Page 65 of Big & Lily

“Thanks for stating the obvious, Big.” She strides ahead as if she’s caught a second wind.

“Lily, wait up.”

She stops and turns, crossing her arms, her face daring me to say something else dumb. So, of course, I do. “Just tell me what he said. What was his excuse? I’ve been asking and asking and I can’t get a straight answer out of you.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“So, he did say something.”

“Let it go.”

“Let it go? You’re kidding, right? What’s so bad that you can’t tell me?”

Her arms go tighter across her chest, but she doesn’t answer. Without actual information, my mind races. Willa is pregnant. The business is bankrupt. He killed someone.

“You’re a real fucking pain in the ass sometimes.”

So much forthanks for doing this with me, Big. I feel better already.How is this suddenly my fault? Whatever he said, whatever she knows, it’s got to be bad.We started out giggling over our intrepid adventure, sneaking off, breaking the rules, a spiritual awakening waiting for us at the top—and it’s turned into this. Back to square one. Lily has popped like a champagne cork—except there is nothing here to celebrate. Everything building up since the CVS receipt has finally been released. I wanted her to share. I wanted her to express herself, out here so far away from the scene of the crime. But this is not exactly how I’d pictured it, lost and cursed at in a dark, damp forest.

I throw my hands in the air. “Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Let’s go back and erase this stupid outing from our minds.” I should have known what might be okay for Luna, wandering this far out of my comfort zone, was going to lead to regret. We continue silently, both in our own heads.

A loud snapping and cracking of branches behind us wakes us from our collective stewing. We spin around, but before we see anything, we hear deep, guttural, groaning roars coming from the brush we just passed. It’s enough to liquify organs and cause hearts to leap from chests. Lily and I grab each other. My sister’s face is frozen in fear. And then I see why we are right to be terrified. Two enormous bears stumble out of the trees onto the trail. But they are not coming for us, they are after each other.

They are wrestling and tossing and thrashing with huge paws and long claws. One bear knocks the other to the ground with staggering strength. Then they are on their hind legs, taller than men, pushing and swiping at the other’s thick, coarse coat. Their bellowing carries through the trees.

The taller of the two bears targets its attack, snarling and snapping at its opponent’s mouth with long yellow teeth, and that is when I see what it’s after. “Is that... your granola bar?” I recognize the gold and purple wrapper.

Lily frantically digs through her jacket pocket and pulls out the mess she’d shoved back in earlier. There is only one granola bar in her hand. We brought two. “Shit, I must not have picked it up when everything fell out before. Oh my God, they are fighting over it!”

“We have to do something before they realize there is more where that came from.” I grab Lily’s sleeve and pull her off the trail until we are knee deep in ferns.

“We should run. It worked with the moose.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Now is not the time to get all big sister bossy on me. And don’t even think about googling it.”

“Running from a bear is the worst thing you can do.”

“Okay, Ranger Rick.”

“I’m not kidding. It said so at the trailhead the first day. The bear safety guide. Didn’t you read it? In giant red letters, DO NOT RUN. Walk slowly backward, stand up as tall as you can with your arms up to challenge them, or play dead.”

“I don’t like any of those options.”

While we are debating our plan for not ending up mauled to death, the sound of fighting abruptly stops. Down the trail, we see the bigger bear has won the granola bar. The loser runs off into the trees, knowing that he is beat. The victor chews and swallows the bar,wrapper and all. Then he sits up on his haunches and sniffs the air, turns, and stares right at us.

He starts to lumber our way, his nose up and twitching. Lily grabs at my waist. The bear spray! She fumbles with the pin and the canister goes off and a stream of burning liquid hits my leg. My eyes fill with tears, and I bite my cheek hard as the chemicals that are supposed to deter an eight-hundred-pound charging bear soak through my pants and hit my skin.

“Oh shit, Big! I’m sorry, I’m so so—”

“Give it to him,” I say through gritted teeth.

“What?”