Bear Bottom by Stuart Gibbs

Author:Stuart Gibbs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: 2021-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

14 NUISANCE BEARS

“You kids are trespassing on Spooner property,” the man with the gun said. “It’s within my legal rights to shoot you.”

Melissa spoke in a voice that was surprisingly calm, given the circumstances. “We were only looking in the garbage, Jericho. On this side of the fence. We didn’t set foot on the Spooners’ property.”

“The garbage shed is the property,” said Jericho. He then pursed his lips as a question occurred to him. “What are you poking around in the garbage for?”

“Sasquatch got into our house last night…,” Melissa began.

“Yeah, I heard that,” Jericho told her. “What’s that have to do with us?”

“Sasquatch also tried to get into your garbage last night.” Evan’s voice was much shakier than his sister’s, betraying how nervous he was. “Because there’s bear bait in it.”

Jericho’s gaze grew even angrier. “No there’s not.”

“Come and see for yourself,” Summer told him. “There’s wrappers from hamburger meat and empty jugs of vanilla extract in there.”

“It’s not ours.” Jericho made no attempt to confirm whether or not what Summer had told him was even true. He stayed right where he was, the shotgun still trained on us. “Someone else must’ve dumped it there. Maybe you.”

“Us?” Evan asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” Jericho said menacingly. “Maybe that’s what all of you were doing right now, messing around with the garbage. Dumping your trash in our bins.”

“It was already here,” I tried to explain. “In fact, it was definitely here last night. Because Sasquatch tried to get into your shed last night. Come see if you want.”

Since Jericho was on the ranch, he was looking at the opposite side of the garbage shed than we were, so he couldn’t see the damage that Sasquatch had done. And yet, he still didn’t move. Instead, he fixed his angry stare on me. “I haven’t seen you before. You look like trouble to me. And I don’t like trouble.”

The tone of his voice, along with his accusing stare, unsettled me. I noticed that Summer was uneasy as well.

Thankfully, at that moment, a black SUV came down the driveway, diverting Jericho’s attention. The SUV looked brand new and appeared to have been freshly washed, even though it was impossible to go ten feet on the dirt roads without getting dusty.

Jericho lowered his shotgun as the SUV approached but didn’t stow it. Instead, he kept it cradled in his hands, ready to use it at a moment’s notice.

The SUV stopped close to Jericho, on the other side of the gates, and the driver and passenger hopped out. They appeared to be in their thirties, and were dressed in the same sort of clothes that everyone in the area wore—jeans, boots, and cowboy hats—although theirs looked much newer, like they had just bought them the day before. Their hats matched the color of their cowboy boots; the man, who had been driving, wore black, while his wife, who had been in the passenger seat, wore baby blue. They looked less like ranchers than people who were pretending to be ranchers.

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