Beastly Little Boy

Epilogue

By August, Bernard's transformation had completely reversed. After months of watching his fur falling out, his fangs changing back into human teeth, and a variety of other physical changes, the only bearlike traits Alice still observed in her son were his strength and his appetite. Of course, any growing boy his age was expected to act at least a little like an animal. After everything he must have gone through in the forest, it wasn't surprising that he had developed quite a bit of muscle. As for his eating habits, Alice marveled at how he was able to shovel down a plateful of spaghetti while still having room for seconds.

"Slow down, Bernard. I'm flattered that you love my cooking so much, but you aren't going to be able to savor it if you keep eating like a starved wolverine," said Alice as Bernard scooped a heap of spaghetti onto his plate. The spicy smell of her latest sauce experiment was almost enough to make her let her growling stomach take control too. It's amazing what a couple roasted peppers could do for a dish.

"I'll try to, but after mostly living off of bugs, pinecones, and berries for so long, this is a delicacy," he said, dabbing at a drop of sauce on his lip. His fork let out a deafening screech as it scraped the plate. Bernard cringed before bringing up a forkful of noodles. "I can't say I don't miss being able to pig out in the wild though. There's something satisfying about not needing any silverware to eat dinner."

Alice raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so this is only good compared to random stuff in the woods?"

"Of course not. This is the most delicious thing you've made all month, even better than the pizza." Bernard grinned. "If you keep spoiling me like this, I might end up hibernating again."

"Something has to fuel that brain of yours. School isn't going to attend itself, you know." Alice blinked back tears. "I still can't believe you're already starting 6th grade. If those teachers give you a rough time, I swear I'm going to start homeschooling you again."

"I'll be fine," he said. "Those workbooks may have been as obnoxious as squirrels chattering before sunrise, but I think I should be ready to handle whatever homework the teachers throw at me. Well, maybe not math. Nobody is ever ready for math. You could say that it gives people a lot of problems."

Alice nearly choked on her iced tea as she laughed. "With jokes like that, at least you won't have any trouble making friends. I just hope everything else goes smoothly. Make sure you give the gym teacher the doctor's note tomorrow." She glanced at his shoulder. "The last thing you need is to strain that shoulder, so you'll have to be extra careful."

"Stop worrying about it so much. It doesn't hurt nearly as much as it used to." Bernard stretched his arms, only to wince.

"What did I just say?"

Bernard rubbed his shoulder. "Okay, I'll be careful."

"Let me see it," said Alice. She pushed back her chair, got up, and walked over to Bernard's side of the table.

"Is that really necessary? It's not that bad."

"Nonsense, I know you've been favoring your other arm. You never did stop limping when you were still a bear. Besides, I'm your mom. I need to make sure you're okay."

Bernard groaned but didn't protest when she moved his shirt to examine the injury.

The sight of the mass of scar tissue on Bernard's shoulder always made Alice cringe. Although it had healed a great deal since he had come home, Bernard's shoulder would never heal completely. At least he had made progress. The physical therapy sessions he had been attending seemed to be working wonders too.

Brushing a fingertip over the scar tissue, Alice noted that it almost felt like regular skin aside from a slight leatheriness. Four scars were visible around the bullet's entry point. Those thin white lines made her shudder as she remembered what Bernard had told her about how the bullet had been extracted. Could she have saved him from getting infected if she had been there to protect him?

"Is everything okay back there?" Bernard asked.

"If by okay you mean horribly painful looking, then yes. I suppose the wound has healed a little more though." Alice shifted Bernard's shirt back into its original position before returning to her seat. "Remember, you have an aquatic therapy session scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. That should bring you one step closer to not having much trouble with your shoulder."

"That warm water always does the trick. Plus, it'll give me an excuse to stay away from my homework for a little while." Bernard finished eating the last few noodles on his plate.

"Who says I won't bring your flashcards? There's no way I'm going to let a year in the woods give you an excuse not to get good grades." Bernard rolled his eyes. After finishing off her dinner, Alice gathered the dishes and put them in the sink. "Aren't you at least a little excited about any of your classes?"

Bernard rubbed the back of his head. "Well, it's going to be nice to be able to spend time with people my age again, and I guess I'm looking forward to art class. I might not be able to talk about what happened when I was a bear with anyone besides you, but I should be able to draw some of it. Orson would have liked that."

Alice pulled two slices of cherry pie out of the fridge. Bernard's eyes lit up when she placed his share in front of him. He muttered a quick thank you before attacking his dessert. It didn't take long for his mother to follow suit. "What would a bear cub know about art?" she said between mouthfuls. Bernard had told her about the spirit cub almost as soon as he had come home. Whoever he was, her son sure talked about him an awful lot.

"Not much." Bernard chuckled. He had already cleaned his plate, leaving behind nothing but a red smudge on his lips. "He was clueless about humans in general. He was curious about us though. I couldn't even mention something as boring as handwriting without him asking dozens of questions."

"He almost sounds like a toddler."

"I never thought about it that way. He knew so much about surviving in the wild that he barely felt like a kid to me half the time." Bernard hesitated before continuing. "Do you think he would like it if I left him a drawing?"

Bernard had insisted that she create a small shrine for his friend, a wooden sculpture of a bear cub, at the forest's border as soon as they got home. A few months later, he had buried all of the fur he had shed along with some salmon bones in a hole in front of the statue before having Alice plant a blueberry bush on top of it. He would often walk out to that spot and try to talk to Orson.

Once, a few days after they had come home, she had caught Bernard trying to talk to a mother bear and her half-grown cub a few feet from the shrine. The pair had stared at him strangely before leaving. Alice had found a small pile of fish near the shrine the next day.

Sometimes, Bernard would bring small gifts like handfuls of flowers or an old stuffed animal to the shrine. As long as he didn't do that in front of anyone else, Alice didn't mind. He had to cope somehow. "I bet he would love it."

With her own plate cleared, Alice moved to get up from her seat. Bernard put out a hand to stop her. "Why don't you let me wash the dishes this time?"

Alice smiled. "Thanks for offering, but I've got it."

Bernard frowned and pushed his chair back. He picked up his plate before raising an eyebrow. "How about this: I'll wash them, and you can dry them."

Alice nodded. "What do you want to draw for Orson anyway?"

"Our family. All six of us." He put his plate onto Alice's stack.

"Six?"

"Of course. His family is mine too."

Alice would never get used to Bernard's insistence that bears didn't consider their fathers family. Oh well, whatever made him happy was fine by her. Before getting to work washing the dishes, she bent down and kissed Bernard's forehead. "I love you, sweetheart."

She expected him to wipe the kiss off. Instead, he hugged her. "I love you too, Mom."