August 29, 2021 – A Bears Life

Ben sniffed loudly, the invasive stench of smoke still filled the air. He could smell another odour in the evening breeze. There were so many strange smells Ben didn’t recognize. It made him shiver with a feeling he couldn’t quite identify. His momma would have told him. But his momma wasn’t there. 

Was it fear? 

Out of the corner of Ben’s eye, he saw movement. A white blur. Ben turned and ran toward the tree. Behind him Snowbee the cat hissed and growled. 

Ben didn’t see the animal that made him jump, he just bolted for safety. His sisters were in front of him. When he reached the tree he turned and looked around it. 

A cat?! A simple little white cat stood there on the other side of the yard, its back round and hair on end. Ben laughed, he turned and looked at his sisters as they sheepishly stood there. 

Should he let this feline troublemaker go free? Ben wasn’t sure if the cat would taste very good. He had only eaten berries, plums, and peaches for the last little while. Before then, it was momma’s teet that he remembered. Ben was only six months old and the world was a new and scary place. 

He didn’t understand the strange smells emanating from the house in front of him. It was a smell of rotten food and it smelled a little fishy as well. He thought back to when he could find mushrooms on the forest floor. Now he couldn’t find anything nearly that tasty.

He thought back to when they ran from their mountain home. Momma said they needed to move from where they were. He remembered walking down the creek. Most of all Ben remembered the intense heat. It was so hot, flames flickered in the night, Momma said to run, so they ran.

He didn’t know where his pappa was. Momma pushed them from the den and said to move. Ben, Lilly, and Rosy Bear ran for all they were worth. They ran down Powers Creek. and up the gravel path. They dove into the bush when the strange machine roared by.

Now they were sharing a patch of bushes with a family of coyotes. The coyotes have lived here for years they said. The bear set up their den in the next patch of bushes. Momma said they would be safe.

How safe were they when Ben and his sisters were scared of a little white cat? 

There was that smell again. It smelled like food. It smelled better than berries. Ben shuffled forward and went toward the strange building. He could smell a delicious rotten smell pulling him by the nostrils. 

There were so many smells. Ben’s head spun around. The fur stood up on his back as he crept toward the rotten smell. He pushed his nostril around the corner and it pulled the rest of his growing body with it. 

It was a strangely shaped box on wheels that met Ben’s gaze. He reached forward with his paw and pushed the box. How could he get inside? Ben pulled the box toward himself.

It fell with a crash. 

Ben jumped back and watched for the box to react. Would it be like the white cat? Or would something leap out at Ben? His fur stood on end as he sniffed the top of the box. It smelled like the cat or… ooh it was the cat’s litter. Yuck.

There was nothing in this box. 

Bang, “Hey get outta here!!!!” 

Ben almost jumped from his skin as the man stood looking at him out the window. At that second a bright light shone onto the young bruins face. 

Ben ran.

And he ran. Ben didn’t know where he was going, but he didn’t want anything to do with that strange creature or his white cat.

Lilly and  Rosy called after Ben as he dashed down the street and back toward the den. Momma would be mad at him. He hoped momma didn’t get too mad. Momma was pretty scary when she got mad.

Ben never wanted to see momma mad.

They were making their new home in the middle of the strangest place Ben could imagine. There were no streams to drink from. They found the odd rat and ate the fruit hanging low on the trees but food was harder to find in this strange new world.

The smells…

So many smells invaded Ben’s nose. He didn’t know what to do. The rancid smell of burnt timber had faded and with it came so many more. Fresh smells, rotten smells. Fruit hung everywhere. Ben was hungry, but the cat didn’t seem worth the trouble. He saw some deer wander by down the road, they must have fled from the fires as well. Ben was happy munching on the ants and berries he could find.

Ben wanted to go back up the creek. There were too many of the strange creatures around for his liking. Momma said they were humans and not to be trusted. She told him to watch out for the ones who had a uniform on. His uncle Brandon was caught by one of those men and was never seen again. Momma nuzzled her young cubs and pushed them from the den. It was time to explore again. Time to look for some more food. 

Ben hoped it was time to go back up to the mountain again. 

Momma said she thought everything was gone. They would have to survive among the strangers.

Maybe Ben should make friends with the white cat? He thought maybe the cat could tell him where he was. He didn’t think the cat could tell him how to go back to the mountain though. 

Momma led her family in search of food. The smell of garbage kept distracting the cubs. Momma knew better. But food was in short supply. 

Soon the family of bears would find some untended garbage they couldn’t resist. 

Would the men in the uniform come? Would they take Ben back to the mountains to be with his uncle Branden? Momma said something far worse could happen.

The young bear cub walked slowly back to the den behind the human’s home. He hoped one day to find a way back to the mountain. Ben longed to eat mushrooms from the forest floor and drink from the icy streams once more…