“My goodness, Bear! I had been so worried about you…fretting about where you could have gotten off to this evening,” Rabbit exclaimed, dropping the Rather Large Stick he’d found in preparation for their Standard Evening Meetup and rushing to embrace his friend in a desperate hug. Squirrel had counselled Rabbit earlier that day, wisely suggesting that it would be easier to stoke the fire with a Stick rather than fanning it with the usual leaves that would typically shrivel in the process. Rabbit had been eager to show Bear how the fire would burn brighter and stronger if he used the Stick. Poor Rabbit. He was nothing if not incredibly dedicated to this ritual he partook in with Bear–to carefully feeding the fire underneath the rusted Samovar he and Bear had trudged up a few years ago by the river bank, so they could share a cup of tea every night before closing their eyes. They’d count the Stars too. Night upon night. Rabbit couldn’t sleep without the Stars. Without Bear. 

Bear scratched his head, hitting that particular spot behind his left ear that always seemed to be nursing an itch. “Hmmm,” he sighed, plopping down. “Gosh, I don’t know, Rabbit. I seem to have gotten lost, haven’t I?”

“Lost?” Rabbit gasped. “But Bear! You take the same path every night! You have for As Long As We Can Remember…Remember?”

“You’re right Rabbit, but tonight I think something must have made me Act Funny because suddenly I had this thought…wouldn’t it be nice to have some Honey? And then I thought I would get some Honey. Which I did. Because I thought it would be nice to share with you and the Stars and that maybe we could do something Different.”

“Different?” Rabbit scrunched his nose. 

“Yeah, Rabbit…Different. And so I’d set off for the evening…to visit you, and as I was walking through the Woods I heard a curious sort of Noise. It sounded like Buzzing, and I thought it might have been Bees, and so I followed it because where there are Bees there is Honey, and I wanted to bring you the Honey so we could have something Different tonight with the Stars.”

Rabbit had started tapping his foot incessantly, casting anxious glances between Bear and the Samovar nestled within the fire’s glow. The Stick somehow mattered much less now.

“But as I followed the Noise, Rabbit, I seemed to find myself inside of a Cloud, and it was so thick that I think I might have gotten Lost. I could still hear the Buzzing, though, and I so very much wanted to bring us the Honey, so I kept walking. I thought I saw something that could be a Bee, but then I discovered it was just a leaf. Floating. Like the ones you use to fan our fires. And then I saw a shadow so large and frightening, Rabbit, and I got scared, so I ran back. I wanted to get out of the Cloud, but I couldn’t. And the Buzzing got louder and louder until I thought I was going in circles. And I think I must have been because I got so dizzy that I fell down.”

“Oh, Bear,” Rabbit cried, wringing his paws in dismay.

“Yes, it was quite Sad, and, for a moment, I forgot how to move. And I closed my eyes so I could at least stop looking at the Cloud, but I could still hear the Buzzing. I tried to close my eyes tighter, but that was no good either, and then I began to think of you Rabbit and how I had just wanted to find us some Honey so we could share something Different tonight.”

“But Bear! Isn’t what we have quite nice? Don’t you like the Samovar and the Stars? I feel as if I can’t sleep if I don’t count them with you! And that if they’re shining up there every night, that we simply must count them? That, maybe, they’re lit each night because we need them? Bear and Rabbit need them?”

“I like the Stars, Rabbit,” Bear agreed, “I like them very much. But tonight, I think something made me Act Funny. I am sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I just wanted to find us some Honey.”

“But how ever did you find your Way Out?” Rabbit had taken to pacing nervously in front of Bear, forgetting all about the fire and growing progressively more distressed with each pass.

“Oh, that part is funny too. I am still quite puzzled about it all. But as I lay there with my eyes closed and the Buzzing noise growing louder and louder, I thought I heard another sound from far off. It sounded like you humming, Rabbit. And then I heard a thud out of Nowhere!” And here, Bear got up and stomped his foot with as much strength as he could muster to demonstrate to Rabbit. “And so, I opened my eyes and right by my side, laying haphazard on the ground–you wouldn’t believe it–was a pot of Honey!”

“No!” Rabbit jumped back, startled.

“Yes, Rabbit! Only the trouble was, it was all broken, as if the Sky had wanted to give it to me but dropped it by accident.”

“But Bear. That still doesn’t explain how you got Unlost!”

“Well, I just followed the humming, Rabbit. Your humming, I suppose.”

“I hadn’t been humming at all!”

“Hmm, well someone had been,” Bear nodded gravely, sitting down again. “How else could I have found you? Someone knew I had to get to you and our Samovar and the Stars.”

“Bear, this is all very silly of you. You didn’t even get the Honey!”

“But I did get a little. Just enough. It’s broken and not much, but I figure it will give us something a bit Different tonight.” Bear carefully pulled out a piece of pot he’d been holding, with just a smear of Honey pooled in the belly of the fragment. “See?”

Rabbit sniffed back a tear, not caring much at all for this new Honey. “You’re late, Bear.”

Bear raised the Honey up higher, as if he were showing the Stars too. “See?” He turned back to his friend. “Rabbit, I think it might have been the Stars that were humming.”

“Don’t be silly. Stars don’t hum. They light up. So you and I can count them. Because we need to, Bear.”

“I think I needed the Honey tonight, Rabbit…I really needed it.”

Rabbit stared at Bear, not sure which of them had changed. Why or how. If they had changed at all. Maybe it was because he’d used that Stick earlier today. He approached the fire, gently hoisting the Samovar off and placing it between him and Bear. Rabbit looked up at the Stars in silence. “One,” he whispered. A twang of sorrow lacing his voice.

“Two,” Bear whispered back, wondering why the Sky had dropped the Honey. And how had it known Bear was looking for something Different that night?

Art by Karyna Podzirei