Canyon Village
~ Christi Nogle
Myra Reynolds from Canyon Village 8/16/2019 10:35
New Kid on the Block!
Just want to thank everyone for the block party a few weeks ago. Me and DH (dear hubby) and my little girl Jenny—not so little now she’s fourteen lol—we all felt so welcomed! Just found out about this message board, happy to see it so active!
This must be the prettiest place I have ever lived. I just loved walking along the canyon edge, and seeing the all the fields and the distant mountains from my front door every day makes my heart SING. And you, wonderful neighbors. Being here is a dream come true.
Saul Toms from Canyon Village 8/16/2019 11:18
Re: New Kid on the Block!
Welcome, Myra!
Karen Ungular from Canyon Village 8/16/2019 18:06
Re: New Kid on the Block!
Good to see you on here Myra! Met you at the block party, remember? We’re new too—just moved here in April. We’re in the barn-red house right by the entry fountain—not far from you, I think. Love the whole area.
Alder Casey from Canyon Village 8/16/2019 19:35
Re: New Kid on the Block!
Welcome, Myra, Jenny, and Myra’s DH!
Myra Reynolds from Canyon Village 9/20/2019 10:35
Local Legends???!!!
DD Jenny just told me there is a local legend here about a bigfoot or something. I was floored. I love that kind of thing. Tell me More!
Kendall Urrea from Canyon Village 9/20/2019 10:52
Re: Local Legends???!!!
Our family’s been here sixteen years, since most of the houses were still getting built, and I haven’t heard anything.
Karen Ungular from Canyon Village 9/20/2019 11:49
Re: Local Legends???!!!
Now I am curious too. Anyone know anything more? I haven’t heard anything about this.
Jenn Walter-Urrea from Canyon Village 9/22/2019 19:22
Re: Local Legends???!!!
I wish, but sadly no. Just a boring subdivision. I haven’t heard anything about this. Must be something the kids made up this year.
Myra Reynolds from Canyon Village 10/8/2019 10:38
Wildlife
I was wondering what kind of wildlife you’d all seen around here. DD and I have been biking out to the canyon every day this week—it’s still warm enough, can’t believe it! We thought we saw a fox. And there’s some kind of howling we caught earlier in summer a few times. Wolves?
Joe Jennings from Burming Road West 10/9/2019 19:35
Re: Wildlife
Foxes, rabbits and other varmints, all kinds of pheasant and things like that. Coyotes and maybe coy dogs. They’re the biggest things out here. I lived near here all my life and never seen a big cat anywhere this close to a town. Wolves are out of the question in most of the state. You’re thinking of up north.
Myra Reynolds from Canyon Village 10/9/2019 20:07
Re: Wildlife
Thanks, Joe! Just curious, what’s a coy dog??
Myra Reynolds from Canyon Village 10/11/2019 10:25
Jefferson High
[Post deleted]
Myra Reynolds from Canyon Village 10/11/2019 10:38
Jefferson High, Second Try!!
I think my post got messed up before, or maybe I did something wrong . . . Anyway, won’t retype everything, but I was wondering if anyone here had had problems with bullying at Jefferson highschool. Gee, you’d think kids would be past that by this age. DD is fourteen and taller than me!!
Myra Reynolds from Canyon Village 10/13/2019 11:15
Re: Jefferson High, Second Try!!
Helooo?! How has been people’s experience with Jefferson High?
Karen Ungular from Canyon Village 10/13/2019 18:55
Re: Jefferson High, Second Try!!
I didn’t reply before cause my kids aren’t that old yet. I don’t know why people aren’t answering.
*A*n*o*n*y*m*o*u*s from BFN 10/13/2019 23:58
Re: Jefferson High, Second Try!!
Maybe you ought to stop talking about your kids on here lady.
Karen Ungular, Canyon Village 10/13/2019 8:16
Re: Re: Jefferson High, Second Try!!
I didn’t think this thing allowed anonymous posts???
Myra Reynolds, Canyon Village 10/13/2019 10:34
Re: Re: Re: Jefferson High, Second Try!!
And where is BFN?
Ihaventheardanythingaboutthis from Butt F***** Nowhere 10/13/2019 23:35
Re: Jefferson High, Second Try!!
Maybe you ought to stop talking on here at all lady.
10/15/2019 Recording begin time 17:38
M.R. [garbled]:—and after I pulled her out that week, she would not go back. We have her set up with online classes now, but I don’t know. I’d have never thought this kind of thing would happen to her. She always got along with all kinds of kids. She was on three teams last year.
K.U.: So she was told something in confidence, and then the kids found out that she told you. She broke their confidence, but how’d they find out?
M.R.: Well, I don’t know. I was asking everybody. If we saw somebody on a walk, I’d as soon as not stop and get talking. And at the market across Burming Road. She had kids over a couple times early on, and I don’t think I asked them outright, but I think I might have sort of fished. If I caught them in the kitchen alone or something. You know, I think it was actually just this one girl who told Jenny. She just said it was something the kids talked about, but it had to be this girl Carlie. They really clicked at the start of the year. You know, like you and me. Going around together a little bit. It’s so great when you meet a new friend right away.
K.U.: Carlie.
M.R.: You know who that is?
K.U.: I don’t think so. And what all did Jenny tell you, anyway?
M.R.: I said, some sort of bigfoot thing or a missing link.
K.U.: That’s all, though? She said, in her words she said that they said, “some sort of bigfoot thing or a missing link”?
M.R. [garbled]:—but yeah. That’s all she said.
Myra Reynolds, Canyon Village 10/15/2019 20:45
Thoughts and Questions
[Post deleted]
10/17/2019 Recording begin time 18:38
M.R.: It’s the kids in this neighborhood. Not all of them, but some. And the rest, they look out for them. They want them to be accepted. Like, under the radar but still accepted.
K.U.: I don’t get it.
M.R.: So, the missing link things, they’re all kids. They’re brothers and sisters, a whole litter of them. The same age. In Jenny’s grade but they don’t go to school because—yeah!—because they are these twisted, distorted things. But the other kids grew up with them. They’ve known them since they were . . . cubs or something. Pups! They’re all friends. They party with them after school and on the weekends. Party with them! They go running around in the canyons with them after dark, they bicycle after dark. She said some of them were boyfriends and girlfriends of the real kids. It’s . . . Jesus, haven’t you head some of this?
K.U.: I haven’t heard anything about this.
M.R.: You said.
K.U.: So is that all she told you?
M.R.: Yeah? I don’t know. I’m so confused. No, wait. They don’t need to go to school, these things, because they’re super smart. They all have these yuppie parents who have been bringing them up on like Shakespeare and chemistry sets. She said it was like that cartoon with the turtles in the sewer—or that old show I watched with her, the sexy cat man living in the sewer and there’s all this candlight. Why can’t I remember the name? Anyway, romantic like that . . . Oh my God, Karen. Do you think? Oh, I feel sick.
K.U.: All these yuppie parents? I thought you said they were all brothers and sisters.
M.R.: They were adopted out. Something. They found them in the canyon, or they got left on somebody’s doorstep and then they got adopted out through the whole subdivision. And they’re living here just barely under the radar.
K.U.: Are you saying she kept talking about it, or was it just that one time she brought this up? All of this. Myra? You there?
M.R.: Listen, I’ve got to go.
K.U.: Can you remember any more?
M.R.: I’ve got to go. Thank you, thank you, thank you for hearing me vent. It’s just stupid. The kids made it up.
K.U.: This year, probably. I’ve asked around, and no one’s heard anything.
M.R.: This year, yes. Goodbye.
10/19/2019 Recording begin time 18:14
M.R.: Carlie was leaving her alone, ever since she left school, but now it’s . . . worse. Complicated. I think they’re threatening her even more than she’s saying. She sort of let slip that Carlie got punished for telling, but that it wasn’t Carlie’s fault. It was my fault. How was it my fault? I’ve never seen her cry so much, Karen. I’m worried. Mitch is . . . a mess, too. We’re trying to keep him out of it. He’s . . .
K.U.: Why did she say it was your fault?
M.R.: Because I was the one who broke the confidence. That’s just how she put it.
K.U.: So Jenny did swear you to secrecy? You didn’t mention that before.
M.R.: I didn’t? I thought I did.
K.U.: Did you ever just think about keeping her secret? Oh, it doesn’t matter. Listen, Myra, I really like you. I want you and the whole family to be happy here. That’s all anyone wants.
M.R.: I don’t know. I feel kind of marked somehow, you know? I’m peeking out the blinds now. I feel weird. It feels weird here now. And Jenny won’t come out of her room. She’s got things piled up against her window. Like somebody’s going to try to come in the window, Karen. I don’t know what to do.
K.U.: Listen: The kids just randomly made this up. This year, probably. I’ve asked around, and no one’s heard anything.
M.R.: I don’t think so. That’s the thing. There was so much detail. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you everything earlier. There’s still more, crazy things. She says they shift, they grow all of this hair all at once. She wanted to see it. Now one of the things she cries about now, do you get it?—she cries because she says she’ll never see this completely magical thing. She believes it. She had me half believing it.
K.U.: No, listen. Will you listen, Myra? Will you?
M.R.: I’ve been listening.
K.U.: No, please. Please. The kids just randomly made this up. This year, probably. I’ve asked around, and no one’s heard anything. Do you understand?
M.R.: You’re sweet to try to make me feel better, but I really just can’t stop thinking about this. I don’t know who to call, you know? Do I get her a therapist? Is there something the police could do? Contact some kid of investigator. What?
K.U.: I hear Ryan pulling up. OK, I need to go soon. You just stay calm, OK? Put something on TV and make something—or you and your honey go out somewhere nice for dinner. Whatever your favorite thing is.
M.R.: Thai. But there’s no place here.
K.U.: Or Mexican. You loved the Mexican place out on Post. Order your favorite thing. You’ll feel better.
M.R.: Maybe. Thank you.
K.U.: I have to go. It will be all right, OK? Jenny will be fine.
M.R.: Thank you. Bye bye. [ends call]
K.U.: Shit.
John Folger from Canyon Village 2/10/2020 15:12
Your New Neighbor!
Just want to say hi to everybody after the amazing block party! We just moved into the gray two-story across from the fountain. As a stay-at-home dad, I am overjoyed to have come to such a welcoming neighborhood.
Saul Toms from Canyon Village 2/10/2020 18:00
Re: Your New Neighbor
Glad to have you, John! I am a stay-at-home dad too. Dipping our toe into homeschooling this year. Looking forward to getting to know you.
Karen Ungular from Canyon Village 2/10/2020 18:06
Re: Your New Neighbor!
Nice to meet you John! Met you at the block party, remember? We’re new too—just moved here in April.
Christi Nogle’s fiction has appeared in over thirty-five publications including PseudoPod, Vastarien, and Flame Tree’s American Gothic anthology. Christi teaches English at Boise State University and lives in Boise with her partner Jim and their gorgeous dogs.
Follow her at christinogle.com or on Twitter @christinogle.