Word: Butte

butte

[ byoot ]

 

noun Western U.S. and Canada.

an isolated hill or mountain rising abruptly above the surrounding land.

 

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There was a small mountain standing outside of the town. As far as mountains went, this one was not particularly impressive. Most would agree that the only reason it qualified as a mountain was that it was too large to be a hill. There would be no intrepid explorers aiming to find its mysteries. No daring mountain climbers seeking to scale it. Not people seeking to hike its slopes for a scenic view of the area. It was not even particularly photogenic. There was, in fact, only one thing about this mountain that set it apart from any other mountain. And that was that it had not been there the previous day.

               The townspeople had gathered to see their new geological formation and muttered about it curiously. They whispered ideas about how it had gotten there, of course, but no two people agreed. The only thing they could agree on was the otherwise lackluster nature of the thing. Not even a few trees to liven it up.

               It took an hour of discussion and limited wonderment for people to grow bored of the thing. It was not doing anything other than add a new feature to the skyline. It was not particularly interesting to look at. It gave no hints of its origin. For such a grand mystery, it really was quite dull. And so, people left to go about their day as if nothing was wrong.

               The only people who stuck around for any length of time was the mayor and his assistant. That was more because both knew they would inevitably have to call someone about the sudden appearance of a small mountain, rather than any personal interest. The discussion mainly involved who to call. Geologists? News crews? Or maybe the map makers. By the time they headed back to their office to make the calls, the people had already gotten used to the mountain, and either treated it as if it had always been there or was not there at all. A few of the braver, or less directly supervised, children even started hiking up the rocky slopes to play.

               The mountain, meanwhile, was aware of none of the disturbance its presence had caused. It had simply moved there to get away from its larger cousins and finally get some rest. It knew it was a terribly small and dull peak and was constantly being made fun of because of it. Now, out here by itself, it would finally get some respect from the local hills. Really, its new home was better all around.

               It vaguely became aware of a few small, insignificant creatures crawling on its surface. This was a novel experience for the mountain, so it paid slightly more attention than it normally would. But, like the people that now lived at its foot, the mountain grew bored of watching the tiny beings play. And so, it did what most mountains would do in this situation. It ignored them and went back to sleep.

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The hills have eyes...or mountains, in this case.