The Recreation of Animals Part Eleven.
The Recreation of Animals, Part Eleven:
One evening, her polar bear did not return. She cried by the
fire. The other animals purred and cooed to her. “Don’t worry.” They whispered.
“The polar bear is independent. He just wants to wander but he will come back.
After three months, her polar bear returned. Bernadette saw
him in the distance. First a slowly moving dot, then, her fur covered polar
bear lumbering toward her. Atop her polar bears back was something strange: A
human!
The human was a woman much older than Bernadette. She was
wearing her outdoor suit. On top of Bernadette’s polar bear, the woman had made
a nest of old ratty blankets which she sat in the middle of.
“Come inside.” Bernadette said, speaking the language of her
people, not sure if this other human spoke the same.
“thank you.” The woman said slowly and Bernadette sighed
with relief.
It had been eighteen years since Bernadette last saw a
human. Her father had died first after his suit had torn while walking the
tundra. Her mother died four years later, from fluid in her lungs. Everyone
else who use to share her enclosure had died when she was still a child. She
still remembered the day she had gone downstairs and found them, ten people she
use to know, limp and quiet.
Bernadette made tea to share with the woman. They sat at the
table. First, they just looked at each other. The woman spoke first. “You are
an inventor.” She said. “I am an inventor too.”
“What do you make?” Bernadette asked.
“I make trips to other worlds.”