Bears

Bears

 Noel Laflin

  5-3-15

It was the large black bear and her cub slowly ambling across the Green Valley Lake Road that caused the old old camp ambulance to brake so suddenly.  The four tired occupants sat up and took keen notice of the unusual sight that night - oh, so long ago.

There had been rumors of a bear or two roaming the camp for the past couple of weeks. But no evidence was ever produced – neither a shaky, blurry photo nor even a single crude mold of a track ever surfaced or was triumphantly brought forward as proof. And until this moment, few thought the scuttlebutt regarding bears in Ahwahnee even credible. They were just no longer seen in this neck of the woods - at least not by the four witnessing the crossing at this late hour.

The medic, the young staff man riding shotgun that evening, the boy with the still-warm plaster cast drying around his arm, and the boy's father all sat reverently mesmerized as the shaggy-haired pair disappeared from the truck's headlights and wandered down the camp's unpaved, lonely Wilderness Road.  It had been a long night, what with the broken arm incident, journey to medical care and back again.  It was close to two in the morning now.

"Do you think anyone will believe us?" asked the boy with the broken arm. It had been freshly repositioned at the mountain’s hospital less than an hour before.

"I thought the bears were all gone," replied his incredulous father.

"Just glad I didn't hit them," sighed the medic.

"Wish I had a camera," lamented the young staff man, knowing full well that their tale would be met with great skepticism otherwise – bereft of proof as it was.

"Maybe we should just keep this to ourselves," ventured the boy as he readjusted the sling about his neck, leaned back in the hard seat once more and closed his eyes. 

"If I was a bear, I'd just want to be left alone, you know?" he added sleepily.

They sat in silence for a bit, letting the old ambulance idle in the middle of the deserted highway, all the while digesting the youngster’s words.

"Think I'll visit the Wilderness area tomorrow and bring a broom," said the young staff man. "That road could use a good cleaning," he concluded.

"I'll lend you a hand," mumbled the medic, shifting the gears and letting out the clutch.

And with that they continued on down the dark road - driving, oh, so slowly back to camp.