Read Online Noses Are Red by Richard Scrimger - Free Book Online Page A

it be? “Look in the window!” I cry. “It’s her!”
    There’s certainly someone there. I can see them moving around. “Hello!” I say. “Come on!”
    We run right up to the fairy-tale red front door of the cabin. It’s still open. I’m in the lead. I charge inside, and stop dead.
    Victor stumbles in after me, bumping into me. “Hello!” he pants. “Thanks for…” His words crumble and blow away like ashes.
    Two intruders. I recognize one of them.
    “Carlo?” I whisper. My voice catches in my throat. Oh, yes, it’s Carlo. He cocks his head and ambles towards me. He must have come to find more of the health bars. They
are
tasty.
    I guess I’d be happy to see him if he were alone. But he’s not. He’s brought his mom with him. Her I can do without. She’s busy ripping the emergency pack to shreds.
    Next thing I know, Victor and I are running through the woods. “That was close, back there!” he gasps. “Good thing you remembered to close the door. You’re so smart, Alan. Brave, too!”
    “Aw, shucks,” I say.
    No, wait. I’m ahead of myself again.

Next thing I know I’m frozen in place. I can’t move. I can’t talk.
    “This is not good,” Victor says, in a throttled whisper. “It is not good at all.” He sounds like the fish in
The Cat in the Hat.
    The big bear makes a deep snuffing grunt, and opens her mouth wide in a yawn. This is not a cute bear. She’s not wearing a hat. She’s not going to make jokes, or sing songs. Her eyes are crossed. One of her ears is hanging down in bloody strips. Her fur is dirty and matted.
    Carlo keeps rubbing against me. His mother growls. Is she mad? I hope not. She’s terrifying. Big as a small horse, and – I don’t know how else to put it –
old.
Not old like your very first pair of shoes, or old like your granny, butold like the biggest tree in the park. I get the impression that she and her kind have been around this part of the world – the wild part: forest, swamp, and river – almost forever. That she belongs here, and the log cabin doesn’t. Victor and I certainly don’t.
    “Don’t run!” hisses Victor. “Whatever you do, don’t run. Bears can run as fast as a racehorse.”
    I have a momentary image of bear racing, with the winner eating the jockey. I shiver. The big bear stares at her cub and then at me. Her head is on one side. Her mouth is open. Her teeth are as long as my fingers, and needle-sharp at the end.
    I still can’t move. That’s what happens to me when I panic. I stay still.
    “Don’t make her mad. Don’t get between the cub and the mother,” whispers Victor. He’s got lots of advice about what not to do. I can’t even nod to say I understand. I feel like that prehistoric guy they found in the ice.
    –
On Jupiter we call them flies.
    Oh, no. Quiet, Norbert, I think to myself. Just be quiet about bears and flies.
    “What are you doing, Alan?” whispers Victor.
    –
Because, of course, that’s what we do when you run into them. Do you understand, Dingwall? Hey, Dingwall? Are you listening?
    Oh, dear. “Yes, I’m listening,” I whisper. “You
fly
from them. The way you
bear
the flies. Yes, I get it.”
    “Shut up, Alan. Shut up and let’s get out of here.”
    The mother bear peers in our direction. She’s fifteen feet away. I can smell her. Not pretty, let me tell you. She begins to rub her back against the wall.
    I can move now. Talking to Norbert broke the spell.
    The bear comes down on all fours again. The cabin shakes. My heart is racing. I’m trembling, breathing quickly, ready to…I don’t know what.
    –
Run!!! Run! Run!!!
    That’s it. Victor screams, and runs through the door. I turn tail and follow. The floor shakes. The bear is coming after us.
    Next thing I know, we’re running through the woods. Fast as we can. I hear crashing behind us. Bears? I hope not. I don’t look. The river is on our right. The path is very uneven. I stumble, pick myself up, and keep running. My legs are wet from