Rooster’s Sticky Situation

or

Bear Sees Elvis

Chapter Four

By Diane Dockum

The days were getting shorter. The wind was nippy at Bear’s nose as he stood up on his hind legs and sniffed the air. Winter was coming. He was feeling kind of fat and grumpy. All he wanted to do was take a nap. There were so many things that needed doing. He had to make sure all the letters were answered and sent out. He had to clean up his cave before the snow fell and blocked off his doorway. He had to collect enough nuts and berries to tide him over on warm days when he woke up out of a sound sleep and felt hungry.

Bear was moving slowly, going from this to that and tying all the loose ends.

Rooster hopped about, light as a feather, shifting from one foot to the other on the cold ground. He was following Bear around his yard trying to visit, but Bear wasn’t in the mood.

“Rooster, don’t you have someplace to be?”

“None in particular”, chirped Rooster blinking his little yellow eyes.

“Umph.” Bear scraped a lump of hardened jam off his knife and dropped it onto the ground. He had set up his dirty dishes on the picnic table and was getting ready to take them down to the riverbank to scrub.

“What can I do? How can I help? Do you need me to get some soap or a rag or a scrub brush?” Rooster’s rapid-fire beak sprang into action. His bright feathers ruffled in the chilly air.

“No. I can do it.” Bear sighed. “I don’t need any help” Bear went off down the hill with the dishpan.

“Hmmm” Rooster’s brain started thinking. He had a GOOD IDEA!

Into the cave he went. He grabbed the broom and dustpan and swept the floor all around the bed. He fixed up the couch pillows and even cleaned off the coffee table and put all the newspapers in the recycling bin.

After that, his sharp eyes spotted the stack of unstamped letters on the desk.

Bear was down by the river, slaving over a month’s supply of tea cups and honey pots. Rooster knew he would be surprised if he stamped all his letters for him. He might even be GRATEFUL.

Rooster put all the cleaning things away and sat down in the desk chair. There were stamps in a box right beside the letters. Rooster carefully picked out a stamp that had yellow flowers on it. It said 44 ¢ in the corner.

He licked it, and put it on the corner of the letter on the top of the pile. It was a little crooked; his feathers and beak were not very good at holding things steady. The next stamp was a little stickier and it stuck in the roof of his beak. He flicked it with his tongue and smacked his mouth open and closed a few times, but it would not come off.

Oh well, he thought, there are a lot more stamps. He tried again.

The next one had a picture of Susan B. Anthony* on it. All the different pictures fascinated him. He looked at each one carefully before placing it on the end of his tongue.

This one went on fine. The next one didn’t. It got stuck to his feathers.

Oh well, he thought. There are lots more. The next seven stamps got stuck to parts of his body… mostly his beak…and a lot on his wing tips.

Bear came lumbering into the cave all tired out from scrubbing. There was Rooster perched on the desk chair covered in brightly colored postage stamps.

“Ugh!” bear growled, and then he started to rumble. The rumble turned into shaking. He fell over and kicked his legs around. He rolled on the cave floor laughing.

Rooster didn’t say anything. He was too stuck up, and there was an American president over his right eye.

Bear wiped a tear away and shuddered. He’d been laughing too hard. His heart was pounding.

Rooster still had not said anything. He just looked at Bear. Rooster quietly opened his beak as wide as he could.

Bear saw Elvis.**

* Susan B. Anthony: a leader in the women’s rights movement of the 19th century, and whose picture is was at one time on a stamp.

** Elvis Presley: A popular rock and roll singer  and movie actor, who many people still admire, and even though he is no longer living, some hope to still see him, and cannot believe he is really gone. His picture was at one time on a stamp.