bears

by nick nelson

the s u v drove into the woods as far as it cpuld go and stopped. all right,kids, i guess we stop here for the night, ralph taft announced . ralph always addressed his wife and two children collectively as “kids”. dolly, his wife, had long since given up asking him not to do so. and on this night, after driving three hundred miles from their hastily abandoned home, she had other things on her mind. dolly’s first job was as assistant manager at a small friendly’s restaurant in ohio or connecticut. her parents were proud of her for having such a job at such a young age. ralph’s favorite food was beef stew, but he rarely had a chance to indulge himself with it. when dolly took the two kids to visit her parents for a weekend, he went to the supermaket and bought six cans of dinty moore’s beef stew and ate them all before dolly and the children returned. their oldest child, a girl named carmine, got excellent grades at school. the other child, a boy named daryl after ralph’s father, wore thick glasses, was an indifferent student, and spent his generous allowance on graphic novels. night fell quickly over the campsite and ralph and dolly had difficulty setting up the tent ralph had purchased at l l bran’s. carmine and daryl were supposed to take turns holding a flashlight while ralph anf dolly set the tent up, but daryl had triuble holding the beam steady, so carmine ended up doing it by herself. after finally getting the tent set up, they made quick work of the sandwiches and orange and grape soft drinks they had purchased at subway after driving their first hundred miles. dolly insisted that they bury the remains if the sandwiches a hundred yards from the campsite, because of the possibility that there were bears in the area. daryl took his part in this duty with an ill grace, insisting that there were no bears within a hundred miles. what do you know about bears? carmine asked. or about anything? more than you might think, daryl replied. dolly, and ralph at her insistence, never interrupted the children’ arguments unless they took a physical turn. there were, in fact, a few bears within a hundred miles of them.