I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967

by Lauren Tarshis

  “Are you sure?” Pops said. “Grizzlies don’t bother with people. You know that.”

  “Of course I know tha —” Mel started, but Kevin cut her off.

  “I want to see the grizzly!” He leaped off the couch. Before Mel could stop him, he’d flung open the door.

  And there it was, standing on the porch. The grizzly was on all fours, staring at her little brother.

  “Kevin!” Mel snatched her brother and kicked the door shut with her foot.

  They all stood there for a moment, frozen in shock.

  Mel couldn’t help herself. She held Kevin tight and stepped to the small window. Pops leaned in to look, too. The bear was still there. It was pacing back and forth, sniffing the ground.

  “There’s something wrong with that bear,” Pops said. “Look how thin it is.”

  Pops was right. The bear was very big. But its light-brown coat seemed to hang off its skeleton. Mel could see the outline of its spine poking up through its fur.

  Kevin reached out and knocked on the window.

  “Hi, bear! Hi, bear!”

  “No, Kevin, don’t!” Mel warned him, grabbing his hand.

  Too late.

  The bear looked up at them. It slowly rose onto its hind legs. Then, with the speed of a striking cobra, the enormous bear lunged at the door. Its giant, clawed paw came smashing through the window right toward Kevin’s face.

  Mel leaped away as the claws whooshed through the air, missing Kevin’s cheek by inches. A shard of glass shot into Mel’s arm. But she barely noticed the pain.

  Her eyes were glued to the grizzly’s paw.

  The bear was reaching through the hole in the door, swiping at the air with its pointed white claws. Each claw was at least three inches long. Mel tried not to think of what those claws would do to her flesh. Or to Kevin’s.

  As if that wasn’t horrifying enough, the grizzly thrust its head through the window. Kevin shrieked and Mel stumbled back. The bear started bashing its paws against the old, rattling door. Its dripping-wet jaws snapped open and closed. A cloud of the bear’s steaming breath rushed up Mel’s nose. She gagged. It smelled like rotting meat and vomit.

  Pops grabbed hold of Mel’s arm and pulled her back.

  “Go away!” he shouted at the grizzly. Mel had never heard her grandfather scream so loudly. And somehow it worked.

  The bear pulled its head out of the door. There was a moment of silence.

  But then, BAM! The entire cabin shook as the bear threw its body against the door.

  Bam! Bam! Bam!

  The wood of the door groaned and cracked.

  Bam!

  A lamp crashed to the floor.

  Bam!

  The framed picture of little-boy Pops fell to the ground.

  Crash!

  Between each slam, there was a skin-crawling scratching noise, like giant fingernails cutting across a chalkboard. The sound of the bear’s claws digging into the wood.

  Kevin was whimpering in fear, burying his head in Mel’s neck. She held him tight. What would happen if the grizzly got inside the cabin?

  Mel looked frantically around their small room, searching for something she could use to fight back. But it was hopeless. Even if they’d had a loaded rifle within reach, there was no guarantee bullets would stop the grizzly in time.

  If that grizzly got in here, they were all doomed.

  Suddenly, Pops snatched up their dinner bell from the table. It was big and made of brass. He shook it hard, right in front of the broken window.

  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  The sound was deafening. Kevin put his hands over his ears.

  They stood there for one second, two seconds, five seconds, waiting for another bam on the door. But the sound never came. Mel held her breath. Pops stood frozen, still holding the bell high in the air.

  A minute passed.

  Finally, Pops lowered the bell and let out a big breath. He peered through the broken window. “It’s gone,” he said.

  Mel stepped up and looked outside. Pops was right. The bear was nowhere in sight.

  But its deathly stink still hung in the air.

  “What do we do now?” Mel asked Pops.

  He was cleaning the cut on her arm. The shard of glass had left her with a nasty, oozing gash.

  “We need to tell the rangers,” he said. “The station is closed now. But I’ll call first thing in the morning.”

  “What will they do?”

  “They’ll have to trap the bear,” he said, tearing open a Band-Aid and carefully pressing it over Mel’s cut. “They’ll move it up to the mountains, way into the wilderness.”

  He explained that the rangers had a special kind of trailer for trapping problem bears. They’d hitch it to a jeep and drive it to where the bear was last seen. They’d bait the trap with deer or elk meat. The bear would climb inside to get the bait. And then, slam! a door would shut behind it, locking it in. Then the rangers would drive the trailer up into the wilds of the park, far from the campgrounds and hiking trails. They’d release the bear and drive away.

  “What if that grizzly comes back here?” Mel asked.

  “It won’t,” Pops said.

  But his eyes flickered, and Mel could see he wasn’t so sure.

  Mel wanted to help Pops clean up the broken glass. But Kevin needed her. The little guy was all shaken up. Mel found him on her tiny cot, tears pouring down his face.

  “I’m sorry, Mel! I made the bear mad!”

  “Oh, Kev,” Mel said, lying down next to him and pulling him in close. “It’s not your fault.” She tried to make her voice sound calm like Mom’s always did when they were upset. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Shhhh, shhhhh.”

  After a few minutes, Kevin’s sobs slowed down, and Mel pulled the blanket over them. She thought about all those times Mom’s calm words made things better.

  There was the time they saw bats in the outhouse. And the time they discovered a huge raccoon standing on the counter in the cabin. It had looked at them and hissed.

  “Well, good morning to you, too,” Mom had said to the raccoon.

  She always made them feel lucky when they saw something wild. To her, a shiny green beetle was more beautiful than a diamond ring. Every spider’s web was a work of art.

  But Mom wouldn’t have felt lucky tonight. That bear had terrified all of them, even Pops. In fact, Mel was secretly glad that Kevin wanted to sleep with her. She snuggled up closer to him. A few minutes later, he drifted off to sleep with both arms wrapped tight around Mel’s neck.

  Mel could hear Pops moving around the cabin. He’d already hammered a piece of wood over the broken window in the door. Now he was sweeping up the glass.

  She closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. But the bear attack kept playing over and over again in her head, like a slideshow that wouldn’t stop.

  It just didn’t make sense. Grizzlies didn’t act that way. Or smell that way. At least, no grizzly she’d ever heard of.

  She’d only seen a grizzly one other time in her life. As Kevin breathed softly next to her, she thought back on that unforgettable day.

  It was two summers ago. She and Mom were hiking together on one of their favorite trails. It was just the two of them — Dad had stayed at the cabin to watch Kevin, and Pops’s knees had been giving him trouble. Mel was always happy to have Mom to herself.

  They were walking along a babbling stream when suddenly Mom gasped. Mel followed her worried gaze across the water. There, under a tree, was a large bear, lying on its side. It looked like it was sleeping.

  Even from ten feet away, they could tell it was a grizzly — it had the hump between its shoulders. That was the main difference between grizzly bears and black bears.

  It was important to know the difference. Because grizzlies were more aggressive and powerful than black bears. Grizzly attacks were very rare. They usually only happened when a grizzly was surprised or felt threatened. And this bear would be very surprised — and feel very t
hreatened — when it woke up and saw Mel and Mom standing there.

  How had this bear not heard them coming?

  Mom and Mel always made noise when they were hiking. That was rule number one here in grizzly country: to make noise so you never surprised a bear. They talked loudly. They sang. They clapped. Mom and Mel were the loudest hikers in Glacier.

  Why hadn’t this grizzly woken up?

  And then they figured it out.

  “Mel,” Mom had said, grabbing Mel’s arm. “The bear is dead.”

  And that’s when Mel noticed the bear’s eyes. They were open wide, staring, unblinking.

  They stood there for a moment.

  “Come,” Mom said. “Let’s go see.”

  They crossed the creek and knelt down next to the bear. Mel’s body jangled with a mix of fear and excitement. This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Glacier’s most fearsome creature right up close.

  It was enormous, with shaggy brown fur dusted with gray. Mel studied the bear’s rounded ears, its shiny black nose, the giant snout. Mom pointed out the bulges on the side of the jaw. Those were the muscles that gave grizzlies such a powerful bite — strong enough to chomp through metal.

  “What a magnificent creature,” Mom said.

  She spoke very quietly, as if they were in an art museum. Or at church.

  “It’s very old,” Mom said. “You can tell by its teeth.”

  The bear’s mouth was open just wide enough to see inside. Its teeth were worn down and chipped. Three of its four long teeth — the canines — were gone.

  Mel gently put her hands on the bear’s side. They disappeared up to her wrists in its glossy fur. But what amazed Mel most about the grizzly — and gave her goose bumps — were the bear’s paws.

  They were enormous, practically like baseball mitts, furry on top, with thick black pads on the bottom. She knew how powerful they could be: One smack could knock out a moose. And those claws … long and white and slightly curved. Mel touched the tip of one with her finger. It felt as strong as steel.

  Mom and Mel sat with the bear for a long time, until the sun started to drop down in the sky. Then they gathered as many fallen pine branches as they could. They laid them carefully over the grizzly’s body. They said a little prayer. And they left the bear in its wild resting place.

  “We’ll never forget this,” Mom had said.

  Mom was right. Mel could still remember every detail of that day.

  That grizzly didn’t seem like a ferocious beast. It was beautiful, like one of Glacier’s lakes or waterfalls.

  Nothing like that monster they’d seen tonight.

  Mel woke up to the smell of eggs and toast.

  Kevin was gone; he’d left his stuffed alligator tucked in next to Mel. Mel threw on her jeans and sweatshirt and padded into the kitchen. Kevin had finished breakfast and was busily drawing a picture.

  “Look, Melly!” he cried. “It’s a picture of me and my wolverine beating up that mean grizzly!”

  Mel kissed his head and looked over his shoulder at his scribbles. Somehow Kevin had turned last night’s terror into a thrilling adventure. She wished she was a little kid again.

  Pops looked tired, too. Mel doubted he’d closed his eyes last night. But he smiled as he served her a plate heaped with scrambled eggs and buttery toast.

  There was a knock at the door. They all jumped a little bit, before a familiar voice called out, “Hello!”

  “Aunt Cassie!” Kevin said gleefully.

  “Come in!” Pops answered.

  A moment later, the door swung open and Aunt Cassie appeared. With her yellow-and-pink dress and her green suitcase in hand, Aunt Cassie looked like a flower — a six-foot flower with round glasses and an Afro.

  Mel’s throat tightened. The last time she’d seen Aunt Cassie was at Mom’s funeral, in December. Aunt Cassie had written Mel about ten letters since then. But Mel hadn’t written back. She’d never known what to say. And now she felt ashamed. She couldn’t even look at Aunt Cassie.

  But before Mel knew it, Aunt Cassie’s arms were around her. “I’ve missed you!” she said. She put her hand on Mel’s cheek so Mel had no choice but to meet her gaze. And to Mel’s surprise, there wasn’t even a flicker of anger in Aunt Cassie’s eyes. Just the usual love and maybe a touch of sadness. Somehow, that split-second look between her and Aunt Cassie said more than one hundred letters could.

  “And you, little man,” Aunt Cassie said to Kevin. “You’ve grown at least a foot!” Kevin hopped up and hugged her around the legs.

  “So …” Aunt Cassie said when Kevin finally let go. “Who wants to tell me what happened here?” She pointed to the cabin door. Or what was left of it.

  The wood of the door was cracked, the hinges bent. There were deep scratches in it from the bear’s claws.

  “A grizzly came here!” Kevin cried. “It wanted to eat me! I was brave!”

  Aunt Cassie looked at Mel and Pops.

  “Believe it or not, that’s exactly what happened,” Pops said.

  Pops poured Aunt Cassie some coffee, and they told her the whole story. Aunt Cassie listened with wide eyes.

  “I’ve never heard of a grizzly acting like that!” she said when they were finished.

  And Aunt Cassie knew as much about grizzlies as Mel and Pops did. Because she’d also been coming to Glacier her whole life.

  Aunt Cassie and Mom actually met here as little girls splashing around in Lake McDonald. They’d told Mel all about the adventures they’d had together. The craziest ideas were always Mom’s.

  She and Aunt Cassie would hike all day to find a secret waterfall or fishing hole. Sometimes they’d get lost and straggle home — smudged with dirt and covered with scratches — as the sun was coming down. But of course that was half the fun.

  Now Aunt Cassie lived in Chicago. She was a writer for all different magazines. She’d even won some prizes. Mom was so proud of her.

  Mel moved her chair toward Aunt Cassie. Being close to her made Mel feel calmer. But she still shuddered as she pictured that grizzly’s claws aimed right at Kevin’s face.

  “That bear … it was like a monster,” Mel said.

  “It sure was,” Pops agreed. “There had to be something … wrong with it.”

  “What did the rangers say?” Aunt Cassie asked.

  “Nothing yet,” Pops said, clearing Kevin’s plate. “I called earlier but there was no answer. They must be busy with the fires. I plan to stop by the station later. But first I want to go to town and get a lock for the front door.” He glanced at Mel. “Just to be sure.”

  Mel looked at Cassie, then back at Pops.

  “What if Aunt Cassie and I go to the station?” she said. “I can tell them what happened.”

  She wanted the rangers to do something about the bear … now.

  Cassie’s face brightened. “Sounds good to me,” she said. “I’m curious to hear what they’ll say.”

  “That’s fine,” Pops said. Then he turned to Kevin. “Let’s go, wolverine boy. We’re going to town.”

  “Ice cream!” Kevin boomed.

  On the way out the front door, Mel eyed the deep, jagged scratches in the wood. It looked like a maniac with an ax had tried to chop the door down. And there was a tangled clump of brown fur in the corner of the porch.

  Mel shivered, even though the day was warm, and followed Aunt Cassie out to the car.

  Ten minutes later, Aunt Cassie and Mel pulled into the parking lot at the Lake McDonald ranger station. It was just a small log building, about three miles from the cabin.

  They waited in line behind a young man with a mop of brown hair and a beard. He was paying for a trail map.

  When he was finished, Aunt Cassie stepped back and gave Mel a little nudge toward the counter. Mel stepped up. The ranger gave her a kindly smile. He didn’t look much younger than Pops.

  “What can I do for you, young lady?”

  Mel felt nervous, like when her teacher called on her. But she took a
breath and looked the man in the eye. “I live down the lake, in one of the cabins,” she said. “A grizzly bear came out of the woods last night and followed me up to the cabin, and then it smashed the window and tried to break down our door and —”

  The ranger held up his hand.

  “Let me guess. Skinny bear? Light brown. Long claws?”

  Mel glanced back at Aunt Cassie, who raised her eyebrows in surprise.

  “That’s the one,” Mel said. “How did you know?”

  “We call that bear Old Slim,” the ranger said. “People have been complaining about him all summer. A real troublemaker. Been raiding campgrounds. Making a mess of people’s garbage cans. Stealing people’s food. Harmless, though.”

  Mel felt her cheeks turn red. What was this man saying? Hadn’t he heard what she’d just told him?

  “Harmless?” Mel said. “That bear almost ripped our door off the hinges, and …” The memory of the grizzly’s paw only inches from Kevin’s face flashed across her mind. She pinched her index finger and thumb close together. “And it got this close to tearing my little brother to shreds!”

  Aunt Cassie put a hand on Mel’s shoulder. Mel realized she was on her tippy-toes, leaning over the counter. She let out a breath and took a step back. She didn’t want to be rude. But she needed the ranger to understand.

  The ranger nodded. “That Old Slim’s a real rascal. A few days ago he chased a couple of boys at the Trout Lake campground. Wrecked their tent. Bit right through some cans of chili. Ate a whole pack of wieners in one bite.” The ranger chuckled.

  “Excuse me,” Aunt Cassie said, stepping closer to the counter herself. “I’m not sure what’s funny about this grizzly.”

  Mel heard something over her shoulder and noticed that the young man was lurking just inside the doorway, listening. Were she and Aunt Cassie making too big of a fuss?

  “The rangers need to do something about this bear,” Aunt Cassie went on, her voice rising sharply.

  The ranger’s cheeks turned pink. “There’s nothing I can do, miss. I’m just a volunteer.” He pointed to the symbol on his shirt and shrugged. “Most of the the rangers are dealing with the fires.”