For Better or Worse

In the morning she woke to the sun peeking over the horizon. She started to get up and then realized someone had put a blanket over her. Alex must have been up sometime in the night. She stretched and stood. Before the day got started, she should go down to the buffalo barn and check on the grain. Sneaking into their bedroom, she grabbed some clothes and then dressed in the kitchen. Pulling on her boots, she quietly left the house using the back door.

The horse barn was the first on her check list. Nothing looked out of place or like they had been restless in the night. After feeding them, she walked down to the buffalo shed. Brutus met her there. The Great Pyrenees dog had adopted the buffalo calves shortly after they were born. She scooped some grain up and fed them too. Turning on the water, she filled their water trough before heading out for the longhorn shed, which was the closest to the trees. That would be the most likely place the bear would go.

As she approached the barn, it was obvious that the door had been torn off its hinges. A trail of grain lead off a few feet. More than likely the bear had been attracted by the molasses in the grain. Inside, the shed was a complete mess. Alex would be upset. There was no point putting it off. She started toward the house, glancing at the trees. Her heart skipped a beat and then went into overdrive. Coming out of the trees was the mother bear, and behind her, the two cubs. More than likely she was taking them out for a morning treat. The bear lifted her nose, testing the breeze. Unfortunately, the breeze was in her favor. She stood on hind legs and sniffed again.

Carmen picked up her pace, heading for the house. She should have said something to Alex before leaving the house. It wasn’t the brightest thing to walk all the way out to that shed without any protection after seeing the bear last night, either.

The bear dropped down on all fours and growled at her offspring, who dashed back into the trees. Then she started out at a lumbering run toward Carmen.

As Carmen’s legs took off, she was saying to herself; “never run from a bear.” Yeah, that was probably said by someone who didn’t have a big sow black bear after them. If she could get to the barn . . . but the bear was gaining on her.

The drum of hooves jerked her attention back to the barn. How did the horses get out? The sight of Alex on Ed, galloping toward her was as much a relief as it was a surprise. He reined the horse around her, reaching a hand down. She grabbed his arm and shoved her foot into the stirrup his foot had vacated for her. Mounting, she grabbed his waist as he took off again. He took her a relatively safe distance away and stopped. Immediately she dropped to the ground.

He swung around, rifle in one hand and reins in another, starting toward the bear. The bear had not turned back or even stopped. Alex pulled the horse to a sliding stop and fired twice into the air. The bear stopped and stared at him, but made no move to run away. Finally it started advancing toward him. Alex stood in the stirrups, aiming the rifle at the bear. When the bear continued toward him, he fired. The bear cried out and stood on its hind legs, bawling at him. Alex fired twice more and the bear dropped to the ground.

Carmen started running to it. The poor bear. Now what would happen to her cubs?

“Carmen!” Alex yelled. “Get back here!”

She turned around, amazed by the fact that he had spoken while he was awake. Obediently she returned to his side.

He frowned down at her. “Don’t ever run to a fresh kill that way. You never know if it’s only stunned. It could jump up and charge you.”

She smiled up at him, barely hearing his words. His deep voice sounded so good! She lifted her hand to shield her eyes from the sun.

“You can talk!”

His smile was sardonic. “Yeah, several hours ago. I got up to tell you, but you were asleep.” He dismounted. “What were you doing out here so early?”

Dropping her hand, she turned away from him. “I thought I saw the bear last night so I was checking to see if it got into the grain.”

She could feel his eyes boring into her as she spoke.

“Why didn’t you just go up into the hills and look for the bear?” He said in a sarcastic tone. “Never mind . . . and don’t go after the cubs!” He shifted the rifle to his other hand and let out a long sigh. “God, Carmen. You scared me half to death.”

She glanced up at him. “I’m sorry. If it’s any consolation, it scared me half to death too. I’m glad you were here.”

“Why didn’t you say something last night?” When she didn’t respond, his gaze wandered over her face. “Because I was short with you?”

She shoved her hands into her pockets and stared at the bear. “I don’t know. I guess I was feeling sorry for the bear . . . and maybe me.” Letting her gaze fall to her feet, she shuffled them around. “How did you find out you could talk?”

“I woke myself up talking.”

She chanced a glance up and found him watching her reflectively.

“Are you sure it wasn’t me?” she asked sarcastically.

His smile was wry. “Not unless you’ve been taking hormones.” The smile faded. “I’m sorry, Carmen. I’ve been quite a problem to you, haven’t I?”

She glanced at the bear and then looked at him. “Not really. I’m glad you came along when you did.”

He put an arm around her waist and drew her close. “So am I.”

He was quiet for a while and when she glanced up at him, he was looking off toward the old house.

“It was strange,” he finally said. “I kept having the same dream over and over. When I was dreaming, I knew I had dreamed it before, but when I woke up, I couldn’t remember what it was about. This morning I remembered, though. I was running toward the house, yelling for you to get out of there. I was running as fast as I could, but it was like I was running in slow motion. Finally I got to the porch and you screamed. I came through the door and the knife came at me. I yelled no and tried to push it away.

That’s where the dream would end.” He glanced down at her. “I felt that knife go into me. I tasted blood and it was hard to breath. I thought the knife went into my heart.”