In the Woods, Bears

Chapter 43 - Difficult Choices

Standing in front of Terry's office, jingling the truck keys, Kennedy willed the single bar on her phone to be enough to pull up the doctor's address on Maps. Dammit. Her office wasn't far. There was enough time to go get her Mom and Nan before the appointment. The question was, did she want them to come with her? If she didn't pick them up, the complaining later would be endless. Heading toward Terry's truck, she grumbled under her breath, "They are staying in the waiting room."

*

Kennedy turned into the drive and bounced along the rutted path. Terry's place was still standing, so that was something. This morning, the air had a crackling feeling, like when rain was coming. To the east, beyond the trees, gray clouds gathered. They needed to get a move on before the weather hit. When she swung the front door open, Mr. Pibble shot past her.

With her Mom yelling instructions from the porch, she chased him around the yard. Enjoying the game, he leaped onto the trunk of a maple tree, tail swishing. "You little stinker." Clucking her tongue, Kennedy lifted the cat free before he headed into higher branches. "You better not make me late, little man." Tail curled around her arm, he purred, content to be in her arms now that she'd gotten her hands on him.

After she returned him to the cabin, safe and sound. Kennedy called for her Nana through the crack in the door. "Are you coming with us?" She hadn't planned for the Pibble factor or the approaching rain. They needed to get in the car if they were going to be on time.

"Just a second. I'm putting my lipstick on."

Her mother groaned. "That woman, I've been telling her all morning..."

"You've got thirty seconds, Nan, or you will be driving yourself into town."

Looking like she was going to church, her Nan came around the corner putting her earrings in. Kennedy kept her foot close to the crack in the door, ready to deter Mr. Pibble in case he decided to play another game of chase.

"I don't want to be late. She squeezed me into her schedule."

"I'm coming." She gathered her purse and a lightweight jacket. The woman was wearing pumps, for goodness' sake.

"Do you always dress up when you go to the gyno?"

"Every time." She sailed past her and headed to the truck, while Kennedy got the door shut and locked.

Once both women were down the steps and installed in the truck, Kennedy swung into the driver's seat. Her mother had called in some ancient favors to get the appointment with the local lady doc, a bear-friendly one. Nan sat in the back with her purse on her lap. Her Mom had navigation up on her phone and was rereading a note from Terry out loud from the passenger side. "He wants us to join him for lunch. He uses a lot more words when he types."

"It hurt him to talk for years, Mom. People made fun of him."

Her Mom gave a curt nod. "There is a lot of judgment about people that only make it part way back. Usually, they die."

"That's awful."

"Life in the hills can be terrifying. Why do you think I took you away from all this?" Holding her phone in her hand, she pointed toward the road. "You go south into town."

"I guessed that part."

"No need to be smart.

Kennedy turned them toward the main road, happy to leave the dirt ruts as the first raindrops hit the windshield. "I've heard Terry speak a second language. That one is easier for him. It sounds kinda weird though, low and there are sounds I'm not used to."

Looking up from her phone, her Mom asked, "Does it sound like growling? Our ancestors traveled thousands of miles to get away from that past, but it just won't die."