Page 52 of Mazywood

“Wait,” Imani whispered, pulling away.

Tasha’s attention was torn between her worry for Johnny and her daughter’s sudden activity as Imani raced through the room on the pads of her feet, her white socks glowing.

“What are you doing?” Tasha whispered, until she saw Imani pick up a fire poker from the stand beside the fireplace she and Johnny hadn’t taken the time to light.

“Yes—great,” Tasha said. “Get weapons.”

Sharise ran to her sister’s side, and they raided the hearth tool set of the shovel and tongs too. Tasha strained to hear through the door despite their scampering and gentle clanging. She barely noticed when one of them shoved the weapon into her palm. She was focused on listening as she cinched her palm around the heavy iron base.

Something small clattered in the kitchen, and they all jumped. Someone squeezed Tasha’s arm hard enough to hurt. Instinct made them step away from the door.

“What’s happening?” Sharise whispered, scared.

“Maybe nothing,” Imani said. “No gunshots.”

And Imani was right, Tasha realized. The hallway was long, but even at a slow creep it wouldn’t have taken Johnny more than thirty seconds to reach the kitchen entryway. He had been gone longer than a minute. Maybe more. Imani’s coolheadedness was a revelation to Tasha.

Light spilled from underneath the door. Johnny had turned on the lights in the hallway. His voice was so loud that it boomed: “Get away, bear!” He spoke with so much bold authority that she almost didn’t recognize his voice. “Get away—bear, bear, bear.”

Imani giggled. “Bear, bear, bear?”

“Quiet,” Sharise said.

Tasha was shocked at the idea that a bear had somehow gotten into their house while they slept, but at least Johnny wasn’t facing squatters who might be armed. It sounded like he was chasing the bear away. Was that all it was? She had seen bear spray for sale on the shelves back in McCloud, but hadn’t thought to buy a can. She’d heard that loud voices might scare a bear away. Hadn’t Imani been the one who told her that?

The kitchen’s back door slammed shut, and bells outside jangled. They jumped, but this time Tasha didn’t feel the same killing dread. Rational thought fought its way back to the helm. Had they left the kitchen door open? Unlocked? A bear got in. Jesus Lord. She almost smiled.

Tasha’s ribs ached from hunching over, and she was lightheaded from holding her breath. She straightened up tall and enjoyed a long inhalation as her spine uncoiled. So much for remembering your deep breathing under stress, she chided herself.

“All clear!” Johnny called from down the hall.

He had kept his promise to make everything okay.

“See?” Tasha said. “This is why Black people don’t need to be in the woods.”

Imani and Sharise laughed. Everyone was in the kitchen now, under the too-bright fluorescent lights that bounced off the white checkered tiles like daylight. The instant before, they had all been as afraid as they ever had as a family—the only incident that came close was when Johnny had skidded their car on loose rocks on the way from Big Bear, setting off screams on the curvy mountain road. But now Tasha and the girls were already smiling.

Johnny couldn’t shrug it off. It didn’t look right. Not even close.

The kitchen was a mess. Metal mixing bowls were scattered across the floor. A bag of flour had spilled from the countertop, streaking the floor with white patterns. A half-empty packet of water bottles lay on the floor near the flour. The skillet where Sharise had cooked the burgers was in the middle of the floor, leaking grease. Johnny had planned to wash it in the morning, so he had left it soaking in the sink.

To Johnny, it was like that old Chris Rock joke: One step forward, two steps back.

Hearing animal noises in Mazelle’s house had undone his bedroom therapy in a heartbeat.

It was just a bear, he tried telling himself. Imani was convinced of it too, and she would have been the most likely to question his premise. But the vigorous thumping in Johnny’s chest hadn’t subsided when he turned on the lights. Despite the flour as a marker, there were no bear tracks on the floor. The erratic patterns across the tiles in flour eerily reminded him of…

“How did a bear even get in here?” Sharise said, pulling on her hoodie. The kitchen was so frigid from the door standing open that they could see their breath. “Who left the door open?”

“It wasn’t me!” Imani said, defensive. She looked at her dad as if to be sure he believed her.

“I know it wasn’t you,” Johnny said. “It was probably me. I grabbed some firewood outside after dinner and I must not have locked the door. Maybe I didn’t even close it all the way. Sorry, guys. If there’s food around, bears will try to get to it.”

But, he noted silently, the burger buns in the package on the counter were untouched. The bags of chips on the stove had been disturbed, but seemed untouched otherwise. He didn’t see any signs that the visitor had eaten their food, which made his thoughts trip back to Goldilocks: Who’s been sleeping in my bed?

“Really, Dad?” Sharise said.

“I’m sorry, everybody,” he said. “This one’s on me.”