The Bear With No Name by Zoe Chant Page A

the Valenti’s house, and she went further northeast from there. Do you think it might be the cub’s mother? How will you get them together?”
    “Oh, I have my ways,” she said. “You all were right to bring him in, because he must have washed down the river from a long way off. But this isn’t a matter for amateurs to mess with. I’ll take it from here. You know, most people from the city don’t worry so much about whether the bears are happy…” She gave him a considering look.
    “Just trying to help,” he mumbled, and didn’t dare say another word about bears for fear that his secret might somehow tell itself.
    David wondered if the female was hanging around town even now, because he kept catching faint whiffs of bear even as he was talking to Fran. And strangely, as he walked away, it looked like Fran too was sniffing for odors on the breeze.
    Mayor Hampton appeared on the town hall steps.
    “Good news, everyone!” he yelled out to the crowd. “The National Guard will be delivering supplies this afternoon! Gather ‘round and let’s make plans for unloading and distributing them.”
    People started clapping and cheering. Even David’s mood was lifted a bit, because now Lauren and her friends would be safer. He took Lauren’s hand and squeezed it. She smiled back at him.
    People were pushing to be part of the circle around the picnic table where Mayor Hampton had spread out his papers. Lauren was happy to let others do the planning and then pitch in with the work once the plans were made, so the two of them just wandered up and down Main Street for a while, hand in hand, awkwardly not saying much.
    David was wondering if the National Guard might be his ticket out of Ashton. If he told them he was an injured hiker with amnesia, they would almost certainly be willing to take him to a hospital, but then he would give up all privacy. And privacy in his case was vital. But was there anything else he could tell them that might get him a ride out of town?
    Then David caught the scent of bear again, much stronger and clearer than before. He froze, then turned slowly, searching. Then he saw the bear just a block away. Her posture was tense and he smelled fear, but she kept coming.
    Lauren gasped but stayed calm.
    “Is Fran still here?” he asked in a low voice.
    Before she could answer, a man’s voice yelled, “Look out, everyone, that bear is back!”
    David whipped around and saw Mr. Valenti with a snarl on his face.
    “Stay back, people. I will not let that beast attack anyone again.” Then Valenti drew a pistol from a holster at his back.
    David was almost blinded by a searing shock of rage and grief. If he didn’t take action, someone else would become an orphan. And so he roared, and shifted.
    He rose up to his full height and snarled, making himself the more dangerous target. And as confused as Mr. Valenti might have been about where this other bear could have appeared from, he didn’t hesitate to shoot.
    The bullet hit him in the shoulder like a sledgehammer. He was rocked back, but anger fueled him and he actually took another step toward Valenti as Lauren screamed and reached out to him. But then the pain and the shock overwhelmed everything. He sagged and he fell, and as he fell he felt the bear recede and he became a man again.
    “That was David, you bastard! Don’t shoot!” Lauren yelled. He could feel her lifting his head up and cradling it on her lap. He struggled to open his eyes again. Someone was handing her a shirt and she wadded it up and pressed it to his shoulder. The world starting to swim again, and he couldn’t separate the buzzing in his ears from the fearful clamor of the crowd.
    “Stay with me, David, please,” Lauren sobbed. “Please, please.”
    A shrill whistle startled him and he forced his eyes open again. Fran had jumped up on the picnic table.
    “What the hell is wrong with you all?” she lectured the crowd. “That man lying there is a hero, and the one who