THE BEAR
The bear appeared shortly after they arrived at the cottage in North Kerry. Steven was surprised to see the bear, mainly because there weren’t supposed to be any bears in Kerry, or not that he knew of. Of course, it was possible that the bear was the last of its kind and had been keeping a low profile for fear of being sent to a zoo—or worse, shot. If so, it must have been a remarkable bear, because it wasn’t as if there were many places for a bear to hide in the townland of Ballyline. As far as Steven could tell, the whole area was short on caves and woods, which was where he understood many bears liked to live.
Steven hadn’t been anticipating the arrival of a bear at their new home. In fact, he hadn’t been anticipating very much at all. His newly reduced family—his mum, his brother, and him—had come down to Kerry to stay for a while in their grandmother’s old house after their dad left. It was the start of the summer holiday, so school wasn’t a problem. His mum said she just wanted a little time to think. Steven thought that she missed his dad. He didn’t know why his dad had gone away. He felt that his dad didn’t want to leave, and his mum didn’t really want him to go either, but everything between his parents had grown angry and confused, and now the household was condensed to three.
Their grandmother had been dead for a couple of years. Steven couldn’t remember much about her because he was only little when she died. The house had mostly been standing empty ever since, except when his mum or one of her sisters decided to use it for a holiday. It was dusty, and smelled of old clothes, but the fields behind it stretched for miles and the sun shone more brightly than it did in the city.
The house also had shelves and shelves of books. A few days before the bear came, Steven found a volume titled 500 Fascinating Facts About Kerry! It was written by someone named A. Mohan. The book was very odd. To begin with, A. Mohan seemed to struggle to find five hundred fascinating facts about Kerry, and so had settled for 499. A. Mohan also had a strange idea of what a fact might be.
Fascinating Fact No. 17: Kerry is the only county in Ireland to contain the same letter occurring twice in succession.
Hang on, thought Steven, that’s not right. What about Roscommon, and Offaly? What about Derry, and Kilkenny?
Fascinating Fact No. 97: Kerry is Cork spelled backward.
Seriously?
Fascinating Fact No. 123: Kerry was once part of Gibraltar.
Now, wait a minute…
Fascinating Fact No. 156: Kerry once boasted the highest mountain in Ireland, Carrauntoohil, until the discovery of Mount Tully in County Kildare.
Steven knew for certain that Kildare was the flattest county in Ireland. If a man stood on a chair in Kildare, you’d be able to see him on the horizon, never mind unexpected mountains suddenly popping up there. Steven had begun to view 500 Fascinating Facts About Kerry! with a degree of caution, even mild concern. He suspected that A. Mohan might be mad. He was just about to compose a letter to the publishers, advising them to be more careful in their choice of authors, when his brother returned home, closely followed by the bear.
David, Steven’s brother, was the older by three years. Ever since they’d arrived in Ballyline, David had started bringing various creatures into the house: earwigs that he kept in a glass case in his bedroom, and to which he gave the names of Roman emperors; a three-legged mouse that quickly vanished through a hole in the floorboards and could still be heard running about behind the bookshelves; and a plump pigeon that David claimed was unable to fly, but which turned out simply to be lazy. After a short nap and a peck at some breadcrumbs, the pigeon realized that, wherever it was, it wasn’t where it was supposed to be and flew headfirst into a window, temporarily stunning itself. Ever since, it had remained in its box, emerging only for short walks around the bedroom, like a fat man taking enforced constitutionals on medical advice.
David had even briefly managed to acquire a squirrel, which was no mean feat. Squirrels are nervous animals, and it’s hard to get them to go anywhere they don’t want to, but somehow David had persuaded the squirrel to enter the house, whereupon it panicked and scampered around breaking things, generally making a nuisance of itself. They were all quite relieved when the squirrel departed.
Fascinating Fact No. 199: Kerry was once ruled by the Badger King, until he was overthrown by the Otter Prince.
But bringing home a bear was another thing entirely, especially when their mother was out. She had left them with a lot of instructions about how to behave when they were alone. These included, but were not limited to: not turning on the oven; not turning off the oven if it was already on; not opening the door to strangers; not talking to strangers even through a closed door; and not climbing on any object more than six inches high. Admittedly, she had not made any rules about bringing bears into the house, but Steven was sure that this fell under the general heading of not having things to do with strangers. David was holding the bear by the paw, or the bear was holding David by the hand. Either way, he and the bear were hand in paw.
Steven put down his pencil, the letter forgotten.
“It’s a bear,” he said, although this was obvious, and really didn’t need remarking upon.
“I know,” said David.
“Where did you find it?”
“In the field behind the house.”
“What was it doing?”
“Just standing there.”
“Maybe it was waiting for someone.”
“Who would a bear be waiting for?”
Steven considered the question. “Another bear?”
“I don’t think he was waiting for another bear. I think he was waiting for one of us.”
“How do you know it’s a he?”
“I just do.”
Steven didn’t know how you went about telling a male bear from a female bear, and wasn’t certain he wanted to. However you did it, he didn’t think the bear would be too happy about the whole business.
Steven regarded the bear. It wasn’t really like any bear he’d ever come across in photographs, on television, or even at the zoo. It was more like a big teddy bear than an actual bear. Its fur was golden brown, but thin and worn in spots. Its eyes were glassy, like buttons, and one ear was torn. It was also wearing a red-and-white-spotted tie, which was in itself unusual, Steven never having seen a bear wear a tie before.
“Hello,” said Steven, in the absence of anything more profound to say to a bear.
The bear waved a paw in greeting.
“He seems friendly,” said Steven. He was quite relieved. There was no telling what an unfriendly bear might do. “Do you think he’s hungry?”
“I haven’t asked,” said David. He looked up at the bear. “Are you hungry?”
The bear shook his head.
“Apparently not,” said David.
“What do bears eat anyway?” asked Steven.
“Berries, I suppose. Nuts. Fish too. And honey.”
“Like Winnie-the-Pooh.” Steven was very fond of Winnie-the-Pooh.
“Yes, just like him.”
The bear released David’s hand, sat in an armchair, and stared at the ghost of himself in the television screen.
“He doesn’t say a lot,” said Steven.
“I don’t think bears are big on conversation.”
David sat beside Steven on the floor. Together they watched the bear. He wasn’t doing much but appeared fascinated by his reflection. Maybe he had never seen himself before, thought Steven, or perhaps he believed he was looking at another bear. Steven hoped the bear wouldn’t attack the television. They didn’t have a lot of money and couldn’t easily afford to replace it.
“Should we call someone?” Steven asked.
“Who?”
“I don’t know, but his owner may be worried about him. He might have wandered off from a zoo or a circus. He may have been a prisoner and managed to escape.”
Steven had a vision of the bear digging a tunnel or scaling a wall, while searchlights scanned the darkness and a siren wailed.
“If he’s escaped, he’ll want to keep a low profile,” said David.
Steven didn’t think the bear could keep a low profile. He was, after all, a bear. He could possibly get rid of the necktie, which would make him harder to distinguish from other bears, but he would still be a bear.
“We should call the police,” said Steven.
“If we call them, they’ll come and take him away.”
The bear shook his head, as if to confirm that he really didn’t want them to call the police, which decided the matter. They all remained silent for a time.
“Mum will be angry that you brought a bear home,” said Steven eventually. “The squirrel was bad enough.”
“But she hasn’t met the bear yet. She might like him.”
Steven wasn’t convinced that their mother would approve of the bear. She refused to even let them have a puppy. He hoped he wouldn’t get into trouble for being party to letting the bear in the house. If it came down to it, he’d have to tell her that it was David who had brought the bear home.
“He might like to watch television with us,” Steven suggested.
He was, to be honest, getting bored with just looking at the bear. For a bear, he was pretty uninteresting, once you got over his essential bearness.
“Okay,” said David.
He turned on the television, and together they and the bear watched cartoons and a documentary about salmon—which the bear gave every impression of enjoying—and then a war film. The war film was a bit violent, so after half an hour the bear changed the channel to more cartoons.
Fascinating Fact No. 397: If you shout your name into the mouth of Kerry’s famous Crag Cave, the echo always comes back as “Pardon?”
It was growing dark and beginning to rain when they heard their mother’s car pull up outside, followed by her footsteps on the path and the doorknob turning. Steven’s tummy gave a little lurch of apprehension.
Their mother walked into the living room. She looked at the bear. The bear looked at her. She was carrying a bag of groceries in her hand, which she set down on the coffee table. She was a little surprised to see the bear, but didn’t scream or shout, as Steven feared she might, and she didn’t appear angry.
“Who’s this?” she asked.
“He’s a bear,” said David. “He doesn’t have a name though, not yet.”
“David brought him home,” said Steven, to put himself in the clear in case their mother decided to turn nasty. “But he’s not dangerous,” he added. “He just sits quietly. He’s no trouble.”
Steven was already getting used to having the bear around. It was like he was meant to be there.
“And where did he come from?” asked their mum. She was staring quite intently at the bear.
“I found him outside, standing in the field,” said David. “He looked lonely.”
“Yes,” said their mother, “I expect he was.”
“Can he stay?” asked David.
“No, I’m afraid the bear has to go.”
Steven wasn’t too surprised to hear this, though he thought he would be sad to see the bear leave. But David began to cry.
“I want him to live with us,” he said.
“He can’t, not here.”
“But where will he go?”
“That’s for the bear to decide.”
She spoke in her special tone of voice, the one that wouldn’t brook any nonsense from bear or boy. The bear understood. He wasn’t stupid. He stood to leave, and David stood too. He put his arms around the bear.
“I’m sorry,” said David.
The bear patted him on the head. Steven reached out and shook the bear’s paw.
“Goodbye,” he said. “It was nice to meet you.”
The bear nodded in agreement and padded to the front door. He paused for a moment beside their mother, and it seemed he might have tried to say something to her were it not for the fact that he was a bear, but the only sound to be heard was David sobbing.
The bear left, and their mother watched him go.
“Right,” she said, once the front door had closed behind the bear. “Help me put away these groceries and I’ll get started on dinner.”
Fascinating Fact No. 428: Kerry pronounced backward is “Ree-Ke,” which is also its Japanese name and translates as “small, lonely bird.”
They ate in the kitchen. Steven tried to make conversation, but David wouldn’t speak and barely touched his food. They cleared the table while their mother went to her room. The two boys sat at the living room window and stared out into the night. The bear was sitting on the garden wall, illuminated by the lights of the house and the beams of passing cars. He sat with his back to them. It was still raining, and his fur was soaking wet.
Their mother appeared from the back of the house and walked across the garden to where the bear sat. She had put on a coat, but her head was uncovered. Even from a distance, the boys could see raindrops running like tears down her cheeks. She spoke to the bear, although the boys could not hear what she said. The bear turned his head to listen to her. She put her hand to his face and stroked his torn ear. The bear reached up and removed his head, and now the rain fell on their father and mother both.
Their mother returned to them. Their father was gone. They had watched him plod off into the night, his head restored to his shoulders so that he was a bear once more. The rain had stopped and the moon was shining through the clouds. Their mother sat with her boys, one arm around each of them.
“Will the bear come back?” David asked her.
“Maybe,” she said. “The bear and I will talk, and we’ll see…”
Fascinating Fact No. 500: There are bears in Kerry.
