Gord the polar bear yawned. It was a warm afternoon, and for whatever reason there hadn’t been many visitors at the zoo that day. On some days this would be okay, but on this day… well, it was already kind of a lazy day, and lazy days often became boring days. Gord didn’t like boring days. He much preferred having something to do, or better yet someone to talk to about whatever topic might come up.
Gord yawned again as he looked around. He noticed that across the walkway, some workers were moving a few trees around inside what would eventually be the new aviary. At least that’s what he heard the zookeeper say it would be. Not that the zookeeper said this to him, of course. He was talking to another zookeeper one day, and Gord happened to overhear the conversation.
The zookeeper never talked to Gord. It would probably surprise him to learn that Gord could talk, let alone have things he’d like to talk about. If he knew I could talk, thought Gord, and perfectly understood everything that other people said, hopefully he would no longer be as unpleasant to me as he often is when he brings me my food. Instead, the zookeeper was usually quite rude to him. “All you ever do is lay around, you lazy bear,” the zookeeper would often say. “After all the trouble I went through moving the other bears near you, you ignore them. What do you want, anyway?”
“Why, someone to talk to, like my friend Cherie,” Gord often thought about replying. However, Gord knew better than to say anything to the zookeeper, or to any adult. He had tried talking to adults a couple of times, and they had reacted in a very strange manner. Some shrieked and ran away, while others kept looking around to see where the voice was coming from even though Gord was standing right there. People can be a little odd at times, Gord thought.
The afternoon was still warm, and being a polar bear Gord was not very comfortable. He walked over to a shady area of his home and lay down. Best not to let this lazy day turn into a boring day, he thought. I’ll just lay here for a bit and close my eyes for only a moment until it cools down…
“Hey bear!”
A startled Gord looked up. Standing in the walkway in front of his home were three children of different ages and their mother.
“Hey bear! You look funny,” said the smallest of the three children.
Gord looked away. Once in a while someone would ray rude things like this to him. Best to pay it no mind. Besides, the boy’s mother was there. Surely she would correct his poor behavior.
“Hey bear! You smell funny too.”
The other children looked away. Well, at least they’re not misbehaving like their brother, thought Gord. That noted, Gord was rather disappointed when the mother started laughing as the smallest child continued, “You look funny and you smell funny.”
Just then Cherie the thrasher flew by and landed near Gord. She observed the scene for a moment, then quietly said to him, “That is not a nice boy.”
“No, he isn’t,” Gord softly replied as the boy was now making strange faces while making obnoxious sounds at Gord.
“His mother certainly isn’t helping, letting him act like that.”
“Why, no she isn’t. Very disappointing.”
After a few minutes of this, the other children started whining about being tired of this and wanting to get going. The mother grabbed the smallest child and started walking away, with the others following behind. As they did so, the smallest boy turned around and looked at Gord as he yelled out, “Stupid bear! You’re just a stupid bear!”
Cherie let out a sharp sigh. “Not a nice boy at all. Well, I have something I need to do. I’ll be back later.” With that she flew away.
Gord also sighed. No. There’s nothing to be done about it, though, he thought. With that he closed his eyes again…
“Sir? Excuse me?”
A very startled Gord sat up on his haunches. Standing not in the walkway in front of his home but directly in front of him was a young boy. Now this is most unusual, thought Gord. Other than the zookeeper, he was quite certain people weren’t supposed to come into his home. However, it was a boy, and he was being polite; something Gord appreciated as he always tried to be as polite as possible.
“Why, hello there,” Gord replied.
He then noticed much to his embarrassment that there was an adult woman standing next to the boy he hadn’t seen at first. The woman didn’t look like the boy’s mother, though. Gord noticed she had a very sad look on her face, and she didn’t seem alarmed that Gord had spoken aloud. Instead, she leaned down next to Gord and quietly whispered, “Please be gentle with him. He’s very sick.”
“So that’s why he has such a shiny head with no hair and those bruises around his neck and arms?” whispered Gord to her.
“Yes.”
“I see.” Gord turned away from the woman and turned back to the boy, who had a very serious look on his face. “I’m quite glad to see you today,” he said, not quite certain what else to say.
The boy replied, “Are you a real polar bear?”
Gord smiled, “Why, yes I am.”
The boy’s reply surprised Gord. He reached out and as best he could placed his hands around Gord’s front paws, which he was holding together in front of him. In a voice as serious as the look on his face the boy said, “Do you think we’ll win?”
Gord was now very unsure what to say. He didn’t know what was supposed to be won, or who was supposed to be doing the winning. However, he also thought it would be impolite to ask. What to do?, he thought.
Then, Gord knew what to do. He smiled again and said, “Why, if we work together and never stop believing, of course we can win.”
The boy reached up and as best he could hugged Gord around his neck. As gently as he could Gord hugged the boy back, being ever so careful not to hurt him. Then, the boy and the woman vanished…
“Here you go, you lazy bear.”
Gord looked up and blinked, seeing the little door the zookeeper usually used to give him his food close and a plate of food in front of it. He was very puzzled by all this. Then he thought, Why, I must have fallen asleep and dreamt the whole thing. He sighed and got up to eat his food…
… and then stopped when he saw something on the ground in front of him.
He bent down to take a closer look. It was a bracelet, like the ones he saw children wearing when they came from the hospital for visits. On it was printed not a name, but rather one single word:
BELIEVE
“Why, I’ll do just that,” Gord said aloud. He carefully scooped up the bracelet in his paw, the gently placed it in a secure place in his home where it wouldn’t blow away. Only then did he walk over to where his dinner was waiting. And as he slowly ate, he smiled.
