The girl with the yellow rucksack smiled. At last she could see the dead spruce that marked the end of the long trail. She plodded on.

A jay called in alarm and the black bear cub, scrambling through the spruce, paused.

Its mother looked up, saw the flash of yellow.

Frances Hart lives in southeast England and has won several national fiction and poetry competitions. She has published a novel through Authorhouse, “The Girl on the Balcony” by Frances Hart, available on Amazon.