About the Author: Brian Haycock is the author of Dharma Road, a book about Zen Buddhism and cabdriving from Hampton Roads Publishing. His short fiction has appeared in Thuglit, Yellow Mama, Amarillo Bay, Pulp Pusher, Swill and other upstanding publications. Unlike the people he writes about, he is law-abiding and reasonably sane. His website is www.brianhaycock.com.
I only know three ways people ever get eaten by bears. There could be others, but I haven’t run across them. First, people do something really stupid. That’s pretty common. Like the fool who thinks a bear would make a great prop for a selfie. Or the moron who tries to put a Smokey hat on a bear because that would make a great photo. Or, stretching it a little, that couple in Alaska a few years ago who thought grizzlies were big, friendly neighbors who’d be fun to camp out with. They even made a film about it. In the end, they found out how wrong they were. You probably heard about that, but I’ll bet you didn’t watch the film. People do things like that, I don’t have any sympathy for them. And what bothers me is, when someone gets eaten, everyone gets mad at the bear.
Great story, loved the protagonist's matter-of-fact attitude. Good ending!
The after-shave was to get the bears’ attention. Pretty good thinking for a tweaker. None of that bunch would usually come up with anything like this.” Well if they did not do it, who else might have? Jimmy Cooks must have done bad.
Brilliant! I wish I could weave a tale like this.
I enjoy a humorous mystery so this was right up my alley. Hope to read another story from this author soon!