Mother Bears

It's commonly known that mother bears are fiercely protective of their cubs. With some quick searching online I found this statement:

Mother bears will not leave their cubs. They are very protective. She will hide her cubs nearby (to keep them safe) while she hunts or fishes. She will put them in a place where they are still nearby, but where other animals are not likely to notice the cubs.

If a mother bear feels that her cubs are in danger, she will fight to the death to protect them.

Today I wasn't just a mother, I was a mother bear, and the incident still has me shaking.

I decided to take the girls to the M-Store for lunch. Since my husband is out of town, and Cleo doesn't have school today, and I need absolutely nothing from the store, I thought this would be a good way to get out of the house, get some play time in for the girls, and fix my Diet Coke craving. I got the girls ready, loaded them in the car and drove to the local golden arches. The girls had their usual--nuggets, apple dippers and milk, while I had a large drink and a chicken sandwich. As is typical, both took forever to eat, but with the option to go and play in the outside play-structure they both eventually finished their food. I sat on a bench while the girls happily climbed up giant tubes, slid the slide frontwards, sideways, and backwards, and was eventually joined by other mothers watching their kids play.

We'd been there about 25 minutes when a middle-aged man in a cowboy shirt and baseball hat parked his truck on the side of the play area and yelled over the fence something to the effect, how fun it looked and what were the rules about playing there. As it happens I was sitting closest to him, and not sure what else to say, I yelled back that the kids were all enjoying it and that I wasn't sure what the rules were exactly, but you had to be under a certain height to play. He walked away and the other mothers commented that he was sort of creepy and that if he came into the play area they would leave. Well, a few minutes later he did came back.

He jumped over the fence and dove up the tubes. There weren't any kids in it at the time, but I immediately told Cleo and Gigi it was time to get their shoes on.

Instead of obeying me, Cleo dashed up the tube. I instantly had a sick feeling and grabbed Gigi to keep her from following Cleo. Seconds later I heard Cleo scream so I left Gigi and raced up the tubes. I could instantly see Cleo and that the man was blocking her route down so I yelled at Cleo to come to me and he inched around another corner so I couldn't see him anymore. I dragged a crying and scared girl down, grabbed Gigi put their shoes on them and told the other mothers what had happened. While I was doing this he came back down and jumped the fence again and then hung out by his truck. One mother called the police as I went inside with my girls and told the manager who had already been advised that their was a strange man in the play area, but was shocked to hear that the man was in the tubes. I then took the girls to the car, with Cleo asking me why that scary man had tried to scare her and me offering Ice-Cream to somehow make it all better.

I'm sickened that some man would attempt to scare my kids, or even do something worse while I was right there watching. I'm mad that my predator instincts didn't kick up as soon as I saw him. I'm angry that Cleo went right up that the tube to when I said we were leaving. And I'm mad that the Manager didn't do something the first time he was told that there was a man hanging around the play area. And I'm mad at myself because I could have just as easily been inside getting a refill for my stupid drink instead of watching my kids. I'm horrified that it happened so quickly and that the creepy guy could have just as easily jumped the fence taking one of the kids with him. I want a re-do, so I can leave before he comes, so I can be sitting where I can grab Cleo before she goes up the tube, or the opportunity to kick they guy in the shins while I'm wearing cowboy boots and gouge his eyes with my straw while he crumbles in a heap of pain for even thinking about a child and begs my forgiveness and promises to turn himself into the police for further pain and humiliation.