Wednesday, November 9, 2011

halloween 2011: little lost polar bear and the herbivorous dinosaur

- guest appearance by Cinderella -

Once upon a time, there lived an energetic polar bear with a rainbow tummy.
She had been displaced from her Arctic homeland.
Polar Bear was on a search that had taken her far from her natural habitat.
It was a search for what we all crave: meaningful effort, a sense of belonging,
and candy.
Before she knew it, she was wandering the fields and highways of North Dakota.
Little Lamb was Polar Bear's trusty companion.
The trip had been hard on Little Lamb -
a broken leg, a lot of riding by the neck in the crook of Polar Bear's arm -
but he had no idea of the dangers that were just beyond the next hay bale.
Or maybe he did.

"A little patch of woods!" squealed Polar Bear with delight.
"Now this is the type of terrain I recognize!"
"Weeee! Aren't the woods fun, Little Lamb?"
Polar Bear looked around to see what other fun might be had.

She noticed something in the grass just a few trees away.
Why, it was an herbivorous dinosaur! He sure was hungry, but apparently well-fed.
And pensive.

And tricky!

Polar Bear watched the little dinosaur from her vantage point behind a tree of some sort.
He seemed friendly enough. She was about to step out and make his acquaintance, when
Oh, no! What was that in the background, approaching so deftly,
while the dinosaur sucked his thumb in oblivion?
Polar Bear wasted not a single second.

"Raaawr!" she cried ferociously, as she jumped out from her place of hiding.
But she suddenly felt weak and inadequate with her felt cloth claws.
Polar Bear grabbed two sticks from the forest floor.

The creature was all up ons the tiny herbivorous dinosaur!
He was a goner for certain unless Polar Bear could intervene!
"Oh, no you don't!" yelled Polar Bear, and she threw those two sticks far, far into the woods.
The toothy creature, inches from the herbivorous dinosaur, screeched to a halt
and ran instead toward the deep woods after the sticks.
"Oh mies, little herbivorous dinosaur! Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Why?"
"Well," began Polar Bear, "I was hiding behind a tree, hugging it like this, watching you."
"Creepy, but okay," said the dinosaur. "Then what happened?"
And Polar Bear recounted to the herbivorous dinosaur the haunting events
that had taken place behind his Bumbo seat only seconds before.

"You're kidding!" said the herbivorous dinosaur, and he sucked his thumb to calm down.
"Well, Polar Bear, I owe you one! Hey, why don't you come with me tonight
to a special little event they call Trick or Treating? I'm going with my pal, Cinderella.
I'm not 100% certain what the deal is with it, but we wind up with a basket of candy."

"Are you for real?" asked Polar Bear. Was this actually happening?
Did this space cadet of an herbivorous dinosaur really know
where to find copious amounts of candy?
"I'm in!" she declared, and off they went for town.
Cinderella warmly greeted Polar Bear.
"Any friend of the herbivorous dinosaur is a friend of mine," she gushed.

And then they played it cool for a couple of minutes.
Cinderella had a little slipper trouble...
"Why does that seem familiar?" wondered Polar Bear.

And with empty candy baskets, they prepared to take Cinderella's neighborhood by cute storm.

Cinderella was the definite front man, the go-getter, the ringer of bells, the stater of phrases.
Polar Bear was not a fan of either the halloween decor or any masked children she encountered.
Before she had left Cinderella's house, two young Spidermen walked by,
and she'd jumped into the car in utter fright.
Polar Bear hung back, approaching doors just close and just long enough
to receive the blessed candies. A long trip makes a bear cautious.
But little by little, she found the bravery she had summoned in the woods,
helped along by grandmas like this, who handed out trinkets one at a time,
slowly and gently, enjoying the presence of those who visited her doorstep.
There was much glee all around.

"Let's go to another house!" Cinderella and Polar Bear exclaimed after each house.
Knowing that Polar Bear had found her place amongst the other random candy-seekers
and had exercised bravery in saving his life,
the herbivorous dinosaur quietly took it all in from his perch.

And sucked his thumb to stay calm.

5 comments:

tamie marie said...

I wonder if you could make an actual little book out of this--like, order it on iPhoto or something. Because it's super cool amazing.

Rachel @ Lautaret Bohemiet said...

This is great, sis. I mean, you had said that Halloween was riveting, but I had NO IDEA just how much. I'm sure it all went down exactly as you say it did, and it gives me chills to think of Polar Bear saving Dinosaur like that. Man, maybe all small creatures ain't all bad afterall.

This was seriously great. I agree with Tamie. Make a freaking BOOK.

lori said...

Yeah, I would like to do that, Tamie. A good family treasure.

Rachel @ Lautaret Bohemiet said...

This was super great Lori, I can't wait for the next adventures of Polar bear and dinosaur! This Pilot episode was a good mixture of character development and storyline. Where will they go next?! -David, not Rachel

Rena said...

Aw, what a sweet story. And I love the pictures! Halloween was never this exciting back in my day!