Free Nature Girl by Jane Kelley Page B

whistle rustle crinkle
.
    I don’t think there ARE any plastic bags in the shelter.
    Then I remember the Oreos. Yes, those dark chocolate cookies double-stuffed with creamy white deliciousness are in a plastic bag hanging just below the ceiling about six feet away.
    I open my eyes to see what’s going on with my breakfast.
    And there, standing up on its back legs, is a HUGE BLACK BEAR!
    It’s so tall its nose is as high as the bag. The Bear snuffles the Oreos. Only every time it snuffles, its nose pushes the bag away. The bag swings back and forth while the Bear gets angrier and angrier. I scrunch as far from the Bear as possible, but my back is pretty much against the wall. The Bear shoves the bag around for a while. Then it raises its gigantic paw and swats the bag. Its claws rip through the plastic. And the Oreos fall onto the bed RIGHT NEXT TO ME!
    For a moment, I’m frozen there. What if the Bear starts eating Oreos and continues eating me?
    I don’t have time to worry or be afraid. I pick up theOreos and throw them as hard as I can. It’s a terrible throw, but at least the package makes it out of the shelter. It lands on the dirt about three feet away.
    The Bear drops down onto its four legs. It picks up the package with its teeth. Then it saunters back into the Woods.
    When the Bear is gone, I let go of Arp and fall back onto the bed.
    Arp immediately starts barking. He’s a dog, so I don’t exactly know what he’s saying, but I guess it’s something like “Did you see that thing? Can you believe how big it was? I thought we were goners for sure.”
    I look up at the shredded plastic bag that still hangs from the post. I don’t even mind not getting to eat one single solitary cookie.
    All I can say is “Thank goodness for Oreos!”

7
Trail Blaze Betty
    I lie there for a long time. I want to let that Bear get a thousand miles away from me before I go back into the Woods.
    “Lucy won’t believe me when I tell her what happened. Too bad I didn’t have a camera to take the Bear’s picture.”
    Arp snuffles the corner where the Bear stood.
    “Should we bring that plastic bag to show her how the Bear’s claws ripped it to shreds?”
    But a torn plastic bag isn’t as impressive as an actual Bear.
    So I get out the sketchbook and a pencil and start drawing it. As you can see, it isn’t easy to draw a bear. The teeth and the claws are very tricky. I put Arp and me in the drawing to show how big it was. Only it’s boring to draw us hiding under the poncho. So I draw how we saved ourselves from being eaten alive.

    I’m so busy drawing that I don’t notice Arp has left until I hear him outside barking. Then I think, Oh no! The Bear came back for seconds.
    What should I do? Try to save Arp? Or run the other way as fast as I can?
    The yucky voice says,
“You can’t save him anyway, so you might as well RUN!”
    I fumble with my shoes. Why did Mom make me wear sneakers that take forever to tie? Arp keeps barking. But it isn’t his fierce bark; it’s a happy bark. And then I hear someone say, “So you
are
a dog. You’re such a little thing, I wasn’t sure.”
    Once my shoes are on, I hurry outside to stick up for Arp. He can’t help it if he’s a yippy little fluff ball.
    An old woman is bending over to scratch Arp’s head. Her legs are gnarly and her shorts have too many pockets. She wears one of those goofy round sun hats that are usually white, only hers is orange plaid. But the most important thing to know about her is that she’s holding a basket full of little plastic bags. And in each bag is a huge chocolate brownie.
    My mouth fills with saliva. I’m not kidding. I have to swallow a bunch of times to keep from slobbering when I say “Hi!” as cheerfully as I can.
    She straightens up and squints at me. “I’m Trail Blaze Betty. You’ve probably heard of me. I’m in all the guidebooks.”
    I haven’t. But that isn’t a smart thing to say to someone who’s holding a basket of yummy