It was a cold November afternoon. He went out to smoke a cigarette atop a boulder just outside the house.

The sky was still gray; it had just drizzled.

He took out his cigarette, put the butt between his lips and flicked on his lighter. The ember was as red as the sunset.

He slowly took a drag at the cigarette and he followed the wisp of smoke drift into the disappearing greyness of the sky.

Birds and bats were flying together. He could tell because of the way bats flapped their wings; the down strokes were desperately seeking altitude. Birds were darting gracefully like the side stream smoke. One dived straight which brought his gaze back to earth.

That was when he saw it right beside him. It had fur, matted and lutinized. The snout blew out steam like his half-consumed cigarette. The red of the sunset felt ashamed because it was not as read as the creature's eyes so it retreated into the night. The fangs and claws of the creature only differed in color; both were as sharp as the fear that gripped him.

After 10 years of lookong for it, he didn't expect that he would be gripped by a lacerating fear at this meeting. He expected that he will be overjoyed and excited. He was genuinely petrified but there it was. It was as real as the unlikely mix of birds and bats in the sky.

He didn't know who was crazier: he who looked for immortal creatures to talk to or his detractors who said that there were no such thing?

He felt a searing pain in the realization that he was afraid of saying something stupid at this moment - this moment that he waited for all his life. The fear was intensifying as he strugled in his mind to find the right words to greet the long-sought creature. What will he say to it? What can he say that will define the outcome of this meeting?

Then, it bit him; the answer to his questions bled in his mind. He knew what he was going to say to it.

As he was opening his lips to speak, the wendigo said, as if it was able to read his mind, "Do not bother. It does not matter."

John, while talking to you, I said, "Bats and birds flying together. What a nice line," which gave birth to this meeting. November 20^th, 2008.