“A bear.” Thomas raised his arms above his head and spread them wide. “A big, black bear.”
Joseph leaped to his feet. Rebekah’s confession forgotten. Before he could respond to Thomas, Buttermilk bellowed. The same terror that lit Thomas’s eyes burned behind her bovine scream.
“Buttermilk!” The word tore from her throat in a scream. Her sweet young cow that Rebekah had not only watched be born but also had risked her own life to save from a barn fire. Once she and Joseph were married, her parents gifted Buttermilk to her, along with Buttercup the rooster, who they were probably more anxious than not to get rid of. “Joseph, she sounds like she is being killed!”
“Joseph, help!” Thomas cried. His hysterical voice took the entire scene to a more tense and dramatic level.
“We do not even have black bears here, do we?” Rebekah’s unanswered question trailed Joseph as he shot out the door and down the stairs. The look of horror in his eyes was not one that she had ever seen before.
“Bears are not supposed to act like that. Are they?” Thomas hurried after him. “Joseph?”
Joseph did not answer Thomas any more than he had answered Rebekah. Perhaps he didn’t hear either one of them. Whether or not he did, the only answer Joseph offered to either of them was the slamming of the front door.
Carefully, Rebekah maneuvered to the side of the bed. Then, ever slow, she pulled herself to her feet and positioned herself in front of the window. Heart pounding, she scanned the yard. “There she is!”
Sure enough, a large black bear sat beside the barn. Buttermilk fought fiercely against her milking tether only a few feet away. Strangely, the bear paid the hollering cow no attention. She seemed to be fixated on something else. Something across the yard.
Joseph and Thomas dashed into the yard. The bear, sitting moments ago, stood up on all fours.
I have to warn Joseph and Thomas!
“Hey!” Rebekah banged on the window as a cramp bit into her middle and doubled her over. Vomit, unexpected and hot, shot out of her mouth and splattered all over the floor before she collapsed into it, face first, on her floor.
Chapter Four
Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, rather than a fool in his folly. – Proverbs 17:12
Rebekah woke up, clean and tucked into her bed. Joseph, tear-streaked and doe-eyed, stared at her from the bedroom chair. A strange embarrassment burned in her cheeks as she remembered the vomit.
Joseph turned his hat around and around in his hands and chewed his lower lip. “Rebekah, I am so sorry for leaving you when you needed me.” His voice wavered. Rebekah feared he might cry. “I will never leave you like that again. You have my word.”
She hiccupped. “Oh, excuse me.” Rebekah grimaced at the terrible taste in her mouth. “I am so sorry for the mess.”
“Mess?” Joseph looked puzzled. “Oh, where you were sick? That is nothing. Thomas and I cleaned that up in no time at all.” He paused. “It is you that I am worried about.”
“Me?” Rebekah heard the absurdity in her own voice. “I am fine. I am having a bopplin, so everything is different.” She noticed a steaming cup on the bedside table. It boasted a strong smell that made her stomach stand up and take notice. “How is my cow?”
Joseph kept his voice even and low. “Buttermilk is fine. Just fine.” He moved from the chair to their bed. However, the worried look still creased his face in odd, un-Joseph-like planes. It was not often that her husband appeared out of sorts or out of control. However, in this moment, he looked both. “In fact, the bear strode right past her. Did not even give her a second look.”
“She didn’t?”
Joseph let his words out slowly. “She paid no attention to that bellowing heifer whatsoever.”
Rebekah shook her head slowly. “But I saw out the window. She was intent on something, staring. Maybe even stalking something.”
Joseph stared hard at her.
Rebekah continued her verbal musings. “If she was not after Buttermilk, what was she after?”
Something strange flickered across Joseph’s face. “I do not want you to worry, Rebekah,” he began.”
Goosebumps raced up her arms and down her spine.
Joseph took a deep breath, as though searching down deeply for the courage to speak to his wife. “The bear, well, she was wonderful big. Huge even. But she did not want the cow, who was tied up and would have made for an easy meal, had she been hungry.” He licked his lips and fumbled his hat in his hands. “She seemed more intent on Thomas.”
In that instant, Rebekah was able to place the unseemly emotion on Joseph’s face. It was fear.
Rebekah’s heart, moments before beating calmly, began to slap wildly against the inside of her chest. “On Thomas?”
“Don’t worry, he is safe now. He is playing with his kitten downstairs.” Joseph took her hand in his. “There is something wrong with the bear, Rebekah. It came close, too close. And she showed no fear of people at all. And the way she eyed Thomas…”
An Englischer affliction, terrible and terrifying, sprang to her mind and out of her mouth in the same moment. “Hydrophobia.”
Joseph hung his head. “That is exactly what I figure. She seemed so intent on Thomas.” His brow furrowed. “But enough about that. I cannot have you worrying yourself over things that cannot be helped.” He patted her hand. “You must trust me to take care of things.”
They shared a look before Joseph spoke again. “How are you feeling?” He let go of her hand and touched the back of it to her forehead. “I am worried that—”
Rebekah shook it off. “I told you that I was fine, Joseph.” Her words had a bit more bite to them than she anticipated. She took care to soften her tone. “You say not to worry, but worry I do. About everything. Tell me, is it safe for Thomas to be out there since he walks home? Since he explores? Since he runs up and down all of his secret trails?”
Joseph seemed unfazed by her snapping words. “Don’t worry about such things.”
“Joseph, he has so many secret trails from here to Montgomery, if he did go missing, nobody would even know where to look for him! We might not find him until it was too late, and…” Rebekah started to argue but stopped short as a sudden, familiar, and somewhat urgent urge struck her. “Can you walk me to the outhouse please?”
“Of course.” He stood and helped her to her feet. Slowly, they hobbled out the door and down the stairs.
Her bladder ached as they picked their way down the stairs, even though Joseph took care to help her step gently.
When they got out the front door and off the porch, Joseph tried to make Rebekah pause. It was no use. She was not moving fast, but she was moving steadily.
