Abigail lay on her back and sighed happily. She really couldn’t eat any more cake, Christmas was wonderful. Rolling her new gold sparkly marbles under her paw, she stretched out on the cushions.
‘Ow,’ said Preston, ‘you kicked me.’
‘You were in the way,’ said Abigail rolling over, ‘stupid place to lay.’
‘Everything’s back to normal,’ muttered Patrick, he was wearing a gold paper hat that had fallen over his eyes and he straightened it neatly. ‘Does anyone want a sandwich?’
Abigail groaned.
Opening an eye the tiger yawned. ‘Maybe another chocolate.’
Patrick rolled one towards him. ‘Just stay out of the tin, you’ll make yourself sick.’
‘Staying away. Definitely,’ said Grigs, creeping towards the tin.
‘Have we opened all our presents?’ asked Abigail, ‘are there any left under the tree?’
Clambering to his paws Patrick peered under the branches, ‘Yes I think so. I can’t see any.’
‘You haven’t opened mine,’ said Preston, ‘it’s there right at the back.’
Laying down on his stomach Patrick crawled under the tree, making small huffing noises, ‘I can’t reach it… what’s it doing right back here… Got it!’ Wriggling backwards, first his paws appeared, then the end of his blue scarf and then his ears. Sitting up he brushed pine needles from his fur and patted the parcel happily. ‘You shouldn’t have..’
‘Careful it’s fragile,’ said Preston quickly.
Patrick looked at it in interest. Hooking his paw under the paper, he pulled gently. ‘What can it be…’ A small box tumbled onto the floor and he picked it up quickly. ‘Is it… it’s a… camera!’
Preston nodded, sitting up a bit straighter. ‘I thought we could take some pictures of the house, you know as we make it ours.’
Patrick pulled the camera closer to him, ‘yes but it is my present isn’t it?’
‘Yes of course,’ said Preston, his ears drooping a little. He picked up the instruction manual and smoothed it out. ‘Well.. this is yours too then.’ He held it out towards him slowly.
Looking at him and then at the manual, Patrick hesitated, ‘I suppose, we could read it together if you’d like,’ he said.
Preston nodded quickly. ‘Well that would be nice, two of us will work it out much quicker. It’s very interesting to have something new to learn.’
Abigail rolled over again. She didn’t know what a camera was but it sounded very boring. She patted her stomach, maybe there was a little room. ‘Did someone say sandwich?’
Patrick sighed.
The day flew by, before Abigail knew it, it was dark outside and the lights on the tree were twinkling. The house was warm and cosy, she must have had a little nap and sitting up she stretched her paws above her head and yawned. There was a noise from the corner, it sounded like a moan. ‘Who’s there?’ she called. There was another moan. ‘Grigs is that you?’
‘Don’t feel well..’
Abigail padded over. The tiger was laying next to an empty tin of chocolates, wrappers all over the floor.’ ‘Have you eaten all of those? No wonder you feel ill.’
‘You ate all the cake,’ groaned Grigs, looking into the tin. ‘Not my fault. It’s Christmas.’
Prodding her stomach, Abigail did feel a little bit full. ‘Shall I get you a drink?’ she said helpfully. She giggled. ‘A nice hot chocolate? With cream?’ Rolling over the tiger groaned again.
Patrick and Preston were curled up on separate cushions, both snoring softly. Abigail tapped her paws. She was a bit bored. Leaning forward she picked up the box with the camera in. Opening it up she pulled it out. What did it do? She looked at the instructions then pushed them aside. She wasn’t a bear that needed instructions, she was sure of it. Looking into the camera she pushed the button and it made a clicking noise. A picture of her nose appeared in the screen on the back. That was strange. Holding it further away she tried again. This time her whole face appeared. Sticking out her tongue she tried again. She pointed it towards the tiger. Click. Then the tree. Click. Why was it upside down? Looking into it again she crossed her eyes. And then stood on one paw. Then on her head. Ohhh that hadn’t been a good idea, stuffing the camera back into the box she lay down quickly the right way up. She felt a bit sick. Closing her eyes she tried not to think of cake. Perhaps another nap…
Patrick and Preston sat at the table, the camera in the box in front of them. Patrick unfolded the instructions and they both leant forward. Carefully Patrick lifted the camera out of the box. ‘It’s so exciting to have something new like this.’ He peered at it. ‘It’s not packed very well and does that look like a paw print on it to you?’
Preston put his head on one side. ‘It can’t be. It’s never been opened. Must be some dust or something. It’s very easy to use I think, there’s lots of settings, or you can just press the button.’
‘My very own camera,’ smiled Patrick, turning it around. Looking at the screen he went quiet.
‘What?’ said Preston, looking at the screen too. ‘Is that…’
‘Abigail,’ sighed Patrick, ‘how comes she gets everywhere?’
Preston shrugged, then smiled. ‘I think… I think she’s just that kind of bear…’
Tales by a bear 