Page 36 of Capture the Moment

Just as he rounded a bend, a large creature caught his eye in a meadow. Wade pulled over and parked the car, reaching for his trusty binoculars, wondering if it could be a bear. His bear.

He adjusted the focus on his bins. A bison stood grazing in peace.

Wade entertained the thought of a bison head adorning his wall, a prized trophy. Where would the arrow need to hit for a fast, clean kill? Straight into the femoral artery? He watched the bison graze for an inordinately long time, pondering his options. But in the end, he shook off the temptation. He hadn’t come all this way for a cow.

Ten

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread.

—John Muir

Lo and behold, there was Maisie at Pilgrim Creek at four in the morning, searching through the long line of photographers for Kate. She’d talked her grandfather into bringing her. As soon as she spotted Kate at the far end, she bounded over to her with a big hug. “I came to help!”

Kate cringed. “Okay, but you have to be quiet.”

“Gotcha.” Maisie put her fingers to her lips. “Fun fact. Grizzly Bear 399 has her own Instagram. She says it’s hard to type with claws.” Her face lit up. “Oh, I almost forgot! She has over 50,000 followers.” Her face fell. “I only have three.”

The other photographers made a hushing sound, so Kate moved her equipment even farther away from them, feeling a little half-hearted in the process. She knew full well that even if 399 appeared this morning, it wouldn’t be the shot that would get intoNational Geographicmagazine. She needed something different, something unique. And she really needed Maisie to focus on something else. Maisie made her nervous as she eagerly watched every move Kate made. She was already nervous enough around these judgy photographers.

“Kate, look! It’s Coop.” Maisie sucked in a breath. “AndFrankie.”

“Morning,” Coop said as he approached them.

“Frankie!” Maisie said. “I didn’t expect you to be here so early.”

Frankie scoffed. “Neither did I. I don’t want to be here. I want to be back in bed.”

“Part of the internship program,” Coop said.

Maisie drifted away from Kate, cozying up to Frankie, bombarding him with questions, inadvertently providing a welcome distraction.

Coop took a step closer to Kate and lowered his voice to ask, “I get the distinct impression that Maisie is more of a nuisance than a help.”

Was Kate acting that obvious? “What makes you say that?”

“You’re about as far away from the others as you can be.”

Kate, still attaching her zoom lens, looked up, surprised at Coop’s perceptiveness. “I know she means well. She’s very ... enthusiastic. About everything.” She let out a puff of air. “It’s not just Maisie that has me bothered. I know there’s a better story to tell of this bear than”—she swept her arm in the direction of the long line of photographers—“this.” She looked at Coop. “Did you mean it when you said you could help me?”

Coop glanced at the other photographers, then leaned in. “Now’s not the time. I’ll find you later.” He maneuvered back down the line, pulling Frankie along.

But how? How did he think he would find Kate? She planned to hike up to Hidden Falls near Jenny Lake this afternoon. Hopefully, Maisie wouldn’t ask to go with her.

“Isn’t he cute?” Maisie said.

“Actually, yeah, he is,” Kate said, watching Coop engaged with another photographer.

“Do you think he noticed me?”

Kate turned to her. “Isn’t he a little old for you?”

“Not hardly! I’m almost fourteen.”

“When’s your birthday?”

“Next April.”

It was onlyMay! Kate had to bite on her lip to not laugh out loud. She didn’t want to embarrass Maisie. She remembered how it felt to be a young teen and long to be older, to be taken seriously. Sadly, that didn’t resolve with age. She was twenty-five and still struggled to be taken seriously.

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