Bear Flesh Delights

“Yeah, I will,” Amelia agreed. He was right, his words had made her a bit jumpy, but she was determined to persevere. Besides, there were no refunds. The guy with the brochure had made that perfectly clear. No matter what she decided to do, her money was already spent.

“Well then, thanks a lot,” she said to the driver. “I guess I’ll head in and decide what to do first. Be careful driving back, okay?”

“Will do, little lady,” he said with a nod, and then he was gone. Amelia was completely alone in front of some cabin in the middle of the wilderness. The senses of elation and dread mingled within her as she fit the key into the lock and opened the door.

Cobwebs and dust made her cough, and her first order of business became perfectly clear. She grumbled and shook her head, saying, “Wow! That’s what I get for renting an old, abandoned cabin. I sure hope this place comes with a feather duster and a garbage can!”

Amelia was still working on the mess sometime later when she heard a loud creak as the front door opened. She startled and went to see what had happened, and found a young woman standing in the living room.

“Oh, hello,” she said. “I didn’t realize anybody would be looking for me just yet.”

“Sorry if I scared you, but I was told to expect you here at least two hours ago, and I still hadn’t heard if you’d arrived, so I thought I’d come find out for myself,” said her visitor with a sweet smile. “I’m Judy Bench—one of the daughters from next door. I’m supposed to help you get supplies and stuff at Harper’s Store. If you’re ready to go?”

“Yeah, sure,” Amelia agreed. “I’m just now discovering that when they said bring supplies, they meant I’d be supplying everything. There’s not even a broom around here. I never heard of a place without some sort of a broom before.”

“Don’t worry, I know just what you’re going to need,” Judy smirked. “You’re lucky you’ve got me to help you instead of my sister Ashley. She’s pretty useless. Not me, though. I know lots of stuff about everything around here.”

“Glad to hear it,” Amelia said with a smile, and the two of them headed out and got into Judy’s car. Rather than heading down to the little town of Greenville as expected, Judy drove further up the road and pulled in at a very small store hidden among the trees.

“This is Harper’s Store,” Judy explained when they pulled up in the little driveway. “The only people who use it are the folks staying in the cabins up here, since most folks would find it out of their way. Plus, not everybody here gets to use this store since Harper is very picky about who comes in the door. The Harpers are a little weird, but as long as you’re nice to them I’m sure there won’t be any problem.”

“I’ll just let you do the talking,” said Amelia. Now that she knew these people were about to be judging her, she wished they could just go down into Greenville and use the regular store instead. She didn’t want any trouble out here, especially not on her very first day.

“Don’t look so worried, Amelia, I’m sure they’re not going to bite,” Judy laughed when she saw her face. “Nathan Harper’s a bit strange, but I’m sure he’ll take to you just fine. Besides, the owners of these cabins are the only thing keeping his little store in business. I’m sure he’ll go out of his way to be nice.”

As they got out of the car, Amelia took a moment to examine the appearance of the establishment they were about to enter. In the middle of the entrance was a pair of moose antlers so huge she wasn’t even sure they’d be able to get inside. They did, of course, only to discover about twenty other mounted heads and so many furs lining the walls that Amelia was worried about finding hairs in any food she bought there.

“This place looks like a reject from the psycho beaver asylum,” she whispered into Judy’s ear. The girl cast her a horrified look.

“Don’t let Mr. Harper hear you say that,” she warned. “It’s such a pain to drive all the way to the other store when this one’s right here. You don’t want to get banned and have to do that all the time.”

“Oh, sure,” she nodded, zipping her lips and throwing away the key.

The two women browsed through the store leisurely, selecting all the things that Amelia was likely to need and gathering them into a couple of carts before they approached the sullen-looking man who stood watching them from behind the counter.

Amelia couldn’t get over how weird the guy looked, either. He was tall and skinny—almost gaunt in his appearance. He had dark circles under his eyes and a hungry look on his face, like somebody had forgotten to feed him anything for the last two weeks. His mouth seemed slightly misshapen, with jagged, rotting teeth inside. The guy really gave her the creeps.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Harper,” said Judy politely when they stepped up to set everything on the counter.

“Miss Bench, a pleasure to see you as always,” he said with a decidedly puritan sounding accent. “And you must be the new girl that rented the old Henderson cabin. Miss Friar, is it? It must have cost you a pretty penny to get that place for two whole months to yourself. I wonder how you managed to pull it off.”

“Oh, yes, that’s me, Amelia Friar,” she said with a slight blush. “Actually, I inherited a large sum of money when my parents were killed in a car accident, and it’s just been sitting in the bank for the last four years, so I thought maybe I should put it to some good use. I’m going to write a book while I’m here.”

“That’s a mighty fine idea,” he said with a nod of approval. “I hope you won’t be disturbed by any bears while you’re trying to accomplish your goal.”

“Bears, sir?” she asked.

“Yes, bears,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “Most bears in these parts steer clear of humans, especially out by the campgrounds and cabins and such, but sometimes they might come in for food. Careless tourists forget to cover their garbage, or leave food out for them to find. If a bear thinks it can get a better meal among humans, there’ll be hell to pay when somebody gets hurt as a result. So you be sure to cover your trash, Miss Friar. I wouldn’t want to see those bears pestering you.”

“Thank you for the advice, Mr. Harper,” she said with a smile. “I shall follow it to the letter, I can assure you.”

“That’s good,” he said, and smiled creepily at her. Amelia had to suppress a shudder as she paid for her purchases and the two women wheeled them out to Judy’s car.

“Well, wasn’t that a freak show,” Amelia said as they got into the car and headed for home again.

“The rest of the family’s somewhat better, I promise,” Judy said with a smirk. “He has three sons. I guess his wife must have died a long time ago, since I’ve never seen him with anyone since I’ve known him. I guess they own a bunch of land somewhere in these parts. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to him after a while.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” Amelia agreed with a nod. “But Harper sure is a creepy guy, and obviously a hunting fanatic besides. I bet he’s real fun at socials, right?”

“I wouldn’t know about him, but his sons are kind of cute, anyway,” Judy smiled. “I wouldn’t mind catching the eye of a mountain man, even if it was one of them.”