Be careful what you wish for. A boy and his friends wanted more. More adventure, more excitement, more interesting moments and events in their lives. After trespassing on a local business mogul's farm, Jesse and his friends, Kate, Brad, John, and La...
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Menacing.
It was the best way Jesse could describe it. Bear had come to a cold stop at the fence and the boys joined him. They stood at the crest of a hill that dropped off steep and quick on the other side. It led down into what had once been a lush green pasture. That pasture was now a black and ashen victim of wildfire.
In the middle of the charcoal waste stood the carcass of an old tobacco barn. Burned and blackened, the recent blaze laid its ancient oak bones bare. Its roofline floated, ghostlike, above the surface of the fog.
Jesse knelt alongside Bear, putting his arm over his friend's neck. "What's wrong, boy?"
The dog growled.
"Dude, he's just scared of the fire. All animals are." Brad knelt next to Bear, giving him a good-natured scratch behind his ears. "Aren't you, boy?"
"Yeah. Don't worry, boy." Lamar reached down and rubbed the old dog's head. "That fire's been out for days."
Bear's black eyes wouldn't leave the barn.
"I don't know, guys." Jesse tried to ignore the increasing fluttering in his own belly. "Something's up."
"You suppose somebody's down there?" John leaned on the barbed wire and craned his long neck for a better view.
"I don't know, but if they are, they're crispy." A ghoulish grin rolled across Brad's lips. He hopped from his crouch and made for the fence. "C'mon, let's go see!"
Brad hadn't covered three full steps before Bear yelped. He cried out and lept backward, lurching from under Jesse's arm. Teeth bared, he began barking.
Jesse tripped over himself to scramble to his feet. He bounced off Lamar, who nearly lost his balance completely.
"Dude, what's going on with Bear?" Lamar watched Jesse reach for his old friend, trying to calm the slavering, snarling dog.
Jesse had no answer. He'd never seen his dog like this, and it scared him.
Dispassionate, Brad watched for a moment. "Y'all, I'm going. Let's go." With a wave of his hand, he made for the fence.
"Cool." John joined his cousin's march for the fence and the barn beyond.
"No!" Jesse turned to face his friends. "There's something going on over there. Bear is spooked like crazy." He turned back to the still snarling dog. "We stay."
Lamar sidled up to Jesse and puts his hand on Bear's head. "Yeah guys, I think I'm with Jess on this one. We should probably just hang out."
"Oh, come on, Jesse. You're always scared. I just wanna go see what's in that barn!" Brad was close to pleading.
"No. We're not going and that's it. If we get caught, my mom will kill me. I mean, come on," he cast a weather eye over the fence, "the thing's on fire."
