December 2024’s short story of the month

Bob got out of bed like he did every day and placed his feet flat on the floor, feeling the cold wood under his feet. The floor didn’t feel cold to him. That was alarming. He looked down.

“Oh no! Not today!” he yelled to his empty bedroom. “I thought it would be a couple of days more!” He sprinted to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He was still wearing his pajamas, a striking blue top and bottom with snowflakes on them. Even at forty, he found joy in wearing colorful and patterned pjs. But today, he was stressed because where there should have been two hands, two feet, and his head sticking out of the pjs, there were two fur covered massive feet, two fur covered paws with claws, and a head, also furry.

In fact, Bob had turned into a yeti during the night. It happened. Not to everyone, but it was a curse that his family carried from one generation to the next. Luckily, they weren’t yetis all the time. They would transform for about one week a year, usually during the coldest part, and then they shifted back to their normal forms.

Usually during his yeti time, Bob preferred to stay home and hide away from the world. He always made sure to stock up on groceries and get all of his errands run, just in case. One year, his transformation had lasted closer to a month, but that had been an incredibly cold year, the coldest on record for his hometown.

This year though, he wasn’t ready. Work had been super busy lately, and he was planning on running his errands today. He stared at himself in the mirror. What was he going to do now? He had almost no groceries, and he needed to swing by work to drop off something before his vacation days started. He couldn’t go out like this! People would know. It was hard to hide being a yeti.

Every once in a while, a member of his family was spotted out and about by someone, keeping the myth of the yeti alive, but that hadn’t happened in a long time. Now the rumors just circulated because of the internet.

Bob turned his face side to side considering. Maybe there was a way this could work. He decided he had to risk it.

He showered, dressed, and had coffee and oatmeal before setting out with his to-do list. He put on his loosest fitting clothing and made sure to find something with a hoodie on it. He tried a baseball cap, but he couldn’t get it to stay on with his fur. The hard part was finding shoes that would go over his now massively clawed and furry feet.

He ended up putting on a pair of old rain boots that his father had worn many years ago. They were about two sizes too big, but they made it over his extra features.

First stop was work. He stepped into the garage and realized he wasn’t going to fit in his car today, at least not comfortably. He considered calling for a ride, but it occurred to him that the fewer people that saw him the better.

As he walked outside and looked down his street, an idea occurred to him. He could use the woods to make it into town not far from his work. He could pop out and get to his office through the service entrance. It was unlikely to have many people around it today.

As he walked through the woods, trying to stay out of sight, he felt good. This might actually work. The woods were around most of the town, and he wouldn’t have to be out in the open for long.

At his office building, he took a long look around. There were only a few cars in the parking lot. He made his way to the service entrance and used the keypad to get in. The service entrance was people free like he’d suspected. He took the service elevator. He didn’t see a person until he stepped into the hallway.

Two of his colleagues were walking down the hall, discussing some stack of papers one of them was holding. They weren’t looking up very much, and he ducked his head down. He kept his hands in his pockets and walked quickly to his office.

“Hey, Bob,” one of them said.

“Hey,” he answered, but didn’t turn around to acknowledge them fully. He walked faster to his office and opened his door as quickly as he could. He had a little trouble holding the key with his paw, but he got it before anyone else came into the hallway.

In his office, he quickly shut the door and the shades so that no one could see in while he worked. He didn’t have much to do, just some quick changes. Before he got up, he made sure to turn on his out of office message.

He made it out of the building without bumping into anyone, and before long, he was safely back in the woods.

His next stop was the grocery store. His local grocery store didn’t have delivery for groceries like the bigger chains, and he didn’t want to risk going into a bustling store in his current condition.

He walked, grabbed a cart, and started working his way through the produce section. He was sitting mushrooms in his cart when someone finally said something.

A small child, probably around eight stood in front of him pointing with a mouth open wide in shock.

Bob froze. This was it. The moment of truth. What should he do?

The child’s mother finally noticed her missing offspring. She grabbed him and said, “Come on, Peter.” She smiled at Bob, but when she finally looked at him, she stopped.

Bob smiled but tried not to show teeth. “Hey,” he said.

The mother was frozen in place. “That’s a really realistic costume,” she said.

“Thanks,” said Bob, continuing with his shopping. As he walked away from the mother and child, he waved at the kid, trying to impart friendly vibes.

The kid just kept staring. His mother was finally able to get him to move, but kids were harder to fool than adults. Adults wanted things to fit into certain categories, like real and non-real. When the mom saw a yeti, her mind told her it had to be fake, but the kid knew what he was seeing.

A few other people looked at him as he made his way through the store, but like the mother, they assumed he was in some very elaborate mascot costume. He smiled at them or waved, but he didn’t speak to anyone. He had to admit, he was kind of enjoying himself. No one recognized him, and there was something freeing about the anonymity of it.

He bought what he needed and headed out feeling much better about his situation. He decided to just walk through town back to his house and not take refuge in the woods.

Everything was going well. The cold weather was keeping most people home.

But the cops at the stoplight on Main Street were not so easily fooled or amused by someone walking around in a scary costume.

He saw them moments before they turned on their sirens.

“Dang,” said Bob. He didn’t have much time to think. He could try to run, but being a yeti didn’t immediately mean he was in shape, and he didn’t think he could run away from them without dropping his groceries, which he needed.

He took too long thinking about it, and the cops pulled up and were in front of him before he’d made a decision.

“Hey buddy,” said the cop standing in front of him, blocking Bob’s path down the sidewalk. “What’s going on here?”

“Nothing, just doing some grocery shopping,” said Bob. “Is something wrong officer?” Bob was trying to act like he had no idea why they were hassling him.

“Sir, we can’t have you walking around town scaring people,” the cop was using his meanest, scariest voice.

“I’m not trying to, just need the suit on for a bit longer,” said Bob with a smile.

The cop stared intently at him for several more minutes. “Just go home and keep this off the streets,” said the cop.

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” said Bob. He held up his groceries. “These aren’t getting lighter. Can I go?”

The cop nodded.

Bob was relieved when he got to his front porch. He went inside, put the groceries away, took off the uncomfortable clothes, and made a cup of hot cocoa.

He sat in his favorite reading chair and settled in for his stay-cation.