Tony Dorsey's Short Story

One breezy and sunny Thursday in Cincinnati Ohio, eighteen year old Tony Dorsey was just coming home from his last baseball game before summer break. He lived in a two story, white suburban home with his parents Jim and Melissa Dorsey. “I’m home!” Tony called as he opened the door. “How did it go?” asked Mrs. dorsey.

“We won” he said, “Jack got the game winning hit.” Jack Patterson was one of Tony’s best friends along with Billy Jackson who was also on the team. “Mmm, dinner smells good. What is it?”

“It’s your favorite, roast beef and mashed potatoes.” she replied “Oh and your father won’t be home for dinner, he got stuck in a meeting and won’t be home until later.”

After dinner, Tony went upstairs to his room to work on the last

“Don't worry.” said Jack “If we don't bother them they shouldn't bother us.”

“Well i hope you’re right because i don’t want to be chased around by some angry mama bear that thinks we are threatening her cubs.” replied Billy.

A few hours into their hike, Tony noticed an open area right by a cliff. He walked over on the edge of the cliff and saw a beautiful view of the mountains, but that feeling of beauty turned to disgust as he caught a whiff of a terrible smell. He looked down and saw a dead deer at the bottom of the steep rock face.

“He probably was being chased and wasn't looking where he was going.” mused Tony.

“I would say let’s camp here but I don’t think i could stand that smell for a whole night.” said Jack.

“Yeah let’s keep hiking until we find somewhere that is a little less smelly.” agreed Billy. The boys hiked for another hour or so until they found another spot that was flat enough to pitch the tent on. After the tent was set up Tony and the other boys went out to gather kindling and wood for a fire. Once they built the fire, they started to cook the hot dogs that they brought for

After about ten minutes, the growling and scratching became less and less clear until it could not be heard at all. Tony poked his head out of the tent one more time and to his relief he saw that the bear had gone.

“Phew that was close!” said Billy.

“He probably smelled our food and thought that we would be willing to share.” replied Jack.

“Well we should probably get back to sleep if we want to be able to hike tomorrow.” said Billy. The rest of the night passed without incident. In the morning the boys ate breakfast, packed up and started on their way. After a few hours of hiking the trio decided to take a rest stop.

“After last night i’m keeping my knives close to me at all times.” said Billy.

“Yeah, next time we might not get so lucky.” added Tony. After about ten minutes, the boys continued their hike. They made sure to stay on the path because they knew it would be easy to get lost on such rugged terrain where much of the foliage looks the same. It was a rather uneventful afternoon until Jack twisted his ankle and landed with a thud on the hard path. He let out a loud groan as he hit the ground.

“Woah Jack.” Tony exclaimed, “Are you alright?”

“I don’t know.” answered Jack obviously in pain.

“Can you walk?” asked Billy.

“I can try.” he answered. He got up and started to