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Greetings, Ripplemakers |
Announcement: November contest winner
Ginger Boda is our November winner for her story
"Thanksgiving for the
Impossible" Congratulations, Ginger. I hope you'll enter
something for
December too.
Bob |
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Ben, the Bears and the Berry
by
Al Batt
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Ben didn't have a frequent flyer mile to his name. He worked
hard and didn't get around much. He probably worked too
hard, but who is to judge
such things?
"It seems like I've been nowhere and everyone else has been
two wheres," Ben would often say.
Ben retired after many years of hard work. He did not
believe in early retirement, so he was not a young man. Once
retired, Ben had time to do some of the travel he had never
had time for before. There was a place that Ben had always
wanted to go. He had wanted to go there since he was a boy
and had spent hours looking at images of the state through a
Viewfinder. The thoughts of that old Viewfinder were enough
to convince
Ben to plan a trip to Alaska.
Ben called a travel agent, plans were made and the date was
set. Ben hadn't had any experience packing, so he packed and
unpacked and packed again. Ben did this each day for the two
weeks prior to his departure. Ben flew in his first airplane
as part of his trip. He liked flying okay, but still
preferred traveling in his old three-toned pickup.
Alaska was all that Ben expected it to be. He felt as though
he was in God's backyard. Ben ate halibut, panned for gold
and rode on a dogsled. He watched glaciers calve and he
marveled at the sight of Mount McKinley. All these things
were wonderful, everything that Ben had dreamed of. But what
Ben had really been looking forward to was going for a walk
in Alaska. There were long days of exhausting work where the
thoughts of
one day walking alone in Alaska sustained him. He had been
warned about bears. Whenever I have walked with folks in
bear territory, I have impressed upon them that the thing
they must do if we encounter a bear is to quickly form a
circle around me.
Ben was told that it would be a good idea to put little
bells on his clothing. The idea is that the bells would make
just enough noise to keep him from surprising any bears. Ben
figured he would be able to tell by the scat which bear was
in the area. If it had little bits of fur and berries in it,
it would be the droppings of the black bear. If the scat had
little bells in it, it would be the work of a grizzly bear.
Ben thought he would climb a tree if he happened across a
bear.
A helpful Alaskan told Ben that if he climbed a tree, he
could tell whether the bear was a grizzly or a black bear.
The guy said that if it climbs up the tree and eats you,
it's a black bear, but if it knocks the tree down and then
eats you, it's a grizzly. Even with all of this advice, Ben
went for a walk. He bought himself a walking stick from a
gift shop and set out for a hike. He decided against wearing
any bells. Ben had walked quite a distance and had begun to
feel like a kid again. He felt like he was on top of the
world. The walk was invigorating and Ben began to whistle a
happy tune.
Then it happened. Ben walked around a bend in the trail and
came upon the biggest (and only) grizzly bear he had ever
seen. Now Ben had been told that you should never run when
you encounter a bear. Ben, having never seen a bear before,
panicked and took off running as fast as he could. Ben ran
and the bear began loping after him. Now you cannot
outrun a bear. The bear knew that Ben could not outrun it,
but Ben fooled the bear. Ben ran right off a cliff. Ben
discovered his mistake on the way down and grabbed a small
spruce tree. Ben hung on for dear life as the bear above
roared down at him. Ben thought, "Well, at least things
couldn't possibly get any worse."
Then things got worse. Two grizzlies, attracted by all of
the commotion, growled up at Ben. It was then that Ben saw
it. A blueberry. The biggest blueberry Ben had ever seen in
his life. Something made Ben reach out for the berry. He
popped it into his mouth and began chewing it. It was good.
It was beyond good. It was the best thing that Ben
had ever eaten. We had better enjoy life while we can.
?ŠAl Batt 2002
71622 325 St.
Hartland, MN 56042
SnoEowl @ aol.com
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May you be blessed today
Bob Johnston
Editor / Publisher
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May you be blessed today
Bob Johnston
Editor / Publisher
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