2-With Zest in Life

Chapter 2 | Nie

Little White Bear’s mother (whose name is spelt N-i-e and pronounced with a silent E) stayed in the lobby of the apartment for a few weeks. Bradley wanted to keep an eye on her and he knew that it was a good place for her since there were lots of people coming in and out. They would leave snacks for her to munch on or give her a vase of wildflowers to look at and smell (that adds zest to life). She immensely enjoyed all the attention that came her way for she was a very socialible bear!

Well, little did anyone realize that Nie wasn’t exactly ignoring all the talking that was going on around her; in fact, she paid very close attention to it, right down to the last word. So in a few weeks, Nie surprised everyone. She was beginning to talk herself! What a shock!

The community was crazy with excitement. “A bear that was found in the woods has learned to talk!” was the gossip of every afternoon tea.

With that, word spread like wildfire. Soon almost everybody knew about “that bear in a small town in Vermont: Marang, or...or Mang, or something like that, anyway, the one that is talking…they didn’t even try to teach her…in just two weeks…she learned herself…what will they do with her?”

Indeed that was the question. It was an unexpected question. It was a question without an answer.

“What shall we do with her?” asked Bradley, half to himself. “She can’t stay here forever.”

“Ask her; she would know what she wants to do,” Margarita replied. So they did, and this is what she said: “I will not stay here. I want a house of my own and I intend to teach Little White Bear to talk also. I would like to have a class full of animals.”

Within a week, Bradley had found a small, yet perfect sized house for Nie to live in and Margarita had found plenty of in-good-shape necessities including dishes, linens, and plenty of furniture. They were ready to make it feel like home for her.

When the time came to move in, Nie was so excited she could hardly sit still during the very short car ride to her new home. And once they arrived, it took her little time to unload and begin a new life in her own home.

When she was ready, Nie called Bradley on the phone. “You can bring Little White Bear over on Monday. I am ready to start teaching him. I will not only teach him to talk, but I will show him how to write and add sums and figures. I will be his tutor.”

In a few months, Little White Bear could do all the things that Nie had promised. This amazed the whole neighbourhood, but especially the Hutton’s friends and relatives. The whole sequence of events that had gone on didn’t go unnoticed. James (Bradley’s neighbour) had an idea planted in his mind and it wasn’t about to leave. Instead, it just kept growing. He thought: “What if I were to get a bear from the woods and bring him back to live with me?”

Could another bear learn to talk? Would it work out the same way? Life would never be the same with a bear to care for…