Slave Life

Our New Momma

    A few days had passed since Bobby's

incident in the river. We continued eating the berries and drank water from the river, which turned out to be safe. We actually had more food then when we had an owner.

   Bobby seemed to have moved on from losing our parents but I was starting to doubt myself again. Bobby had seen her face in the river and I had never, not even once caught a glimpse of her. I thought Bobby was just seeing things , that our momma, really never visited us. I was regretting even leaving our owner , but then Bobby jumped on me. Seeing his smile and hearing his laugh was all I needed. He made me smile, i knew this was the better place for us. I was planning on keeping my promise and finding Bobby a new home.

   I was about 50 feet from the cave. There was a cub. It was crying and rolling over in pain. I ran to it and reached over to see what was wrong. It's front paw was stuck in a trap, but that trap wasn't meant for bears. My momma had told me about these traps, they were for runaway slaves. Shivers ran up my arms and legs and on the back of my neck. The bounty hunters were still looking for us . I ignored the thoughts and feelings and returned my attention to the cub. I pulled the trap open and the cub was free.

     It's leg was bleeding. I picked the cub up and ran towards the cave. I got inside and pulled out a piece of cloth. "Why do you have a little bear" , Bobby asked. I told him that the cub was alone and stuck in a trap. He shook his head and said, "Oh." 

    I didn't want to tell him the hunter's may possibly still be looking for us, so I kept it a secret. I put the bear down and stepped outside. It was getting late, I went back inside and fell asleep next to the cub and my brother.

     Something was bothering me , I tossed and turned in my sleep, and finally opened my eyes. There were two yellow eyes staring straight into mine. I froze. It was the momma bear. She looked up and down and focused her eyes on the cub. I gently picked the cub up and held it in front of her. She sat down and looked back at me.

    I thought she was going to attack, when she did the strangest thing. She put her head in my lap and licked a small cut on my arm. I was amazed that this bear that could've killed me , turned out to be nice. That never happens. She licked her cub and fell asleep. She was dark brown, had gigantic paws, and very sharp claws and teeth. I sat up looking at her for about two hours, worrying that she would soon come to her senses and attack, she didn't . We had two new friends.

   I woke up in the morning with a grizzly bear cub next to me and an adult grizzly bear still on top of me. I guess Bobby had noticed we had a visitor because he was snuggled up into the side of the bear. I laughed and got up. I woke Bobby up and went to gather berries. We got a whole lot since we had to feed and animal. We came back to find the bears wrestling with eachother. They stopped once they saw us. Again I thought the mother bear was going to attack but she stopped in front of me and liked my face. I put a berry into her mouth and laid some down in front of her in her cub. I grabbed some for Bobby and I and sat down.

    We finished eating and I layed down on the grass. The cub jumped on my stomach and the Mother layed down beside me. I named the cub Tyler, after my friend, and the mother bear, Rose after my momma. The Bears were so gentle, almost as if they felt sympathy for us, and I considered them my new family, our new family. The mother bear looked after us , she was our new momma,  and her cub was our new little brother.