Taking the Consequences

By Snow the Bear 
Special thanks to Marina Neira for helping with the editing.

The young skunk came tearing around the corner at full speed, with the older squirrel-elf only a half-step behind her. They had been imagining themselves in a horse race as they dodged around the furniture that marked their track. From the side of the room came an excited squeal from a baby squirrel. Little Gem was bouncing with delight in the playpen as she watched them race around the room.

“Wish, Marina, stop that! Someone is going to get hurt” yelled a blue lion as he entered the room. Paul saw the pair skid to a stop in response. The two girls glanced at each other, then to Paul, and waited for a scolding. “Marina, I’m surprised at you. You’re supposed to be helping me watch the cubs, but sometimes you act no better than them. How can I …” But before he could finish, the doorbell interrupted him, and he left to answer it. Wish turned to Marina. “I was ahead when he stopped us, so I won!” she said proudly. Marina knew the skunk was right, but she wasn’t about to admit that a cub could have beaten her. “No, you were not! We were neck and neck” the squirrel-elf shot back. The two began squabbling about who was the winner. With the excitement of the race now over, Gem lost interest in them and returned to playing with her plushie, Grub.

Paul opened the door to find Rose, his grizzly bear neighbor, accompanied by Snow, her pizzly cub. Even though Paul was no stranger to him, the shy cub hugged his mother’s leg.
 
“Hi, Rose,” said Paul in greeting, then added a friendly, “Hey there, Snow” as he tussled the cub’s head fur, making Snow giggle. “What brings you two here?”

“Sorry to trouble you, Paul, but I have to run an unexpected errand and I can’t take Snow with me. Would you be able to watch him for a few hours?” the grizzly asked.

“Of course, Rose. I actually have an impromptu playdate forming. Wish is already here, and I’m expecting a few more cubs in a little while. I’m sure they would love to have Snow join them, and Gem would enjoy a playmate closer to her age”.

“Are you sure you can take Snow as well? It sounds like you’ll have your hands full,” she said.

“It will be fine; Marina came over to help out” he said, but thought to himself – assuming I don’t have to cubsit her, too. 

“Thank you, Paul.”  The grizzly hugged her cub. “Be a good boy, and have fun. Momma will be back soon.”

“Bye, Momma” said the cub as he waved goodbye, and hugged his plushie tightly. Ember, Snow’s stuffed fox, rarely left his side.

The girls saw Paul return with the little pizzly cub from down the street. Still feeling rather shy, Snow just waved to them. Marina gave him a friendly hello, but Wish rolled her eyes. What an annoying little goodie-two-shoes he was! Hopefully he would play his baby games with Gem, and leave them alone to have real fun.

“Snow’s mother had to go out unexpectedly and asked me to cubsit. But I’ll be busy cooking for the playdate, so I need you to look after him, Marina. And no more running, you two!” he said to the skunk and squirrel-elf.

Snow heard Gem’s excited squeals and went over to her and entered the playpen. As soon as he was in reach she grabbed him in a hug and cried out “Teddy!” Snow giggled. “OK, I’ll be your teddy”. Gem began to babble excitedly at him. Snow was getting older and losing his ability to understand baby babble, but he understood enough to learn that the older girls had been running around and had just avoided a scolding. 

The four of them were soon back to their games. The older girls sat at a table to play a board game while the little ones sat in the playpen amongst the toys. As they played, Marina and Wish grew more restless. They tried playing board games and cards, but they were still too charged up from their race. The winner was still being disputed, and, to make thing worse, they seemed to trade wins in their games, making the competitiveness between them grow. The two little ones however were happily playing pretend together with their plushies. 

Snow noticed Gem trying to drink from her empty bottle, and he was getting thirsty too. “I’ll ask for some juice,” he told Gem, and took the bottle over to Marina. Not wanting to interrupt, he waited for them to notice him, but they were too involved in their game. He patted Marina’s arm to get her attention and asked, “Can me and Gem have some juice please?” Wish looked annoyed at the interruption. Marina did as well, but only for a moment. She had been so caught up in competing with Wish, that she had forgotten to check on the little ones. As she got up, the skunk said, “Their juice can wait, I was just about to beat you!” “You won’t beat me this time, and besides this will only take a minute. I need to look after them too, not just you.” Wish bristled to hear she needed anyone to take care of her, she was a big girl! 

Marina turned back to the cub. “I’ll get you both some juice. Gem was drinking strawberry, what kind would you like?” she asked, to which Snow replied, “Grape juice please.”

“Okay,” Marina said, taking Gem’s bottle,  “Go play with Gem and I’ll be right back.” She went into the kitchen to get their drinks, but her mind was still focused on beating Wish. She quickly filled two bottles and hurried back to give them to the little ones. But in her rush to get back to their game, she didn’t notice one bottle wasn’t closed correctly.

Gem took her bottle and started drinking right away, but Snow just looked at his. Why was his juice red instead of purple? And why did he get a bottle? Marina knew he was big enough for a sippy cup. He decided to try it and found it was strawberry juice. Not what he wanted but still good. Not wanting to complain, he decided to drink it anyway. As they played, Snow noticed red spots appearing on Gem’s dress. There seemed to be more of them each time she drank some juice. Suddenly the top popped off her bottle and juice poured over the cub. Snow and their plushies were lucky not to get splashed, but Gem was soaked. The little squirrel even started happily splashing in the puddle. 

Snow looked over at Marina, but she was still squabbling with Wish. Instead of trying to get her attention he decided to tell Paul. Snow got up and went to the kitchen. Focused on their rivalry, neither of the older girls noticed him leave the room. Paul felt someone tug on the leg of his pants, and looked down to see Snow. “What do you need, Snow?” he asked the cub.

“Gem’s juice spilled, she’s all wet,” the cub replied.

Paul took the cub’s hand and led him back to the living room. “Marina, you’re supposed to be watching the little ones. Snow had to tell me Gem spilled her juice. And he shouldn’t be wandering into the kitchen while I’m cooking”. Wish shot the bear another annoyed look. He just had to keep interrupting them! But Marina looked apologetic. She felt terrible about ignoring the little ones, but she just couldn’t let the skunk win. She had to finish their contest quickly, so she could focus on watching all of them. “Sorry Paul, I was busy with Wish and I didn’t notice”. Gem squealed happily as Paul picked her up. “Come on, sticky, if you want to wear strawberry, I have just the outfit for you. You two don’t let Snow out of your sight”. 

Marina asked Wish to watch Snow while she cleaned the spilled juice. Wish grumbled but agreed to do it. Once Paul was gone, the skunk sat Snow on the couch. “You sit there and play with the your plushie, ya baby. Don’t give me any more trouble, or else.” Then she turned to Marina. “Let’s finish our race while we can. Three laps, winner takes all!” 

“You’re on!” the squirrel-elf shot back, jumping at the chance to settle things once and for all. And so the pair resumed their race around the room.

Snow watched them running around. Why did they misbehave so often? Didn’t it earn them timeouts and spankings? The pair started their final lap and Snow saw Wish come tearing around the corner once again. But this time her paw caught on the edge of the rug and she tripped. Marina managed to grab the cub and keep her from falling. Unfortunately, while she did prevent the skunk from falling down, it didn’t stop her from bumping against a table. The lamp on it teetered, then tipped over and fell. Wish made a desperate grab for it, but it slipped through her fingers and shattered on the floor with a dreadful crash.

“What was that!?” came Paul’s voice from down the hall.

“Damn it! He’s going to tan my butt for that” Wish exclaimed.

Snow felt sorry that Wish got in trouble so often, and wanted to give the skunk a break. He looked at the girls and said “No he won’t, please just don’t say anything.” He put Ember down on the table.  

Paul rushed in with Gem, who was now dressed like a strawberry. He saw the broken lamp and asked, “Is anyone hurt?” They all shook their heads to say no. “Good,” said the lion with relief, though he was evidently cross as well. “What happened?”

He saw a guilty look on the two girls’ faces, and Wish was especially squirmy under his gaze. But they were all shocked when the little bear spoke up first. “It was me. I was tossing Ember in the air and catching him, but then he hit the lamp. I’m sorry.”

Paul raised an eyebrow and stared down at the three of them. This was out of character for Snow, who was normally too well behaved to play like that. “Snow, is that really what happened?” he asked with suspicion. The bear slowly nodded yes. “Well,” said Paul with a sigh, “If it was you, then I’ll need to give you a spanking. If it wasn’t you, this is your last chance to tell the truth. ” But the cub replied, “I know, I deserve it.” Regardless of the cub’s confession, the look on the skunk’s face told Paul a different story. “Marina, go get the broom and dustpan, and Wish, you go get the paddle … you know where it is.”

Marina looked at Snow’s gloomy face in despair. She HAD to say something! But the cub shook his head almost imperceptibly, pleadingly, and she kept quiet. Troubled, she left to get the broom and dustpan, but made sure to shoot Wish an accusing look once they’d walked past Paul. Wish looked terribly uncomfortable, but clearly the thought of the paddle being used on her was an even more uncomfortable idea. She went to get it.

Paul sat on the couch and placed the little bear over his lap. Both girls quickly returned with the requested items. Marina left the broom leaning against the kitchen doorway, while Wish set the paddle down beside Paul. “Marina, take Gem to the nursery, and stay with her until I call you back. I don’t want her to see or hear this.” The squirrel-elf shot one more glance to Snow and Wish. This wasn’t right, she had to say something. But when the bear saw her about to speak he once again shook his head to say no, and she wasted no time in leaving. Wish began to say, “I’ll just go with…”  but Paul interrupted her. “No! You will stay right there and watch,” he said crossly, as he pulled down Snow’s diaper.

“Snow, can you count to 10?” he asked, and when the cub replied “yes”, Paul told him to count each smack out loud. Wish watched as the paddle swung down with a smack. Unaccustomed to being spanked the little bear winced at the stinging sensation and said “One” in a very small voice.   

Again the paddle swung down with a smack. This time the cub began to tear up as he said, “Two.”

With each smack Paul glared at Wish, and watched her squirm with remorse. Why was the cub doing this for her? She suspected Paul knew it was her fault, so why did he let Snow take her punishment? If Marina was here she might have realized that as red as the poor cub’s butt got, Paul was holding back. But to Wish, each strike looked much worse than it was. 

Paul was conflicted. The cub was obviously lying, but his intentions, while misguided, were kindhearted. Even though his strikes were halfhearted, they still hurt, and Snow was blubbering with his face buried in his plushie as he finally said, “Ten”.  Paul pulled up the cub’s diaper and handed the paddle back to Wish. “Put that away and stay in the nursery with Marina until I call for you.” The skunk left dragging her feet. She looked as though she would have happily let the ground swallow her. Once Wish was gone, Paul sat the weeping cub on his lap and gently cuddled him, whispering in his ear, “That was for fibbing. Don’t worry, I won’t spank Wish for breaking the lamp; I think making her watch that was punishment enough.” The little bear looked up to him with gratitude, before burying his face in the lion’s chest again. Paul cuddled Snow until he stopped crying.

Paul then called the girls back into the room. He told them to sit on the couch while he cleaned up the broken lamp. Snow curled up on his belly; his butt was too sore to sit on. The girls sat silently except for Gem who snuggled up to Snow, which made him feel a little better. Once he was finished, Paul said ”Now all of you behave! Marina, Wish, stay on the couch, you have a 15 minute timeout. Marina started to say, “But I’m not a child!” However, the look Paul gave her cut her off midsentence. Paul then put Gem and Snow in the playpen and went back to the kitchen. The bear rubbed his sore butt and decided sitting down was still a bad idea. But little Gem soon had him back in a playful mood and into their games, taking his mind off it.

The two girls sat silently on the couch watching Snow, until Paul called out that time was up. Wish went over to the playpen and finally broke their silence, but all she could say was, “Why?” The little bear looked up at her, “I don’t know. You get into so much trouble, I just didn’t want you to be in trouble again.” Not knowing how else to thank him, Wish just gave the little bear a hug. As she hugged him Snow whispered in Wish’s ear, “I think you were going to win”. His words helped soothe her conscience, and brought a smile back to the skunk’s face.