Our Kenny Lake Days: Sonny and the Bear

“Black Bear” by solviturambulando and is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

By Thelma Hartman 

Lennie and I homesteaded at 14 mile Edgerton Highway.  Our nearest neighbors were Jack and Sonny Rogers.  We would visit with them of an evening;  they were our really good friends. 

They liked to tease Lennie about the bears. Jack would say that the path by our house was a bear path, and had Lennie ever thought about how a bear picked berries.  Then he would go on to explain how long the bears’ claws were and how you couldn't see them in the woods.  When it was time to go home, we both thought for sure a bear was going to get us on our way home.  We had to walk from the road to the house. We would run!

The Rogers clan was building their daughter’s house which was the next homestead to Sonny and Jack.  They would walk back and forth to their houses, all the time.  One sunny day, Sonny returned to her place to get a pot of coffee for the work crew.  She had a little chihuahua dog she carried with her everywhere she went.  After her 20-cup coffee maker was ready, she started walking to the daughter’s house, along the road.  She had the dog, a cigarette, and, in the other hand, her coffee pot. 

As she was walking along the road, she heard a noise on the left side of the road.  It was a bear!!!!  She stopped, praying that the dog would not bark.  That bear walked in front of her, crossing the road, and went into the woods right beside her house.  Sonny said the only thing that moved was her eyes, as she watched him walk by.  She waited until the bear was not seen, then took off running.  She would fall down and continue on her knees, then she would get back up.  

As she arrived at the driveway to her daughter’s house, she was screaming and slinging the coffee pot.  The folks working on the house saw her coming down the drive. She would fall down, then keep going, get back up screaming, blah, blah, blah, slinging the coffee pot as she screamed. They all ran to her, grabbed her, and sat her down on a log.  They asked her: "What was wrong?"  "Is the house on fire?”  "Was there an accident?”  They had to pry the cigarette from between her fingers and pry the coffee pot from the other hand.  

When she was able to talk, she explained about the bear, and she said she was screaming, "Hurry, get the gun, there's a bear!”