Bears

A Story by vii07

Story of 2 bears in love.

There lived two bears in love. They knew that there was no hardship harder, no adversary stronger and no agony greater than being apart from each other. This is a story of Tubby Bear and Mini Bear. This is story of patience. This a story of perseverance. This may be a love story.

Eastside

Mini Bear came from the Eastside of the forest, The Eastside bears were hunting bears. They were born tough, they had to be. Hunting bears got their sustenance from hunting prey and its scarcity left very little margin for incompetence. This meant before condensation created the dew of the morning grass, hunting bears had to be prepared to hunt. Oh, how is it that hours seem to merge into days and days seem to melt into years when busy? And a busy bear Mini was. It wasn’t all too bad however, whenever a hunting bear took down a caribou all of the hunting bears would come together. This was happiness. What greater joy is there than to bring together friends and family. These were the values that the Eastside bears lived by.

Westside

Tubby Bear came from the Westside Zoo. Tubby roamed lackadaisically from cage to cage learning tricks to get treats. Zoo bears had it good. As long as Westside Bears did as the zookeeper would say, a large bowl of kibbles would be brought to them every day. On Tuesdays the low black bars would raise midday and brown food circles would tumble down. Wednesdays it was yellow food circles. Sunday came the red bars. When Tubby felt the desire for more than the brown, yellow or red, he would have to learn a new trick. Westside bears worked hard to learn tricks and hung around the same bears that wanted to learn the same trick. These were the values of the Westside Bears

Tubby

“Its yellow night tonight,” murmured Tubby “I’m so sick of yellow, I wish it was red day, maybe even brown” he rambled on as he walked towards cage bars. As the rambling continued, he saw a subtle shake in the distance. This caught the interest of Tubby. Darkness made it hard to make out the figure but it looked like a small creature. As the creature revealed itself from the shrubbery, Tubby froze. Time itself ceased to progress. It was as if the lunar rays deliberately traveled from moon, pierced through the clouds to land softly on her face. Sounds, scenery and even the significance of life all seemed to fade as the sorcery of her beauty captured Tubby’s heart. It was as if the Holy Zoo Owner himself had placed her right there for Tubby. “Yo, come quick guys check out the coat on this cub right here” Tubby exclaimed. “Nah, you should come try a line of this cage cleaner” replied Nonsense Bear. “Man, quit that nonsense and come check this out." said Tubby. “Boom Booom Boom Boom Boom bbbboom I’m fearless, I’m the fastest, I’m high flyin’ Never Dyin’! I am at large and in charge!” Kanga Bear yelled as he ran around. And they call me nonsense bear, Nonsense thought. “Forget you guys then, I’m going out there,” Tubby proclaimed. Tubby pressed his furry fat face through the cage bars every day. A meager glimpse would be sufficient, thought Tubby. However as the days passed that glimpse that once filled the whole day with joy was not enough. So, with not one idea on what he was going to do, Tubby wandered out to forest. Tubby had made up his mind. He decided that no other bear in this cage or in that forest or in the universe, as a matter of fact, would be able to love her more than he could.

Mini

Wake, Stretch, Hunt, Family.

Wake, Stretch, Hunt, Family.
Each day was a good day for Mini. Passing quietly and swiftly but happily. Each day Mini would come out to take a break in the afternoon. This day Mini came out for her afternoon break and up came a sequoia of Bear. “Hhey, other bears call me Tubby, but you can call me Tubbs” stammered Tubby. “Hello Tubbs,” said Mini. “I I I just wanted to let you know your coat looks like it got brushed today and and your coat yesterday looked like it got brushed yesterday,” said Tubby with a smile. “Thank you?” replied Mini. “I got to get back to hunting,” said Mini as she walked off. Mini didn’t pay too much attention to the ordeal.

Wake, Stretch, Hunt, Family.

Life needed to press on but the frequency of visits by this behemoth of a bear started to grow. Once a month turned into twice a week and twice a week eventually turned into every day. Bringing these treats as he would call it. She realized that this monstrous bear was trying to court her. It was the kindness that caught Mini off guard. This weakling elephant of a bear cannot possibly provide for me. Although he did get to that size because he has the ability to eat, Thought Mini.

Wake, Stretch, Hunt, Family.

Other thoughts kept creeping into Mini’s head. “No bear is this nice. No bear outside of family can be this nice.” Tubby, came with smiles and laughter, these things were hard to deny.

Wake, Stretch, Hunt, Family.

Wake, Stretch, Hunt, Family, Tubby.

The innocent days carried on with laughter and promise. “If you come to my cage, I’ll make our corner the bestest, greatest, biggest, bestest, shiniest corner you have ever seen Mini! Just watch it’ll have bestest water bowl, the greatest treats, it’ll be the shiniest corner.” Mini was starting to believe. It wasn’t the promise of the bestest or the greatest. She was starting to understand no one in that forest or any zoo would be able to love her more. “I don’t need those things, just love me and take care of me” said Mini and with great reluctance Mini eventually gave into the kindness of Tubby.

Wake, Stretch, Hunt, Family, Tubby.

Wake, Hunt, Family, Tubby.

Family, Tubby.

Family, Tubbs.

Family.

Perfection.

Time flowed like a hawk in free fall and as graceful as the clouds drifting in the summer. Like wild vines they started to entangle their lives together. Tubby tried his hand in hunting where he would fail miserably. Mini became friends with all the Zoo bears, Tubby awkwardly towered over all the Eastside Bears at dinner. The happy life progressed forward with the occasional hiccup. Something like, Tubby would mistake the paprika for cayenne or the oregano for the basil. Small squabbles. Nothing that mattered. They were inseparable. Life was perfect. Each day crossed off and with such wonderful memories. Another month crossed off in the loving comfort of each other. Another year crossed off, the best year in the whole of my existence. The best of the best except, Tubby kept mistaking the paprika for cayenne. Jeez, such an idiot. So Mini asked for just one thing, “Just… Just memorize the spice rack and we shouldn’t have any of these occasional discomforts.” Tubby promised to memorize every spice in the spice rack. “No problem! I can and will memorize everything in the spice rack!” proclaimed Tubby. Tubby and Mini finally decided that they would forever share corner of their own. It wasn’t the bestest or greatest or shiniest but what it was, was together. Life was perfect. If only it can stay just like this. Please Holy Zoo Owner please let it stay just like this please don’t change a thing. The thing is, the beauty of life is that the only constant in life is change.

Winter is ummm something, getting here or something.

Mini would prepare the meals and Tubby made sure she had all of the correct spices. It is quite unfortunate that memorizing was never Tubby’s strong characteristic and this became very apparent very quickly. The cayenne was brought correctly but mace blade was brought instead of mace ground. “Tubby! You brought me mace blade instead of mace ground! Mace blade is for the honey!” exclaimed Mini. “Oops, sorry here is the mace ground” said Tubby. “Next time make sure you bring me the right one,” she said as she kept her cool. Mistakes were made. Many were made. Everyday. Multiple times. Mini never forgot these mistakes. “Tubby, can you bring home Nutmeg for the Deer, we are going to have the tree shoots and guests are coming so we should prepare some berries,” shouted Mini. “Yup, uh huh, got it.” He hurriedly acknowledged as he was galloping out. Tubby and Kanga had a cage ball game to catch. “It looks like it’s going to rain through this cage ball game,” said Tubby. “If it rains, then they’ll be pains. They need to be like badabada Booom Booooom boom, get in get out get, be smart, from the start oh Ho OH HO HOHO” replied Kanga. The darkness seemed to materialize from nowhere. So sudden, so unexpected. Tubby had seen darkness but not like this. The whole of the sky was covered in darkness. Everything was starting to fade to dark. “Hey, I need to get back to my corner before it rains. Mini is expecting me to bring some spices back too,” said Tubby. With that, he started his journey back to his corner. Nutmeg, the West Indies ground basil pepper is for the Deer or was it Nutmeg East Indian black ground powder that was for the deer. Lemon extract sixty one percent or sixty two percent cold press or straight for the tree shoot. Blackberry extract with a hint of sugar, brown, are used as horderves. Right? Rawr, maybe I should have written some these down. This rain though, I’ll just grab the closest things, what is the big difference anyhow, thought Tubby. He grabbed all of the items on the list and trotted hurriedly back home.

Rain

“Did you happen to get everything I needed?” asked Mini. “Of course, Nutmeg East Indian ground, Lemon extract, and Blackberries” said Tubby. “Ok, place them here,” said Mini. Whew, thought Tubby. Got it all right, alllllrightttt! The thunderous sound could be heard from at least five cages away. “You got Lemon extract sixty two?!!!!” The stubby nub that Tubby called a tail had shriveled into his fur. “I spent all day making this and put this in here thinking it was sixty one and you brought me sixty two. We have to throw all of this away. What are you going to do? How do you even eat this? Taste this.” The vocalized fury of Mini paralyzed Tubby. “I’ll go out there fast as lightning and bring you back the sixty one” said Tubby nervously. The fur on Mini’s coat was about to fly off they were standing up so straight. “What are you going to do about the tree shoot I have been preparing? Why couldn’t you have just listened to what I have said? Why can’t you just memorize the spices? “Next time I’ll make sure to bring lemon extract sixty one for the tree shoot.” Tubby answered. “It’s just tree shoot. We can have something else. It’s just a one percent difference. Why are you doing this?” Tubby stupidly asked. The heavens and Mini synchronized their downpour. Screaming and crying shouting and repeating words and then repeating words and then repeating the same words. It was as if Mini thought that repeating would leave some sort of impression on poor Tubby’s brain. Then there came a break. Then some more repeating of words rearranged differently and repeating words and once again arranged like the first time and then the, yes, repeating. Tubby threw out every promise he could think of. Tubby would do anything for this torturous ordeal to stop. “I promise I will know that Lemon extract sixty one is for the bamboo, now I understand that you have to throw away the food if I don’t get the right one.” Said Tubby. Tubby was afraid to make a mistake. Tubby lived in fear. Everyone else could see it. How could it be that they couldn’t themselves?

Change.

Funny thing is. Tubby just didn’t understand that it wasn’t that Mini was mad about. If he had just told her he would memorize all of the spices and that the principal of his promise was what was so important then Tubby would not have been in so much trouble. Simple enough right?

Funnier still. Mini had so many spices, started combining spices, and coming up with new spices where Tubby had no chance to keep up with those changes. The spices would fluctuate in importance and necessity. Mini just had to simplify the spices process right?

Mini would furiously ask a question when upset, sending Tubby to state of disarray. This caused Tubby to throw out any answer that might have quelled the situation. Many times, all the time, every time, Tubby would have the wrong answer. This would be the catalyst of Mini going down and making sure Tubby knew every spice in the rack was correct. This was a torturous ordeal for Tubby. Tubby and Mini would fight but oddly enough, every next day all things would be sorted out. Every time. Thus, the only possible explanation is that the significance of any argument is greatly insignificant compared to the love that they shared. Eventually, Mini made the sacrifice and allowed time to pass so that both parties could think about the situation. Tubby and Mini remembered a simpler time when Mini was the only thing Tubby saw and where it didn’t matter if there was a one percent difference in the spices. Mini and Tubby understood that these things are so trivial compared to what can be lost. Tubby and Mini didn’t want to lose each other. They cannot imagine a world where either is absent. Mini made the sacrifice to take the time to allow Tubby to think. Alas, now we can see the beauty of life, change is the only constant in this universe.

The end.

Maybe.

Wanna try some Cage Cleaner?