Bear On The Porch, a freewrite
"Keep your distance!"
I was hollering at a bear. He seemed to pause for a moment, cock his head as if trying to understand me, then he continued on a direct path toward me. I was on my porch, my sacred place, my safe space. No one came onto my porch without a written invitation from me.
"You missed the party Bear. It was yesterday. You didn't RSVP, so I didn't expect you, but here you are, a day late. And skunk-smelling no less. You are not to come up on this porch. Keep your distance I say!"
By this time Bear was a few feet from my bottom step. Looking directly into my eyes, he took another step.
"Halt! I warn you! You do not have permission to come onto my porch!"
Bear lifted his hulk onto the bottom step. I lifted my bow and arrow, and took aim. I had never killed a thing before, but had spent hours on end shooting at an assortment of targets I had positioned over by the bee hives that this bear had helped himself to on more than one occasion. I was getting pissed. Now he was on the porch.
A small flock of birds began to fly around Bear's head, and another flock around mine. I began to sing "Love Me Tender," I couldn't help it! When the mood strikes, strike back! I let an arrow loose, and caught the fellow on his left ear.
He took to the hills and I never saw him again.
So you see, singing is the answer to, well, everything.
This is my entry to @mariannewest's daily freewrite challenge. Today's prompt is keep your distance.
I cannot fathom how your country lives with bears, and may encounter them on hikes or stealing food from gardens (or beehives). Funny, Dad showed me a YouTube of bears fighting only yesterday and we were wondering about that very thing. Huge, frightening, formidable creatures. It went on for some nine minutes - I could hardly bear it! 🐻
Loved this, and how you capitalize Bear so he takes on a beingness he wouldn't have with a little b.
I wonder if he had an ear worm from the singing. Poor Bear.
lol. I have a friend who recently shot and killed a bear on his own front porch as it came after him. I don't think he started singing though.
The only encounter I've ever had with a bear was while I was riding bikes in Vermont with my very young daughter. It was right next to my bike! I thought it was a very big black dog, until it ran away from us and climbed a tree.
Oh wow... Amazing. I wouldn't want to run into one. We only have foxes here and dingoes up north. And big lizards.
OMG, I would have run inside and let him have everything. We camped in a tent in Ocala National Forest and I could not sleep thinking about the bears, of course, we never saw any, but the thought was there.
You have big aquatic creatures that crawl up on shore and devour people to worry about!
I see your point, I used to swim with gators with no worries, but BEARS on my porch, no way.
Singing is the answer to everything - love it!
I was concerned. Shooting a bear. (With a bow and arrow??) At close range.
Of course, this is @owasco. Nothing expected or dreaded will happen - only surprises!
And this one ended much better than it might have in another writer's hands (keyboard).
Love it!
One of my friends recently killed a threatening bear, while on his front porch, with a bow and arrow. It's a thing!
I;m still not freewriting as well as I used to. It's laborious and frustrating. But thanks for your appreciation!
True stories are the most unbelievable.
Your friend must have a really powerful bow and arrow (compound bow?).
I'm thinking of Ulysses, who alone could draw his bow. Nobody else had the strength.
But I digress.
If your freewriting isn't as good as it used to be, I have noticed no such phenomenon.
PerhapsCertainly, you're just being hard on yourself.I love all your freewrites!!!!
You know me. You knew I'd have to look it up.
I share the results because so much MATH is involved!
the more complex bow of Odysseus’ time indeed takes a great deal of force to string and to shoot an arrow with.
Unlike the simpler, C-shaped ancient bow, which has no potential energy at all when initially strung and straight, the more complex bow of Odysseus’ time (and through 2,000 years ago, which we can see from extant remains) requires significant energy to be strained from a backward to a forward curve.
From there, even more stored energy is added as the archer draws back the string.
While Odysseus was, of course, one of the most well-known Greek he-men, there is indeed a limit to human strength when stringing a bow, as Penelope knew. The human body allows one to draw one’s arm back about 60 cm (6.29 inches) and the maximum force a strong man can withstand while holding a bowstring is about 350 Newton, according to Schmidt.
Therefore, he states, the available muscular energy is 0.6m*350 N, which is equal to 210 joules of energy. For comparison, an ordinary punch (not from a professional boxer) is equal to 37.5 joules.
The energy stored in the C-shaped, primitive bow is equal to 105 Joules, according to Schmidt; the energy in Odysseus’ bow was an astounding 170 joules.
More here (even though I also hyperlinked the image! Yay me!)
https://greekreporter.com/2022/05/03/how-does-odysseus-bow-fare-against-modern-versions-of-the-weapon/