Ralph vs The Dead Bear

 

        One morning Twigg went out to play among the undergrowth in the great forest. He had his own ways of getting around. There were paths that only he, Cherry, and the puma bros knew. Short creatures can run along underneath things which tall creatures only see the tops of!
            On this occasion he was accompanied by Berry and Bob only.
            One of his favorite things to do was to find young saplings, still growing, and form them into interesting shapes and then leave them to grow that way. He had made some enclosures the year before that were looking good. He also did, teepee shapes, like Benny’s Basket House.
            The best place to find young saplings was on the tree line facing Thaga and Ooog’s house. There the sunlight reached the ground all day, and there were deciduous trees to work with.
            “Look at that,” said Berry.
            “What?” said Twigg, who was busily bending saplings.
            “There’s something in the grass,” said Berry. “Let’s go look. I’ve never seen that there before. It’s a big black thing. Wasn’t there yesterday!”
            “OK,” said Twigg. They left the project unfinished and walked out into the direct sunlight, where a large black lump lay in the grass.
            It was furry. It lay very, very still. The sun glinted off of its black pelt.
            “It’s a bear,” said Twigg. “Maybe it’s dead.”
            “She looks dead,” said Bob, sitting down on his haunches and switching his tail.
            Twigg pushed at her side. He thought that just maybe she was only asleep. This had no effect.
            The three stared at her. Her eyes were closed. When Twigg put his hand on her side he didn’t feel breathing motions. He picked up one of her paws and dropped it. There was no reaction.
            “We should tell Ralph,” said Berry. Bob agreed.
            “We can’t leave her here like this,” said Twigg. “I think I remember her.”
            “Yeah, let’s go back home and get him,” said Bob.

***

             Moments later, Ralph looked up from his musings and saw that Twigg and the cats had come to find him out on his log. They looked serious. Something was obviously bothering them.
            Three sad little faces looked up at him.
            Seeing them so concerned, Ralph started humming a little tune, in his deepest rumbly tones. He sounded like rocks in the earth tuning up. Twigg had never heard this tune before, and it gave him a chill. The cats whipped their tails and held their gaze on Ralph.
            Finally, Ralph stopped humming and said, “why are you all so worried? Is something wrong?”
            “Yes,” said his son. “We found the Mother Bear dead in the grass a few minutes ago, by Thaga’s meadow. She’s just laying there! Not breathing or anything!” His eyes teared up.
            “Will you come and look,” said Twigg.
            “She really looks dead,” said Berry and Bob together!
            “Hm, maybe you should make really sure! Why don’t you go look again?” suggested Ralph. Then he went back to humming that tune.
            Now, Twigg didn’t understand why his dad was just staying put, but he was a good son, so he and the cats turned back to go check on the Mother Bear, to make really sure if she was dead, or just really asleep, maybe hibernating right out in the open!
            It was a quick trot back to the meadow and the very quiet bear.
            When they approached her, they heard snoring! Loud snoring!
            Twigg said, “Mother Bear, are you well? We were worried about you!”
            She opened her eyes and looked all around herself, finally focusing on Twigg.
            “Oh, hi Twigg. Yeah, I’m fine. But I can’t figure out why I went to sleep here!” she said. “I better ramble home quick like! I left my new cub in our little den!”
            So, she did. She rolled over onto her paws, grunted up to  her feet, and ambled off as fast as she could go.
            “How did dad know?” said Twigg.
            “He always does, doesn’t he,” said Berry.
            “We better go tell him she’s OK,” said Twigg.
            When Twigg and the cats got back to Ralph again, he was smiling at them from his seat on the log.
            “How is Mother Bear now,” he asked them.
        “She’s running home to her cub as fast as her paws can take her,” said Twigg.
        “Ah, very good,” said Ralph. “It’s always important to make sure!” he laughed.
        Then he went back to humming a different tune, one that might have been a song of thanksgiving, if we could interpret it.