Bob and Phil

There was a big sigh of relief when Marc came to the command center, a child in each arm. Their mother hugged him for five minutes, crying all over him. After that, they got called on every time someone got lost.

When two men escaped the local prison and fled into the forest, the police showed up in force, with two SWAT team personnel and a Bigfoot working as a team. They caught the men quickly, and one had a gun, shooting at the police. They were about to return fire when a rock smacked into the shooter, hard. They treated him for four broken ribs in the infirmary when they got him back in jail.

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Two hate groups were especially vicious, a large one in Idaho, where 400,000 acres of wilderness were ceded to the tribes became their first 'reservation". They were quasi-military in organization, and had a lot of guns. The FBI had them on a watch list. When ten of them murdered a Bigfoot family, things got ugly. Four were literally torn apart before the others escaped. The survivors were charged with hate crimes, and most got ten to twenty years in a federal prison, meaning there would be no parole. The Bigfeet responsible owned up the killings, and after a lengthy trail, were absolved.

The process took three years. I was at the official signing ceremony when they ceded the land over to the tribes. Bob and his family were there, as well as mine. Jade looked radiant in her dress, but she was six months, pregnant, so she would have looked radiant in a sack. It was our third. The first two were sons, and her family is really hoping this one is a girl. Elenas and Bob accepted the paperwork, to applause and massive media exposure.

The tribes traveled freely now. They had a National Association, and Fred was the President. Jade and Berhta were on the Council, as well as Ara, and surprisingly, Angel. The woman was a born politician, something none of us saw coming. They rotated the quarterly meeting sites. The home office was in Idaho, where the largest populations lived. We visited Idaho, Louisiana, and Oregon, and made an appearance at the Canadian coalition. The European populations were much smaller, and some immigration occurred as their people sought more opportunities.

Our tribes had a collective, and owned four major apple orchards in the area, and were planting more on their reservation. It would seem they had a knack for it, and harvest season was a big event. Many people paid a premium, just to pick apples with a genuine Bigfoot. Elena's tribe helped, and packaged shipping orders. There were a lot orders, and they always came with a note, thanking them for their business, with pictures of them picking the exact apples they were shipping, many signed the cards. Bob wasn't very good, but Ara had developed a fine penmanship. Often her notes look like calligraphy.

There were also pictures of our human employees, and the assemble children playing as they worked, in the daycare we had built. It was mostly run by Mosogo, but there were some of every people as well. The pictures of children running around, all mixed together, laughing with pleasure, made good PR.

All together, they integrated into society well enough that people mostly ignored them if they went to town to shop. The town and county got a lot of tourist trade, and Fred likened it to how most viewed the Amish. The tribes were schooled to be polite, and answer generic questions, but not about their private lives. Pops was a big hit, his hair almost silver now, and made a killer living just posing for pictures. Because he was nine feet tall, it was always a distance shot, so they could grasp the proportions.

I think in a way they were ruined. They lived in houses now, used modern conveniences, some even drove. Still, once a quarter, they would all disappear in into the forests, for a week, and not talk about it, ever. Jade would kiss me, and say "it's not for you to know."

It saddened me a little, but I knew our children would learn when they came of age, and it cheered me up.

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Twelve years went by. Pops passed, and we had a human funeral, that was very well attended. A lot of people got to know him over the years, and they were genuinely saddened by his death. After the funeral, his people bore him back to his roots, and had their own service. Elena's hair is almost pure white now, but she's ion good health. She lives with us permanently, unable to move away from her greatgrandchildren, five now, the last three being girls. Even their two older brothers have their striking features, but the girls are gorgeous as their mother, so I see sleepless nights ahead.

I was working in the orchard, pruning branches to make the trees more productive, when my oldest came up behind me, looking up the ladder. "Dad, can my new friend come to dinner

I said sure as I turned around to meet him, surprised to see my whole family. I didn't see anyone new until they separated. He stood just under four feet, but had a thick body and long red, curly hair.

Fuck! A Gnome! I fell off the ladder and Bob barely caught me, laughing so hard she almost dropped me.