Glory laid her head on her paws not six inches from the bear’s face. Her tail ticked like a grandfather clock. The wind pushed a cloud from the face of the moon like a lover shifting a lock of hair. The light became silvery, glittery, her favorite kind of nighttime.
Glory could smell all the little animals that were giving them a wide berth. She could smell the slow, delicious ooze of sap down the pine tree to her left. She could hear the last desperate zing of a few summer mosquitoes bothering a raccoon about fifty feet away. And she could smell the musk of this bear, his heart beating like rhythmic thunder.
So, she did what she wanted. And she crept forward, nudging her head gently under one of his great paws. So heavy! He really was a big bear. She moved slowly and gently until she was flush up against him. Orange and brown fur mixing where they touched. His heat was delicious and a little shiver ran through her.
Her eyes were heavy with the lazy pleasure of safety and warmth. This was it, the happiest moment of the last six months.
She felt the exact moment that the bear woke up, realized there was a tiger snuggled up to his belly.
His heart went from the sweet ka-thunk ka-thunk to stomp-stomp-stomp as his muscles bunched.
The two animals sprang to their feet and Glory lunged forward defensively. She didn’t think he was going to hurt her, but those teeth were rather long, even longer than hers! So she swiped out with her paw to put him off his balance before anything happened by accident.
But the bear was lowering his head and tossing her off her back feet and to the ground. Glory sprang back up and onto the bear’s back where she would be safe from his claws and teeth. She could run from him, she was faster than he was, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to stay close. She just didn’t want to get scratched.
The bear reared up with a roar that shook the trees and easily dislodged Glory, as she didn't want to use her claws to hang on. She wasn’t sure how thick a bear’s hide was and she didn’t want to hurt him.
So once again they were on their feet together, circling and eyeing one another. Glory flicked her tail, hoping it would show how friendly she was. But the bear stepped toward her again and she reacted instinctively.
Rearing up, she batted him to one side and lunged to the other. She put the bear off balance and sent them both tumbling backwards. They naturally rolled down the mountain and Glory realized that the bear was making sure that his weight didn’t land on her as they spiraled downward. See! She knew he was a nice bear.
Now that that had been all cleared up, Glory decided to have a little fun. She quickly regained her footing and slipped away from the bear. Crouching on the lower branch of a pine tree, she waited for him to find her with his eyes before she pounced again and sent them rolling.
And roll they did. She performed the maneuver again and this time the bear stopped resisting at all. He was playing with her! Swatting as she tried to get away and letting her toss and plow into him.
Glory was breathless with joy. She hadn’t had any contact in six months. And the three months before that had been scary and filled with bad people and bad smelling pain. But this was crisp and clean and musky with the bear’s natural scent. She was filled up like a balloon as they rolled and she lightly bit into his haunch.
The bear twisted and reaching back with one paw, anchored her to his back. He took a few rolling, galloping steps, and Glory realized he was giving her a ride.
She tightened her claws on his shoulders, to hang on, and after a moment the bear stilled. Whoops. Too much claw. She retracted them a tiny bit and the bear kept going. Galloping very fast for a bear with a tiger on his back.
Glory knew exactly where they were going and in her excitement, she jumped right off his back. She didn’t need a ride, she wanted to run! She loved running. Besides, she was curious about racing this bear.
She pulled ahead of him as she raced toward his cabin but she could hear him at her flank. Glory was able to whip through trees that he couldn’t fit through but he was fast. And as they neared the cabin, her wind started to fail. She never could run for very long, so as they raced up the grassy hill in front of his front porch, they were neck and neck.
Glory executed a graceful little hopping roll through the grass before she sat right down, eyeing the bear. He ambled up beside her and, to her complete delight, shifted on the move. He was stepping up the stairs of his porch as a man in less than a second, but even the moonlight couldn’t turn his golden skin silver. He glinted there, like treasure at the bottom of the ocean as the night threw shadows over his muscles.
Glory watched in rapt curiosity as he leaped up the steps and tugged some pants on that he must have left there earlier.