Verbal Assault by a Bear

Why start with the present, when I can go off on a tangent from October 2008, when my ex-boyfriend and I were verbally assaulted by a bear?

October 13, 2008 - Sunday night of Columbus Day weekend. Secluded in the woods. Last campsite at the end of long rutted gravel road. Our only neighbors: a pasture of fenced-in steers. And Schmeau and I were the only fools still tent camping inside bear country, outside the protective boundaries of the national park's strict food storage regulations.