“Rock, folk, country, even throw in a little rap now and then.”
“Wow, I’m impressed. That’s a lot of genres to master,” Jake replied, and to his credit, kept a totally straight face. The fact that the ranger didn’t know he was talking to an actual ‘popular’ musician had me assuming it was too dark out or that he’d been living his life under a rock. With this particular dude, either option seemed possible.
“Yeah, well, it’s hard work. We’re called The Seedlings. If you’re from these parts, you’ve probably heard of us.”
I exchanged an amused glance with Casey. If this guy only knew!
“No, I’m from the LA area, but good for you, man.”
“Yep, well, you folks have a good night. And keep the music down.”
“We will, thanks.”
The ranger was striding out of our camp when he turned around and said, “Oh, almost forgot. There was a bear sighting a few sites over, so make sure you put your food in the lockboxes. Looks like it might be a female with her cub. Those mamas can get pretty aggressive, so don’t engage with either of them. All right, then, folks. Have a great evening.”
If I could have taken a picture of all our faces at that moment, it would have been a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph. After the initial shock wore off, I took control, barking out orders to my shell-shocked fellow campers. Being from this area, it certainly wasn’t my first experience with bears, far from it, but it was the first time I’d ever seen such a strong reaction. It would have been funny if the bears weren’t already ‘a few sites over.’
After gathering our food and shoving it into the lockboxes, the four of us huddled in our barren tent because Casey and Jake’s was so full of luxury items there wasn’t room for four bodies to fit inside. With two flashlights between us, we sat in silence, reacting to every broken twig or falling pinecone.
“Guys, relax, it’s just a bear. I’m sure they’re more afraid of us than we are of them,” I said, in an attempt to be the voice of reason.
“No offense, Kenzie,” Jake said. “But I can almost guarantee you that’s not the case in this particular situation.”
“Maybe mama bear is eating another camper right now,” Kyle whispered, his voice full of hope.
“Doubtful,” Jake answered, his tone rife with foreboding as he shined the flashlight up on his face. “We’d hear the bloodcurdling screams.”
“And the ripping of flesh from bone,” Casey added, with a disturbing horror movie chuckle.
I glanced at Kyle, who was obviously not finding this as amusing as the rest of us. I hooked my arm in his to show my support. Although we had survived the elements on the island, we’d never encountered a dangerous animal.
“You’re not worried?” he asked me.
“Not really. Bears are pretty common around here. If you leave them alone, they’ll usually leave you alone.”
“Usually?”
“I mean, there have been instances…” I hesitated, recalling a recent bear attack.
“Instances?”
“What do you want her to say, Kyle? It’s a bear. Sometimes they eat people,” Jake answered, helpfully. “Besides, I don’t know what you’re worried about. With my luck, if that bear attacks, we all know who’ll get ripped to shreds.”
“No, Jake, with your luck, you’ll be the only one to survive.”
“The media would go wild. Jake McKallister, bear-attack survivor,” Casey teased.
“Right, because they’ve got nothing else exciting to write about me.”
“Can you guys be any louder? Jesus. You might as well be calling them over for a nice meaty snack,” my irritated boyfriend complained.
“So Kyle,” Jake asked. “On a scale from one to ten, how much do you want Mom right now?”
A low, rumble of hysteria burst forth from the four of us and we had to hush our laughter so as not to beckon an angry bear.
“Honestly, I’m at, like, a twelve. That furry-assed fearmonger has nothing on our mom.”
Our tormentors didn’t wait long to amble into our camp. We sat in tense anticipation as the bear and her cub tried to force open the lockbox, and when that didn’t work, they ripped open a plastic bag filled with beer bottles. Then, as quickly as they arrived, the bears moved on, hoping to find an even less-prepared group of campers than us.
