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Walk in the Dark

 I have a walking buddy. We are a good match because we like to keep up a brisk pace and we like to do a good distance, usually about five miles. We have a couple of routes we routinely follow.

Now Donna is younger and is still working so we have to work around her schedule. That means we are walking later sometimes. We had planned to walk at 3 p.m. on Friday but then she was asked to stay late as someone had called in sick so we didn't set out until after 6.

We were taking a route near her house that we like but a great deal of it is dirt road through the woods. It was dark by 7:15. We had a flashlight and phones. We started to hear coyotes howling and Donna remembered hearing that people have been seeing bears around town. She has a dread fear of bears, even more than any reasonable person might have. She started walking faster and faster. I had to run to keep up with her for the whole middle third of the "walk."

The last hundred or so yards takes us along a paved and traveled road with no sidewalk or much space along the lines of shoulder. She said, "I don't know if I am more afraid of being eaten by bears or of being hit by a car."

No contest, Donna. The way you were booking it while you were thinking bears tells me you are much more afraid of being eaten than run over.

We have walked together for many years now. We always get caught with a walk in the dark once a year near the time of the autumnal equinox.



Comments

  1. Arkansas PattiSeptember 21, 2020 at 9:12 AM

    Just glad you have such an eager walking partner though you might want to buy her some bear spray so you don't have to run:) Loved the cartoon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. gigi-hawaiiSeptember 21, 2020 at 11:51 AM

    I am too scared to walk in the dark, bears or no bears.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jenn JilksSeptember 22, 2020 at 9:56 AM

    We have bears, too. You are right to have a healthy fear of them! This was fun to read, though! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. KaySeptember 23, 2020 at 7:47 PM

    We walk at 5:30 in the morning before the sun comes up. It's so wonderful that you have a good walking partner to keep both of you healthy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Linda ReederSeptember 24, 2020 at 12:25 AM

    The bears would have gotten me, because no way would I have been able to keep up with you two. On the other hand, I really would not have been caught walking in the woods in the dark.

    ReplyDelete
  6. BarbaraOctober 10, 2020 at 11:57 AM

    Being a city girl in the South, I never think of Bears but snakes - oh my.

    ReplyDelete

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