The night had fallen, and the dark and cold air filled the room, coming through the windows. The three friends stood quietly in the darkness, close to each other, staring around. They came to the mountain earlier that day, driven by their human masters. The ride was enjoyable, landscapes displayed in front of them through the windshields. Again they rode close to each other and, all along the way, Ranger Rex, the brown bear wearing proudly his ranger coat and hat, acted as a guide, pointing them at the most interesting spots. He traveled this way before many times. Same did Wolfie, the little gray wolf pup, who experienced this once, but he was too scared at the time and now he remembered nothing. For Ursone, the polar bear, this was a very first time. Rex was proud to be their leader and stayed awake, even when the other two fell asleep during the ride.
When they arrived at the cabin, the cold almost stumbled over Wolfie and Ursone. For too long, they were used to the comforts of modern life. As they were set in the little boots box on one shelf, there was no other warmth but the one coming from each other body. They cuddled together and waited. After a while, the humans came in and lighted a fire in the small wood stove. As the flames devoured the wood with crackling sounds, the cabin became warmer and warmer. The humans stayed late, filling the stove from time to time, eating and chatting. It was just as cozy as it was back at home. Close to midnight, the humans went to bed, tightly packed in their sleeping bags. Soon they were asleep. Just as Wolfie’s eyelids became heavier, Rex pat his back and said: “Get some sleep. In a couple of hours, they will go out to ease themselves, and that is the perfect time for us to escape out of the cabin.” Wolfie turned to him surprised: “Escape?! But why?” “Because it’s time to show you two around.” Ursone said nothing, his white fur glimmering in the dark. “Now, you two be quiet. Soon you will go on your biggest adventure ever.”
It was a silent night, not even the wind dared to blow. The humans were deep asleep, snoring away. Ursone fell asleep too. Rex stood still, but you couldn’t say if he was sleeping or not. Wolfie tried to take a nap, but he was too excited about the adventure to come, so he stared deep into the dark. He must have had slipped into dreams, though, when he heard the cabin’s door opening and he saw the humans go out with their headlamps on. He could hear their steps crushing ice, and a gale of frozen air sneaked in through the cracked door. Rex shook both Wolfie and Ursone with a gentle touch. “Follow me dudes, it’s time!” Ursone wanted to protest, but Rex was already climbing down the shelf, with Wolfie following closely. So he followed, not wholeheartedly, but scared to be left behind by his friends. They got to the opening and slipped outside, stepping carefully on one side. Rex took out his coat and threw it over Ursone, his whiteness too obvious under the moon. Humans went back in rapidly and locked the door. They could hear them going back into their warm beddings with an amazing rapidity.
Rex signaled them with his hand to follow. They walked alongside the cabin and followed a path into the forest. Wolfie and Ursone followed him so closely they almost stump on his feet. It was cold. They rushed onto the path. When they came to a quick stop, Rex raised a hand to warn them of something. Right in front of them, a deer scared by their apparition jumped high on her hind legs and ran into the thicket. Wolfie froze in place, and Ursone, surprised, fell on his back, his paws helplessly agitating the air. Rex laughed loudly. “Just when I thought I saw it all, here I am, with a wolf and with a polar bear, two of the most ferocious predators in our world, and they shit their pants, seeing a peaceful deer!” Wolfie tried to speak, but hardly could he get his pulse to slow and grasp some air: “Was that a deer?” he mumbled. “A deer it was,” said Rex, “one of the most ferocious creatures of the forest…” and started laughing again. Ursone got back to his feet and staring back in the dark, shaking. “I am not afraid of dee…” he wanted to say, but then seeing Ursone scared, he look in the same direction and froze again, while his heart went back to full speed again. Behind them, between the trees, lots of pairs of eyes were flickering. It looked like a procession of strange creatures following them into their nightly adventure. He turned and ran, to Rex’s surprise. Soon he should see the snow ball following course. “I should have stayed inside,” he said to himself. “These two ain’t the dudes I thought they were!”. And he walked steadily to where the two fugitives were taking aim. He didn’t walk long till he saw both of them running back, at the same pace they were throttling away earlier. “Are guys doing your daily run, or are you just enjoying to exercise in the fresh air?” They didn’t answer, but as soon as they reached him, they hugged him tightly, their bodies shaking. “Alright little guys,” Rex said, ensuring them he was there to protect them. “Nothing to worry about, this are peaceful woods right here.”
And then they walked further, looking at the tall silhouettes of ash and aspen, projecting against the moonlight. They found the maples and oaks and they happily rubbed against their rough bark. And when they got into the spruce and pines, they loved the feeling of the needles on the ground patting their paws. Rex was showing them around. They rested at the humans’ little lean-to, and examined the cut firewood stacked there. When they arrived at the rusty barrels, Rex told them how one day a hungry black bear got drunk by the smell of fried meat and mistaken’d the rough iron grill for food, grabbing it into his teeth and running away with it. They followed paths in the forest and rested by the stone wall. When they got in the meadow, they stood silent under the magic light of moon and admired the distant hills, dark shadows in the distance. Rex showed them how, one day, the humans finding a big bear poop, were so amazed by the size of it. He also took them to the little circular garden, where the same naïve humans planted onions and garlic.
They were walking together, three good friends, under the starry sky and felt the grandeur of true love and friendship. It was a fantastically grand. Ursone remembered how, when he was a young cub, he was hunting with his mom in the faraway arctics, and how despite the coldness and adversity of landscape he had the best of his childhood, cuddled at night in his mom fur and playing at day on moving little glaciers, his mom looking for food, and he thinking they are surfing for fun. Wolfie told about his time as a pup, along with a pack, starving for days, suffering in the cold and rain, but missing that time a lot. Rex said he always has been a ranger in the woods, and he recalls of nothing else.
They returned to the cabin, the deer still there grazing in the frozen forest. It was almost morning when one human came out and went among the trees, eased himself again and ran back, shivering with chills. That was the strategic moment when the three of them sneaked back and huddled in their box, dreaming away about their adventure. The morning found them what they were, stuffed animals, toys for kids. But the night was real, a miracle that only happened when there’s a time filled with love and hope. The next day, they rode back home, in the back of the jeep. Houses on the sides of the road were joyfully decorated. Inside them, children were dreaming about Santa, coming from his frozen north to break into their homes through the chimney to spread joy and more hope.
It’s never too late to dream and hope, just as you did when a child.
words-of-mine 