“Warden McKay?” The radio on the truck’s dashboard crackled. “There’s a bear jam on Crandell Mountain Road. Can you help? Over.”
“Ten-four. How far down the road is the bear?”
“It’s in the berry patch, two miles from the campground.”
“I’ll take care of it. Warden McKay out.” He turned to his daughter, Cricket, sitting in the passenger seat. “I bet old Samson is posing for the tourists again. Are you ready for a little adventure, Cricket?”
A bear jam could be a big problem. Tourists loved spotting all the wildlife in the national park. Deer and goats wandered through the village every day. Moose crashed through the campground. And a single bear beside the road could stop traffic for miles.
Warden McKay slowed down when they turned onto Crandell Mountain Road. It was a skinny, rough road that twisted and turned through the hills. There were places for drivers to pull over to take pictures of the scenery. But in a bear jam, people parked anywhere—in the ditches, on the grass and even in the middle of the road!
Sure enough, the road ahead was jammed with vehicles. Tourists leaned out of car windows and stood to look through sunroofs. Everyone had a camera in hand. Everyone was looking up the hill.
Warden McKay turned on the truck’s big orange strobe lights and pulled far off the road to park. He hopped out before Cricket could undo her seat belt. He shook his head. “Promise me you’ll stay in the truck,” he said.
“I can help, Dad. C’mon, I’ll be in fourth grade in a few weeks.”
“Not this time. I can’t be worried about you while I try to get these people back into their cars.”
Cricket sighed. As she sat in the truck, a little black bear cub tumbled out of the bushes beside the road. He stood up and looked at the crowd of people.
“Everyone, please get back into your cars,” Warden McKay ordered, trying to get the traffic unsnarled. But the tourists kept snapping pictures.
On the other side of the road, Cricket saw a large bush move. A long black nose poked out. Then a furry head with round ears. It was the mother bear!
No one noticed as the large black bear walked across the ditch toward the cars. The bear spotted a boy leaning out of a car window. He had something in his hand and was calling to her. “Hey, bear, want some lunch?”
“Don’t feed her!” Cricket yelled out of the truck window. “Roll up your window, quick!”
The boy looked at Cricket in surprise. The bear stood up on her back legs. She sniffed the air and opened her mouth wide.
The boy closed his window just in time. The mother bear leaned on the car with her front paws and peered in at him. She shook her head. Then she dropped back to the ground and walked around the car to her cub. Together they disappeared into the bushes.
Cricket took a deep breath.
“Good job, Cricket,” her dad called, giving her a thumbs-up. “Now, everyone get moving. Come on.”