Henderson's Big Adventure
by Fred Shook
The bears loved to walk along the seacoast. Sometimes they collected seashells. Sometimes the girl bears gathered wildflower bouquets for their mother, Edwina. Today thick fog swirled around the bears’ home on the hillside above the sea, and the girl bears had come home from their walks early.
“My goodness,” said Edwina just now, looking out her kitchen window. “The fog is thick as porridge.”
A warm fire crackled in the fireplace. Albert sat by the fire reading a storybook, stopping now and again to watch the flames leap and flicker. When he heard his mother talk about the fog, his ears shot straight up. He loved the feeling of cool fog on his face. He put down his book, went to the closet, and put on a warm jacket and stocking cap. He told Edwina his plans.
“You run along, Albert,” she said. “Your sisters and I are going to stay inside where it’s warm and bake some raspberry pies.”
Soon, Albert was on the headlands above the beach, walking through the cool fog. He began to walk down the steep trail toward the beach.
Fog muffled sound and made the world a quiet, peaceful place. All the birds had stayed home, snuggled in their warm nests to await clearing skies. Albert could hear ships blow their foghorns, but they sounded far away. The surf made a heavy, roaring splash on the beach below, and sometimes he stopped to listen to the waves ebb and flow. Crash and splash went the waves as they flogged the coastline.
Albert could see the beach now and then as the fog swirled past. At one point he saw something large and darker than the sand, but then the fog closed in and hid the beach again. Albert continued his walk, stopping here and there to pick a wildflower for his mother. Already, he had a small bouquet ready to give her.
Finally the steep trail leveled out and Albert stepped onto the beach. The sand felt wet and cold between his paws. He found it hard to walk in the soft, loose sand.
Gradually, he made his way through the gray fog to the shoreline. Here the sea washed onto shore and packed the sand. Here, Albert could walk along the shore as if it were a paved road.
The fog floated past Albert like gauze curtains. Sometimes he caught glimpses of the beach farther ahead. Once, when the fog parted, he saw a curious thing, so curious he stopped to rub his eyes. When he looked up again, the fog had swirled in around him and cut off the view.
Could it be, he wondered? Had a great huge rock washed onto shore? Had a mountain thrust itself up on the beach overnight?
Albert walked toward whatever he had seen, his ears now pointing straight up. Another few minutes passed.
The great huge thing took shape in the fog as Albert drew near. He could see the thing’s shiny dark blue surface.
He stopped to take a better look. What he saw made his fur bristle. The thing had moved!
There! He saw it move again. The top of this great, huge , shiny, dark blue thing moved up and down. There! It did it again!
Albert’s heart played chopsticks inside his chest. His fur bristled so hard it felt like an old hairbrush. He had the urge to run, but he was curious, too. He must know what this monstrous thing could be.
Teddy Bears say... 
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