Trees on each side of Berry Road threw wind-powered branches at each other all night. Sticks like spears stuck out of the bushes, and broken boughs covered the newly graded road. The miracle was that no one lost power.
Justin Dean lived behind the O’Neil’s, and he was the first neighbor on the road that morning. He worked as a nuclear submarine mechanic and was the father of three small children. A full moon cast a bright and deep shadow and Justin drove his little white car slowly because of the downed branches. He noticed the huge downed branch at the O’Neil’s driveway, but he was running late and it wasn’t blocking. His headlights lit up the twenty acres of woods across the road as he turned, the bear froze, and Justin never saw it.
It didn’t get light until almost 7:00, and by that time seven other neighbors had left for work. The teenagers who were allowed to walk to the bus even during bear alerts had long ago dropped sunflower seed shells and Jonah’s younger brother Sam, who was rebellious, threw a Gatorade bottle into the salal.
Diana didn’t have to be at the hospital until 10:00, but she was awake early and thinking about the bear. Her mother would be up soon, but Alan didn’t get up until 9:00. Diana started a pot of coffee and then put on her coat and Uggs and went out to get the newspaper. It was just barely light and very cold.
Jake led the way down the back stairs and straight to the branch blocking the driveway. His fur bristled as he smelled the bear’s scent, and he began to track it. Around the toolshed and the garbage area, down the trail to the tractor and back he sniffed, marking things furiously. “Jake!” Diana called. “COME.”
One more sniff and he followed Diana over the branch and out onto Berry. “Hooo-weee!” Diana said. “Looks like a tornado came through.”
She noticed that there had been no newspaper delivered at the mailbox, and then a car’s headlights shown from up the hill. Diana made Jake sit and stay as a small, very noisy red car roared up and stopped. Diana had never officially met Jonah, but she knew it was him. He was black, had dimples, and was very cute.
“Hey,” he said, rolling down his window. “I’m Jonah.”
Diana smiled. Her outfit could be worse, she thought, but not much. “Hey! I’m Diana.”
“Yeah, I know.” Jonah looked at Diana appreciatively, yet with respect, yet warm. “Looks like you’ve got a tree down there.” Jonah nodded to the driveway behind her, and then said, “I’ll just get that outta the way for you.”
Diana stepped back and Jonah wheeled the loud little car onto the edge of the recently graded road, turned off the engine and swung open the door all in one swoop. When Jonah wedged himself out, he was a couple of inches taller than Diana, but much bigger, muscular, his shoulders sloping and sleek even under his work clothes and coat.
He held out his hand for Diana to shake, then pulled it back and held it up to his lips to warm. “Cold,” he said and grinned. Diana melted. Then Jonah extended his hand again and Diana shook it, practically crushing his gentle clasp with her firm howdy-do.
“Nice to meet you,” Diana said, “and yes, it’s crazy cold. It’s sweet of you to stop and help.”
“You’re a damsel in distress,” Jonah said.
Diana laughed loudly. “Where’s your skateboard, Mr. Shining Knight?”
Jonah’s eyes grew wider and he smiled. “What have you got against skateboards, wench?”
“Oh,” Diana said, “just that they are death on wheels and completely insane.”
“It’s good to have opinions,” Jonah said.
“I have a few, yes I do,” Diana said.
“We should talk about them some time,” Jonah said.
Diana was thrilled. Her eyes gave Jonah the thumbs up.
Jake had been ordered to sit through all of this and was ready for some attention. So when Jonah strode over to the downed branch, which was really a small tree, Jake released himself and Diana didn’t notice.
As Jonah wrestled the branch, car headlights approached from both directions.
The car coming from Valley was the grandmother of the three Dean children who lived behind the O’Neil’s, coming to babysit. She had never met the two young people in the road, but she recognized the dog Jake standing by the mailboxes. Something was going on at the O’Neil driveway, which was part of the same easement the Dean driveway fed into. She approached slowly.
The car coming down the hill from the dead end was Greg Harvey going to a stupid business meeting – plumbing supplies – across the Bridge in Tacoma. And what crap was this in the middle of the road? If it involved that idiot lawyer Alan Peterson, and if it interfered with his, Greg Harvey’s, right way of passage, then there would be hell to pay. Greg was one of the paving supporters, a forty-year-old bachelor who lived with his sister. He was interested in improving property values, and he was not a morning person.
Whether it was the approaching cars or the giant branch that Jonah finally heaved off the driveway and sent crashing into the woods, the bear panicked and bounded across the road for all to see. She should not have still been even in the vicinity, but she didn’t seem to know that at all.
Diana watched in horror as Jake streaked away from the mailboxes, chasing after the bear with a focus beyond controlling. “Jake!” Diana screamed.
The bear stopped at the edge of the road, rose up huge to meet Jake as he lunged, and then, with a single swipe, cuffed the ninety-pound golden retriever across the head. Jake’s body flopped back from the blow and landed in the road. The bear then roared a warning, turned and was gone into the woods.
Diana and Jonah raced to Jake’s lifeless body. Diana kneeled down next to him in the gravel, threw back her head and howled.
Chapter 5
A Bear Tale Page 4
