Once upon a time there were three boys who wanted to camp in the mountains. Uncle Frank's sons, Junior and Tom, and his brother's son Joe. They were to take a hiking trip in the mountains. All the things were packed in the car.

“Let’s go, Joe,” said Uncle Frank. “ We’ve got to get to the ranch by evening”.

Joe was very excited. His uncle and his two cousins often went hiking in the mountains but this was the first time Joe was going with them. They would spend that night at a ranch at the foot of the mountains and leave the car there. Then they would spend a week hiking and camping in the mountains.

It was already dark when they got to the ranch. As they went into the ranch house a huge, black, woolly sheep dog came to greet them. “His name is Shep,” explained the rancher.

After a cozy night in the ranch bunk house, they left the ranch at 5:00 the next morning. Hiking with a knapsack, a tent and a sleeping bag on their backs was hot work. Here in the forest it was Uncle Frank and his sons who talked. Everything was new to Joe but he was interested to learn.

At the end of the first day’s hiking Uncle Frank chose a flat grassy plot by a river to make camp. They made a fire and cooked food. The evening was clear and not too cold so Uncle Frank decided that they wouldn’t put up the tents but would just sleep in their sleeping bags around the fire. The last thing Joe did before sleeping was to take off his glasses.

“Hey!” one of them asked them, “If you can’t see anything without your glasses how are you going to find them tomorrow? Where will you put them? There are no tables out here?”

Joe put his glasses into his pocket, zipped up and was ready to sleep. He was tired and the murmur of the pine trees put him fast to sleep. It seemed like only minutes later when the murmur of the pine trees changed to shouts of “Joe! Joe!”

He opened his eyes and saw that is was almost day. Everything was a grayish blur.  What were those strange shouts, he thought. The others were calling his name but in slow motion. Joe tried to sit up but there was something holding his sleeping bag down.

He put one arm outside and felt around. It was Shep, he thought, but it wasn't.

"No, Joe, no!" came a voice.

"Don't worry - I'm not afraid of dogs. Move over, Shep!" said Joe. Then he heard groans coming from his uncle and his cousins. He tried to find his glasses but the big dog was still pressed so close that Joe couldn't move. Finally, he poked  Shep and found the zipper and his glasses.

He put on his glasses and the first thing he saw was Uncle Frank on the other side of the campsite, staring at Shep in horror. Joe turned to look at Shep, and saw he was face-to-face with a half-grown black bear. He didn't move. Uncle Frank and Junior and Tom didn't move. The bear didn't move. Now what?

Suddenly he realized that he had some bubble gum in his pocket so he thought he would give it to the bear and wait to see what happened. Slowly Joe moved his hand away from the bear's face. Then he gave a little toss and the bubble gum landed next to it. The bear took the bubble gum and put it into his mouth and
bit it, once, twice, three times. Joe could see the bubble gum stuck to the long, pointed bear teeth. Slowly the bear ambled off, shaking his head as he chewed and chewed. Uncle Frank ran to Joe and felt him all over to see if he was all right.

Later, when the sun was up and they had eaten breakfast and had some coffee to calm their nerves, Joe looked at this uncle and said.

"You know, sometimes it's a good thing not to see so well. It was much better to wake up and see Shep than to see a bear."

"Wow. Joe" exclaimed Tom. "You sure know how to handle animals. Maybe you'll be an animal trainer some day".

"Maybe" said Joe, "But I think I'll stick to birds and squirrels and fish for the rest of this trip. At least, until I can get a good supply of bubble gum."

This is my story, by Emílio Augusto

Story corrected by Margaret Ann Doty