If We'd All

Bear

Tapio screeched with delight as he tripped on a protruding rock in the ground and rolled down the hill. 

I threw my head back and laughed as I flew down the hill after him, Oscar bouncing in my arms.

My eyelashes and halo of unbrushed hair were dyed orange by the rich buttery sun which was just beginning to touch down to earth. The scattered pines grew dark and silhouetted. It was going to be a warm night.

The clear pond reflected the sky, as well as the twinkling stars that were beginning to appear in the periwinkle heavens. It was impossible to tell where the fireflies ended and the stars began.

"It's still light," Lucca pointed out. "We can still wade." He was right. Though the stars were beginning to dot the horizon, and the crescent moon hung low in the sky, on the opposite side of the world, the sun was taking its time to set, and we did have time. "Let's go!"

Laughter rang like merry church bells as shoes flew from feet and socks got lost in the tall grasses at the rim of the pond, never to be found again.

I rolled up Oscar's tiny pant legs, and the ticklish baby giggled and blushed pink.

"Whee!" I said in a babying voice, smiling at Oscar's darling cheeks, and we slid into the cooling pond, rippling the sky's reflection, sending stars in all directions.

On the other side of the water, Lucca was trying to convince a reluctant Tapio that the cattails were delicious sausages, trying to get the six-year-old to bite into one. That prankster. Lucca's mischevious eyes glinted in the rising moon.

"I caught one!" Emothy squealed, and splashed over to me and the baby, his hands cupped around a struggling bullfrog. It's shimmering green leg poked out of a gap between the boy's fingers.

Oscar's screams dissolved into blubbering laughter. "May I?"

I traded Oscar for the bullfrog, as big as my hand.

In the swap, though, I never noticed the frog slip away until a sudden splash made me realize my hands had become empty once more.

"Cayyy!" Emothy whined. "I wanted to keep that one. I'd named it and everything."

"I'll get it," I huffed, and rummaged around in the spot I thought it had disappeared into. "What did you name it?"

Before he had a chance to answer, my hand emerged from the black water with an unknown object. My eyes required a moment to adjust in the dim light before I realized what it was.

"Ayfoo!" Oscar squealed, which probably meant 'Bear!'. Indeed it was, a small toy teddy bear the length of my palm. It was rigid with age, stiff under he mud it was coated with. I dipped the toy underwater and scrubbed it with my fingers until it was clean. I lifted the bear back up to reveal two black button eyes. The bear was intriguing, and inspired longing, but what for? It had the same magical effect as the moonlight.

I handed it to Oscar, who hugged it close and cooed into its only ear.