Page 58 of Capture the Moment

The time had come to go bow shopping. Feldmann still hadn’t been able to reroute Whisper, and Wade was getting anxious. That bear was overdue.

Normally, Wade didn’t venture out into public when he was preparing for a hunt, but he wasn’t about to let Feldmann make this purchase for him. The bow and arrows needed to be a superior quality—a high-grade armguard and handgrip as well.

Fortunately, he always brought a disguise or two along in his suitcase. For this incognito visit to the archery shop, he constructed a getup that was a mix of the mundane and the meticulous, ensuring he’d blend into the crowd. Nothing memorable, that was Wade’s MO.

Out of the suitcase he lifted a thick brownish-gray wig that was tousled in just the right way to suggest age without looking disheveled. Next came the mustache, snugly adhered above his lip and blending seamlessly with the wig’s color tone. The mustache subtly altered the contours of his face, adding years to his appearance. Practicing a slight Midwest accent, he elongated his vowels just enough to sound authentic. Completing his ensemble, he donned a nondescript button-up shirt, faded jeans, and worn-in sneakers.

Standing in front of the mirror before he left, he barely recognized himself. Wade had transformed himself into a thoroughly average-looking man on the late side of midlife—the kind you pass on the street without a second glance. This was the art of invisibility.

Fourteen

Wildlife is something which man cannot construct. Once it is gone, it is gone forever.

—Joy Adamson, naturalist

After dropping Maisie back at the visitor center to her grandfather’s care, Kate decided to head over to Willow Flats, an area that was supposedly teeming with wildlife. According to the guidebook, anyway.

A little absentmindedly, she parked her rental car behind another vehicle and retrieved her camera equipment from the trunk. She was mindful of Coop’s warning to not hike alone, but she had her world’s loudest whistle around her neck and bear spray in her coat pocket. The presence of another car meant other hikers were here, and that gave her an additional boost of confidence. Besides, she wasn’t planning to stay long. After spending the last few hours with Maisie, having some quiet time to herself felt like a breath of fresh air. Kate liked Maisie, quite a bit, but the girl could talk your ear off. She never stopped.

As she walked down the trail that led to Christian Creek, Kate was glad she’d stopped at the lodge to shower and exchange wet boots for dry ones. They protected her now as she trudgedthrough the mud and wet grass. She walked in a state of wonder at the beauty and the silence. Especially the silence. Her ears were still ringing from Maisie.

Stopping at different points along the trail, Kate took out her binoculars to survey the flats. An eagle, or perhaps an osprey, shrieked overhead, prompting her to reach for her camera. Fat chance. By the time she removed the lens cap, the bird had disappeared into the distance.

She came to a fork in the trail and stopped to pull out her guidebook, uncertain by now that she was even on the original trail. She took out her map and compass to assess her position, and looked up in the sky to see which direction the sun was setting. Happily, not a cloud in the sky, just as her weather app had forecasted. She had checked before she set out for Willow Flats. She’d learned her lesson from Hidden Falls ... though it was kind of nice to have Coop come looking for her.

Rooted to the spot, she peered out through her binoculars, wondering about all the life that found shelter at the flats. Out here, with the wide marshes in front of her, Kate felt as if she was stepping into the unknown.

It was a far cry from the confined orderliness of the zoo. No neatly set-up exhibits or scheduled shows. In the zoo, animals lived in synchronicity. Rhythms drew the animals together—sleeping, eating, even playing.

Here, nature was the boss. It didn’t follow any rules; it had its own rhythms.

Kate had learned a tremendous amount as a zoo photographer, starting with needing an inordinate amount of patience. Especially fascinating to her was how animals used their senses to help interpret and understand the world. Owls or bats could hear a prey’s movements in total darkness. Sharks used electroreception to detect electric fields, helping them navigate and locate prey. Wide-eyed deer used their vision to avoid a threat. Dogs andbears relied on their highly sensitive noses. Birds, turtles, even butterflies relied on magnetoreception to orient them on migration.

All that and more she had learned at the zoo. Watching and studying. A passive observer.

No longer. Here, she felt like a caged bird set free, soaring through the open sky with exhilarating abandon. The thought of returning to Virginia—to the zoo, to Oliver—filled her with a sense of dread.

It was a startling realization. Just a week ago, Kate wouldn’t have been fearless enough to go hiking like this, alone, near sunset. Yet here she was. Bold and brave.

Kate Cunningham.The new and improved Kate Cunningham.

She heard it before she saw it. An unmistakable snort that made her freeze in her tracks, followed by utter silence. Even the birdsong stopped. Looking through her binoculars, Kate spotted a massive grizzly bear. It was far away, at least a football field. Hopefully more. Her heart started to pound.Calm, stay calm, she told herself. Moving slowly, because she knew that bears got excited by quick movement, she lifted her camera to take photos of it, thankful she had the zoom lens attached.

Big mistake.

The bear might have heard or seen her move or maybe it smelled Kate’s presence. It stood up on its hind legs, fixing her with a piercing gaze. Standing tall, this bear was enormous. Slightly terrified, yet far more mesmerized, Kate kept taking pictures of it. She remembered advice from a book she’d read about wildlife photography—don’t shy away from beautiful and jarring unsettling moments. As long as he was on his hind legs, he was merely curious. If he dropped down and started to approach her, she needed to take action. But what?

Her mind was racing through options. Back up slowly? Blow the storm whistle? Sing?Think, think, think.What did Coop say in his ranger talk about close encounters with bears?

Bear spray! Whistle!

Before she could decide which to reach for first, a gunshot rang out and echoed through the meadow. The bear turned and ran, its thick rump rippling before it vanished into the trees, leaving Kate alone in the now eerie silence.

Shaking, Kate scanned the area with her zoom lens, searching for the source of the shot. Unable to see anything or anyone, she decided it was best to return to her car and report the incident to a ranger. To Coop. She needed Coop.

Twenty minutes later, when she arrived back at her rental car, the other vehicle was gone.

As Coop directed traffic around a bear jam at Oxbow Bend, his attention was suddenly drawn to Kate waving to him from her car. Pleasure rippled through him at the sight of her, but it was quickly replaced by concern when he noticed the urgency in her gesture.

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