Bearly Camping

by Lynn Katzenmeyer

  ​​“Human?” he asked Ebsen, ignoring me completely.

  ​​“Name,” I asked, pretending to be bored. I had a feeling this wouldn’t go well if I showed anything but apathy.

  ​​“McGuire comma Edwin,” he said, stalking toward my desk in the smooth controlled manner I’d only seen in nature documentaries. He leaned over my desk and I heard him take another big inhale, “Unclaimed.”

  ​​“You’ll be in the Lion’s Den Cabin,” I told him, keeping a bored intonation opening his orientation binder to the map, “Southwest two miles, if you hit the lake, you’ve gone too far. Your brothers are both in Oakdale Cabin on the opposite side of the Adventure Loop. Animal free zones are here, here, and here, shifting is only allowed on trails with the black outline. No hunting unless approved by the rangers. You’ll need to be at the Adventure Village Cafe by 6pm today for the mandatory safety training then your schedule will be on page 10 in your binder. Here are your keys. Do you have any questions?”

  ​​“Why’s an unclaimed human female here?” he bent down to meet my gaze. His eyes were an unnatural topaz color that looked odd against his tanned skin. I met his stare with the same bored expression I’d had the entire exchange.

  ​​“What’s an annoying cub still doing at my desk?” I asked after several uncomfortable moments of his unflinching stare. I raised an eyebrow, “Do you require an escort to your cabin or can I trust you won’t get lost?”

  ​​“Feisty,” McGuire comma Edwin purred as he took the keys and binder from me with a smirk, “I like it,” he gave a bro-nod to Ebsen before brushing past a set of twins who just entered the building. His brothers, based on their similar appearance.

  The twins walked up, bright smiles on their faces. They lacked the swagger of their older brother but made up for it with enthusiasm. “We’re here for kitchen duty,” one of them said, “Alex and Xander McGuire.” The twins couldn’t have been older than eighteen years old.. I gave them the same spiel, though mirroring their level of excitement.

  ​​“First time away from home?” I asked after seeing their eyes glaze over looking at the map.

  ​​Alex nodded but Xander spoke, “Dad wants us to get some socializing with other shifters before our brother takes over the pride and we have to find a new home. We figured knowing our way around a kitchen would help with jobs.”

  ​​“I think you’ll have fun,” I told them, “Ethan and Jamie are wonderful. I'm sure they'll teach you a lot.”

  “Thanks ma’am” Alex said, looking down to see my name tag, “Souli, ma’am.”

  I smiled at them, “Better go catch up with your brother, he seems ready to get started.” They ran out, barely remembering their keys and binders.

  The next several interactions mirrored the first with Edwin. A male shifter walks in, takes a big sniff, realizes that the woman behind the desk is human, gets closer, notes she is unclaimed. He then make comments about it. The whole thing started to bum me out.

  I couldn’t have known what I was getting into. But I’d expected the kind of Camp Warckamee camaraderie and excitement. Instead, I felt like a freak.

  Ebsen ran to the AVC to get us lunch while I continued my office manager and arrival duties. When not handling the arrivals, I checked in with Art and Linde who had taken the vans to the airport to pick up the non-locals.

  The first van was on its way, Linde had left early in the morning to get the morning flights, Art left after breakfast to pick up the later arrivals.

  Ebsen came back with a big bowl of spinach and a stack of reusable lunch boxes full of hot food. My stomach rumbled smelling the meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

  He walked in and took a big sniff, “Human, unclaimed, female.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh, “Are all shifters Captain Obvious or just the ones that work here?”

  “Give me a piece of paper,” he said, passing me one of the stacks of food and setting the other stack on the fold out table.

  I passed him a piece of paper and he took a marker from my desk organizer and started writing.

  “Tape,” he said, searching my desk before finding the dispenser and taping the note to the back of my monitor.

  “What does it say?” I asked, standing up to look at the back of my monitor. Ebsen nudged me back into my chair, refusing to let me look.

  “It’s no fun if you know,” he said with a laugh coming back to his chair, “Eat. I wasn’t sure what you liked so I grabbed some of everything. Whatever you don’t want, pass over here.”

  “Thanks.” I was a bit surprised by the generosity, especially considering how I’d shut down his advances just that morning. I opened up one of the containers, pot roast, yum, and put some of the spinach on it.

  We ate in amiable silence until the radio buzzed, “Camp van, Linde driving,” Ranger Carlson boomed, “15 shifters, ETA 5 minutes.”

  I inhaled the bigger parts of the pot roast and mashed potatoes before hastily wiping my hands on the back of my pants. I heard Ebsen chuckle at me. I set the food on the file cabinet behind my desk and glanced at my chart to the names I had flagged as Linde’s pickups.

  ​​Linde led a large group into the waiting room and had them sit down and brought in four girls to me. She saw the note Ebsen had taped to my computer and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. I felt my face flush.

  ​​“Hi, I’m Soul-i, yes I am human, yes I am female, yes I am unclaimed,” one of the girls slowly read, “yes I will feed you your test...icles if you annoy me.

  Ebsen’s window, rattling guffaw left no secret who put the note. I whipped my head around in time to witness him nearly fall off his chair, clutching his gut, as more laughter pealed out of him.

  Linde chuckled as she crossed the space with the grace of a dancer. She flipped through the binders until she found the four she was looking for, then she turned back around and started speaking Finnish. At least I assumed it was Finnish, to the four girls who nodded and smiled at me with a small wave.

  I waved back, fighting the blush that I knew would be all over my face. Ebsen’s laughter was so loud I could hardly hear Linde ask me for their keys.

  ​​“I swear I had no idea what that said,” I apologized. Day three and my boss just saw a sign that said that. I was mortified. I leaned over to grab the paper, Linde put her hand over my wrist stopping me from taking it down.

  ​​“Leave it. It’s funny.” She surveyed the room. She nodded, giving a look of what I hoped was approval. “How was the morning?”

  ​​“We’ve had about 30 arrivals if you include,” I pointed to the waiting room with her van load.

  ​​“Anyone give you any trouble?” Linde asked.

  ​​I shook my head, “Just a lot of shifters surprised when they sniff me.”

  ​​“Hence....the.....sign....” Ebsen said between his side-splitting laughter.

  ​​“You’d think he was part hyena the way he goes on like that,” Linde said, rolling her eyes, “Well I’m back on radio, let me know if you need anything. The rest of my load speaks fluent English so I’ll leave them in your capable hands.”

  ​​I nodded and got back to work. The rest of Linde’s load were males between the ages of 25 and 35, and some of the best looking men I’d ever met in my life. After I got the last one sent off to his cabin I heard Ebsen chewing his food with a renewed vigor.

  ​​“Are all foreign shifters hot or is it just them?” I asked as dreamily as I could manage, just to needle him, “Did you see the French wolf with those eyes, what were they seafoam green?”

  Ebsen glowered, arms crossed, hunched in his chair. I smirked and looked for my pot roast to find the container empty of everything except one leaf of spinach. I could feel Ebsen’s eyes on me waiting for me to comment on my missing food but I just shrugged and picked the spinach leaf out with my fingers.

  “Thanks for lunch, Ebsen,” I said sweetly, handing him the now empty container, “I’m sorry I didn’t leave you much.”

&n
bsp; He laughed all over again.

  The phone rang and it was the first lost puppy. I spun around, “I’ll have a ranger out to you right away. Stay where you are and tell me what number you are by.”

  The voice at the other end of the phone was trying to sound unconcerned. They had found the camp emergency phone located all along the trails, “F...four.”

  “That’s not too far, Ranger Ebsen will be right along. Would you like me to stay on the line until he gets there?”

  “What...what is he?”

  I looked up at Ebsen, covering the receiver, “Hey Eb, lost puppy wants to know your flavor, am I good to tell‘er?”

  Ebsen’s hand flew out and grabbed the receiver from me, “Ranger Ebsen, don’t worry darlin’ your teddy bear is on the way. I’ll see you in a few minutes. Try not to miss my voice.”

  I chuckled as he handed me the phone and barreled out of the cabin. The caller was still on the line, “Umm,” they manage, “I don’t...um”

  “I assure you, Austin,” I said, repeating the guy's name, “Ebsen is just friendly.”

  “Is he a bear?” the shifter’s voice was nervous.

  “He’s pretty tame,” I promised. After a few minutes I heard the trees behind Austin rustling.

  “He’s here,” Austin said, “He looks disappointed.”

  “I’ll see you in a couple of minutes,” I promised before the lost puppy hung up the phone. I spent the next couple minutes chuckling to myself.

  Ebsen came back and Austin was sent to the Prairie Cabin, one of the few prey shifter living quarters. He was a skittish guy who didn’t seem too terrified of Ebsen when he left.

  “You did that on purpose,” Ebsen grumbled, plopping down in his chair.

  “Did Austin not want his teddy beawr?” I asked in a baby voice before chuckling to myself, “Serves you right for that testicle sign.”

  “Has anyone bothered you since?”

  “No.”

  He raised an eyebrow at me as if that meant he won.

  There was a brief rush of arrivals around 3:00. Between 3:00 and 5:00 three fights broke out at Lion’s Den cabin, one fight at Shady Pines, and Ebsen had another lost puppy. Art arrived just after 6:00, which gave me barely enough time to get the late arrivals their keys and binders before the final dinner bell rang.

  I slumped in my seat, exhausted from the day.

  “Thanks for all your help today,” I said, leaning back to look at Ebsen, “Glad you drew the short straw on lost puppy duty.”

  He laughed, “I volunteered. Getting to spend the day in the wet snow radioing in cars or spending it with a female who will be screaming my name any day now, it was no contest.”

  My eyes widened but I didn’t respond. I checked my watch, the new arrivals would be eating dinner now and getting the safety lecture, “Who got the safety lecture?” I asked.

  “Carlson,” Ebsen answered, “Why? You got an itch?”

  ​I threw a pencil at him which he caught with a chuckle. I got up from the chair and stretched the stiffness out of my back. I heard Ebsen groan and I shot him another death glare.

  “I don’t get itchy,” I reminded him, walking to the door and flipping the sign, looking out at the clear night, perfect for stargazing, “Souli Barre off-radio.” Art would be handling any arrivals after 6:30 and I was free for the night. I put my radio on the charger.

  “What are you up to tonight?” Ebsen asked leaning back in Art’s chair.

  I checked the fire in the waiting room, it was low and I poked the embers separating them so they’d burn down faster.

  “I was thinking about going to the sports field.”

  “You going to play field hockey in the dark?” Ebsen laughed at his own joke.

  “It’s a clear night,” I told him, “I want to stargaze.”

  His laughter cut off, “Can I come?”

  “Are you going to behave?”

  “No.” I could hear the mischievous grin in his voice.

  “Then no,” I retorted.

  “Can my bear come?”

  “Will he keep his paws to himself?”

  “He pawmises,” Ebsen said, raising his right hand.

  “Fine,” I said, “I’m going to grab some snacks. I'll meet your bear in the sports field by the archery range at seven.”

  Ebsen smiled, “For reference, my bear prefers to be called Yuri. You can call me whatever you want.”

  ​I raised an eyebrow at him, “I’ll see Yuri in the sports field by the archery range.”

  Ebsen smiled even wider before leaving my office. I locked up and wandered over to the AVC which was three times as full as it had been when I arrived. All the staff was eating.

  Amber and Eddie waved, but they seemed caught up in their reunions with returning summer staffers. I ached for that familiarity, but reminded myself that I was human and needed to behave. It was bad enough I was going stargazing with a grizzly bear tonight.

  I dished up some food that wouldn’t go bad by being cold and threw in a big steak for Yuri. I didn’t know what bears preferred to eat but I figured I couldn’t go wrong with steak. I remembered Ebsen had a pint of berries with dinner my first night, so I added those too.

  “Hey Ethan,” I said, getting the attention of the kind shifter behind the counter, “Random question you don’t have to answer if it’s not appropriate.”

  Ethan leaned on the sneeze guard, “Is it a shifter question?”

  I nodded.

  He smirked, “Shoot,” he added fries to my take out container.

  “How much do shifters remember of what happens when they’re in animal form?”

  “Next to nothing,” Ethan said, “Bits pieces, we remember feelings and smells more than details. We’re two different creatures living in the same body, they get their time, we get ours... Do I want to know why?”

  I shrugged, “I’m bound to be caught doing something embarrassing in front of a shifter in animal form, I’d rather not hear about it the next day, you know?”

  Ethan laughed and passed over the container, “If anyone’s going to be embarrassed it’ll be the shifter, I assure you.”

  I thanked him and headed out. I grabbed a tarp and a blanket from my storage room and threw it into my backpack. It was a bit more of a hike than it looked on paper, but the crisp spring night air spurred me forward. I didn’t dare look at the sky and ruin the view. It had been so long since I’d seen the night sky without light pollution, I was going to cherish it.

  I sloshed through the melting snow to the middle of the field, where the ambient light was almost non-existent. I wrangled the tarp out of my pack and laid it out, careful to keep one side completely dry. Next I laid out the blanket I took off my shoes and carefully laid them at the end of the tarp. I pulled out my snacks and took a deep breath, now was the moment. I closed my eyes and laid back. I took one more deep breath and opened my eyes.

  Rather than a galaxy of stars, I saw a giant grizzly bear staring back at me, “Yuri,” I whispered to him, “Do you mind moving over a bit, I can’t see the stars.”

  The bear’s hot breath stayed on my face for another beat before I felt warm fur brush my crown.

  Then I got to see the stars. The cold night made them incredibly clear. There was a slight greenish tint around the tree line as the sun finished setting. Thousands of bright white dots littered the sky in a dome of dark blues and black.

  Yuri eventually moved over and rolled onto his back looking up at the sky with me. He was a good companion, warm too. That didn’t hurt. I found myself talking to the bear who was an eager listener.

  I felt silly having a conversation with a prone grizzly bear, but it was nice. He grunted at appropriate times in stories and groaned at bad jokes. He ate the steak and berries I brought him when I dug my own food out. When it was time to head back, Yuri walked me back to my cabin and waved goodbye.

  I really found a whole new world.

  “Stargazing with a grizzly,” I muttered to myself as I cli
mbed the stairs to bed, “What a trip.”

  Chapter 8

  Over the next couple weeks, I fell into a routine. I started my morning with breakfast with the grounds crew, lunch at my desk, and dinner with Art and Linde to go over schedules for staff arrivals, new bookings, and get approved supply order sheets from the department heads. After dinner, I would join whatever new staff training or work crew was happening that night.

  Training was by far the best part of my day. My whole first week, I spent every night a hundred feet in the air above the thawing lake on the ropes course.. The wind blew harder 100 feet in the air, but I felt like I was flying. The snow breezed through my hair, visible only thanks to the bright lights illuminating the course.

  The second week, I trained with the stable crew. Not my favorite, to be honest, there were only three horses over the winter months, but we needed to clean the stalls and prepare the barn for the arrival of the rest in May.

  The third week I trained with the grounds crew on ATVs. We cleared the back country trails enough so hikers could make it through. I was only permitted to work the trails close to the Adventure Village. The real backcountry trails were cleared during the day while I manned the desk.

  On my days off, I went into town with Amber and Eddie. We had dinner at the local pizza place, then got some luxury items at the shops. They were a treasure trove of information on shifter culture and etiquette. They helped me pick out the least offensive soaps (unscented) and practice how to interact with different flavors of shifters. I also learned that pack was literally the group of shifters and not a cutesy nickname for people wearing backpacks as I had assumed.

  Different animals had different pack dynamics.

  Wolf shifters, like the Johnsons, formed small nuclear family packs. In areas adjacent to other unrelated families, the packs joined to form coalitions of packs. Coalitions owned shifter businesses, like the mill, and swaths of land, like WAZ, for their members to run and shift together.

  Bears, like Ebsen, lived in dens of varying sizes. I was able to piece together that Sig’s family home was actually a bear den. All his sisters lived on the same ranch. Apparently this was odd, Steve said most bears prefer to just live with their mate, should they choose to take one.