Yesterday, while walking in the woods, I ran into three other people. This is unusual. Normally, I don't see any other humans. The first was a young man of possibly twenty. He was wearing impeccably white sneakers and had a sweatshirt - just as white - tied around his waist. It's Spring, mud season, but he did not appear deterred. The second encounter was with a couple about my age hiking along with trekking poles. They were in the midst of their third section hike along the Midstate Trail and intended to get to the half-way point today.
The man asked if he could ask me a question.
Sure, I said.
Well, I know we don't know each other or anything, but what would you do if you encountered a bear on the trail?
I'd probably freeze, I said.
Because I was taking a leak beside the trail when she warned me that someone was coming. She saw someone walking down the trail. Well, it turned out to be a black bear of about three hundred pounds coming towards us.
Wow! What'd you do?
I asked her what you do when you encounter a black bear. So she googled it on her phone.
Look big!, she told me.
We kind of backtracked, keeping our eye on him. You know? And we got the hell out of there. He watched us for a minute and kind of went his own way too. Do you know where you can get bear spray?
No, but those kooks who stormed the Capitol used it and it looked to have some pretty decent range.
I know! Yeah, I'm gonna try to find some.
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