Twenty years ago when I lived in Japan, I had a student who was the wife of one of the city's wealthiest developers. One day when we were talking about various places we'd each visited, she mentioned that she had once gone hunting for polar bears in the Arctic.

 

Taken aback, I asked her about it, and she said that she had a college friend, a wealthy man who was so desperately bored that he wanted to kill himself. (He's not the only one; reportedly suicide is a widespread problem in that country). To distract him, she asked, "Well, if you want to die, how about doing something exciting while you're at it? Would you risk your life?" She proposed going on a big game hunt. Perhaps she thought that the adrenaline rush from such an experience would renew his lust for life. They did go on the hunt, she said, and the next time I saw her, she brought pictures. 

 

Several years later I wrote a short story based on their experience, and I'm sharing it with readers now. You can download the story, "Polar Bear," for free (PDF) from the Scribd website.

 

For any readers who are familiar with my books, this story is not about sex and doesn't even have a sex scene.  I also want you to know that I do not relish hunting and that I cringed when I saw my friend's snapshots of her and her friend with their bloody kill. But I tried to depict the hunt in a realistic way, even going so far as to have a friend who grew up in Alaska, where almost everyone is at least exposed to hunting, vet the story for realism. 

 

But hunting is just the action of the story, which is really about the two Japanese blundering about in the Arctic, and the Inuit guide whom they tempt to let the hunt become more dangerous than it should be, the better to give them a thrill. 

 

I'd love to hear any comments, either below or in email, after you read the story.