Chickadee, Bunny and Bear (a little story for your Thursday morning)

Once upon a time a bunny, a chickadee, and a big brown bear lived in a lovely rainforest.

Bunny and Chickadee loved to play together, and would often chase each other through the forest. Chickadee would hide in the leaves in the trees, where Bunny couldn't go, and Bunny would hide in the brush and leaves on the forest floor, where Chickadee was too scared to go.

Bear would go anywhere, but preferred to gorge on blackberries and then take naps. Bear didn't understand why Chickadee wanted to constantly be hopping from tree to tree, and Bear could not understand Chickadee's language. Whenever Chickadee spoke, Bear only could hear the same song, and Bear didn't understand the nuances in her "Chick-a-dee-dee-dee." Chickadee also didn't understand Bear, and how he could sleep away so much of the lovely afternoon, because he had eaten too many blackberries. Chickadee thought that there was so much to do and see, how could she waste time napping?

And Bunny didn't really understand either of them. Bunny was nervous of Bear, but felt like they must have some things in common. After all, they both had smooth, soft fur, and they both didn't completely understand Chickadee. Whenever Bunny and Bear met, Bunny and Bear realized that they didn't have much in common after all. However, Bunny did love to play with Chickadee, and they spent many wonderful afternoons together.

One day, Bunny and Chickadee decided to help each other build nests. Work shared is work halved, they thought. So they came up with a plan. They'd work on Chickadee's nest in the morning, and Bunny's nest in the evening. Chickadee would wake before dawn every morning and bustle about, building her nest. She wouldn't wait for Bunny to start work, so she didn't notice that Bunny wasn't showing up to help until late afternoon. Then, they'd work on Bunny's nest.

Soon, Bunny's nest was finished. Chickadee's nest was much smaller, but had quite a bit of work left to make it ready. "Your nest is more complicated," Bunny complained. "This is why my nest is finished and yours is not. Besides, I have a lot of work to do still to make my nest comfortable. When I'm finished, I'll help you build your nest again."

Chickadee was confused how it could have worked out like this, but Bunny seemed to have a plan. Chickadee knew in her heart that there was something not quite right going on, but she couldn't sort it out. Besides, she didn't really have time to think about it too much. She had so much work to do. He was right, her nest WAS more complicated. If she had been content with a simpler nest, things would have been better. Now it was going to snow soon, and she wouldn't have a nest to protect her from the cold.

Sure enough, the next day, it snowed. Chickadee huddled in her unfinished nest, greeting the winter with shivers.

Bunny played in the snow and wondered where his friend Chickadee was. She would love this snow!

Bear slept and wondered how anyone could want to do anything BUT sleep.

Finally, Chickadee had an idea. She would snuggle in Bear's fur, until she was warm enough to work on her nest again. She snuggled closely and quietly, soaking up his warmth. She was very, very quiet, and she didn't wake him up. When she sensed that it was time for him to wake up from his blackberry dreams, she quickly flew away. She felt so clever! Bear never suspected!

One day, Chickadee arrived at Bear's cave, only to see Bunny already snuggling in her place. "What are you doing here?" she whispered. "My nest has been filled in with snow," Bunny admitted. "I was cold."

Chickadee was furious. "You're going to wake up Bear!"

But it was too late. Bear's great eyes opened, and he let out a surprised growl. "What do you want?" he demanded.

Bunny and Chickadee knew that Bear was very crabby when he woke, so they were terrified. Bunny tried to hide behind Chickadee. Chickadee tried to make herself even smaller than her normal tiny size. Bear huffed and growled.

"Why didn't you TELL me that you were cold, you stupid little creatures?!"

Chickadee and Bunny didn't know what to say. Finally, Chickadee spoke, "We were afraid of you, afraid that you'd be angry with us."

Bear, of course, didn't understand Chickadee. "WHAT!" he raged.

Chickadee tried to speak more clearly. "We were afraid that you'd be mad at us!"

Bear rolled his eyes and pushed past Chickadee and Bunny. It was no use. They never spoke in a language he could understand. Chickadee's peeping enraged him, and Bunny's silence was just annoying. Didn't they see that he had been trying to sleep?

Bear stomped out of his cave into the winter, leaving Chickadee and Bunny to wonder what to do. After a few moments, Bunny snuggled into the warm spot that Bear had left. Chickadee, though, felt too scared and upset, so she flew away to the tattered remains of her nest. "It's really not so bad here," she thought. "At least I have part of a nest, and my nest isn't filled with snow!"