Night of the Black Bear by Gloria Skurzynski

Author:Gloria Skurzynski
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: National Geographic Society
Published: 2007-09-10T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Your mother has already left,” Steven said from where he stood between the two beds. Grabbing Jack’s big toe, he shook it hard to wake him.

“What?” Jack asked groggily. “What time is it?”

“It’s seven-thirty, lazy boy. Time to rise and shine. You, too, Ashley.”

Blinking, Ashley rolled over on one elbow. “What’d you say about Mom?”

“I said she’s gone. She and Kip are on their way to the lab in Knoxville. Jack, you can use my shower. Ashley, this bathroom’s all yours. Move it, kids. After you’re ready, we’ll have breakfast here at the hotel, and then we’re going for a ride.”

“With Yonah, too?” Ashley asked sleepily, and then, “Oh, I forgot. It’s Monday, so he’s in school.”

“No, not Yonah. You’re going with me and your brother, if I can drag him out of bed. Come on, guys, hustle, hustle. I’ll tell you about everything over breakfast.”

“Everything” turned out to be that Olivia and Kip were taking half a dozen different mushroom samples to the Knoxville lab, more than an hour away, to check them for hallucinogens. Steven, Jack, and Ashley would drive through the park, gathering information and images connected to the bear attacks.

“Like detectives,” Ashley said.

“Like biologists or animal behaviorists,” Steven corrected her. “Detectives study crime scenes. No crimes have been committed here, unless you consider the bears criminals.”

Ashley glanced toward Jack. Again they knew what each was thinking. Yonah had hinted that Merle might be committing a crime. What kind of crime? It couldn’t have anything to do with the bears—how could you commit a crime about bears? Jack gave a little nod toward Ashley, and she got the message: Just don’t mention it to Dad.

“You be the navigator,” Steven told Jack after they’d driven through the park entrance. So, while his father and sister waited in the car, Jack ran into the Sugarlands Visitor Center to pick up a park map.

“We’re heading south,” he told them when he got back in the car. “On Newfound Gap Road.”

As the car wound back and forth around the curves of the road that climbed in altitude, they passed a sign that said “Bear Habitat. Do Not Leave Food Unattended. Regulations Enforced.” And right ahead of that was a second sign with the word “Chimneys.”

“Hey, slow down, Dad.” Straining to get a better look, Jack saw three symbols beneath the word “Chimneys”: The one on the right showed a tent with a red line through it, meaning no overnight camping. The one in the center indicated that a trail started from somewhere nearby. And the one on the left showed a picnic table. Chimneys picnic area! The place the tourist said he’d seen Merle. “Can we stop here?” Jack asked.

“Yes, I was planning to stop,” Steven told them. “There’s a trail here we need to take. It leads to the site of that earlier bear encounter.”

“You mean the attack on the man we saw on TV? The man that had bear-claw marks all down the front of him?” Ashley asked.

“Yes, his name’s Peterson.

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