There she is! Mimi sat up straight, her heart beating rapidly at the sight of the bear cub sniffing around the same statue of the mama bear and her cub where she’d seen her the night before. I wonder what’s so special about that particular pair, she thought as she reached into the paper bag to pull out one of the ham and cheese sandwiches. Well, here goes nothing. She slowly crawled from her hiding place, sandwich in one hand, leash and collar in the other. The baby bear continued to sniff around the statue so intently that Mimi was able to get within ten feet before the cub looked up.
Mimi held out the sandwich and whispered in a soothing voice. "I brought this for you. It's ham and cheese, and you can take my word for it, it's delicious." She gently waved it in the bear's direction and watched as the cub raised its nose to take a whiff. Mimi broke off one corner of the sandwich, making sure it had a piece of ham and cheese between the toasted slices of bread and tossed it in the cub's direction. It landed a foot or two away from her. After a moment of hesitation, the cub walked over to it, sniffed at it, and then quickly gulped it down.
“Didn’t I tell you it was good?” Mimi said, chuckling softly at the satisfied look on the baby bear’s face. It's so cute, she thought, then stopped herself. She studied the bear more closely, finally deciding the cub must be a female. At least until someone like my uncle tells me otherwise, she thought. She broke off another corner of the sandwich and tossed it a couple feet from the bear, bending down as she did so. With much less hesitation this time, the bear walked over to the morsel of food and downed it quickly before looking up at the remaining sandwich in Mimi’s hand.
“You want the rest of this?” Mimi asked, as she placed the sandwich down next to her. “Come and get it. I promise I won’t hurt you.”
She watched as the bear eyed first the sandwich and then her. “There’s more where that came from as well. As many sandwiches as you can eat,” Mimi assured her. “I’ve even got one with extra mayo if you like, but let’s start with this one.” She reached out and slid the sandwich a few inches closer to the bear, who took a couple long sniffs before stepping cautiously forward. Mimi pretended not to pay any attention, but watched out of the corner of her eye as the cub slowly creep forward. When it finally reached the sandwich and started eating it, Mimi reached out and slowly placed the collar around the cub’s neck while whispering to her gently. “It’s going to be all right. We’re going to get you home somehow.” But where was that? As she asked herself that question, she glanced up to the statue of the mama bear and her cub, and suddenly knew the answer. She smiled as she watched the cub finish off the sandwich and look around for more.
“Still hungry, huh? Well, I’ve got more right over there,” she said, pointing behind her. “Let’s just walk over and see if I can’t find the one with the extra may...”
“That won’t be necessary,” a rough voice interrupted. As Mimi turned around, she felt a calloused hand grab her arm and wrench the leash away. Marcus and Beergut! Where the hell did they come from?
“We’ll take it from here,” Marcus continued, as he handed the leash to his partner, with the now frightened bear at the other end fighting against the constraint of the leash and collar. “Take the scruffy thing to the truck and stuff it in the cage that’s in the back.”
“Leave her alone!” Mimi shouted, starting towards Beergut, but Marcus stepped in to block her way.
“Now you know better than to give us any trouble.” He pushed her roughly away. “Stand aside. We are on official town business.”
"Like hell you are," Mimi retorted, trying to push him back, but since Marcus outweighed her by over a hundred pounds, he only laughed.
“Look, girlie, I really don't want to hurt you, but if you get in my way, I'll have no choice. " He shoved her again, this time much harder. Mimi stumbled backward, falling to the ground, her head hitting something hard and unforgiving. She saw stars and felt like she was going to pass out. Then she heard the first rumblings of a growl.
“What was that?” Beergut asked. “Did you hear it?”
Marcus looked around, suddenly wary. “It was nothing. Just some heat lightning,” he replied in an unconvincing tone. He turned his attention back to Beergut. “I thought I told you to take the little shit to the truck.” But before either of them could move, they heard a second growl, this one much louder and appearing to come from several different directions.
“Holy Mother of...” Beergut shouted. “What the hell is going on? Did you see that?” He pointed down the street at one of the other bear figures about a half block away. This one stood on its hind legs with its front paws in the air. “That damn bear just moved!”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Marcus shouted back. “It’s a damn stat...What the...?”
Mimi sat up on one elbow and felt the back of her head where a lump was already forming. She stared down the street where Beergut had pointed, but she couldn't get her eyes to focus properly. Even so, it appeared that the bear in question no longer possessed the shiny veneer of its former self, and it was advancing on them on legs that appeared quite mobile.
Suddenly, a third and then a fourth growl cut through the night air as other bears came to life, obviously upset by the antics they’d been witnessing, and advanced towards the two men. Beergut dropped the end of the leash and the bear cub scampered away from him and towards Mimi, who had managed to push herself to a sitting position on the sidewalk. She reached out her arms and the cub came to her.
“This can’t be happening,” Marcus exclaimed, though the look of terror on his face confirmed he didn’t believe his own statement. The two men stood back to back while they slowly retreated in the direction of Marcus’s truck, as several of the Bearfooting bears herded them in that direction, growling their dislike for the men.
“I told you Foster Flat was a bear-friendly town,” Mimi yelled after them. “I just had no idea how bear-friendly,” she muttered more softly. “No idea at all.” She suddenly felt very sleepy and her head hurt something awful. “I think I better lie down for just a minute,” she whispered softly to the bear cub, who nuzzled against her.
MIMI TRIED TO SLAP the hand on her shoulder away. “Please, Mom, just a few more minutes,” she muttered. “I don’t want any breakfast this morning.”
But the hand continued to shake her. “Wake up, Mimi,” a gruff voice, clearly not her mother’s, said.
She opened her eyes to see her Uncle Bo towering over her, a concerned look on his face. “I thought you were going to call me when the bear cub showed up,” he said.
“I was...I will...I,” Mimi tried to answer, but was still too groggy to make any sense. She tried again. “I was going to call but then it got kinda crazy, and I guess I forgot.” She raised one hand to the back of her head and felt the lump. No wonder her head was hurting so much. It all started coming back to her: the bear cub’s appearance, followed by Marcus and Beergut trying to take the cub from her, and then...nah, that couldn’t have happened, could it?
“Well, no matter, I see you’ve made friends with the little guy,” Bo replied.
“Gal,” Mimi corrected, as she slowly sat up and felt the world spin around her for a moment. She looked over to see the bear cub lying quietly next to the Bearfooting statue. “I’m pretty sure she’s a she,” Mimi continued.
Bo took a closer look at the cub as it started to move around. “You may be right. It can be pretty hard to tell when they’re young.”
Mimi reached up with her left hand to brush the hair from her face and noticed for the first time the leash still wrapped around her hand.
“We’ll take her home for now, and I’ll drop her off at the nature center tomorrow,” Bo said as he started to reach for the leash.
“No!’ Mimi shouted, jerking the leash out of his reach.
“What? That was the plan we agreed to with the town council.”
“That was before we knew where she came from,” Mimi countered. She rose slowly, then waited for the world to stop spinning
before straightening up.
“But we don’t know where she’s from...do we?” Bo asked, a perplexed look growing on his face.
Mimi pointed to the statue. “I think she’s drawn to that statue because parts of it came from her home area.” She pointed to the writing on the back of the statue. “It says here that this one was decorated by the Blue Ridge Rafting Company. They’re a whitewater rafting business located in the Nantahala valley area. I bet if we go there we’ll find her mother.”
“But that’s over thirty miles from here. How could she...”
“I don’t know,” Mimi interrupted him, “but I have a strong hunch that’s where she’s from. We’ve got to at least give it a try.”
Bo nodded slowly. “Okay, I guess we can give it a shot.” He glanced at his watch. “It’ll be sunrise soon. We can head in that direction, but if we don’t find her mother...”
“Then we’ll decide the next step,” Mimi finished for him.
“I put Lucy’s dog pen in the back of the truck yesterday.”
“That’s okay,” Mimi said as she started walking towards her uncle’s truck, the cub following behind her. “She can sit in the cab with us.”
Bo shook his head. “I swear you’re getting as bossy as your mother.”
“It runs in the family,” Mimi retorted.
THE FIRST THINGS MIMI noticed as Bo pulled into the Nantahala River camp and canoe park were two signs. The first was a simple sign tacked to a post: Bear Sanctuary. The second was a life-size replica of Yogi Bear holding its own sign: Hi Kids! Don’t feed the bears. Be sure Dad keeps the car windows rolled up, and in much smaller type, Over 40 people have been hurt by bears this year.
Cute sign, Mimi thought, as she patted the bear cub’s head, with a serious message.
“I think we’re in the right place,” she said, as Bo stopped the truck and put it in park.
“Could be,” Bo replied, “but I wouldn’t get your hopes up just yet. This is part of the Nantahala National Forest, which spans over 500,000 acres. In other words, there’s a lot of land where his mother could be.”
“Her,” Mimi corrected him again. “That’s okay. I have a good feeling about this place.”
"Well, it's sure off the beaten track enough," Bo replied. "If my truck didn't have four-wheel drive, I'm not sure we would have made it back here."
As Mimi climbed out of the truck, she looked around, verifying what she already suspected. They were all alone, though there were some tire tracks that appeared to be fairly recent. “Come on, Gallie, let’s go find your mama,” she said, as she pulled gently on the leash.
“Gallie?”
“Yep, that’s her name.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve named her. You know better than to do that. You name an animal, then you start getting attached...”
“I know, I know.” Mimi stopped him. “You’ve told me that a dozen times, but I’m already attached. I also know that Gallie needs to be out here with her mother, so quit worrying and help me find her.”
“And how do you suggest we do that?”
Mimi considered the question, but came up blank.
“I’m not sure. I hadn’t gotten that far in my thinking.”
Bo groaned. Then, looking around, he pointed off in the distance. "Looks like there's a clearing about halfway up that mountain. Let's see if we can find a trail and take a hike. Who knows, we might get lucky." He pulled a couple bottles of water out of the truck cab and tossed one to his niece.
Mimi caught the bottle, nodded, and together they headed in the direction Bo had pointed. Sure enough, at the edge of the parking area, they found a well-worn path. The three of them trekked for close to an hour before they finally reached the clearing, which turned out to be a large growth of blueberry bushes.
“It’s not quite the time for blueberries to be ripe yet, but I figured this would be a likely place for a mama bear to hang out,” Bo said as he picked a few of the unripened berries from a nearby bush.
“Now what?”
“You tell me. This was your idea, remember.”
Mimi frowned. This was beginning to feel like a bad idea after all.
“Why don’t you let him...I mean her...off the leash and see what happens,” Bo said, more gently.
“What if she runs off?” Mimi asked.
Bo shrugged. “She seems pretty taken with you. I don’t think she’ll go far.”
Mimi nodded. Hell, I don’t have any better plan, she thought. I may as well give it a try.
She pulled Gallie to her and removed the collar. At first, the bear cub just stood there and looked up at her. "Go on. Go find your mother," Mimi urged her, then pushed her gently with one foot.
Finally, realizing she was free, she turned and trotted away several feet before stopping. She rose on her back haunches and sniffed the air before letting out a sound that sounded to Mimi remarkably like a baby crying for its mother. Gallie repeated it several times, took a few more steps forward, then repeated the cry.
The sound wrenched at Mimi’s heart. Oh baby, my poor baby, she thought. Gallie strolled to the edge of the clearing and called again, but again she was met only with silence. Finally, she lay down with her face between her paws.
Bo and Mimi looked on and waited. Finally, Bo said, "Well, it was worth a try. Why don't you put her collar back on and we'll..."
But the roar of a bear off in the distance stopped him in his tracks.
“What the...?” Mimi asked. “Was that her?”
Bo pointed to the bear cub, who was now standing on its hind legs and sniffing the air in the direction the sound had come from. Before he could answer Mimi, Gallie replied with her own roar, though it was several octaves higher and still sounded more like the cry of a human child. Several seconds later, they heard another roar, this time coming from much closer.
“Ahh, we need to not be here when that mama bear arrives,” Bo said, as he reached out, took Mimi’s hand and started pulling her back towards the path.
“But I can’t just leave her,” Mimi replied as she dug in her heels. “What if that’s not her mother?”
“Oh, that’s her mother all right,” Bo replied. He turned back to his niece and, looking her straight in the face, said, “You’ve helped her return to her home, Mimi. Now it’s time for us to return to ours.”
Mimi stared back. She knew her uncle was right. He'd never steered her wrong, especially when it came to matters of nature. She nodded, then turned back to the bear cub. "Bye-bye, Gallie girl. Have a great life." And with that, she allowed her uncle to lead her away.
The End
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A Message from Orrin Jason Bradford
(aka W. Bradford Swift)
As an Indie Author I know just how important readers are. Without people who enjoy reading, authors are pretty useless. Oh, I know I enjoy the thrill of writing the next great American novel, but that’s really not enough. I need readers like you who enjoy reading my stories. So, thank you. I sincerely appreciate your taking the time to read this second volume of Fantastic Fables of Foster Flat.
Perhaps you would enjoy some of my
other books and stories. If you’d like to stay up to date on new book releases, special discounts, and my occasional giveaways, you can also join my OJB’s Amazingly Awesome Readers Group. Just go to my author’s website and blog where you can also download a free copy of one of my other books:www.wbradfordswift.com. There's one last thing you could do if you be so king. Go to your favorite onine bookstore and leave an honest review of Fantastic Fables of Foster Flat. Honest reviews are really important to help other readers like you know which books to try next. And thanks for being an amazingly awesome reader.
Orrin Jason Bradford (aka W. Bradford Swift)
About the Author
Orrin Jason Bradford is the pen name W. Bradford Swift uses for his adult fiction to distinguish it from his nonfiction and young adult novels. An avid reader from childhood, he continues to read and study science fiction and fantasy. As a young man he promised one day to write his own fiction in gratitude to the many authors who kept him entertained and more or less sane over the years.
Swift is best known for his visionary fiction and nonfiction that “entertain while also enlightening and encouraging the reader to expand their sense of what is possible, and then applying that expanded awareness to their life.” He is a graduate of Clarion West in Seattle, WA – a residential workshop for writers of science fiction and fantasy. He lives in the “paradise found” of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina with his wife, Ann, their daughter, Amber and a menagerie of four-legged family members.
His other speculative fiction includes the six-book FreeForm science fiction thriller series, Babble, and Stars Beckon Call. He is also the author of visionary nonfiction including: Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life, Spiral of Fulfillment: Living an Inspired Life of Service, Simplicity and Spiritual Serenity, and From Spark to Flame: Fanning Your Passion & Ideas into Money-making Magazine Articles that Make a Difference. To learn more about additional stories and books by the author go to: www.wbradfordswift.com
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