Email To My Brother: The Poop & The Park Ranger

It's always a learning experience.
     I remember the time you told me you were hiking and ran into a park ranger.
     “What’re those bells you’re wearing around your ankles,” he asked you.
     “It’s to scare away bears,” you told him. “When they hear the tinkling, it gives them a heads up, and they’ll leave the area.”
     The park ranger nodded his head thoughtfully.
     “Is that so?” he commented, rubbing his chin.
     He walked with you for a while, and the two of you came to an area of the trail which several wild animals had used as a bathroom. There were scattered piles of animal poop all around.
     “Can you tell which dropping came from a bear?” he asked you.
     “No,” you admitted. “Which one?”
     The park ranger smiled.
     “The one with the bells in it,” he said.
 
 
Raising My Father
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