Gabriel Brown: Collection of Short Alaskan Bush People Fan Fics

Berries

The early afternoon sun filtered weakly through the dense fir trees. Your three-year-old daughter moved ahead of you, hopping from leaf to leaf. Her game was to make it to the berry patch by stepping only on patches of green and avoiding the brown mud. Whenever her tiny rubber boots would accidently step in a dark pool of mud, she would scrunch her little forehead and mimic her Grandpa Billy. "Dad-gum!"

Of all the things she could pick up from her Grandpa, why did she have to pick up that expression? You smiled as you shifted the berry bucket on your arm and adjusted your rifle further around your back.  Hunching your shoulders slightly, the barrel of the long gun jostled and smacked you on the back of the head.

"Dad-gum!" You muttered as you rubbed the back of your head. Your young daughter stopped in her tracks and turned to look at you.

"Mama, did you step in mud?" Her face was so serious.

"No, Sweetpea." You laughed and her face broke into a big smile. "I'm just trying to get used to this new rifle your Daddy got me." You reached out to stroke her dark curls as you remembered your husband Gabe's words to you before you left.

"I don't want to sound like Bam." He had cautioned. "But you really do have to respect the danger of the woods and of your firearm." He had gotten so protective of you and the kids. You absolutely loved that about him. And after being with Gabe all these years, you knew that if he ever stopped joking around with you and got serious, you needed to pay attention.

"I know, I know." You had rolled your eyes and kissed his bare shoulder, hoping to distract him from an overly-long lecture on safety in the woods.

"Just be careful, keep your rifle ready and keep your eyes out for bears." He had grabbed you around the waist with one beefy arm and lifted you almost off your feet as he brought your face up to his. "Gimme a kiss, Sweetie." He said in his best Sean Connery imitation. As he kissed you, your passion began to grow until you heard him mumbling against your lips, "Nom, nom, nom."

Finally reaching the patch of raspberry bushes, you gave the fruit on the tangle of bushes a once-over look. They were a deep red color and as you pulled on a few, they came off easily. They were ripe and ready to pick.

"Sweetpea?" You called to your daughter. "Let's get started so we can fill this bucket. Remember if you have to pull hard to pick it, it's not ready, OK?"

Your little girl nodded her head and brushed her long dark curls behind her shoulder. She never liked to have her hair pulled back and it was a daily chore to keep those curls clean and tamed. Reaching in to pick fruit at her three-foot height, your daughter bent to the task. She was much more focused than her dad. By this time, Gabe would have been mashing more berries into his mouth than ever made it in the bucket. And he was forever telling lame fruit jokes like; What do you call a sad raspberry? A blue-berry!

Chuckling to yourself, you reached deep into the bush for a particularly fat berry. As you pulled your hand back, your whole body froze. From the gap in the bushes you saw the face and open mouth of a dark brown bear not even three feet away. How did it get so close without you hearing it? You slowly backed away from the bush, clamping your hand over your daughter's mouth and pulling her back with you. She instantly began twisting and whining, trying to pull your hand away.

"Shhhh." You whispered as quietly as you could. "A bear." You needed her to know what the danger was. She was only three but she had been drilled repeatedly by her dad about the dangers of bears, so when she heard you say the words, she instantly stilled her wiggling. Backing up, your foot hit the tree before the rest of you did. You pulled your daughter to the side of you and pressed her small hand to your leg; you didn't want to lose sight of her or not feel her touching you. Tugging on the strap of the rifle, you swung the heavy weapon around to the front and anchored the butt against the tree the way Gabe taught you. Your heart was pounding and your body was trembling from fear.

This would be the first time you would be shooting this gun without Gabe holding your arms and helping you. You struggled to remember everything he taught and you were trying not to panic, but you were so scared that you would do something wrong and your baby girl would get hurt, or worse. You concentrated on keeping your eye on the bear and you prayed that it wouldn't hear the sound of you chambering the rifle. As you slipped the round into the chamber and just before you made the sound that would call attention to you and your daughter, you realized the bear still hadn't seen you. You still had a chance to move away and not have to confront the bear at all. You slowly lowered the rifle and reached for your daughter's hand. But as the long rifle swung around behind you, the butt end slammed against tree making a deep, loud "clunk!"

The bear stopped chewing on the red berries and froze, its eyes locked directly on yours. You grabbed again for your rifle, fumbling with the strap with one hand because you didn't want to let go of your daughter's hand. Your eyes widened as the bear stood up to full height and began to move from the back side of the bushes toward you. Your hands were shaking and you couldn't make them grip the leather strap and the bear was almost around the side of the bush and your heart was in your throat. You squeezed your daughters' hand and gave one last yank on the rifle strap.

"Get down!" Your husband Gabe suddenly yelled from behind you. Falling to the ground was easy since your legs were weak as butter. You pulled your daughter down with you and covered her head with your arms.

"Craaack!" The sharp sound of the rifle shot was deafening. You kept one hand on your daughter's head and covered your ear with the other. The shot caught the bear high in the neck. With a yelping growl, the injured bear whipped around and ran deep into the forest.

Gabe dropped to his knees beside you; his eyes were still watching the woods.

"Are you OK?" Holding his rifle with one hand, he pulled your face up to look at him. You nodded and handed him your daughter as you both stood up.

"I'm fine. But I clearly need more bear survival training." You tried to laugh but you started to cry and with his rifle in one hand and his daughter cradled in the other, Gabe didn't have a free hand to hold you. So he brought his mouth down to yours and kissed you gently.

"You'll do better next time. I just thank the good Lord I followed you and was here to help."

The three of you began walking solemnly back toward your cabin in Brown Town. You held onto Gabe's waist and Gabe held onto your daughter. You suddenly thought of something.

"Hey, Gabe?" Why were you following us?"

"I made up a new berry joke! Wanna hear it?" His grin was so wide and you loved him so much.

"Sure, let's hear it."

"What do you call raspberries playing the guitar? Give up? A jam session!"

"Uuuuuggghh!" You and your daughter groaned in unison.