Love, Lust 'n Geology (1ST DRAFT)

Chapter 17: Paddling lesson

This chapter is dedicated to reaaa_. Not many readers have left a msg for me on my profile pg. reaaa_ left an encouraging one :-). Thx!

She is an author as well & has a novel on WP. Please check it out!

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Chapter 17: Paddling lesson

At the Bear Paw, Tom suggested that they order the nachos as she'd never tried them before. She asked, umm, ever so quietly if they were as spicy as the Buffalo Wings? Tom smiled and replied that that all depended on whether she asked for the mild, medium or spicy nachos. The spicy ones contained jalapeño peppers and were every bit as hot as the wings they'd eaten last time. She was caught in a bona fide dilemma. She would have preferred the medium ones, but she was Indian. It was not possible for an Indian to concede defeat in the chillies department to a white Canadian. She shuddered at the very thought of it, but only internally.

Smiling uncertainly, she stated, "I'll go for the spicy ones."

"Good choice," Tom nodded.

And so, once again, she found herself (ultimately) enjoying the fare, but at the same time dabbing her eyes, wiping her nose, and turning frequently to her beer. Tom sniffed a couple of times, but that was about it. She found his fortitude most puzzling. She might even have found it annoying if she hadn't liked him quite so much.

The evening proceeded with much talk between the two of them, peppered with frequent laughter. She mentioned that she and Chris hadn't had any more moose adventures but had had a bear one recently. Looking concerned, Tom asked her to elaborate. She told him that two days ago, she and Chris had encountered a bear cub on the very first outcrop of the day. She described how cute the cub was, like a great, big fur ball. It had also seemed to have geological leanings as it was wandering back and forth over the outcrop, appearing to take a close look at it.

"What did you guys do?" Tom asked with a frown.

"I wanted to stick around, but Chris said we'd better get out of there, that the mother might be nearby."

"Smart man," Tom observed, nodding. "You should never take a chance around bears, specially cubs."

"Yeah, but I was wondering if it might have lost its mother, if a hunter might have shot her or something?"

Tom shook his head. "No, not at this time. Hunting season doesn't start till August. If it lost its mother some other way, well, that's nature," he declared with a shrug.

She nodded.

"You know, we had a tree planter attacked by a bear last week too."

"Really?"

"Yeah, a sixteen-year-old girl. Poor kid! The bear bit her on the back of the leg, her calf."

"Oh, my God! That's scary! How bad was the bite?"

"There'll be some scarring, but otherwise, her leg'll be okay. She was lucky it ran away after she started screaming."

"But why did it attack her?" Samina asked, puzzled.

Tom shrugged. "I dunno. It doesn't happen very often. It's possible that there aren't enough blueberries this year. The officer who investigated is supposed to have a meeting with a conservation officer, find out what's going on."

A humorous discussion ensued as to the oddity of large bears with cavernous stomachs attempting to fill them with tiny blueberries.

Tom asked her to describe what was going on with her J-stroke, what the problem was. She explained that the J- was doing nothing, absolutely nothing to correct her direction. He nodded, assuring her that they'd fix the problem tomorrow. And then, as it was forecast to be a hot day, he suggested that they get to sleep early so that they could make it onto the lake at a reasonable hour. And so, she found herself tucked in bed - she did the honours herself though she would have much preferred Tom to - before midnight. She had to borrow another T-shirt from him. While she could have brought her PJ's along, she deliberately hadn't. She liked wearing his shirts, liked the way they felt against her body.