Baby Bear By Eleanor Aurora Frost

She heard them before she saw them. 

"Hah, what a night that was," said one voice. "We couldn't have been any luckier." 

"It wasn't luck," snapped another voice. "I knew from a mile away we were gonna take him for all he had." 

"But did you know," came a third voice, "did you know what he had?" 

Just then, three men rounded the corner, and Baby Bear saw that she was in the backyard of the house. All of her senses on high alert, she tried to make herself appear small, but she held a fierceness deep in her heart. The men approached and stood around her in a semicircle, far enough away that she couldn't reach them at the end of her chain. She felt hate boil up in her gut and rays of hot anger rolled over her body. 

"Well, I'll be," said the first voice, "our little money maker is awake. What should we call her?" She saw now that one of the men was as wide as he was tall. She sized them up and knew she could outrun them all, but the question was how to break free of her chain. One of the men pretended to hold food out to her and teased her, saying, "Can you do a little twirl for us?" She knew there was no food in his hand, but she realized for the first time that she was hungry and desperately thirsty. She needed time to think. And some food and water to clear her head. She thought maybe if she did what they asked, they might give her something in return. 

"C'mon, up you go. Your master told us you knew how to dance," one of the men goaded. 

Her eyes flicked to the man's hand, and she pushed her upper body off the ground onto her hind feet. She tried to hop toward him, but her chain pulled tight, and she collapsed to the ground. 

The men were not impressed. "Well damn! Little cubby is gonna have to do better to bring in any real money!" The wide man was dismayed. 

"We can say she comes from the world's fiercest grizzlies in the Yukon. Folks'll come see that." "You don't even know what the Yukon is, Clive! That's the stupidest shit I've heard all day." 

"No, he might be on to something when she gets a little bigger. We can even let them fight her. 'Fight the world's fiercest grizzly, take your chances in the ring.' I can see the sign now." 

"Now that's a good idea. All right, we'll think about it, but now we have to figure out a cage for her and get all packed up. It'll be a long night on the road."

The men charged off toward a tent in the distance. They didn't leave any food or water for Baby Bear. Her rage grew loud in her ears. She couldn't believe this was the position she found herself in. She wracked her brain, trying to fill in the missing memories, trying to make sense of her situation, but... nothing. She heard scratching behind her and whirled around to gnash her teeth. 

"Whoa, whoa," came a high-pitched, melodious voice from ground level. At first, Baby Bear didn't see who was talking to her, but then she saw a shuffle in the grass. Crouching low was an old Tom cat. She relaxed when she saw him, maybe he would have some answers. 

"What's your name, little one?" he asked. 

"I'm called Baby Bear," she replied. 

He got up slowly and approached her with caution. Eyeing her, he said, "Are you hungry?" "Yes, I'm quite hungry, but I'm even more thirsty." 

“I’ll see what we can do about that, Baby Bear. My name is Kitty, and I run things around here. Don't mind the humans. They're relatively harmless, but what you really have to watch out for are the night spirits. They follow us wherever we go. You stay put pu now. I'll have Bowie bring you some food and water. How's that collar?" 

Baby Bear put her paw to her neck and felt how tight the collar was. It was difficult to swallow. She sensed the kindness in Kitty's eyes and wanted to trust him, but her skeptical nature kept her from opening up. "It's fine," she lied. 

“I'll have Bowie take a look nonetheless." Kitty sauntered off through the grass, tail swaying like a flaxen shaft of wheat glinting in the sun. He was a handsome, orange calico, and his calm demeanor and swagger gave her some hope. If only she could remember what happened the night before. 

She was concentrating deeply, trying to retrace her steps or conjure up the last thing she could remember when a boisterous "Helloooo!" came bounding out from behind the house. A brown and white dog with triangle ears that pointed straight up called out again, "Helloooo!" Abruptly, the dog sat and panted, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. 

"Name's Bowie," he barked. "You? You Little Bear?" 

She hated being called Little Bear and bristled reflexively. "It's Baby Bear," she corrected. 

"Right, right. Kitty said Little Bear thirsty, hungry, collar. Here to help." Bowie bounded off without waiting for a response. She heard a minor commotion from the other side of the house. She saw Bowie's rear end first, his tail waving excitedly like a flag in high winds. He was dragging

something with his mouth. As he rounded the corner, she could see it was a metal bucket, and water was sloshing out as he pulled it. It looked like he would spill the whole contents of the bucket at any moment, but when he brought it close enough to her, she was amazed to see it was nearly full still. 

"Drink Little Bear," he barked as he trotted off again. 

On the side of the bucket in red paint she saw the words “Circus of Magic and Mystery.”