Once Upon A Time...Jim As Bear Food

While walking the trails in Oak Mountain State Park (AL) I read a sign that said "Don't feed the black bears." Not wanting to be bear food, I heeded the warning as best I could, never actually believing that one would appear. Not one but three...mother and adolescent cubs, smelling their way to a trash can. Is the wind towards me or away? Can they sense I'm near? Should I run? Fifty yards away? What will I do if...? The green Jeep appears ...the ranger parks in my line of sight to the bears. They trot (?) off, only the sound of cracking twigs and dried leaves evidence of their direction. The walk along the trail continued to a pond...no gaters, no herons, no ducks...the story ends with a memory of Jim as bear food, happily unrequited!