The air was crisp and felt refreshing, maybe his house was in some dire need of dusting…and opening some windows. But he wouldn't think about that right now. Spring was beginning to arrive, well arrive in Canada that is.
Kumani ran a little further ahead of Matthew as they walked on the sidewalk. The pair didn't speak and instead observed the surroundings. It had been a while since the pair just strolled around. Matthew was always trying to find work to do, trying to be helpful, adding unnecessary stress upon his shoulders. Kumajit would always be sleeping sitting beside him, acting as a moral support.
"Hey," Matthew called out to the polar bear who was a good distance away, "would you want some Timmies?"
"Yeah." The bear said while galloping back to Matthew, he was a bit of a sweets freak despite being a polar bear. Matthew laughed at Kumajito's antics. The bear made grabby hands or paws towards Matthew and Matthew picked the bear up pretty effortlessly. The pair walked to the nearest Tim Hortons with Matthew holding Kumajuri like he would a stuffed animal. He got a few side glances entering the store, he was a fairly tall man holding what looked to be like a big stuffed animal. At the moment Kuma was the size of a border collie so he looked like a big stuffed animal.
Matthew patiently waited in line and readjusted his hold on the polar bear, holding him like a football was starting to make his arms ache. He decided to swing Kuma around and have the bear in his arms like a baby with one arm, and the polar bear being sleepy decided to be adorable and loop an arm around Matthew's neck. Or the bear did that to make sure he wouldn't fall in case Matthew dropped him.
"Did that stuffie just move?" Matthew heard a little voice said from behind him. He briefly glanced back to see a young woman, probably in her 20s with a little boy holding her hand. The boy was staring at Kuwait in awe.
"No that was just your imagination, eh." Said the woman as she continued to stare at her phone.
Matthew made brief eye contact with the boy and smiled, he then whispered to Kumajorl that he should wave. The polar bear instead rolled his eyes. "Damn hoser," Matthew whispered to his companion. The little boy though had a different reaction, instead of being annoyed at the bear like Matthew was, the little boy's eyes widened dramatically and he gasped.
"Sis, sis," The boy said tugging at her hand, "the stuffies's eyes moved!"
"Sure, sure," She said completely oblivious. The line moved up a little further and Matthew directed his attention back to the menu. Matthew didn't really need to look at the menu since he already knew what he wanted, it was more just a social norm to look at that or one's phone. Matthew only had Kumajiro and his wallet so his eyes were forced to the menu, "Know what you want?" He whispered to his polar bear, "Timbits and Maple donuts." If a bear could sound sarcastic he would right now, his tone was one that had a subtext of this being the most obvious answer.
"You know they discontinued those donuts," Matthew responded.
Kumaj's eyes widened, "Since when?"
"2 years ago," Matthew said, matching Kumajiro's smug and snarky tone. The bear only tsked in response, and that shocked the little boy behind them, who would have thought a bear could tsk?
As they reached the counter Matthew read off their order. The tired cashier didn't even bat an eye at what looked to be a giant stuffed animal in this tall man's arms. "Anything else you'd like?" They asked.
"Mmm, nope," Matthew said cheerfully before stepping to the side to wait for his order. He played with Kumahiro's paws like you'd play with a baby. He was totally oblivious to the look being sent his way.
Matthew was totally in his own world with Kumajoe until he heard his name called, stepping up to the counter he grabbed his items in one hand and switched to hold Kuma in the other. In a way, it really was quite impressive how he was holding everything. Finally, the cashier seemed to notice the bear and they lifted an eyebrow, especially after seeing Kuma blink. The pair exited the store and were a few paces away when they heard someone yell, "Excuse me!" Matthew turned around quickly and almost dropped all his items but he was able to smoothly catch them though he did drop his bear in the process. "Hoser," Kuma said as he was plopped onto the ground.
"I'm sorry," a woman's voice said and Matthew saw she was holding the hand of the little boy before. "My little brother wanted to know if he could pet your stuffed animal. If that's ok of course."
Matthew smiled before looking down at Kumajiro, "Really that's up to him."
The woman looked confused but the boy had already figured it out and had already run up to Kumajosef.
"Are you a real polar bear?" The kid asked.
"Yeah." The polar bear said, still sitting on his ass from where he had been dropped.
The kid squealed and rushed forward to hug Kuma while his sister looked like she was going to keel over.
"What the fuc-fuddle duddle?" The sister said, correcting herself before she dropped the f-bomb in front of her brother.
Matthew chuckled, it felt really good interacting with others who actually saw him. Maybe he should hang out with humans more. "His name is Kuma... Kumajirou, he is a real polar bear."
"How and why do you have a real polar bear?" She asked.
Matthew paused a moment wondering what he should say, it is pretty weird to have a real polar bear as a pet especially walking around in the capital of Canada. "When I lived further up north I happened to find him in the nearby woods. I took him to the nearest vet and they fixed him up, but said he couldn't be returned back to the wild. And they were too uh busy with other animals and stuff so they gave him to me."
"That doesn't explain how he can talk!" She exclaimed, eyes widening dramatically and gesturing to Kumajirou who now looked to be playing patty cake with the kid.
"He can talk because of magic!" The kid exclaimed and Matthew chuckled. The odd encounter with the humans lasted a few more minutes until they had to go. As the pair walked back to the house, the food and drink taking up both of Matthew's hands and Kuma walking beside him, Matthew popped a question. "Yeah, Kuma how is it that you're able to talk?"
"You seriously don't know? Damn doughead."
Matthew chuckled at his friend's swearing antics, really if he was a human seeing them he'd probably flip out. One rarely sees a polar bear this far down south and in a major city. And one has never seen a talking polar bear.
Arriving home the pair dug into their Tim Hortons, Matthew turned on a horror movie, his favorite The Cube. Kumanieou was not thrilled with the movie choice but he fell asleep quickly after eating the timbits and a vanilla donut. There was no sugar rush instead only sugar crash. Matthew though was wired after drinking his Maple coffee and eating all those sweets, so what a better way to get rid of excess energy than by watching a horror movie?
An hour and a half passed and the movie finished, Kumanieou was snoozing, and Matthew still had this jittery feeling. He didn't want to just sit around and continue to watch TV he wanted to do shit! Grabbing his phone he quickly googled a local hockey team in Ottawa, the Belleville Senators, and just his luck they had a game tonight! Hopping up he casted one last look to his furry companion before darting away to the game.