Live Like You Were Dying

I wrote this story back in 2010, inspired by my loving wife and best friend. Never take for granted what you've got we're not promised tomorrow. If life were a gift, what would you do with it?

Live like you were Dying

 

Rolling hills of plush green grass carpeted the earth. Patches of farms and ranches sprinkled the land breaking up the apple colored hills. A hulking grizzly bear wandered slowly down from the hills and followed his nose to a sweet smelling garden. Sniffing around the heads of cabbage and carrots the bear snorted and grinned when he saw a fluffy ball waving back and forth deep in a patch of vegetables.  He plopped down and scratched his head thinking to himself what’s cotton candy doing in a vegetable garden? But thinking with his belly before he could answer himself he dove in and sunk his teeth in. A sharp yelp rang through his ears as the fluff was yanked from his mouth, an angry lil bunny turned with a wrinkle in her brow and snapped. “WHAT THE *BEEP*!!! Your just gonna bite me on the booty???” The bear sat back and stuttered for words while his cheeks turned as red as the ripe tomatoes beside him. “Err uhh I’m sorry lil bunny I thought it was cotton candy.” She fell over both feet in the air laughing. “You thought my cute lil tail was cotton candy… You’re a silly bear. What are you doing here anyway? I’ve never seen a bear here in the garden before.”

            “Oh, well I overheard another bear saying that the world’s ripest berries were around here and I wasn’t in the mood to chase down any fish today so, here I am.” He did notice a nice shiny watch on her wrist, which was a bit odd to him that a bunny would need a watch. “By the way I’m Beary Bear. What’s your name?”

            “I’m Hunny Bunny. It’s nice to meet you Beary, my you’re a big one…” Hunny’s words were cut short by the slam of a door and the “chk chk” sounds of a shotgun. “Quick Beary, run!!!” Hunny burrowed down between the roughage and ran as fast as she could but she stopped when she saw Beary stand up a growl at the man with the shotgun. He was so tall, so large and loud that his roar made her heart skip a beat. She saw the old man turn white as a ghost before he ran back into the house. Beary scooted up to her and said, “Hop on Hunny I’ll get you outta here safely.” He kneeled down and she sharply replied, “No offence Beary but I could run to the *beep* mountains and back before you’d have me to the fence! I’ll run thank you.”

            “Yeah, you’re right.” He chuckled under his breath at two things, one; this cute lil bunny has the mouth of a sailor and two; knowing that as big and strong as he was, speed was not his greatest ability. Looking back to her new big buddy she slowed for a moment. “There’s a bee hive not far from here, I saw it on my way into the garden this morning. I would be happy to show you where it is, if you’d like.” He smiled greatly and nodded just liking his lips and rubbing his belly. She continued, “Ok just follow me this way.

Speeding along she was singing aloud “Got the time tick, tick, tickin in my head. TIME! Got the time tick, tick, tickin’ in my head.” After about ten minutes of sprinting through fields of grass and weeds Hunny Bunny stopped to catch her breath. She couldn’t see Beary anymore, in her distance he remained a dark spot among the green hills but she could no longer see him and the bee hive was right around the corner. She sat thumping her foot impatiently with her hand on her hip and her wrist out in front of her checking her watch.

            “*Beep* Where’s that *beep* bear???” She didn’t sit more then about one minute before she turned and ran back to him. She sprinted along until she could finally see his fur. She couldn’t believe her ears, it was the loudest snore she had ever heard. She thought for a moment that there was a lumberjack sawing logs, but it was just Beary. Curled up under the warm sun with a smile on his face, sound asleep.

            A few loud profanities later and a punch to the shoulder later and Beary awoke with a startle. He sat with glazed eyes awake but not their, a confused look on his face as if he didn’t know where he was. “I ran all the way to show you the bee hive and here you are sleeping. Do you want that *beep* Honey or not!?”

            He yawned and stretched shaking his one foot. “Ehh what’s the hurry… It’s not like the bee hive is going anywhere. We can go in a few.”

            “Grrrr… You are one lazy bear, Beary! Well then I’m going to bathe in the river, you can join me when you wake your *beep* up!”

            Off Hunny went and Beary returned to his nap. Hunny went down to the river and bathed, finished that went for a swim, finished that went to another farm for some lunch, finished that and gathered some stalks of hay for that nights bed, then she heads back to Beary. No surprise he was still sleeping.

            “WAKE THE *BEEP* UP!” Hunny shouted at the top of her lungs. He stirred and gave the now familiar glazed stare. She stood over his head and stomped her foot staring at her watch… You’ve slept half the day now, I’ve bathed, exercised, gathered my bed for the night, and ate all in the time you’ve been asleep. Now wake up Lazy Bear!”

            Beary yawned again with a loud roar, his one foot shaking uncontrollably. “Oh alright, I’m awake now, where’s that hive?”

            “Well I need your help first then I’ll take you to your honey.” She grabbed a handful on his fur and gave it a slight yank, “This way Beary.” She walked in front of him and looked down to her watch.”

            “Where’d you get the fancy watch from?” he asked.

            “My Bling? Oh this cold piece of Ice?” She smiled and spun her diamond encrusted Rolex around, sun shined off it like a disco ball. “I got it offa camper a couple months ago you know them campers can be some real dumb *Beep*.

            “It’s purtty, but what do you need watch for?”

            “We gotta start Looking at the hands of the time we've been given, If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking, If every second counts on a clock that's ticking; Gotta live like we're dying. We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to turn it all around or to throw it all away. We gotta tell them that we love them while we got the chance to say… Gotta live like we're dying.”

            Beary didn’t say anything at first her words fell on him like a thick blanket of guilt, followed by a choker of regret that made words impossible to escape his throat. We only have so many seconds in a day to turn it all around or throw it all away, these words brought tears to his eyes, for Beary there was never a question about tomorrow being there, he just never thought about it. Hunny sat quiet for one of the few rare times, she noticed that these words sunk in to her friend.

            “Now come gimme a hand with this straw I gathered, I can’t carry it all and you would save me a lot of time by carrying it for me. Right over here, follow me.” Hunny and Beary went to the stack of hay that she had piled on the ground. They gathered all the straw onto Beary’s back and he hauled it behind Hunny to her home. After they loaded the hay inside, as promised she led Beary Bear to the hive and he indulged himself for hours savoring every last lick of the sticky sweet honey. Beary ate and ate and ate until he finally finished off the hive, he was too full to move so he bedded down under the big oak tree and slept for the night.

            A thump to the head woke Beary out of his sleep as he could hear laughing and stared through a foggy haze at Hunny Bunny. She giggled, “There’s your bag of Beary berries… grr Berry beary… grr” Her mood swung from happy to rage at the tongue twister… Bag of berries…. Beary… whew.” He smiled through a big toothy grin as the sweet smell of the berries tickled his nose like a feather. “THANK YOU HUNNY!!!”

            “Your welcome, I thought I’d get an early start today and since I didn’t see you again last night I figured your lazy *beep* would still be here. So I brought breakfast.” He thanked her again and devoured the berries making a mess. The two sat and talked for a few minutes then Hunny had to go run some more errands.

            Beary made his way down to the river and washed up, he didn’t pay attention to the time of the year until he saw several beautiful oak leaves floating downstream. Hues of orange, yellow and crimson leaves painted the quiet river into an art gallery and it dawned on Beary all of the sudden why he has been eating so much and so tired lately. It was nearly time for his winter nap and he always looked forward to his hibernations. He gathered as much energy as he could and sat down at the bottom of a small fall in the river. The salmon were heavy this time a year as they made their way to the ocean and Beary stuffed half the river of Salmon into his belly. He napped again for several hours in a trance from the hypnotic sounds of the river rapids.

            A sharp tug on Beary’s ear woke him with a yelp. “Hey Lazy Bear!” Hunny splashed down into the water and washed herself. With a stretch and yawn he smiled at his friend, “Hey Hunny how’s your day goin?”

            “Great got up this morning ran some laps around the hillside, went down into old man Compton’s Garden and filled up on some sweet carrots and cold crispy lettuce, and gathered those berries for you. After I gave you the berries I went home did some cleaning and went to the campgrounds to do some shopping. Nothing nice today, Cheap *beep* campers…” She replied.

            “Wow that’s a busy day. I woke up ate those berries came to the river to wash and ate some salmon. That’s when it dawned on me that I’m getting close to my winter nap time. Tonight I’m going to return home sleep until spring, I’ll miss you Hunny Bunny!”

            “Aww I’ll miss you too Beary Bear! Ya big ole softy you!” Hopping out of the water and shaking off she leaned down and picks up her prized watch up off of a rock. “I want you to take this to remember me by Beary.”

            “But… You’ll need your watch. Every couple minutes I see you looking down at it. And it’s not like I’ll never see you again lil buddy. I’ll come down and find you this spring in your home.”

            Hunny oddly thought before she spoke, she just smiled as a small tear rolled down her cheek. “You do that Beary, and I’ll see you then!”

            “Don’t be sad Hunny, I’ll be back. I promise!”

 

            Hunny gave Beary the watch and climbed up to give him a big hug around his neck, her little arms barely stretching out. She placed the watch in his hand and gave him a farewell, before she hopped off into the sunset.

 

            Winter came and winter went, white covered hills receded back to lush green blankets of grass again. A much thinner Beary waddled his way down the hills and the first place he headed even before his spring fill of fresh Salmon returning from the ocean to spawn, was his best friend whom he loved and missed so dearly.

            “Hunny!!! Hunny Bunny!!!” He shouted approaching her den, but he noticed this time a sign outside that read Mr. and Mrs. Bunny. He banged on the wall and out came a lil bunny man and a little bunny girl. The man stood before the bear with a tear in his eye, “Your looking for Hunny?”

            “Yeah! She’s my bestest friend and I’ve been asleep all winter. Where is she? And why are you crying?!” Beary’s voice cracked like a teenage boy.

            “Hunny is no longer with us Mr. Bear. She was struck with a sickness this winter that took her from us.” Looking down to his little girl he scooped her up in his arms and held her tight. “But at least before the sickness took her away she did gift me with this little bundle. She’s all I have left…”

            Beary took a hard swallow as his throat nearly closed in pain from holding back his tears, he couldn’t speak. His eyes watered up as he couldn’t take his eyes off of Baby Hunny Bunny. She looked just like her mother. Beary looked down at his watch and couldn’t control it anymore he burst into tears like a big baby. He balled and threw a tantrum, slamming his fists into the earth. “WHY!!!”

            Mr. Bunny and Baby Hunny burst into tears as well, for this was a day that Mr. Bunny dreaded for a long time. Hunny told him all about her good friend Beary and that he would return when the grass grows again. Beary spent hours with the dad and daughter talking about how much he loved his foul mouthed, violent lil friend. He never told her that he loved her, but she consumed his heart. He felt like he could never forgive himself for not being there when she needed him most. Eventually it came time to put Baby Hunny to sleep so Beary parted ways with the pair and made his way to the river.

            Hours past as he sat crying watching a river full of salmon so thick he could reach out and catch three from where he sat. He had no stomach for food even though he was starving. Beary cried himself back into a slumber for hours… But a familiar smack upside his head woke him.

            “HUNNY!!!!” There she was standing right before him, a beautiful white glow all around her. “Hi Beary long time no see.”

            “Am I dreaming aren’t you…”

            “I’m an Angel now Beary. And no, you’re not dreaming. I will miss you dearly my friend, but I have a daughter and husband who know all about you. And your friendship helped me through the sickness, it would have been much sooner if I didn’t meet you. You helped me to calm down and focus on starting a family before I passed away.” Her angelic voice trailed off. Beary asked her when it sank in, that this might really be the real end? How’s it hit you when you get that kind of news? Whatcha do?

 

And she replied:

"I went sky diving,

I went rocky mountain climbing,

I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu man Chu.

And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,

And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying.”

 

Then she said:

 "Some day, I hope you get the chance,

 

 

"To live like you were dying…"  

Author's Note

In this ironic story I wrote only three short years later my brother passed away, and my wife and I were alone without him. The bear will always live in my heart his spirit is one with me. I have yet to get it published but plan to soon. (Also I recommend listening to Tim McGraw "Live Like You We're Dying" as it was my inspiration as well)