A Bear Named "Franklin" by Justin M.

                  “How long have I been asleep?”  From the look of the world it could have been a lifetime.  It’s amazing how much can change in a few months.  Crawling out of his den after a winter of hibernation Franklin felt as if he had a second shot at life.  A chance to start anew; and Franklin knew that chances shouldn’t be wasted.  This time around he would do things differently.  Forget about the same old foraging for food, fishing in streams, taking naps, and doing what bears are famous for doing in the woods.  Now is the time to experience the adventures of life!  Although those adventures will have to wait because four months asleep works up a rather large appetite.  Hunger satisfied Franklin turns his bear brain to more philosophical thoughts pondering the infinite universe of all that is known and unknown staring at the trees whose branches were filling up with new green leaves.  That’s when it crept into his brain; a question.  But not just any question the most profound question of them all.  What happened to the old leaves?  When Franklin had gone into his den to start his winter nap the leaves had all been on the trees. They were orange and red and brown not green but they had filled the branches all the same.  Now these trees were nearly naked covered only by the scant new growth of leaves.  Something had happened to them while he was sleeping.  There was only one explanation.  Without Franklin there to watch the trees someone had stolen all their leaves.  “Treacherous thief!!” he roared.

                  The thief had to be caught.  And to do that Franklin would have to do what no bear had ever done.  He would have to defy the laws of nature.  Resist an age old instinct.  Franklin must stay awake all winter.  It was going to be quite the task.  Franklin had never seen the winter but he knew that he would be risking his life to protect the trees he loved.  And so every day that year he waited watching the trees as their branches filled with green leaves blocking the sun’s light.  As the months went by the leaves traded in their green tint for countless shades of brown and red and orange and yellow and gold.  And Franklin became very hungry.  He should be eating as much as he can but still he sat and watched the trees.  Franklin became very sleepy. He should be crawling into his den for a long winter sleep but still he watched the trees.  And then as he watched something very strange began to happen.  The leaves fell from the trees.  First one then another and another on every tree and as the days passed the ground became a carpet of leaves and when the trees were bare the snow began to fall.  Nobody stole the leaves. The trees gave them up.  Puzzled Franklin slowly walked to his den and lay down.  He had seen what no other bear ever had seen and as he slept the trees watched over him.