From across the lake came a strange cry.
Naomi looked toward the sound. “What was … oh, God!”
A black bear cub. No,twobear cubs.
She grabbed her camera bag, so excited that she nearly dropped her macro lens as she switched it out for the telephoto.
“It’s okay. You’ve got time. They’re not going anywhere. Their baby brother is stuck in a tree.”
Threebear cubs?
She drew a breath, finished making the lens switch, then held the camera up to her eye, smiling when she spotted the third cub. He was lighter than the other two, more caramel than black, and he was stuck halfway up a pine tree, bawling his little heart out.
Naomi started shooting, moving with her crutches to get a better view.
“There’s Mama.”
Naomi lowered the camera. “God, she’s big. Are we safe here?”
They were only a hundred yards away.
“She’s not going to swim across the lake.” Chaska stood beside her, a hand at her elbow in case she lost her balance. Sunlight glinted off his hair, turning it a rich shade of brown, his face so striking that she found herself wanting to photograph him.
Naomi turned her attention back to the bears, shooting photo after photo as the mother ambled over to the tree and tried to coach her cub down. “What will she do if he can’t make it?”
“He will. Watch.”
But still Baby Bear didn’t climb down, his two siblings tumbling and playing near the base of the tree. Then Mama Bear had had enough and started up the tree herself.
Naomi couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She stopped shooting and just watched as Mama reached her youngster, gave one of his rear paws a nip, then climbed down again, encouraging him with little growls. Baby Bear followed her. In a moment or two, it was over, the three cubs rolling and playing together, Mama foraging near a thicket of chokecherry bushes.
Naomi made her way back to the bench and sat, watching for a good long time, Chaska beside her, until the not-so-distant rumble of thunder caught their attention. Dark storm clouds had moved in from the west behind them, the wind picking up and driving the storm their way.
“Better put away your camera. We need to go.”
“I love thunderstorms.”
“I love the thunder, but not the idea of being struck by lightning. Every couple of years the Team gets toned out to bring down someone who’s been struck.”
“Really? Wow.”
They headed down the trail but didn’t get far before fat raindrops began to fall. Then the sky opened up, and it poured, lightning splitting the heavens, thunder echoing among the mountain peaks.
Laughing, Naomi did her best to go quickly, but the trail soon became muddy and slick, slowing her.
Chaska stepped in front of her and bent down. “Give me your crutches, and climb onto my back.”
“Are you serious?”
“I carry eighty-pound packs when I go on rescues. I can handle you.”
Camera bag slung over her shoulder, she did as he said, wrapping her arms around him, his body hard, the firearm he carried concealed at his hip pressing against her leg. He stood upright and started toward the parking lot again, thunder crashing around them, the sound almost metallic.
“The thunder is so loud!” She had to shout to be heard above wind and rain.
“You’re at nine thousand feet elevation,” he called back to her.
A doe bounded across the trail in front of them, disappearing into a thicket of young junipers, her fawn a few feet behind her.