Polar bears - diving

One day morning polar bears woke up, left the cave, didn't pay any attention to the soccer ball in the corner by the fence. They went swimming instead. "How do you dive, Standa?", asked Northern. "Do you prefer forward dives, or feet first? They spent whole day, except meal times, diving from the rock to the pool. They tried to dive with their front paws above the head, with the paws touching, not touching, with the front paws close to the sides of their body. They tried to dive like a knife without any splash, or with as much splash they could create, so the water splashed over the wall and hit the sleeping seals. "What are you doing?" piped the seals but the bears didn't pay any attention. They were busy diving with their feet first, then with front paws touching their knees, trying to roll in the air and dive with their heads first. They dived backwards, with the behind sticking out. It's wander there was still some water left in the pool. They didn't stop until their keeper called them: "Dinner time!" The polar bears were so hungry they gobbled up everything in one gulp and they begged for more. The keeper couldn't refuse. "I shall bring you one more bucket of fish," he promised. Meanwhile children and their parents, aunts, uncles, babysitters, neighbors, teachers grandparents, and other visitors, gathered by the polar bears watching the feeding. The bears were busy shaking water out of their furs, stretching their paws and making eyes: "Please, please, give us some food, we are starving." "I have a ham and cheese sandwich," said little Alexa. "Can I give it to them?" "No," said her father. "Do you see the sign? It says: do not feed polar bears, and look, the keeper is already coming with the buckets full of fish and vitamins." "Vitamins?" giggled Mady. "Do they eat vitamins as we do?" "Of course. They need proper diet. In the nature they feed on seals. Since they can not have seals, they get supplements, like you, your brother and your sisters." This time the bears ate more slowly, chewing their fish and swallowing carefully. "Stop eating so loudly," warned Northern Standa. "Children are watching us. We don't want them to think we don't have any manners." After the meal time the audience left and Northern and Standa were lying on their bellies licking their paws, and doing their manicure. They were cleaning carefully their claws one by one and between and biting off the overgrown claws on their front and back feet. They also cleaned with their claws what was left of fish between their teeth. Meanwhile the Sun went down and yellow, pink and blue streaks of light disappeared. Canadian geese honked their: "Good night" and it was time to sleep. Before Standa curled up in their cave, he said with very sleepy voice: "We had so much fun today. Are we going to dive tomorrow again? and he buried his nose into the fur on his belly and was asleep. Copyright (c) Marie Neumann Pottsville, Summer 2009