Excuse Me

          A short story “Bluffing” is written by Gail Helgason, and set in Jasper.  One day, Liam goes hiking with his girlfriend, Gabriella, and gets injured in a grizzly bear as he runs away from Gabriella. He seems to be trying to protect Gabriella more than himself from the bear, but actually is pretending so, and protects himself.  When Gabriella tries to bring up the subject of the lease, “[The landlord] always speaks to her about these matters, not Liam.”  It shows that he is not really trusted by people around him. He says to Gabriella that he has left her and has run away from the bear because he knows that a bear will chase running people so that he can save Gabriella, but he seems to want to escape and did not care about Gabriella at all. Although she reminds Liam, “’Try backing off slowly,’ she said. ‘Bluff him, remember?’”, Liam is panicked and chooses to leave Gabriella. If Liam followed her reminder, both of them would be fine. He bluffs to Gabriella at the hospital. “I meant the bear to come after me instead of you,” It is a human nature that he chooses to run away from a wild bear. Gabriella saved herself.