Honey for the Bears Read online

  Honey for the Bears

  By Gabrielle R. Demonico

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.

  ***

  Honey Thompson, her best friend and one of her roommates, Teresa Williams, had just sat down in their living room to watch some television before heading off to bed for the evening.

  Wielding the remote, Teresa flopped her left leg over the loveseat and turned it on. As the first flicker of an image appeared, she immediately groaned, “Uggghh, not this again! This is soooo boring. I am so sick of this bear attack stuff…”

  She angled the clicker to end her suffering but as she did Honey sat up and exclaimed, “Wait, wait… don’t change it!”

  “Oh my God, Honey, please… no.”

  “What?”

  “You are like a teenager with a crush. Seriously.”

  “Why don’t you just shut the hell up Teresa?”

  “Why don’t you? What’s wrong with you anyway?”

  “Nothing! Just please be quiet for a second… Turn it up.”

  “Zzzz…” Teresa moaned.

  “Teresa… Please!”

  “Ooohhkay, okay…”

  The volume bars filled the television screen and the women looked on as a burly, broad shouldered man made his way towards a podium through a crush of official-looking people. Lightning-like camera flashes flooded the proceedings and shadowed his every step as he moved.

  After a few barely audible excuse me’s and coming through’s he made his way to the front of the assembled throng. He shuffled a bit of paper, cleared his throat, looked into the camera and began to speak…

  “Thank you all for coming…” he said.

  Almost as soon as he uttered the last sound, an anonymous voice from the crowd shouted, “Mister Walters! Mister Walters! What is the status of the latest victim?”

  Brock Walters, Captain of the Troubled Fork Fire and Rescue Department, raised two large hands upwards and said, “Everyone… everyone… let’s calm down. Please. Look, I know that tensions are running high. All I ask is that you give me an opportunity to present the facts as we know them and then I am more than willing to answer any questions you might have.”

  “There? Satisfied?” Teresa said in a snarky tone as she raised the remote once again.

  “No… Can we please just watch for a minute? These bear attacks are a big deal Teresa.” Honey replied.

  “Oh, spare me Honey. You don’t give two shits about this stuff. The only thing you care about is Captain Hot Buns up there…”

  “Teresa, as far as I can recall, this is my television we are watching… Remember?”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “So, if you want to watch something else, go to your bedroom… Otherwise, be quiet!”

  Honey was a responsible, concerned citizen but there was no denying that there was truth behind what Teresa said. Brock Walters was as hot as anything she’d ever laid her eyes on. Before moving to Troubled Fork six months ago, she’d never seen a man that looked anything like him. But, after seeing him, she couldn’t imagine looking at any man the same way again.

  Tall? Check…

  Dark? Check…

  Handsome? Check…

  He was the Bermuda Triangle of sexiness.

  “Oh my God, Honey. This is such a waste of time. If you are so hot for him, why don’t you just talk to him? He’s at the hospital pretty much all the time, isn’t he?”

  “Shhhh!” Honey scolded.

  Brock Walters continued, “So, at this time, this is still considered a wildlife disturbance matter. As such, there are no criminal investigations underway at the moment.”

  Another reporter interjected. “Sir… sir! Harlon Winters, KLFF News. So, by that statement you are assuming that these are legitimate bear attacks.”

  “Yes Harlon, that’s what I am suggesting. Now, are there any more questions about the attacks themselves?”

  The same reporter raised his hand.

  “Harlon? Go ahead…” Brock said.

  “Mr. Walters, isn’t it true that both the Mayor and the head of the Department of Natural Resources are considering the first open season on bears in more than thirty years because of this?”

  Brock hesitated for a moment. “Yes. That is true. But, at this point, that is still being considered as only one option to solving the problem. No decision has been reached on that… or any other matter in the case.”

  “Why is Chief Heewash here today, sir?” Another reporter asked.

  Brock gestured towards the Indian chieftain that stood to his right and said, “Well, there have also been some reports of bear attacks on the reservation. The patterns between all of the disturbances are very similar so he’s here cooperating with the investigation. That, and he is being joined by Shaman Powekah to bless the Salmon Run festival which starts this weekend.”

  “Can we puuhhleaasee change the channel now, Honey? If I have to watch one more second of this I think I will stab my eyes out with the remote.” Teresa begged.

  “No, damnit. I have had it with you tonight T. They’re almost done.” Honey fired back.

  “How do you know that? This is… the most… What the fuck is that?” Teresa exclaimed as she sat up in her chair.

  While the women watched, a tall, slender man dressed in some kind of ceremonial clothing made his way towards the podium. The crowd parted as he approached and while he walked, he chanted, “Ayyyah, kookahway, awwall, meekahway… Muhamuha, wampoo!”

  He gestured as he chanted and made large, circular motions with his arms. Finally, just as he drew close to the group including Brock and the other officials and dignitaries, he brought his hands together in front of his face into a prayer position.

  A quick thinking cameraman swung his lens into position. In a flash, it captured the intensity in the old man’s face. As Honey watched, she could have sworn that she saw his pupils glow bright amber.

  “Pompow, weehay, pompow, weehay!!!” he yelled.

  Upon his final cry, he spread his arms outwards while simultaneously stretching them upwards towards the sky. With his arms still extended, he began to back away from the podium while never breaking his gaze upon those who stood before him, most notably, Brock Walters.

  As the man receded into the bewildered crowd, Brock exclaimed, “Wait! Shaman Powekah, come back!”

  The Chief stepped forward, grabbed Brock by the arm and in a tone barely audible to the sea of microphones said, “No, let him go my friend.”

  Confused, Brock turned towards Chief Heewash. “I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t you want him up here with us? So we can all participate in the blessing?”

  The Chief reached out and covered as many of the mics as he could with his hand. “That was no blessing. Powekah has laid a curse upon us…”

  The women looked at each other in bewilderment.

  “What the hell was that all about?” Teresa asked.

  “I have no idea…” Honey replied.

  ***

  Honey was supposed to have had the day off. Lord knows she needed one…

  Yet, here she was at work, again.

  Sometimes she thought she should just keep a bed there for good measure. The only positive news, if there was any, was that she only had to work a half-shift.

  Honey arrived at the hospital in the late afternoon and as she made her way inside, one of her co-workers, Marjorie Rimes, approached her near the entrance and said, “Honey, did you hear that there was another bear attack?”

  As they walked, Honey said, “Are you seri
ous? When?”

  “They just brought him in about thirty minutes ago. He went straight to emergency surgery.”

  “Oh my God. That’s terrible…”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  Marjorie was a cardiac care nurse that Honey had gotten to know fairly well. Once upon a time, Honey imagined she’d wanted to become a nurse also. She’d even gone so far as to begin training to become one early on in her career. But after interning for a bit one summer, she quickly lost her desire for it.

  Still, she loved helping people and knew that she wanted to be involved in some way. One thing led to another and over time she found herself in patient mediation. That’s a fancy way of saying that she worked out sticky issues between doctors and patients when things didn’t go as planned.

  So even though nursing wasn’t her primary vocation, she had enough training to still get behind the desk when needed… and now was one of those times. For the past couple of days, the hospital had been short staffed and so Honey had volunteered to pitch in wherever she could. It was the only reason that she’d come in that day at all.

  “Another day of desk duty?” Marjorie asked.

  “Yeah…” Honey replied.

  Marjorie smiled. “Alright, I have to get back. I’ll talk to you later, Honey.”

  “Okay. See you later Marjorie.”

  As Marjorie walked away, Honey chatted with a couple of the regular nurses about what they needed help with for the afternoon and evening. A few minutes later, she grabbed a seat behind the large, wraparound desk of the nurse’s station. As she was getting situated, her attention was diverted towards the hospital entrance.

  Without warning, the doors opened and Brock Walters walked through them.

  Honey’s heart palpitated. Even though she’d seen him in the flesh a few times now, she still hadn’t had a chance to talk to him. Of course, it’s not like she actually would have anyway.

  Honey just wasn’t the kind of girl that most guys went after. It’s not that she wasn’t pretty, she was. It’s just that she was a bit more… rubenesque… than most other women.

  Granted, some men found her attractive over the years – most recently her two-timing snake of a fiancé, but none of them ever looked like Brock Walters. She peered up from behind the desk and watched as he chatted with one of the emergency room nurses.

  Teresa was right. Honey was crushing hard on him but for what reason? At this point, she’d built him up so much that even if she did have a chance to talk to him, she wasn’t sure that she wouldn’t just chicken out altogether.

  In any event, it looked like she was about to find out. For after a few moments, the nurse that Brock was speaking to pointed directly to where Honey was seated. He nodded and then began to walk in her direction.

  “Holy shit… holy shit…” Honey muttered to herself.

  Her eyes widened like a saucers as he approached and she quickly cast them downward to avoid catching his gaze. She shuffled some paper on the desk and furrowed her brow in an attempt to look ‘busy’. Her heart was beating so fast she swore she could feel it pulsing in her eye sockets and then, in the next second, she could sense his presence.

  “Pardon me, ma’am?” he said.

  Honey swallowed hard. She drew her eyes up slowly to see his deep brown, almost black, pools transfixed upon her. A thick mop of caramel colored hair rested atop a chiseled, cinnamon-toned jawline.

  It was the closest she’d ever been to him.

  “Yes?” she replied. Her voice cracked a little.

  “Ma’am, my name is Brock Walters, I’m Captain of the Fire and Rescue Department for Troubled Fork. I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not but I’ve been in here on a number of occasions in the past few weeks.”

  Noticed? Me? Nope, can’t say that I did…

  Before she could reply he continued, “Anyway, I was wondering if you could tell me…” He stopped mid-sentence. Honey saw that something caught his attention and his head snapped to the right.

  “Shit…” Brock grumbled under his breath.

  “What? Is something the matter?” she asked.

  “Oh, it’s nothing… It’s just a reporter from KLFF News. He’s been on me non-stop since all of this began. It seems like everywhere I go, the guy is right there. If nothing else, he’s good at his job…”

  “Mr. Walters! Mr. Walters!” the man called out as he rushed over towards Brock and Honey with a cameraman in tow.

  “Excuse me for a moment…” Brock said as he shook his head and turned around to face him.

  Honey nodded and went back to looking ‘busy’.

  As the reporter drew closer, Brock said, “Christ… Mister uhhmm… I’m sorry, what was your name again?”

  “Winters… Harlon Winters.” The man replied.

  “Right, Mr. Winters. Look, I…” Brock started. He then paused for a moment and said, “Wait, how did you even know what was happening here?”

  “I heard the call come in over the scanner.” He replied quickly. “No good reporter can live without one.”

  “Right… the scanner.” Brock said. “Alright well, like I told you yesterday at the press conference… We aren’t sure what the cause of these attacks are or why they have escalated so much in recent weeks. All we can tell you is that we are stepping up ranger patrols in the areas where they’ve occurred.”

  “And… in areas where they haven’t been stepped up…? Are the people living or camping in those areas at risk, sir?” Harlon asked.

  With the white hot glare of the camera light on his skin Brock replied, “All the residents and tourists here in Troubled Fork and the entire Jefferson Draw Canyon Region are quite safe. Now please, Mr. Winters, if you will excuse me, I have important matters to discuss in this case with the victim’s family.”

  Nearly breathless, Harlon said, “But, Mr. Walters, surely you…”

  “Pardon me, Mr. Winters?” Honey interrupted. “We cannot allow you to film in this area of the hospital. It’s against our privacy policy. If you’d like to interview Captain Walters further please feel free to do so, outside of the hospital itself.”

  “Oh… I… of course, madam. I was not aware of that policy. Please accept my apology. Mr. Walters, thank you for your time.” He then turned to his cameraman and said, “Kill it Nick. We’ve got what we need for now.”

  As the pair walked away, Brock turned back to Honey and said, “Man, that guy is something else. Thanks a lot for your help there. I didn’t realize that the hospital had that policy in place either.”

  Honey grinned. “It doesn’t…”

  Brock raised his eyebrows. “Well, well… Well played then.”

  “Thanks…” Honey said as she continued to smile. “It’s not something I would do under ordinary circumstances but it seemed like you could use a break from him. He’s… determined, isn’t he?”

  Brock shook his head. “Yes. Sorry about that… Even though you don’t normally do such things, I am grateful you made an exception in this case.”

  “Anytime…” Honey replied.

  “Not to change subjects or anything but as to the reason I’m here… I have to talk to the family. Can you tell me where they are at the moment?”

  “I believe they are still in the waiting room. When I arrived, they’d only just taken the victim in for emergency surgery. I understand that he lost a considerable amount of blood.”

  “Hmmm, okay. I’ll go see if I can find them there. Please excuse me Mrs. …?”

  She paused not sure exactly what he was asking. Then it hit her. “Oh, oh my gosh… I’m sorry. Honey Thompson.”

  He extended his hand took hers. It was thick and masculine yet warm like an electric blanket.

  “Mrs. Thompson… It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Oh, it’s Miss Thompson.”

  He squeezed her hand a little bit tighter, smiled and said, “Miss Thompson, then. Thanks again for all of your help.”

  “Of course.”

  As she watched
him walk away, Honey knew that ‘looking busy’ was the only thing she was going to be doing for the rest of her shift. Anything that required conscious thought simply wasn’t happening…

  ***

  Honey hated filling in at the nurse’s station. It was so very, very, very dull.

  Aside from the talk with Brock, the evening had crept by at an infuriatingly slow pace. Luckily, she only had a few more minutes on the clock. She checked it for the umpteenth time in the last five minutes and as she did, a voice from above her spoke.