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Capt. R.E. Ludlow, as he grew older, was learning to be able to be thankful for small things, such as waking from his nap slowly and sitting with his wife showing him the video of how his grandchildren loved him enough (and feared Mrs. Ludlow enough on her rare day of letting her will be firmly known) to tiptoe through the livingroom for an hour not to wake him up.
Capt. Ludlow was thankful to be awake before the alert sirens at the Lodge went off, so that he did not go from asleep to awake to massive heart attack, and so instead was able to jump over the sofa –
“Oh, woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwww!” all his seven grandchildren said about their 58-year-old white-haired grandfather.
– and get his army pistol in hand and out the door to hear the one word Sgt. Trent said.
“BEAR!”
Col. Henry Fitzhugh Lee was the highest-ranking officer present, and his grandfather, 87-year-old Sgt. Horace Fitzhugh Lee, the oldest – Sgt. and Mrs. Lee immediately asked Mrs. Trent and Mrs. Ludlow about first aid supplies, and Col. Lee was already getting the supplies in his truck out for his grandparents along with his pistol.
Capt. Ludlow got the text from the Lodge about the location of the bear, but Sgt. Trent had made the call about the possibility just minutes before that, and so he piled into the truck with Col. Lee and Sgt. Trent, and off they went just down the road to the scene where an already frightened black bear was just waiting to run away from the garbage he was enjoying.
What struck Capt. Ludlow, on the way to any scene of combat, were people that were just unbothered. Col. Melorra Greenfield, 75 years old, still gardening … Lieutenant John Faxon, 65, doing his yoga stretches modified for his disability … an expression of the time being past for them to be running and jumping, and their trust in those charged with such things.
The bear – who was frightened away easily – had an easier time than the captain who had left his fish fry garbage unsecured.
“Well, I didn't even know the Appalachians still had bears!” he said.
“But you know what the rules are and you wouldn't have tried that in the Rockies – and you are about to get your pass to go home to Utah!” Col. W.H. Grant roared before he caught the eye of the much calmer Col. H.F. Lee, who spoke quietly after the cussing out and other vituperation was over.
“As a director on the Lofton Trust board that administers the Veteran's Lodge... .”
Everybody who didn't know straightened up, and Capt. Ludlow smiled inwardly. Lees were historically soft-spoken all the way big to Richard the Lionhearted, because by the time they spoke they generally had the power to back up whatever they said.
“ … I would advise you, Captain, to make the investments now that you need to make in securing your waste in advance of the lease violation and threat of eviction you will receive from the Lodge, so that if you appeal to the Trust board, a word can be put in for you.”
“Col. Lee, everybody doesn't have a silver spoon in their mouths when they are born – do you know how expensive what you are talking about is compared with ordinary trash cans?”
Sgt. Trent smiled, because he had served with Col. Lee. The man's nickname was “the Angel of Death” … and so an insult neither disturbed Col. Lee's angelic manners nor stopped him from destroying your position.
“I am more concerned about you and your family dealing with the expense and danger of finding another place to live in right now, and also the expense of medical bills for yourself and others that comes from attracting bears and also angry fellow soldiers who do not want their families endangered and have just as much PTSD as your record shows you have.”
The captain made an expression of a man surprised to be hit with a boomerang he had thrown … but that was what happened when you didn't secure your garbage and attracted bears and the Angel of Death.
I deal with rattle snakes, sharks, alligators, and panthers, I am glad I do not have to deal with bears or the Angel of Death.
But see, you are SMART ... life has trouble enough ... so you take care of the necessary business ... not everyone has gotten the memo yet...