He was a runner, not a fighter, so the bear tore through the campsite at full speed, leaving collapsed lawn chairs and terrified retirees in his wake. Inches behind him, Jack, whose bag he had snagged, ignored for only a minute while he and his girlfriend were drying off from a spontaneous dip in the lake.
The bear zagged, ripping the bag on a tree branch before finally getting away.
Catching his breath, Jack picked a small cardboard box off the ground, then headed back to the lake, where today, clad in only his underwear, he would finally propose.
Originally submitted to the NYC Midnight 2024 100-word microfiction challenge.
Provided prompt: [Genre: Action and/or Adventure | Action: drying | Word: clad]
Tiny Tales 
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