot prints and partially covering them were the big cat's huge paw prints!

Bubba threw up!

After that night when we heard the panther scream, Bubba refused to leave the cabin, and after that, for some reason, when the panther screamed, I NEVER, ever heard it scratch at the window again.