Br'er Bear Comes Down the Hill

Br'er Bear lived on Mount Roberts, overlooking the Gastineau Channel and downtown Juneau. He went up the hill and ate berries, and he went down the hill and ate salmon. And sometimes he went right into town and ate out of the dumpsters behind restaurants. So, one Thursday evening (although, since Br'er Bear is a bear, he didn't know that it was Thursday), when he had been munching away at the last of the berries on the mountain, he decided to wander on down the mountain and see if there were any interesting snacks laying about in town.

Well, Br'er Bear headed on down the mountain side, ambling through the woods, taking his time. In fact, he took so much time ambling this way and that way, that by the time he got to the hillside above Basin Road it was already 7:30. Now, the interesting thing about coming down to Basin Road is that the last part of the hillside is a wooden staircase. As Br'er Bear was approaching the stairs, he could hear a person coming up the staircase. "Oh, dear," thought Br'er Bear, "A person. Now, what was it my Mama told me about people? Oh, that's right; they get nervous if they are surprised. Make noise." So, Br'er Bear went rustle, rustle, rustle in the bushes so that the person on the stairs would know he was there and not be surprised.

And it was a good thing he did, too. He sat still in the bushes and rustled and rustled and a voice said, "Br'er Bear, I hear you there. Hold it a minute while I get my key out of my pocket and open my door. Now give me one more minute to get these groceries into the house. There we are." And Br'er Bear almost started back down the hill, but then he saw a small grey cat come out onto the porch, look up at the bushes where he sat, and run right back into the house. And then the person closed the door, and as Br'er Bear strolled down the staircase, he could see Maya's Granny looking out the window at him.

This story happened a few years ago, and the small grey cat was Missy. And since then, Juneau has passed a law to protect bears, and restaurants now have bear-proof dumpsters.