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“You’re too old for this, Rusty.”

The large, grey-furred bear pierced the ground with his shovel, and dug away a clump of earth. Rusty was dressed in a dusty, old firefighter’s uniform. Sara took a breath and walked closer to the old beast. 

“We need to get back to the school, the kids are expecting you.”

“The mountains need me more. There’s a fire over the ridge, I can smell it.”

Sara glanced up the weed-laden hill. A thin plume of smoke trailed up through the clouds. She had never been this far into the wilderness, if Rusty said there was a fire, there was a fire. “We can tell the Parks Service what’s happening. You can’t fight this all on your own.”

Rusty tossed away another shovel of dirt and tapped the radio on his hip, “I called it in. They’ll be here soon, but we need a fire line. The winds are blowing our way, there isn’t much time.”

It was hard to argue with the most experienced firefighter alive. Sara hurried back to her car and swapped her heels for white running shoes. She pulled a shovel from Rusty’s truck bed and ran back to the upturned earth of the fire line. Rusty gestured backwards.

“I’ve got this side, you do what you can the other way—” The Bear paused and turned to Sara. His black eyes were wide with worry, “You see flame, or it gets hard to see, follow the fire line back here. I won’t leave without you.”

Without another word, Rusty continued his deep cut across the mountainous terrain. Sara turned and started in the other direction. Her first jab into the ground barely cut two inches. She stabbed again, this time with more force, something gave and the head of the shovel pierced into the ground. A tangle of roots and dirt came up with the shovel head. Rusty made it look easy.

It took a couple more tries for Sara to find her rhythm. Strike, scoop, throw. Strike. Strike, scoop, throw. A half hour passed in no time. The school already knew they’d be late, it’d only be a little longer before the Parks service arrived. Sara blinked away a few beads of sweat, this was as tough a workout as she had done in years. Her shoes were already smeared with dirt and mud.

“Ma’am?”

A voice pulled Sara from her thoughts. She looked back, the trucks were out of sight. All she could see was hundreds of feet of fire line and a man in a tan uniform and wide-brim hat.

“Are you with the Parks?”

“State troopers ma’am. You seen Rusty the Bear around here?”

Sara pulled her shovel from the earth, “Other way. Are the parks on their way to fight the fire?”

The trooper shifted his hat, “No ma’am. That there smoke you see on the other side of the hills is part of a controlled burn. No need to fight anything. Though we appreciate the effort.”

Sara’s shoulders sank, she had chased Rusty halfway into the mountains for nothing. “I see. Let’s go tell Rusty.”

The pair started up the hill and along the newly dug fire line. The trooper eyed the dug up dirt appraisingly as they walked, “Miss—”

“Sara.”

“Miss Sara. This is awkward to discuss. But I’m afraid Rusty has already been informed about this burn. Several times, even. His response to our communications has been, on the whole, hostile.” Sara looked toward the trooper. Hostile never an attitude she had seen from the old bear. And why would he come out here at all if he knew the fire was a controlled burn. “Are you close to Rusty, ma’am?”

She hesitated, “We’ve known each other for about five years. But we only ever talk business.”

The trooper clicked his tongue. “That’s closer than anyone else. From what I hear, the fellas been hibernating outside of winter.” The pair passed the trucks and continued down the line. Rusty’s holes in the ground seemed to get deeper and deeper. At the mountain’s peak, the thin plume of smoke had turned into a black cloud. “Miss Sara, would you mind being the one to broach the subject?”

She nodded. They had worked together for a long time. If there was another side to Rusty, she should see it. Another half mile down the road, and they caught sight of the Bear’s patchy fur.

 “Rusty!” At the sound of Sara’s voice, Rusty dropped his shovel and spun around. His massive form sprinted back along the fire line and past the state trooper. Rusty’s eyes seemed to jump every which way, and he raised his paw towards Sara’s face, “I’m okay, Rusty.” 

The bear lowered his paw, sniffed deeply at the air, and turned to the state trooper. “You didn’t bring the trucks.”

“No we did not.” The trooper wiped some dust off his shoulder.

“Where am I meeting the helicopter?”

“Ain’t no helicopter, you’re almost eighty and half-blind.”

“My nose is still good.”

The trooper let out an exasperated sigh and looked towards Sara. It took Sara a second to realize it was her turn. “Rusty, it’s a controlled burn. We don’t need to fight it.”

The bear’s face dropped. A serious look appeared in his eye, “Has this fellow been telling you nonsense? If a fire starts, we put it out, simple as that.”

“The forest floor is littered with old, dry wood. Another decade and this place becomes a tinderbox.”

Rusty’s eyes jumped to the trooper. His breath was heavy and hot, “Don’t act like you’re doing a good thing.” Rusty pointed one his claws over the trooper’s shoulders, “Look! There’s the fire!” Sara’s sight followed the bear’s claw to the mountaintop. An arc of flame crept over the peak against a backdrop of dark-grey plumes.

“You’re really telling me that this is natural? Whole states are burning. You people have just stopped fighting.”

The state trooper gave no reaction. Sara tentatively raised her hand and pressed it against Rusty’s shoulder. “We’re not wanted here Rusty. Let’s get back to the school.”

Rusty gave a growl, “There’s real work to do out here. I’m not your mascot!”

Sara took several steps back. There was still some beast in Rusty’s heart. Over the bear’s shoulder, the trooper removed his hat. “Which birthday is it this year?”

The rage drained from Rusty’s eyes. The bear’s muscles seemed to deflate. “She’d have been forty.”

“Who?” Sara looked to the state trooper.

“My cub– You remind me a little of her. She was out here fighting and I was wasting my time in some classroom.” Rusty turned and walked slowly towards his shovel. The trooper made no move to follow. Sara took a deep breath and hurried to catch up.

“That’s not your fault.”

Rusty gave a grumble, “I wasn’t there for her. All over some stupid argument.”

He had never mentioned this before. “What happened?”

“She wanted to be out here, fighting fires with me. I told her no, it’s too dangerous, eighteen’s too young, she could do so much more with her time. Then she went off and proved me right.”

The fire inched down the mountain. A long, red-orange river of heat and smoke. Sara glanced at the torn up dirt of the fire line. There was no way that little line could stop the inferno.

“You can’t control everything forever, Rusty.”

Rusty picked up his shovel and looked towards the mountain. There was no fear in his eyes as he stared down the flames, just grief. “Letting things burn isn’t in my nature.”

“Sometimes it’s healthy.”

“You really want me to leave this to burn?”

“It’ll grow back.”

Rusty went quiet, watching as the trailing line of flame inched its way down the mountainside. Nothing could change what had happened. But it hurt Sara to know that Rusty was spending his grief digging fire lines alone in the mountains.

The bear let out a deep sigh, “I’m not talking to the kids today.”

Sara nodded, “You don’t have to.”