Is he really bluffing?

 

If you were in a relationship with someone who constantly lies, would you believe them if they told you that they wanted the bear to attack them instead of you?  In the short story “Bluffing” written by Gail Helgason, a couple was going for a hike to celebrate but little did they know that they were joined by an uninvited guest. Liam decided to take his girlfriend Gabriella up to the lake to tell her that he was going for a big climb with Clive. While Gabriella thought that they were going to sign the lease for the lake house, she got up, frustrated and left while coming across a grizzly bear. Liam had always put himself first in their relationship, so it wouldn’t be hard to believe that he would be lying when he said “I meant the bear to come after me instead of you.” Also, when Liam had finally caught up to Gabriella, “[he] wasn’t stepping back. He was running as fast as he could” while leaving Gabriella behind. Liam had him and only him on his mind when he first spotted the bear.  While on the hike the couple had spotted a couple of guys who were also heading up to the lake. “I’ll handle it” Liam said while telling the two teen boys that “…some grizzly had himself a dandy breakfast.”  He could’ve easily just let the boys hike to lake as well, but he was being selfish about his plans to go hiking with Clive. These are just a few of some examples, but all in all, Liam was lying when he told Gabriella that his plan was for the bear to attack him.   

The woman who has a story

With each line on this old woman’s face tells a story, that she has been through.  She comes and sits on this bench every day at the same time to experience changing of the world. When this woman first started to come to this bench, there were neither wrinkles nor no creases on her worn face that would tell a story. She was in her youth. This woman enjoyed coming to the park, with her smokes in one hand and her favorite straw hat on her head. She was a creature of habit, as her friends would say. No matter the weather or how busy she may be she would always make time to come and sit to take a step out of the real world and fall into her won. Her eyes were once bright as the sun that shines in the sky; but with her stories are the reasons they no longer hold the same shine. The jewelry this woman wears was her great grandmothers and was passed down to her mother and now to her. But not all of it was theirs. Some of the rings she’s wears are her old, tanned fingers were from the places she has traveled in this world. The beautiful teal, ring that is resting on her small, wrinkled finger was from the time she and her friends had the grandest idea to travel to the coast of Australia. She has a lot of stories that have been shared with family and friends; but there are still a few that she holds close to her heart that she has kept a secret. If you ever see her sitting taking a long drag off her cigarette, while she is people watching, don’t be afraid to take a seat beside her and ask some questions.