Read Online The Bear: A Novel by Claire Cameron - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Claire Cameron
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momma. “Step out.”
Stick nods and he is staring at the cookie tin. He stands up and it’s hard to hold the edge of the canoe because of his big bum and the canoe rocks but I hold it. He puts his hand on my shoulder and grabs one of the sticks and pulls up but it is tricky because his bum is so heavy. It is even harder because his bum is wet too. Water drips off in a stream and then drop drop drop. I hang onto the canoe as hard as I can and he manages to get his bum up and out.
“Ow,” he says with his fat feet on the sticks.
I grab the tin and look over and see we can get to the earth if we step off the turtle and along the sticks where there is earth.
“Come on.” I shake the tin.
“Cookie,” he says.
I take a few steps and ow. I don’t like walking on sticks and I feel yuck and my heart goes boom because I think where is Gwen? I look over and she is floating in the canoe. She is looking at the sky. I can tell that she thinks that I have left her and I will never be back to snuggle and she is all alone.
“Gwen.” I drop the tin clang and hop ouch back over to the canoe. I grab the edge and pull it close and reach but she floats away to the other side. I need a grown-up to hold the canoe or I need longer arms like Daddy.
“Daddy!” I yell and look around.
I can’t see him and I feel mad because it’s an emergency. He is gone and so I need to do some jobs myself that I didn’t used to do but this is one that I need help.
“Momma!”
No one comes and all the parents are mad and gone away and I am not supposed to scream except for an emergency and it is because the canoe is pushing away from the stick turtle so I grab it back. It bumps against the turtle and the turtle must feel angry because it kicks the canoe back and it starts to get away again and I see Gwen floating all alone and so I jump.
I land and splash into the ankle water in the canoe and my hand is on soggy Gwen but then we keep going. Crack my nose goes into the canoe and it feels like blood. The crack comes from electric in my eyes and I grab Gwen and we roll. Bang on my head and I am pushed in the water and my pj’s pull me down. My whole body is under the water and I can’t breathe because I didn’t get to count before going in and bubbles blow out of my mouth and there are no more and I feel water has pushed so far up my nose it is in my brain. It soaks up all the water. It is so heavy I am pulled down and I thrash my feet and I hug Gwen close. I can’t swim because of the water in my head and I might be falling down or up. There are stars or white dots going round and making me dizzy. I am too tired and my swimming doesn’t work and I kick once but I can’t anymore.
But then something hits my hip and it keeps me up and I know a dolphin has come to save me with its nose. It will push me up onto a rock or I can ride on its back so we can travel but I can still breathe. But the dolphin doesn’t push it just keeps its nose there and I must be lying across the body because I seem to be keeping in the air and my nose can breathe. I hold Gwen up so her nose can breathe too. Then I look at my arm out of the water and I see that I did not fall into a deep lake. I am sitting on the earth under the water. My bum is on the ground. I bend my waist and my head is up in the sky. I take in big gulps of air and it makes me cough. Gooey snot runs out my nose. I wipe with my sleeve and no one tells me not to. I get my feet down. The water is up to the tops of my legs. I stand up quickly because the water is bad. The ground is mucky muck. I put my feet down and they sink in. Yucky muck.
Behind me the dolphin has died. It rescued me with its last breath like I am the powerful queen or maybe a magic one and a fairy with big magic not small dust. The dolphin rolled over and is lying on the muck beside me except it’s the canoe’s belly. I didn’t recognize the canoe’s belly seeing it for the first time but that’s what it is. It slowly
Stick nods and he is staring at the cookie tin. He stands up and it’s hard to hold the edge of the canoe because of his big bum and the canoe rocks but I hold it. He puts his hand on my shoulder and grabs one of the sticks and pulls up but it is tricky because his bum is so heavy. It is even harder because his bum is wet too. Water drips off in a stream and then drop drop drop. I hang onto the canoe as hard as I can and he manages to get his bum up and out.
“Ow,” he says with his fat feet on the sticks.
I grab the tin and look over and see we can get to the earth if we step off the turtle and along the sticks where there is earth.
“Come on.” I shake the tin.
“Cookie,” he says.
I take a few steps and ow. I don’t like walking on sticks and I feel yuck and my heart goes boom because I think where is Gwen? I look over and she is floating in the canoe. She is looking at the sky. I can tell that she thinks that I have left her and I will never be back to snuggle and she is all alone.
“Gwen.” I drop the tin clang and hop ouch back over to the canoe. I grab the edge and pull it close and reach but she floats away to the other side. I need a grown-up to hold the canoe or I need longer arms like Daddy.
“Daddy!” I yell and look around.
I can’t see him and I feel mad because it’s an emergency. He is gone and so I need to do some jobs myself that I didn’t used to do but this is one that I need help.
“Momma!”
No one comes and all the parents are mad and gone away and I am not supposed to scream except for an emergency and it is because the canoe is pushing away from the stick turtle so I grab it back. It bumps against the turtle and the turtle must feel angry because it kicks the canoe back and it starts to get away again and I see Gwen floating all alone and so I jump.
I land and splash into the ankle water in the canoe and my hand is on soggy Gwen but then we keep going. Crack my nose goes into the canoe and it feels like blood. The crack comes from electric in my eyes and I grab Gwen and we roll. Bang on my head and I am pushed in the water and my pj’s pull me down. My whole body is under the water and I can’t breathe because I didn’t get to count before going in and bubbles blow out of my mouth and there are no more and I feel water has pushed so far up my nose it is in my brain. It soaks up all the water. It is so heavy I am pulled down and I thrash my feet and I hug Gwen close. I can’t swim because of the water in my head and I might be falling down or up. There are stars or white dots going round and making me dizzy. I am too tired and my swimming doesn’t work and I kick once but I can’t anymore.
But then something hits my hip and it keeps me up and I know a dolphin has come to save me with its nose. It will push me up onto a rock or I can ride on its back so we can travel but I can still breathe. But the dolphin doesn’t push it just keeps its nose there and I must be lying across the body because I seem to be keeping in the air and my nose can breathe. I hold Gwen up so her nose can breathe too. Then I look at my arm out of the water and I see that I did not fall into a deep lake. I am sitting on the earth under the water. My bum is on the ground. I bend my waist and my head is up in the sky. I take in big gulps of air and it makes me cough. Gooey snot runs out my nose. I wipe with my sleeve and no one tells me not to. I get my feet down. The water is up to the tops of my legs. I stand up quickly because the water is bad. The ground is mucky muck. I put my feet down and they sink in. Yucky muck.
Behind me the dolphin has died. It rescued me with its last breath like I am the powerful queen or maybe a magic one and a fairy with big magic not small dust. The dolphin rolled over and is lying on the muck beside me except it’s the canoe’s belly. I didn’t recognize the canoe’s belly seeing it for the first time but that’s what it is. It slowly
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