Page 104 of The Grizzly Situation

His eyes widened. “Can I fly it?”

Brent snickered. “Not even if it was a drone.”

“Aw, man.” Then he busted up laughing and rushed out to the car to head over to the helipad. What would take two hours by vehicle took about twenty minutes with the copter.

“I love it out here,” Wyatt said, his tone hushed, reverent, as we flew over the lake. After we landed and got out of the helicopter, Wyatt stood overlooking the valley and sighed.

“We do too,” Eddie said, a moment before he fell over into the clover, rolling around on the ground. A moment later, Jack joined him. They might be older kids, but they still loved the little things like this.

“Do you know why this area is so special?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“Because this is a wild, unspoiled place, and a haven for all sorts of animals. Including bears.

His eyes widened. “There are bears out there? They’re so cool. Have you ever seen one?”

This was going much easier than I thought it would. “I can see three right now.”

His head jerked toward the lake. “No way! Where?”

“He’s talking about us, Wyatt,” Jack replied. “Me, Eddie, and Dad? We’re all bears. Well, bear shifters to be precise. Like in your mom’s books.”

“You are not.” His eyes narrowed. “Prove it.”

“I got this one,” Brent announced. He stepped behind the helicopter, obscuring him from view. A few moments later, out ambled a giant grizzly. I expected gasps or something from Wyatt, but instead he stood and took two steps closer.

“Can I touch him?” he asked.

“Sure, but be gentle. You know your uncle is delicate.”

Brent narrowed his eyes at me, silently telling me I’d pay for that later. Wyatt approached, uncaring that he was near a six hundred pound creature that could take his head off with one swipe. He was completely different than his dad, and more like his mother. He reached out and put his hands on Brent’s face.

“Uncle Brent? Is that really you?”

Brent nodded. Meanwhile Eddie and Jack had followed suit and shifted. They surrounded Wyatt, nudging him. Through it all, he laughed and danced around with them. When Jack and Eddie lay down in the clover again, Wyatt joined them, rolling around like a fool.

After changing back, Brent dressed and came to where we were all waiting.

“Okay, boys. Time to switch to human.”

They grumbled, low and deep, but padded off to do as instructed. A couple of minutes went by and they hadn’t returned.

“Donotmake me come after you!” he shouted.

Two bright and smiling faces reappeared a couple minutes later. “Sorry, Dad. Nature was calling,” Eddie said, without any pretense of guilt over the lie he was telling.

“You had to roll around in the clover some more, didn’t you?” I asked.

“It’s so sweet this time of the year, Pop.” He looked longingly where it grew the thickest. “Can you blame us?”

And I couldn’t. It was fragrant and tickled my nose. I almost felt like joining them. “Nope, not at all.”

“Wyatt? Thank you for coming out here with us. We’re not going to beat around the bush about this. The reason we’re sharing this now is we want you and your folks to move here, to be closer to us, but they’re afraid you’ll miss your friends.”

Though he didn’t say anything at first, his hands clenched at his sides and tears leaked from his eyes.

“What’s wrong, kid?”