Natives of Sun-setty Flanks of Bearlin, a city unheard of for hibernating furries, are currently receiving charming little postcards from their local Sheriffs reading: ‘Don’t leave your den!’
On an utterly normal Tuesday, or as the bearfolk call it, Twosday, while the sun was caught yawning into the horizon and the first notes of nocturnal symphony began, the authorities of Bearlin issued an unexpected decree. The declaration was odder than the Mayor who believes that his spoons are spying on him, but important enough to pull Bearlin residents from their favorite pastime – counting their own fur during hibernation season.
Bearlin’s Forest Department and Emergency Tree Hugging Services sounded the alarm, instructing the furballs inhabiting the charmingly bumpy Sun-setty Flanks, located in the city’s extreme south-west to “hold their horses… and squirrels… and whatever else they had in their paws”, effectively suggesting a self-imposed lockdown. The cause for this peculiar announcement wasn’t any global pandemic, but rather a case of ‘local endemic’—the sudden and uncontrolled spread of love for the indoors.
Just to ensure the message didn’t go misunderstood, amidst all the comfy and cozy indoor excitement, the city’s very own Mother Bear Nature Alert System roared into action. She regaled the ecosystem, in a distinctly Bearlin accent, with repeated reminders like an annoyed mom grizzly to her distracted cubs, to ‘Stay inside and don’t give me that look.’
As unusual as this closed-door request was, it wasn’t entirely unprecedented. Bearlin is well-known for its interesting and often eccentric public advisories. Past declarations included orders such as, ‘don’t feed the bushes after midnight’ and the still bewildering ‘don’t try to moonwalk on marbles’. Thus, the new indoor mandate was embraced by most Bearliners with a bewildered shrug and a paw-wipe on their bear-beards, a sign of dutiful obedience.
So, as day rolled into night, and the night into day, the Bearlinaires heaved indoor parties, complete with berries and honey, taking the pandemonium of the pandemic and turning it into an epicurean ecstatic endemic. As we write this, the furry citizens continue their indoor explorations armed with spoons that have sworn to secrecy, and are relishing every moment in the joyous warmth of their dens.
In the words of one of the Sun-setty Flanks residents, “Hibernation has just begun early this year. It’s all bear-y good!”
In conclusion, as the Bearlin folks in Sun-setty Flanks descend deeper into their self-imposed lockdown, let it be a bold reminder to us all – that life, whether chasing butterflies under the open sky or cuddling up in the comfort of your own fur, always has a way of covering us under its furry yet unmistakably reassuring bear hug. As they say in Bearlin, “We’ll bear with it. Quite bear-ably indeed.”
