Bear Tree
This is about a bear
roaming around at night and the daytime dream of the night. The narrator is
unknowingly that night bear, but existing in the reality of the daytime human.
As I walked up the dusty trail snaking
my way between some giant Sequoia trees in the desolate and threadbare forest,
I looked up towards the deep blue, almost black sky where sunlight danced
through the gently shimmering leaves. Autumn on the western slopes of the
Sierra Nevada is wonderful and the peace and tranquillity is quite stunning.
Sunlight filtering
through bronzed leaves against the dark sky produced a glittering yellow
pattern that twinkled like Christmas tree fairy lights. The only indication I
had of climbing a hillside was my tiredness and the feeling of incessant, but
bearable exertion. The surrounding trees were all very similar with huge trunks
of incredible proportions. The formidable General Sherman tree is the finest
example of a living entity still standing in the same place as it has done for
over 2500 years, the top of this enormous tree looking down from over 275ft to
the ground. With its huge waist of over 100ft touching the floor, I felt
extremely insignificant, yet a strange inner sense of power momentarily surged
through me. I was mesmerised and shocked by what I saw next as I moved to my
left to go around the massive obstacle blocking my path.
The flickering sunlight
changed and suddenly a full-Moon appeared on the other side of the tree.
Magical. The colour change from green and gold to shades of dark grey was so
sudden that I stumbled, lost my balance and tumbled to the ground where shadows
played a merry dance. I watched some insects trying to escape my gaze, but
tracked them by their scent as they disappeared behind a small mound of dark
grass. The musky smell of the Autumn air returned without any announcement and
the dark grey earth was covered with leaves that had fluttered down from
somewhere above and glistened in the bright moonlight like fragments of silver
paper. A winged-creature swooped down to catch an unsuspecting night mouse and
I had the very strong impression that I had just witnessed a normal event for
the night. Suddenly I saw a bounding animal in the distance rushing towards me
and I became instantly alert, yet I was completely unafraid.
The Black Bear stopped at
the carcass of a small rabbit ready to feast on a free night meal. After a
furtive glance, it completely ignored me and started to eat. Presumably, I
posed no threat and peculiarly, I did not sense any panic and had only a vague
feeling that I should be afraid. It was as though I was invisible in the night,
but moving through my own garden. The owl stirred into action and flew up into
the shadowy tree as the bear stood up to its full height of seven feet to
carefully look around. Two huge clawed paws gently fell against the giant trunk
almost in a caress while it growled at the star-filled night sky. After a few
moments it turned away from the tree and dropped its front paws to the ground.
It padded off almost silently into the shadows with just the gentle rustling of
disturbed leaves.
I moved towards my right
and the Moon disappeared behind the tree trunk. The Sun reappeared from the
other side as the twinkling fairly light display revealed itself again. The
deep blue daytime sky was almost the same colour as the bedazzling inky
blackness of the night. I found myself standing with my hands pressing against
the tree trunk and the sun on my face when the thought struck me like a jolt of
lightning that these trees must have a haunting and fascinating history of
sights seen over hundreds of years. Blackened stumps provided evidence of the
many devastating fires that had occurred over the centuries caused by the
forked lightning of electrical storms striking dry timber. During this immense
span in time, many thousands of animals had lived and died, but each of the
trees had grown into an ancient giant harbouring many witnessed secrets.
The suddenness of the
attack surprised me as everything went dark, though I still had no awareness of
fear. Just alertness. The shadows rushed towards me as the grunts grew louder
and the crescendo of the padding paws increased to a thumping upon the ground.
My heart seemed to be racing, but I still sensed no fear. The strange
combination of my racing heartbeat, yet not caused by fear, was completely
unknown to me and as I turned on my feet and arched my back, I fell backwards.
The shadow appeared to jump over me and in the instant I hit the ground,
daylight returned. The sunlight exploded in my mind as the blinding light
streamed relentlessly into my eyes filling my head with the incredible pain of
a thousand needles. I began to roll over and over down the hillside. I could
hear the Black Bear racing towards me as I continued to roll over. Down and
down. Over and over. Dark. Light. Darkness. Dazzling light. Over and over I
rolled. Dark, light, darkness. Then the light remained and I felt fear. Real
fear. I was terrified, but the silence was deafening and my confusion absolute.
I had stopped rolling and stood up. In the distance I could plainly see the
General Sherman, though no sign of a bear.
Had I imagined the chase?
The night? Was it all a terrifying dream? A nightmare? Daymare? I continued my
lone walk in a state of confusion into the clarity of bright sunshine, but this
time down the hillside. Nervously, but very briskly.
© Louis Brothnias (2008)