“You sure you can do this?” asked Fiona. “It’s got wheels but you have to drag it a long way.”

“Yep,” said Charlie proudly. “And after, I’m taking the bike out.”

“Good for you, Charlie,” said Fiona. She went inside pleased that everyone, even Charlie, seemed to be adjusting to their new life.

Fiona heard the garbage can being dragged and then Charlie pedaling off down the driveway and breathed a sigh of relief.

Charlie biked down the drive and along the road where many other people’s garbage cans were already out. She didn’t tell Fiona but she still kept one eye out for things in the woods but the more she biked without seeing anything fearful, the less she worried about it. So she was happily tooling along when at first she thought she saw an oddly shaped black garbage can a few drives down. Then the black can moved. Charlie held her breath and stopped abruptly, one foot on a pedal and one on the road. After looking for one for so long, she could not believe the thing of nightmares stood before her. Right there in the open. She looked searchingly at it as if expecting it to turn back into an oddly shaped garbage can but the bear stared back at her instead. Someone who knew bears could have told her it was not a very big black bear but it didn’t feel small to Charlie. She screamed and leapt off her bike, running to the nearest shelter, which was Al’s trailer. She didn’t even bother knocking but charged inside, where Al was lying on the couch listening to a podcast.

“What the HECK!” he roared.

“THERE’S A BEAR!” roared Charlie even louder.

“Where?” asked Al, sitting up calmly and removing his earbuds.

“Outside,” she said. “He has taken the top off someone’s garbage can.”

“Sounds about right,” said Al.

They looked out the window to where they could see a bear ambling along dragging a bag of garbage.

“Oh, that’s just Billy Bear,” Al said, and lay down again.

Charlie stood glued to the window trembling. When she didn’t leave Al sat up again. “I said you don’t have to worry. Billy Bear has been around since he was a cub. He knows when people put their garbage out. Watch. I’ll show you what to do when you meet a bear.”

Al went outside, planted his feet solidly in his driveway, and said in normal tones, “Okay, Billy, you’ve finished your Oreos, now it’s time to go.”

The bear looked up at Al. He was sitting peacefully taking apart his bag of garbage and he seemed disappointed and even a bit sad to have this activity interrupted but he stood up resignedly and slowly ambled off into the woods again.

“There, see,” said Al, coming back inside. “Bears are way more afraid of you than you are of them. Poor Billy had his supper interrupted. Oh well, at least he got to finish his Oreos.”