It was a lovely spring day in Sydney when the Upstairs Bears noted that Daddy Bear was setting out his fishing tackle box. They whispered excitedly as he selected some squishy soft plastics, a shiny silver lure with movable parts, lead sinkers and many, many hooks.
The Downstairs Bears followed Mummy Bear’s movements with even greater attention. She was packing a large wicker basket with various paper-wrapped objects of great interest, a family-size packet of cheesy Doritos, bottles of fizzy drink, wine, fruit and a thermos flask. When she turned away for a moment, little Wilson hopped nimbly into the basket and hid under the picnic blanket.
Around the same time, while Daddy Bear was distracted trying to decide on which fishing rods to bring, DJ made his move. He prodded at Duke.
‘C’mon, Woofy Boy,’ DJ hissed at Duke. ‘It’s hiding time.’
'Woof?’ asked Duke, puzzled.
Duke was a special bear, even by teddy standards. He was light brown and floppy, could tilt his head sideways in a questioning look, with his right ear pricked backwards. He was a dog-bear, in that he also spoke a second language: puppy-dog. It was marvellous how he could impart such significance in the tone, nuance and the many ways he could say with just a “woof”. (Rather like how Pikachu in “Pokemon” could convey such a world of different meanings just by saying: “pika”, “pika-pika” or “pi-ka-chu”).
‘In here, quick!’
Quick as a flash, DJ squeezed his furry bum into the fishing backpack. The other teddy bears watched in awe at their daring as Duke followed DJ, packing themselves along with the Shimano reels and rolls of braided line.
All unseen, the three teddy bears were loaded onto the black SUV, the Toyota Rav4 they called The Raven. Why? No particular reason. They just thought it sounded grand. It’s furry, fuzzy logic.
Daddy Bear drove south-west for a half an hour to the Roseville Bridge, located on the boundary of Sydney’s North Shore. There was a little park with pretty emerald-green lawns overlooking the tranquil blue waters of Middle Harbour. A few wooden tables and benches were scattered among the leafy groves of liquid amber, fig and gum (eucalyptus) trees.
Mummy Bear found a spot under the outspread branches of a huge liquid amber tree and began to unpack the picnic basket. She shook out the folds of the navy-and-red tartan blanket and out tumbled Wilson.
She exclaimed at the sight of the little bear. ‘How did you get here?’
‘From the basket,’ said Wilson most cheekily.
‘I should smack your little tush,’ said Mummy Bear crossly.
‘No way!’ Wilson declared, skipping out of her reach.
Across the green expanse of lawn came the startled shout from Daddy Bear. ‘What the – ’
There was a maniacal “hee-hee-hee” and a chorus of excited “woofs”. They scampered over to the picnic table and climbed up to where Wilson was checking out the bag of Doritos.
‘DJ, you’re a bad bear,’ Mummy Bear said sternly, pointing an admonishing finger at the leader of the bear rabble. ‘Dukey-boy, you too.’
‘Wh-aa-at?’ DJ put on his cutest, most innocent, wide-eyed expression.
‘You’re both going to get the Bad Paw when we get home,’ Mummy Bear threatened.
‘Woof-woof?’ Duke slanted his head and looked up pleadingly. ‘A-roo-ooo,’ he began to howl.
Mummy Bear sighed and relented. ‘Alright, since you’re all here, you might as well make yourselves useful.’
She set them to work helping her unpack the contents of the basket while she poured out the aromatic black coffee from the thermos. They found that the interesting paper parcels contained slivers of prosciutto ham, pastrami and a small round of creamy cheese. There were sesame-seed crackers, light green seedless grapes, dried apricots and a spicy salsa dip.
The bears waited impatiently until she had gone over to the water’s edge with a laden plate and a steaming cup. Then they pounced onto the goodies. DJ dived into the opened bag of Doritos and began tossing the cheesy triangles at Duke and Wilson.
‘Take that and that, and that,’ he said helpfully.
‘Woof, woof, woof,’ Duke barked excitedly, catching a corn chip on his big black nose.
Wilson grabbed one and nibbled on it. It was so big for him that he had to hold it with both paws. As he was busy munching away, he had the definite feeling that he was being watched.
He looked up. There, on a low-hanging branch of the liquid amber, was a crow almost twice his size. It was glossy black, with two glittering jet-black eyes and a nasty sharp beak. And it was looking right at him.
‘NO way!’ he scowled at it. ‘You’re NOT getting my chippy!’
‘Caw-caw!’ cackled the crow with a wicked snap of its beak.
Mummy Bear was sitting next to Daddy Bear on the grassy bank, sharing a cup of coffee and enjoying the view. All was peaceful and right with the world.
Not for long. Suddenly the peace was disturbed by the agitated cries of teddy bears.
‘Lemme go! Mummy!’
‘Mummy, Mummy! Help!’
‘Woof, woof, WOOF!’
To their amazement, a large black crow had latched onto the Dorito in Wilson’s paws. But the little feisty teddy wasn’t about to loose his chip and was grimly hanging on. The crow flapped its wings and seemed ready to make off with both the bear and his prize.
Daddy Bear wasn’t much help at all; he was too busy laughing at the sight. It was left to Mummy Bear to do the rescuing.
She rushed up and swung her handbag at the thieving bird. ‘Leave my bear alone,’ she commanded, glaring meaningfully at it.
‘Caw,’ replied the crow defiantly, eyeballing her balefully in return.
‘Behave,’ she told it, ‘and you can have a chip.’
‘Caw-caw,’ it answered and opened its beak.
Wilson scurried back to the safety of Mummy Bear’s side, his corn chip was still tightly clamped in his little paws. DJ and Duke closed ranks around him protectively. They were both slightly bigger bears. There was less danger for either of them being carried off.
‘Best get out of the way,’ was DJ’s shrewd idea.
Duke and Wilson scrambled after him into the shelter of the picnic basket. From their vantage point, they looked on as Mummy Bear proceeded to dole out bits of Dorito chips to the crow.
She placed a few fragments of corn chips along the wooden picnic bench, gradually leading away from her boys. The crow watched her every movement with greedy, beady eyes.
It was wicked and bold, landing onto the bench and eyeing the tasty treat. Tilting its head first one way, then the other, it weighed up its options. Then it pecked at the closest piece, deftly swallowing it in one gulp. The next, and the next, and the one after disappeared in much the same way.
‘Alright, that’s enough for you,’ said Mummy Bear, closing the Doritos bag and shooing the bird off the bench.
The crow didn’t go very far. It perched itself on the branch of the liquid amber right next to where she was and looked expectantly at her. She stared right back.
‘Caw.’
‘No.’
‘Caw-caw,’ the bird insisted.
Mummy Bear turned her back on it.
‘CAW!’ the crow demanded loudly, determined not to be ignored.
Her lips twitched at it cheekiness. The bird was behaving just like one of her bears. She chuckled and tossed a chip at it.
With a flap of its wings, the crow flew off.
Just when the teddy bears thought it was safe to emerge from hiding, they heard the flapping of wings again. The crow was back. With a friend.
‘Caw,’ announced the crow, sidling up to Mummy Bear on the branch.
Its companion was a bit smaller in size and rather shy. It wouldn’t come any closer than the far end of the branch.
‘Is that your girlfriend you’re trying to impress?’ smiled Mummy Bear, placing a Dorito chip on the end of the bench. ‘Here you go.’
After some hesitation, the smaller crow accepted a few pieces. Then, satisfied at last, the pair took flight and left.
‘Is there any Doritos left for me?’ asked Daddy Bear, planting his fishing rod by the side of the picnic table.
‘Plenty left for you and the boys,’ Mummy Bear assured him, then frowned. ‘Now where have the boys gone?’
Bored with seeing the crows just crunching on Doritos, DJ had crept off to do some exploring of his own. Wilson shushed the questioning “woof” from Duke and they followed after their leader.
‘”Be werry, werry quiet, we’re hunting warebits”,’ whispered DJ, imitating a character from Daddy Bear’s favourite childhood cartoon.
‘Woof,’ said Duke.
‘Dukey, we’ve got to be quiet,’ Wilson reminded.
‘Woof,’ Duke repeated earnestly.
The teddy bears skidded to a halt. They stared in wide-eyed amazement at the creature before them.
A water dragon looked disdainfully down at them from its lofty perch on the sun-lit wooden table. It was a light grey-green lizard with black bands running across its back, muscular tail and clawed legs. It was about 60cm (2 feet) in length from the spiky crest on the base of its wedge-shaped head to the long tail.
‘It looks like Godzilla,’ DJ said in awe.
Wilson examined it with suspicion. ‘Does it eat teddy bears?’
‘Woof,’ said Duke, ‘woof, woof.’
At the last warning “woof”, a second water dragon muscled onto the scene. It was even bigger, being at least a metre (3 feet) long. It hissed and flexed its powerful muscles in a menacing posture. The first water dragon hissed back in answer.
The water dragons were clearly fighting over the prime basking spot in the sun. There was much angry rapid head-bobbing and intimidating arm-waving. When the larger lizard suddenly darted at the first, the smaller lizard signalled its submission with its slower arm-waving. Then it quickly slipped off the table and onto the grass with the other water dragons.
Wilson was disgusted. ‘What a big bully.’
‘Now that’s the real “Godzilla”,’ DJ declared with satisfaction.
‘Woof,’ Duke announced, looking up at the black Rav4 coming their way.
The Raven slowly came to a stop and an annoyed-looking Mummy Bear got out. She administered a smack on each little furry rump before depositing them back into the car. DJ and Wilson rode at the back, while Duke sat in the front with Mummy Bear. They were split up because they got up to too much mischief when all three of them were put together.
By then, the afternoon sun had begun to cover the park in a bright amber glow. The car slowly made its way towards the exit, leaving behind the water dragons to bask in the warmth of the sun’s rays.
'Woof, woof, woof!' he exclaimed.
Bunnies! There were bunnies everywhere. With a hop, skip and jump, they were spread out on a wide stretch of grass, as happy as can be.
There were blondie ones, beigey-brown ones, flannel-grey, charcoal-black and black-and-white patchey ones. Big bunnies, little bunnies and all sizes in-between. The babies were playing some kind of bunny-hop over each other. Slightly bigger bunnies were having a mad romp, chasing each other all over the lush green grass. The larger, older ones were sedately munching on the grass and wild yellow daisies, while keeping an eye on the little ones.
The largest bunny was a light brown buck, standing watch over the herd as he steadily chomped on a blade of grass. He looked up warily as The Raven came up towards them.
‘Woof,’ Duke cheerfully called out to the bunny.
Long, black-tipped ears shot up in high alert at the sight of Duke. The bunny sat up, startled. The floppy brown thing was the exact same colour as the bunny. And about the same size too.
Could that be a bunny? What was he doing in that noisy, smelly black monster?
The big bunny twitched his nose and waggled his long ears at Duke.
Translated bunny-speak: Hello. Who are you? What type of bunnykin are you? Do you need rescuing?
‘Woof-woof,’ Duke answered. ‘Woof, woof, woof. Woof?’
Translated woofy-speak: I’m Dukey-boy, the dog-bear. I’m ok with Mummy-Bear and Daddy-Bear. Can we come play some time?’
The big brown bunny gave a twitch of his nose and another waggle of a long ear. Translation: Come back and play, Dukey!
‘Woof, woof-woof!’
Translation: See you next time, bunnies!
-- Edited by Jadeite on Friday 27th of April 2018 10:42:47 AM
-- Edited by Jadeite on Friday 27th of April 2018 11:04:49 AM
