Night of the Black Bear (10 page)

Leaning forward, staring intently into Merle's eyes, Olivia asked, “But did you ever actually dump the chicken parts on the banks of the creek at Chimneys?”

“Um…,” Merle hesitated.

Oh my gosh, Jack wanted to shout to Merle, can't you see what they're trying to do? They're trying to keep you out of trouble, to save your skin! Make the right answer, Merle!

“No,” Merle finally said. “I never actually dumped any chicken. I just set up the chairs and sang some songs, and then I put the chairs away again and helped clean up.”

So many sighs of relief all at once must have raised the room's temperature by a whole degree.

“Honest, I feel awful bad about it,” Merle told them. “
Real
bad! Maybe if I…what if I go to Chimneys picnic area and clean up everything, make sure there's not a shred of food anywhere? I could scrub all the picnic tables to get rid of the smells, and rake up the ground.”

Kip answered, “That might be one way for you to try to make amends to the park. But there's also Tennessee state law to consider.” After shuffling through his papers again, Kip added, “Here's a proclamation from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources about feeding black bears. Under ‘Penalty' it says, ‘Violation of this law is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $50 and a court cost of $180.50. In addition, the punishment may involve community service.'”

A little sound came from Merle's throat, the start of a groan, although he tried to cover it up by coughing. Where was Merle going to get money to pay the fine?

Kip said, “Since you didn't actually put out the bear bait, Merle, I think community service might be a good answer.”

Raising his hand, Steven suggested, “I have an idea. What about that hospital where your mother is a patient, Merle? You could go there and sing to the sick kids in the children's ward.”

“I'd be more than willin', but—” Merle hung his head. “I don't have a guitar now. The songs just won't sound as good without my guitar.”

Olivia murmured sympathetically, “It was your father's, wasn't it?”

Merle nodded. That guitar, the most important thing in his life after his mother, was now destroyed beyond repair.

Yonah broke the tension. “Yeah,” he said. “Merle's out of a job and his mother's getting out of the hospital today and he can't go there on his bike so he needs a ride to the hospital. I'll drive you, Merle.”

“No, you will not!” Blue said loudly. “Your driving privileges have been suspended, remember?”

“Oh, that's right!” Yonah grinned, faking surprise. “I guess I forgot!”

Like he'd forget that! Jack almost laughed out loud as Ashley gave him a nudge, rolling her eyes.

“Meeting's adjourned,” Blue announced. “
I
will drive Merle to the hospital.”

O
livia had to work on the reports with Kip and Blue, Yonah and Merle had to go back to school, and that left Steven and his kids with some hours to fill. As they walked through headquarters parking lot toward their rental car, Steven seemed to be arguing silently with himself. Then, when they reached the car, he stopped. Bouncing the keys in his hand a couple of times, he frowned and looked off into the trees. Finally he seemed to come to a decision.

“You two don't deserve this,” he announced, “because you're still in huge trouble for taking off with Yonah in that car. But who knows when we'll get back to this area again. Maybe never.”

Waiting for whatever was coming next, Jack and Ashley stood very still.

“So I'm going to let you have just one temporary break from being grounded,” Steven told them. “Remember, it's just temporary. Come on, get in the car. Ashley in front, Jack in back.”

What would this “one break” turn out to be? Jack wondered. Pretty soon, Ashley started to bounce in the front seat the way she always did when she got excited. She must have some kind of clue. But as far as Jack could tell, they were heading back toward the hospital where Arlene Chapman was getting ready to be discharged.

Finally Ashley couldn't keep it to herself any longer. At first, she asked it so softly that Jack couldn't quite hear her, and neither did her father.

“Speak louder, please,” Steven said.

At that, Ashley almost shouted, “Dollywood!”

Whoa! She turned out to be right! With Jack's own excitement building through the rest of the drive, they arrived at Dollywood and pulled into the huge parking lot. By the time they bought their tickets at the gate, Jack had begun to suspect that Steven wasn't doing this just for his kids. He was as much into it as they were.

Thus began a wild adventure that felt as though they'd stepped into a different dimension, a spinning, speeded-up world that left them breathless, scared, excited, airborne or soaked, depending on which ride they were on. The afternoon filled up with impossibly fast, upside-down tracks and instant deceleration, with rapid waterfall descents, a runaway mining train and a flooded silver mine, and demolition derby bumper cars that Ashley delighted in ramming against Jack's car.

“Break!” she cried at five o'clock. “It's time to ride something that goes less than a hundred miles an hour.”

“You're way off—it was at least 150,” Jack told her.

Two hours earlier they'd left their father in a different section of the park because Steven wanted to visit milder exhibits like the blacksmith shop and the sanctuary for wild eagles. He'd given Jack the cell phone, but so far Steven hadn't called to check on them. Jack figured his dad was taking lots of pictures and had lost track of time.

“Over there!” Ashley cried. “A nice, old-fashioned merry-go-round.”

It was definitely old-fashioned. Jack started to climb on board but Ashley cried, “Don't take that horse! I want it.” She pointed to a beautiful white horse with a jeweled harness and a flowing blonde mane that stood straight up as though the horse had been lifted in a whirlwind.

As she climbed aboard, a park employee told her, “The kids call that horse Dolly. Want to guess why?”

Ashley smiled. “That's not hard. It has all this blonde hair. I mean, blonde mane.”

“Plus the fancy jewels,” the park lady added.

With the old-fashioned merry-go-round music playing loudly, it was actually kind of nice to ride around and around and look out at all the people who were pushing strollers, wiping ice cream off the faces of little kids, or shouting at their older kids to stop racing through the park. Just as Jack and Ashley left the carousel, the cell phone rang.

“I'm calling you from the Backstage Restaurant across from the fountain,” Steven told Jack over the phone. “Ask one of the park people for directions, then come and meet me.”

They didn't have any trouble finding the restaurant, but at first Jack couldn't see his father. He did, though, recognize Corinn, the pretty woman who'd visited Merle's mother in the hospital.

“What's happening?” he asked Corinn.

Corinn smiled her wide, pretty smile. “Lily Firekiller drove Arlene over here because she needed to sign more insurance papers, and Merle and Yonah came with them. So, we decided we would all have dinner together—sort of a “welcome back” for Arlene. She won't be able to work on the grounds for a while, but she'll be able to start in the office in a few days. Come say hi to them. They're over there.”

When Jack introduced Ashley to Arlene, Ashley shook her hand cautiously, since Merle's mom looked so fragile. She had a wide strip of white tape across her nose, dark glasses to hide the bruises around her eyes, and she puffed a bit as she spoke to Merle and Yonah, who stood on either side of her chair. Minutes later, Steven appeared with Olivia and Blue, which surprised Jack—he hadn't known his mother would be coming to Dollywood.

The food was great, and Corinn made a speech about how glad they were that Arlene Chapman could be here with them tonight, how she was a cherished member of the Dollywood team, and how they wished her a complete recovery. As Jack looked around him, he wondered how Merle was feeling about being in this room where the walls were decorated with pictures of country stars like Tammy Wynette and Willie Nelson, but more to the point, where some real guitars hung on the walls, too.

Dessert was chocolate cake with icing an inch thick. After the servers had cleared the plates, Corinn stood again and began to clink her fork against the side of a glass to get everyone's attention.

“Friends,” she announced, “all of you know that we're here tonight to give thanks that Arlene survived that awful car wreck. But most of you don't know that we have another life to be grateful for, also. Arlene's dear friend Lily Firekiller will tell us about that.”

Merle straightened ramrod stiff in his chair as Lily stood and began to speak. “Last night, a black bear came after my son, Yonah, and two other young people, Jack and Ashley Landon. They were all in great danger.”

Not expecting this, Ashley grabbed Jack's arm as Lily continued, “When the bear attacked Yonah, Merle Chapman raced to his rescue. Merle kept hitting the bear with his guitar until he drove it away. It was his daddy's guitar. It got broken to bits.”

Corinn took over. “Merle, would you come up here beside me, please?”

Everyone's eyes were on Merle as he got up and joined Corinn. “A very nice lady,” Corinn began, “someone the world of country music knows and loves, heard about your courageous act, Merle. And she asked me to give you this.” Corinn reached beneath the table and brought out a guitar, handing it to Merle. “It's a Martin guitar, a very special one—it's called a Merle Haggard Edition. If you look between the 19th and 20th frets, you'll see Merle Haggard's signature there. The guitar belongs to you now, Merle.”

“I…don't know what to say,” Merle stammered.

“We don't want you to say anything,” Bess called out. “We want you to sing.”

“Here? Now?”

“Can't think of a better time or place,” Bess assured him. “The guitar's been tuned, so it's ready to play. All you have to do is decide what you're gonna sing for us.”

Merle stood with his head bowed, either choosing a song or maybe just overwhelmed by everything that had happened in the past 24 hours. When he looked up, he said, “Last night, after the bears…. Well, I couldn't sleep, and a new song just sort of came into my head. I never even played it 'til now, so I don't know if I…but…well, here goes!”

His fingers deftly pressed the frets as he plucked the melody for a line or two. Then he hit some chords hard and began to sing:

Even though not that many people were gathered around the table, they made enough applause for a whole big audience—foot stomping, hand clapping, whistles,
whoo hoos,
and Arlene calling out, “That's my boy! He's gonna to be famous!”

Jack totally believed it, that Merle would be famous some day. Maybe in another dozen years—or even less—Jack might be bragging that he knew Merle Chapman, the country singer. For the next half hour everyone begged Merle to sing more songs, and he did, until Steven and Olivia said it was time for the Landons to go. They'd be returning to Wyoming in the morning.

After hugs and good-byes and promises to e-mail and stay in touch, they drove back to the hotel. Olivia told Jack and Ashley to pack right away because their flight would leave at 10 a.m. tomorrow. They'd need an early start to drive to Knoxville, return the rental car, and go through airport security.

As he stuffed his clothes into his duffel, Jack had the TV turned low. Suddenly he came alert, focused on the screen, and called, “Mom! Dad! Come here quick. You have to see this.”

There she was—Greta—on Channel 12, announcing, “A resident of Gatlinburg, Orson Moffett, has been charged with illegally feeding bears in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Feeding bears is a federal offense as well as a state and local offense.”

Steven and Olivia got there in time to see a video of Moffett placing tubs of chicken alongside the creek. Jack held his breath, hoping—hard—that Merle wouldn't appear on screen. And he didn't.

Greta continued her broadcast, “Video footage recovered at Chimneys picnic area last night confirmed that the bear that attacked Heather McDonald had been food-conditioned, like other bears, by Orson Moffett. Moffett's lawyer will doubtlessly fight the charges, but the case
will
go to court.”

“Good!” Steven exclaimed.

It was a brief news report, and Greta ended it with, “The mystery of the recent rash of bear attacks has been solved with the help of Dr. Olivia Landon, a wildlife veterinarian from Wyoming.”

“Wow!” Olivia cried. “I forgive you, Greta, for dissing me a couple nights ago.”

“Hey, Greta, what about Ashley and Jack Landon? And Yonah and Merle?” Ashley shouted to the TV. “We're the ones who really solved the mystery.”

“And for our reward? We got grounded!” Jack declared. “Is that fair? No way!”

Steven tilted his head.
“Mmm,
you've got a point.”

“Does that mean we're not grounded anymore?” Ashley asked him.

“I didn't say that!” Steven threw a pillow at Ashley, who threw one back at him. Jack joined in, and it turned into a riotous pillow fight, but Olivia ducked out, saying she'd rather fight bears.

Packing finished, teeth brushed, the Landons crawled into their beds. As Jack reached to turn off the light, he noticed that Ashley was already asleep in the twin bed on the other side of the room. In the darkness, as Jack waited for sleep, Merle's song played softly in his memory, the song about friends.

Old friends, yes, but it had been great to make new friends, too.