.~*Chapter Six*~.
The long, brown-furred bear in question was currently turning right to go down Oak St., the very hill street where Beary had been kidnapped almost two weeks before. He was on his way to the Stones' house, where Trixie currently was with her sister and brother-in-law. He was going to apologize for the rude way he had been acting for the past four days whenever the Stone adults had come over. He had been a real jerk, just because he had been jealous that the Stones got to raise his daughter instead of him.
'Maybe it would've been better if Trixie hadn't told me the truth…' he wondered. 'Maybe then I wouldn't be feeling the pain I am now…'
When he had first learned of Jewel's existence, he was beyond shocked. He had been furious and heartbroken that Trixie had gone and had a cub. At first it was because he thought that she had had an affair, and second because she hadn't told him about it for almost eleven years. Learning that Jewel Stone was really Jewel St. Claire (he and Trixie never married, so Jewel shared the same last name as her mother, but he was planning on changing that) and his cub, had surprised him. And the fact that she had been living with her Aunt Tasha and Uncle James Stone had shocked him. He had thought for the longest time that Trixie had ran off to be with a panda…
Only to learn that she had left because she was scared about how he would take the news about the cub.
'I was so stupid…'
He had had almost four days after that to meet his daughter, but had been too afraid to. And now he may never see his cub, because she had gone looking for her best friend.
'So this is what Henry feels like every time he sees Beary.'
"There's no way that Beary is not Henry's son. He looks exactly like Helen, takes after her, too, but has Henry's hazel green eyes. I know Henry knows this!" he muttered. "He's just denyin' the truth. But why?" He paused when he reached the alley, the very alley where Beary had been kidnapped. 'So… This is where it happened…' he thought.
Looking to the left, he saw tall green bushes growing along the side of the alley. 'No wonder Beary didn't see the van… It had a good hiding place…' He paused in confusion. 'Wait a minute… The woman who witnessed the kidnapping claims that Beary had turned around when he was at the top of the hill and raced back down… How did the kidnappers know he was going to do that? Maybe it was cause they had followed him from school and saw him with his guitar before he got to Jewel's…'
He continued to study the alleyway in quiet suspicion for a few short moments before continuing on his way. However, he couldn't shake the strange feeling he was getting. He knew that something didn't add up.
Once at the bottom of the hill, he turned left again and began walking up the street to the large green house in the middle of the block. Once at the front steps, he climbed them up to the lawn and to the front porch. Once up on the porch, he hesitated for a moment before ringing the doorbell.
The door opened after a few moments, revealing the dark-furred and green apron-clad female known as Tasha Stone. She looked at him in surprise for a moment before speaking. "Tennessee! W-What are you doing here?" Suddenly remembering the way she had been coldly treated by the one-string thang player, she fixed him with an icy glare. "What do you want?"
"I…uh… I came to apologize for how I've been actin' the past four days," the thick-furred bear quietly said, not meeting her eyes.
"What was that?"
"I came to apologize for how I've been actin' over the past four days," Tennessee replied, his voice a little louder than before.
Tasha put a paw up to her ear. "I'm sorry, I didn't quiet catch that."
"I'M SORRY FOR THE WAY I'VE BEEN ACTIN'!" Tennessee answered loudly, his voice just a little quieter than a shout.
Tasha nodded. "That's better," she said playfully, stepping aside and letting him through the door. He thanked her and stepped inside. She then shut the door behind them.
Trixie smiled when she saw her boyfriend; she and James had heard the entire conversation. She went over and gave him a hug and whispered in his ear, "I'm proud of you, Tennessee." Turning, she looked at her younger sister and brother-in-law. "So, shall we let him in on the conversation?"
"What conversation?" Tennessee asked in confusion.
Tasha took his paw. "Tennessee, do you want to know what your daughter has been up to these past eleven years?"
Tennessee's smile couldn't have gotten any bigger. "I would love too."
.~*The Country Bears*~.
"I've brought you a visitor, bear. I'm sure you know him."
Weary hazel green eyes slowly looked up towards the source of the voice. The owner of the weary eyes was curled up in a fetal position in the corner of the currently cold room. The collar around his neck was heavy and extremely uncomfortable. The chain around it gave him little slack, allowing him little movement. The muzzle around his snout chaffed his thin fur, and kept his snout tightly shut.
He hadn't eaten in at least a week and three days. The week, he was unconscious. The three days he was awake, he had been vomiting severely as a reaction to the tranquilizer darts he had been given when they had kidnapped him. At least during that time, they had had the courtesy of removing the muzzle. However, now that his stomach was empty, he kept having dry heaves, and they returned the muzzle to his snout, despite his struggles.
There was two ways he knew that it was night and day. Night, the room he was in was freezing; the fur that covered his body did little to ward off the cold. Day, the room he was in was uncomfortably hot, making him wish he wasn't a bear with thick fur.
He was so weak… He could barely lift his head to look at his kidnapper. His movements were shaky. Even though the room was cold, he was not. He was sick with fever.
His head fell back to his chest as a series of coughs tried to escape his closed mouth. The coughing intensified, causing him to fall to his side as his body shook from the force of the coughing.
He could hear them laughing at him. Laughing at his pain.
His coughing finally subsided almost ten minutes later, leaving him weaker than before.
"Hey, Barrington. Remember me?"
Beary's eyes widened. 'It couldn't be…' Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked at the two figures. Though his vision swam, he was able to see two dark figures: one tall, the other just a little shorter.
The shorter one walked towards him, and then squatted down in front of the feverish cub, allowing the cub to see his face. "I hope you remember me, Barrington. I remember you. And just so you know, I hate you and your so-called family," he said before chuckling darkly. "If you ever manage to get out of this, even though I doubt you will, I want you to pass along a message to your bastard brother."
Beary's confused expression suddenly turned to one of extreme pain as his "visitor's" foot slammed into his gut. With a muffled scream of pain, his world went black.
.~*The Country Bears*~.
Buying the bus ticket had been the hard part, what with all the images of her face flashing across almost every television screen with the words, "BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR" below each and every one of them. Jewel could hear her mother's voice telling her to "come home" as well, and it nearly made her break down and cry. She wanted nothing more than go home.
'But I can't,' she reminded herself. 'I can't go home until I find Beary.'
She lowered her head as she went up to the ticket counter and purchased the ticket. She was glad that she had brought a bear-sized baseball cap and a pair of large, green sunglasses with her. The ticket lady barely looked at her face as the cub handed over her money and the lady handed her the bus ticket. Jewel then hurried out to her bus, which was about to depart. Instead of parting with her backpack and putting it in the cargo hold she voted for keeping it with her, letting it rest on her lap.
Sitting in the way back of the Greyhound, Jewel tried to relax, but failed miserably. She didn't dare take off her cap or sunglasses, lest she be recognized by someone who recently watched the news. She couldn't risk it.
Looking out the window as the bus began to move, she saw a cop moving towards the ticket window where she had bought her ticket. 'Shoot!' she thought in horror. 'Please don't let her recognize my photo!' She didn't get a chance to find out, though, as the bus fully left the station.
Sighing in relief, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. 'I can't believe I really did it… Is this what Beary felt like when he ran away from home a year ago?' she wondered. 'A sense of freedom, regret, and fear all rolled into one?'
The golden-furred, green-eyed bear cub opened her over-the-shoulder bag and pulled out her scrapbook. Opening the black book, she stared at the first image she had of her and Beary, one from all the way back in kindergarten, where they had first met…
Flashback
A small golden cub cautiously looked around the room. Growing up with a police officer for a father, she was naturally suspicious and cautious. There was no one else in the room, save for a light brown-furred bear cub, sitting at the back table and coloring.
"Mama? Why I hewe again?" she asked, looking up at the dark-furred, blue-eyed bear that was her mother. Her father had to work; he was rather disappointed that he wouldn't get to see his baby girl off to school.
Tasha Stone smiled. "To learn, Jewel," she replied gently. She had discussed "school" with the cub for almost a week, and was getting tired of the same question over and over and-
"Leawn what?" the curious cub questioned.
"Well, how to spell, sing, play, make friends-" Tasha began, but immediately knew the last one was the wrong thing to say.
"But Sasha, Glowia, and Maya are my fwiends!"
"Honey, they're back in Iowa. We're in Tennessee. We have a new life here, now," Tasha answered.
"I wanna go back!" Jewel cried, refusing to take another step.
Her mother sighed. "Jewel, sweetie, you're going to make new friends. You can still talk to Sasha, Gloria, and Maya on the phone-" When Jewel began to show signs of an oncoming fit, Tasha glared at her, silencing the fit before it could begin. "Now, look over there," she said, trying to stay calm. She was pointing at the lone bear cub in the back of the room. "Go and say 'hello'."
As Jewel turned to look at the cub, Tasha took the chance and quickly left the room. Jewel scowled when she saw what her mother had done. She proceeded to follow the older bear out of the room, but was stopped when a hoard of human children filed in with their parents. She jumped back with a slight growl and stalked towards the back of the room, where she then sat down at the round table, across from the other bear cub.
The other cub looked up at her for a moment, stunned that someone would actually sit with him. 'Ha! Dex was wrong!' he thought happily. 'He said nobody would sit with me!' Now grinning, he looked back down at his drawing.
Jewel glanced at cub and growled, "What awe yo gwinning at?"
The other cub looked at her, startled by the hostile tone in her voice. "Nofing," he replied softly, flinching lightly. "Just somefing my oldew bwofer said."
Slightly curious, she asked, "Wha' did he say?" She immediately could tell he was shy
"He said nobody would sit by me."
Confused, the female cub asked, "Why wouldn' anybody sit wif yo? Awe yo sick o' somefing?"
The cub shook his head. "Mama said he was just bein' mean an' nawt to lisen to him." He studied her for a moment, taking in her golden fur and her stunning forest green eyes, before asking, "Yo wanna dwa wif me?" He held out his large crayons. Would she join him or take them from him?
Jewel smiled. Sure, she was mad with her mother, but that didn't mean she couldn't have fun. "Suwe!" She took one of the crayons, a blue one, a piece of paper, and smiled. 'Maybe this is what Mama means?' she wondered. "I'm Jewel. Jewel Stone. I'm five an' a hawf."
"Beary. Beary Barrington. I juzz tuwn five a fu monfs ago."
End Flashback
Jewel chuckled at the memory. She and Beary had become fast friends after that, but they didn't become best friends until a few days afterwards…
Flashback
Jewel walked into the classroom just in time to see the following scene take place.
"My oldah bwofher says tat Dex Bawington is yo oldah bwofer," a six-year-old, brown-haired, blue-eyed boy said to the light brown-furred, green-eyed bear cub that sat alone at a table in the back of the room.
Beary looked up at the boy in surprise. "Yeah, so?" he asked in confusion.
"Thewe's no way yo awe his bwofher."
Beary just looked at him, confusion evident on his face.
The human just stared at him. "Yo a beaw, dummy."
Jewel, who was confused and angered at the remark, walked over to them. "What yo point?" she asked, sitting down next to her friend. "Don't call my fwiend a 'dummy', dummy," she growled.
The child pointed at Beary, as if trying to prove his point. "He a beaw! Dex is ahoomon!" he argued. "Dex is like me! Nawt yo! My oldah bwofher says yo a ugly, smeewy be-"
Jewel punched him, sending him sprawling to the floor. "Beary's nawt stupid! Yo stupid!" She turned back to her friend. "Come on, Beary. We gonna find somewhew else to sit." She proceeded to move across the back of the room to an empty table in the opposite corner.
Beary, shocked, stared at her for a moment before gathering up his things and following her…
End Flashback
She turned the page, looking at the next picture. It was taken after her parents and Beary's parents had met. The meeting had been a little… interesting…
Flashback
Beary and Jewel looked up from their game in surprise when the doorbell rang. They watched as Tasha, in all her dark-furred glory, walked over to the door, wiping off her paws on her green apron.
Quickly getting bored, the two cubs turned back to their intense game of ultimate tic-tac-toe, all the while eavesdropping like little children tend to do.
Opening the door, Tasha began to greet the parents of Beary Barrington (who had told her that they were on their way), only to pause in confusion when she didn't see two bears standing on the porch, but three humans, two older and much younger. Instead of just standing there and staring, she asked, "May I help you?"
The woman spoke first. "We're here to pick up Beary."
"Are you friends with his parents?" Tasha asked, confused as to why they were there.
Her answer, however, came from a different source. "Mama!" Beary cried, abandoning his game and running towards the humans. The two adult humans embraced the cub, much to the surprise of Tasha Stone.
"You… You're Beary's parents?" she exclaimed in surprise.
Mrs. Barrington smiled. "I'm Allison. This is my husband, Norbert, and our oldest son, Dexter."
"Dex," the boy muttered.
Tasha, finally getting over her initial shock escorted them in. "I'm Tasha Stone, Jewel's... mother," she said. "I would let you meet my husband, but he's at work at the moment."
"Really? What's he do?" Norbert asked while Allison let Dex and Beary go back to playing with Jewel.
The three children didn't pay much attention to the adult's conversation, but instead when back to playing. Well, Dex just sat and watched the two bear cubs while they played...
End Flashback
"Is this seat taken?" a voice asked.
Jewel nearly jumped out of her fur at the new voice. She looked up, only to see someone she never expected. "Dex?" she exclaimed in complete surprise.
Dexter Barrington just smirked. "Of course! Who else?"
Jewel moved her stuff off the seat next to her and the teen sat down. "What are you doing here?" she hissed.
"Same as you. I'm going to look for Beary. I got on the bus just after you did. I knew where you were going, so I followed. I'm just glad that you didn't leave the station on the really early bus," he explained as he set his backpack down. "Remember, I can drive. So I got to the station just before you boarded the bus."
"What about Mr. and Mrs. Barrington?"
"Hey, remember, I barely leave my room. Besides, I told them I was going to AJ's. They said that it was good that I was getting out of the house." He smirked. "The Bears just sorta glared at me. I don't think that they could believe that I was going to a friend's house when my brother is missing." He looked around. "So, where we headed?"
"Well, Beary's journey began at Country Bear Hall, remember?" Jewel asked. The human nodded, and she went on. "Well, I'm just thinking that maybe he might have left something there that might give us a clue as to where he might be."
Dex dug into his backpack and pulled out a familiar red scrapbook. "Maybe this might help? If there's anything about an enemy of the Country Bears, it's gotta be in here."
Jewel could've hugged him. "Dex, that's genius!" She took the scrapbook from his hands and it flipped open to the middle of the book. A newspaper article was pasted on the right half of the page. BEARS WIN TALENT SHOW; DEFEAT "ARM MUSICIAN" the headline read.
"What's an 'arm musician'?" Dex asked.
"Beary told me that it was someone who played 'music' with arm farts. The talent show was the Bears' big break," Jewel answered, about to turn the page. Dex stopped her.
"Wait. Look!" He pointed at a smaller picture beneath the larger one.
"What?" Jewel asked, confused.
"Read the caption!"
Upon being named runner-up, fifteen-year-old Benny Boggswaggle questioned the judging and proceeded to throw a fit on stage, causing minimal damage, but disturbing just the same.
Dex immediately pulled out his cell phone. Quickly punching in some numbers, he called home.
"What are you doing?" Jewel cried, attempting to take the phone from him.
"BB!" Dex answered, keeping said phone out of the female cub's reach.
"Huh?"
Dex shook his head and shushed her as Mrs. Barrington picked up the phone on the other end of the line.
"Hello?"
"Mom, put Henry on the phone. Tell him it's important!"
"Dex, what's going on? Where are you? I called AJ's house earlier, and he said that you never went there!"
"Never mind that, Mom! I'll explain later!"
"You'd better have a good explanation, mister! You are grounded when you get home!"
"Just know that I have found Jewel."
"What?"
"Mom! Hurry up! My battery's dying!"
"Fine, fine. Hold on."
A few moments later, Henry's voice crackled over the line, slightly muffled due to the phone being on speaker; they didn't exactly have a bear-sized phone yet. "Hello?"
"Henry, who was it that captured you guys last year just before the concert?"
"Reed Thimple. Why?"
"Didn't you say that he had another name?"
"Well, yeah. It was Benny Boggs…waggle…" With that, Henry used a swear word that he was immediately rebuked for by Allison. "Do you really think-"
Dex's cell phone battery chose that moment to die, cutting off the conversation.
"Dex, what's going on?" Jewel questioned.
"I just found out who 'BB' is."
