Night of the Black Bear by Gloria Skurzynski Page A

back into the booth, peeling a couple of dollar bills out of his wallet to leave as a tip—Jack had forgotten he was supposed to tip the server. “Why? Why should I answer Ashley’s question? What’s it to you guys?”
    â€œBecause,” Ashley began slowly, “if I believed you hate Merle because he took a favorite toy from you when you were little—or even worse, if I believed that you hate him because he’s a white guy and you blame him because his ancestors took Cherokee lands long ago—then I’d think that was way harsh. That you were harsh. And I don’t think you are.” Smoothing the dollar bills on the table top, Yonah murmured, “Thanks. For not thinking I’m harsh.” He looked up, his dark eyes troubled, and said, “Things are really bad for Arlene right now. The insurance won’t pay for all her hospital bills, her car was totaled, and she might not be able to work for a while.” He licked his lip with the tip of his tongue, looked sideways, and then began again. “I think Merle’s in trouble. He’s doing something that’s wrong, and I think I know what it is, and it makes me crazy angry. But I’m not sure about it. If I tell anyone what I suspect, Merle could get slammed. That would hurt Arlene, and I don’t want that to happen.”
    â€œIt’s about him not being a busboy, right?” Jack asked. “I was trying to figure out why he’d lie about that, and this is what I think. He brings his guitar, so he’s probably out on the streets somewhere singing for quarters, and he’s ashamed for people to know that.”
    â€œHuh?” Yonah muttered. “If that was true, I’d have heard about it. My friends would see him, and they’d tell me. Merle would tell me. That’s not illegal.”
    Jack asked, “You think he’s doing something illegal? Like what?”
    Yonah didn’t answer that directly. He just said, “You heard Merle today—about the moonshine? He doesn’t worry about what’s legal and what’s not.”
    Slowly standing up, Ashley said, “You’re way too suspicious, Yonah.”
    Yonah got up, too, and shrugged, saying, “Think what you want.” Without waiting for them, he left the dining room and headed for the door. Jack stopped to pay the bill, then hurried to catch up with Yonah and Ashley.
    As they walked back toward the digital lab, Jack glanced across the street where a small bus was parked. The sides of the bus had been painted with scenes of the park, or at least he figured that’s what the pictures showed—tall mountains filled with mist, and black bears standing on their hind legs, bears running, climbing, holding fish in their mouths, even boxing each other. “Smokies Touring Service” was the name on the side of the bus. As Jack watched, a dozen people started boarding it.
    At that moment Ashley tugged the sleeve of his sweatshirt to say, “Check over there. It’s that Space Needle in the picture on Caitlyn’s badge. Look how tall it is! I want to go to the top.”
    â€œIt’s got a virtual reality roller coaster,” Yonah told them. “You should ask your folks to take you.”
    â€œI will!”
    As soon as they opened the door to the digital lab they smelled the pizza. An open box with a few pieces left lay on the table, next to three paper cups for soft drinks.
    â€œSo far, we can’t find a tie-in between the elk herd and the aggressive bear behavior,” Olivia announced to the kids.
    All over the room, elk photos appeared on tall flat screens. They were dazzling pictures—clear, bright, and intense in color—elk with rough coats and soft brown eyes, elk gracefully moving their large bodies on thin legs, an elk scratching behind an ear with a hind hoof. But there were no signs of disease. Jack stared at the images, wide-eyed, hoping that some day