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bears hibernated during the winter and probably wouldn’t come near the town, but she hadn’t forgotten her experience with a bear the previous fall.
    After learning about tracking, it made sense to try their luck at trapping. The class fashioned several noose traps and a couple of deadfall traps and placed them on the animal trails behind the school. The students checked them several times each day. Although they hadn’t caught anything yet, Dee thought it was only a matter of time before they trapped a rabbit or other small animal.
    One morning while they walked the trap line they could hear an animal yowling and struggling in the undergrowth. “I think we got one!” said Harvey. He and some of the boys ran ahead. Dee walked hand in hand with McKenna, the youngest girl in class.
    Dee hoped they’d put the trapped animal out of its misery before she arrived, but no such luck. She found the group of boys huddled around something and asked, “What’s wrong, Harvey?”  
    He turned to her, his eyes troubled. “It’s not a rabbit.”
    “That’s okay. A squirrel would make a good stew, or a possum.” She could hear the animal crying. “Does anyone have a big stick? Let’s get this over with.”
    The crowd of boys parted, and McKenna tightened her grip on Dee’s hand when the trapped animal came into view.
    It was a cat. A house cat, with thick, matted fur and a torn ear. It hissed at her.
    Dee opened her mouth and shut it again, unsure what to do.
    “I guess I’ll get a stick,” said Jamie.
    “Oh no you won’t,” said Jamie’s twin, Wynona. “You can’t kill it. Poor thing. Look, it has a collar and everything. It’s someone’s pet.”
    Jamie said, “How are we supposed to learn then?”
    “Are you nuts? We’re not going to learn on a cat. It’s not like we need it for food. Max is bringing our lunch in a couple of hours.”
    “But what if he didn’t?” asked a small voice, and Dee realized it was McKenna. She let go of Dee’s hand and approached the group. “What if the food was gone? What if your mom and dad were sick and your baby sister was crying because she hadn’t had anything to eat in a week?”
    The group was silent, looking at the little girl. She bent down and picked up a heavy stick. “What if his name was Blackie and you picked him out as a kitten?”
    McKenna was obviously speaking from experience. She had everyone’s full attention.  
    “We do what we have to, to survive,” said McKenna, her voice unsteady. She took a step toward the cat.
    Dee decided it was time to put a stop to this, but before she could move, Harvey went to McKenna and put his arm around her. “It’s okay, it’s going to be all right.”
    McKenna looked up at the older boy with eyes that shone brightly in the thin morning light. She pressed her face into his shoulder and let the stick drop from her hand, her spare frame shaking beneath her winter coat.
    “McKenna’s right,” Dee said. “Sometimes you have to do the unthinkable to survive. But not today. We’ve got Max bringing us a lunch soon. Let’s figure out how to let the cat go without someone losing an eye, and then we’ll head back up to the school and get warm.”
    It was bitterly cold outside and it took longer than Dee expected to free the angry cat. Luckily it wasn’t really hurt, and when they released it, it limped quickly into the undergrowth.  
    On the way back to the school they discussed how to build a shelter if they were ever trapped in the cold. A couple of the boys were scouts and had gone winter camping, and they shared useful tips about choosing a campsite and staying dry and warm.  
    No one wanted to talk about the cat, but McKenna still held Harvey’s hand.
    Once inside, they had a hard time warming up. “They should let us meet in a place with a woodstove,” said Harvey, teeth chattering.
    “I’ll talk to Sena about it,” Dee promised. The morning sun through the wall of windows usually kept the rooms warm