Bedtime Story

Bear walked along the riverside, looking for that flash in the water, a silver dart of salmon, before it was time to sleep and escape the snow. He was hungry, and it seemed so long since he had tasted something so alive. Raiding the piles of leftovers beside the towering, glowing blocks the slim, pale creatures sheltered in was not the same at all.

From the corner of his eye, a flash. He turned, paws outstretched, but it was only the sun. Reflected by a small, black stone, it had fooled him. His tummy rumbled and ached.

Then again, faster - real. He dived forwards into the water, as it rushed over his ears and drowned out the noises of machines and nature. A strong tail smacks his nose, this is a good one; with one paw he catches, closing his mouth, and the fight goes from the fish as he looks up, gazing at his brothers in the sky and thanking them.

Shaking the river from his fur, he pads back , and spies the little black stone again. He gently takes it, and carries it back to the nest, unsure why.

As he settles, fat, but still hungry, he rolls the stone with his paw, and settles his cheek, heavy and furred, on it.

As the long sleep begins, the stone begins to sing...

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