Page 9 of Coveted By the Bear

I dreamt of the grizzly. It’s glowing eyes held me in the night, as time after time I tried to get away, only to be swatted down again. My horse kept his attention. He was only playing with me. The predator had decided right away that I was no threat. What weapons did a puny human have against a bear? Stubbed nails and blunt teeth.

The grizzly hadn’t counted on Mira, though. All she had were weapons. Mira’s face came to mind and melded with the face of the bear. Wild black hair, black eyes, and two inch long canines that glistened as she screamed.

I lurched upward and yelped in pain. My skin was slick with sweat, and I huffed as if I had just run a marathon.

Mira had frozen in the chair beside the bed. It seemed she had been relaxed and unbothered by my unconscious presence. She lay sideways, one of her legs dangling over the arm and the other pressing bare toes into the railing of the old iron headboard of the bed. She had a textbook in her lap, and a pencil had stopped mid twirl between her fingers. Her other hand held a leafy green up to her mouth, and she nibbled at it like a startled rabbit.

My hair had fallen into my face, and I ran my fingers through it to smooth it back. She leaned forward and handed me a bowl off the floor. It smelled delicious. Inside were three small pieces of meat over some leaves I didn’t recognize. Wait. I could identify two wild onions that stuck out of my bowl like a pair of chopsticks. One point for McCreedy.

“Are you a witch?” I asked without thinking, afraid to eat the food after such a disturbing dream.

Mira was quiet for a while before she answered. “Is that what everyone says about me?”

She seemed to take my lack of answer as a “yes,” snorted, and then pulled her hand over her mouth to cover her embarrassment. And then she squeaked and pealed into a tinkling giggle. “I’m sorry. I know you’re serious, but it’s just the most ridiculous question.” She cleared her throat and tried to look severe. “No, I’m not a witch. But I wish I was so I could conjure some more food.”

I felt stupid for asking. Wrapping a piece of meat into some of the greens, I took a cautious bite. It may have been that I was starving, but that small bite of food was one of the better tasting things I’d ever put into my mouth. I didn’t even ask what kind of meat it was. I didn’t want to know. “What are you studying?”

“Calculus,” she said. “I hate it, but I have a test over in Mineral Wells in two weeks.”

“Test for what?”

“I’m taking my GED. I’m getting my high school diploma. It’s a little late, I know, but I had trouble finishing school after my uncle took me out.”

“Did your uncle homeschool you?”

“He ordered the books once but never taught me anything. He just did it to get the state off his back in a pinch. For a while, I ordered the books and sent everything in like he was teaching me, but I couldn’t afford it after that first year. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be totally done, though.”

She smiled with pride, and I was captured by it. Such a small gesture. The kind a person did a hundred times a day without realizing it. Mira never did. It made the smiles she gave that much more valuable.

My bowl was empty. My fingers had been feeling around and found nothing but the wild onions. I must have eaten the rest without realizing it.

“We need to figure out a way to get you to a doctor,” she said, her eyes on the heat across my shoulders.

“Do you have a phone?” I asked hopefully.

“Nope.” She made a popping noise at the end of the word. “Generator went out a while back. No power.”

I frowned. Not because of the lack of a phone line, but because she had been living all alone without power. “Cell phone?”

She looked at me dubiously, and I grinned.

I said, “Never hurts to try.”

She tapped her pencil against the side of her cheek and looked off into space. “I have a truck hidden outside of the fence. It was my uncle’s. We’d still have to walk or take a horse over about forty acres to get to it, though.

Leaning back, I linked my hands behind my head. The movement pulled on sore stitches but my muscles felt good to stretch. It wasn’t much of a choice, but sooner rather than later, people would start looking for me, and Mira didn’t need any more trouble. I had to get out of here for the good of both of us.

“Okay,” I said, “let’s do it quick then.”

Mira handed me a full glass of water. “I’ll go get the guns. Bears hunt in pairs.”

She disappeared out of the room, and my veins went cold, freezing me into place.

Mira popped her head back in through the doorway with a mischievous grin. “That was a joke.”

I couldn’t find a smile to encourage such behavior but she didn’t seem to care and flitted off to saddle a horse. Her teasing wasn’t funny for a full two minutes before I gave a quiet and private laugh. “Ha,” I chuckled, amazed at the idea that Crazy Mira just told me a joke. The old ladies at Jake’s would crap their pants if they ever got their hands on that information.

They wouldn’t, though. That joke was only for me, and I’d keep it in my pocket, safe and warm and mine.