The Bear in the Big Blue Box

I could see it. There it was in the middle of the room.

“What is it?” Bobby asked.

“It’s a box. A blue box.”

“What’s in it?”

“I don’t know! I can’t see inside it. I’m only looking through a small hole. There’s something sticking out.”

“Let me see. Let me see.”

“Stop pushing me.”

“I want to see it.”

Bobby pushed me out of the way. I almost fell to the ground. I pushed him back, but he held his ground.

“I see something,” he said.

“Of course you do. I told you that there was something there.”

“It looks like an arm.”

“An arm? What do you mean by an arm? Is it bloody?”

“Like the arm of a bear.”

“You’re saying that Mom and Dad killed a bear and put it in a box?”

“No, stupid! A stuffed bear.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Let me see.”

I pushed him hard. He stumbled to the floor, and I looked through the hole again.

“It is a bear. A stuffed bear, that is,” I said.

“I could have told you that. Wait! I did.”

At that moment, Abby walked in.

“What are you guys doing?” she asked. “Ooo! I’m telling.”

This was Mom and Dad’s special room. No kids allowed. We weren’t even supposed to look into the room. But I saw them put something in there. Something big. I wanted to see if I could get a small peek.

“Be quiet, and we’ll let you see it,” I said.

“What is it?”

“A blue box. That’s all we know.”

“Let me see.”

She looked through the hole and replied in shock.

“That’s a big box,” she said. “It’s bigger than Bobby.”

Bobby was two years older than me and a full foot taller. Abby was one year younger than me. A flea was taller than her. For her to say that something was big didn’t mean too much. But the box was big—two Bobbys could fit inside it.

“Let me see,” Bobby said as he pushed Abby out of the way. “It’s my turn.”

“Don’t push her,” I said. “She’s a girl. You can’t push a girl.”

I pushed him as hard as I could. He tumbled to the ground. Instead of letting Abby continue to look, I started to look through the hole myself. I didn’t notice that Bobby had hit his head when I pushed him. It didn’t even leave a mark, but he started to cry anyway.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I said. “Stop crying before Mom comes down here.”

“I’m telling,” he said.

“You tell, and we’ll all get in trouble.”

He tried to push me back, but I stepped out of the way, and he flew into the wall. He tried again, but I wouldn’t let him. The more he failed, the madder he got.

“Hey,” Abby said. “The arm just moved.”

That got Bobby’s attention, and he stopped charging at me.

“Let me see. Let me see,” Bobby said.

We let him look.

“I saw it too. It did move.”

“Let me see,” I said.

I looked through the hole but didn’t see any movement.

“Y’all are trying to trick me,” I said. “Y’all are lying.”

“It did move.”

They both said it at the same time.

“No, it didn’t. I didn’t see anything move. It’s just a stuffed bear. How could it move?”

“It did move,” Abby said. “I saw it.”

“Me too,” Bobby said. “That thing is alive.”

“Nope! I don’t believe y’all. You’re just trying to fool me. I am not a fool.”

“If you don’t believe it,” Bobby said, “why don’t you go in and grab it?”

If Mom and Dad knew that we were looking into the room, we’d be in trouble. What would they do if they found out that we went inside? I didn’t even want to think about it. But curiosity was getting the better of me. It had a hold on all of us. We all wanted to get a better view of the box. I slowly opened the door with the sleeve of my shirt.

“You know they can check for fingerprints, don’t you?” I said.

I opened the door slowly, making sure it didn’t squeak. All of us walked into the room, with me taking the lead. I handled the fingerprint problem but didn’t notice that we were disturbing the dust on the floor. It didn’t bother me much—I was wearing socks. Bobby and Abby had on shoes. Shoes leave prints too.

We walked up to the box, and I grabbed the arm. At that moment, the bear jumped out of the box and let out a gut-wrenching roar. We all screamed as we tried to run out of the room, but the door closed in front of us. We were trapped.

“Don’t eat us,” Abby said.

Then the bear spoke.

“What are you doing in this room?”

Abby was the one who noticed it.

“Dad?” she said. “Is that you?”