Pieces of Silver

“Craig.”

“Yeah,” Craig answered his mother-in-law without taking his eye off the landscape.

“How’d you know it was human?”

“The head, some ribs, shoe, and stuff…”

“Only one?”

“One what?”

“Shoe.”

“One shoe, one leg, you know, assorted body parts.”

Rose looked over at her son-in-law with a grimace to see him grinning.

“Seriously,” she asked.

“Pretty much, I didn’t look long enough to take inventory. It was too grisly for me. Speaking of grisly, have you noticed that what we have dreaded seeing hasn’t shown up.”

“Yeah, that’s good isn’t it?”

“Well, yes, but, nothing’s showing up. No squirrels. No deer coming to the best watering hole on the place. I’ve been here a lot and I’ve never been here this long without seeing a deer, or something.”

“Did the gunshots spook them?” Rose asked hopefully, still whispering.

“Could be,” Craig answered noncommittally.

“We don’t have grizzlies you know. We have black bears… cute, cuddly, black bears.” Rose pointed out his error.

“Shhh,” he pointed toward the carcass.

A black nose snorted in the dead leaves lying in the undergrowth. The movement was the only indication an animal had approached. Pine seedlings heavy with ice parted as the bear stepped into the clearing around the hog wallow. It wasn’t a cub, and not a full-fledged adult, but big enough to do damage if challenged.

Rose was fascinated. She knew black bears were in these woods, had seen pictures taken from deer stands, but had never been so close to one. Fear rippled the hair on her arms. Rising up on his hind legs and sniffing the air, Rose judged him to be just over five feet of black fur and grizzled muscle. Not an inch of cute or cuddly. Craig lowered the .30.06 and slowly moved it into a steady aim. Rose shook herself into action, neither of them wanted to shoot, but if he caught their scent and charged their position, it would take both shots to slow him down. Assuming they both hit their mark.

She had Bryce’s Winchester ready; she had fired it in practice and knew how to brace herself. It had more power than her .22… power they would need. Leveling the sights until she had a steady bead, the bear turned his head and spotted them. He snorted and for a moment it seemed they made eye contact. Rose was seeing him through her scope and froze when he stretched his neck in her direction, obviously curious over the mismatched camo-cluster in the bushes. The visual flash that snapped in her mind was of her taking off the light tan coat to wrap around a bleeding dog and putting on Bryce’s camouflaged hunting jacket… identical to her own back home in the closet, except in size. This one enveloped her like a tent when she sat down here to wait. They hadn’t come to the woods today to hunt. Remembering the wonderland scenes of early morning … God did move in mysterious ways to take care of His children. Would He take care of Goldie now, and Bryce? Was God here with Craig and a very tense “daughter of the way” as they faced this situation? Yes, she felt confident that the visual images were a nod from her heavenly Father that He was in control.

The bear dropped back to all fours and nosed around the entrails of the gutted carcass getting closer to total concentration on a free meal. That was the problem… too easy. The black head swung back their way and Craig tensed, finger on the trigger. Rose did likewise, taking a breath slowly and holding; black head in crosshairs, tightening on the trigger, not jerking. He lifted his paw, and she noticed the claws glistening with blood from the kill on the ground, glancing back to her targeted area, he lurched forward as Craig fired.

The blast from the horn was the only thing that changed the obvious outcome. Craig fired mega-seconds after the intrusive sound, but the bear jerked his body toward the opposite bank and disappeared into the woods. Trembling, Rose lowered her gun without taking the shot, and felt a tear trickle down into the scarf around the lower half of her face.

“Did you hit your target?” The words sounded steadier than she felt.

“No, hit the tree just behind him. You okay?” Craig reached down for her hand.

“Yes, I don’t think I can stand up yet. You go meet Harrison and give me a chance to compose myself.” Rose was shaking from cold, stress, emotion… whatever. She didn’t want her cousin to see her this way.

Craig lingered, hesitant to leave her. “You were rock solid when you had to be. I had no doubt you’d have taken the shot.” Craig was watching her with concern. “Between us we could have bagged that bad boy. What a story that would have been.” Craig picked up the empty shell after breaching the gun, making small talk to delay the walk away. “I’ve seen bigger men than Bryce get the shakes after a kill. You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. To tell you the truth, I didn’t want to kill him either. Just not enough wild life left up here to do that for sport. This wasn’t sport. If Harrison had been five minutes later, we could have been in a world of hurt.”

Rose shuttered. Her whole body shook and another tear rolled into the scarf.

“I’ll tell Harrison to give you a little space.” Craig turned and started toward the path just as the first deputy slid down into the holler, Harrison fast on her heels.

Rose watched as Craig led them over to the body, and she began to pull herself together, rising to her feet with difficulty. In a few minutes the officer came over. “Can I walk you out Mrs. Jacobson? I’m Officer Castro. I know you must be freezing. Harrison said to take you home when you are ready to go.

“What about Craig?”

“Harrison needs his knowledge of the terrain and details about finding the body. We’ll get him home soon though. He told me to give you my radio so you could keep him informed about your dog.” The going was slow, hindered with the accumulating snow that had started to fall again. They had almost reached the top of the hill where Bryce’s truck had been parked when Rose started running.

Panicking over the confusion of vehicles, both official and civilian, she called to the officer just entering the clearing, “Which car?” The sense of urgency was suddenly overwhelming.