Blubber Bear

BLUBBER BEAR
by Cameron Caldwell
aka(Wolfgang Wolfe)


The salmon run. Kenai had no idea what it was but seeing as how it only happened once a year, it must’ve been important. Much less the fact that that was exactly where he needed to go if he wanted to be human again. But unfortunately he had a little extra luggage to carry along...
"Hey Kenai guess what!" Koda said bouncing around the bears feet anxiously, Kenai sighed and looked at the bear that was clinging to his paw trying to slow him down.
"What is it now?" he asked stopping abruptly by a riverside
"We're here!" Koda shouted excitedly and ran down the river a bit stopping at a slight but noticeable waterfall, Kenai ran behind him as best he could but the little bear seemed quite excited.
"What? What is it KO...da..." Kenai said as he ran to the edge of the river himself, but the view was something he hadn’t quite expected to see.
Dozens of bears were sitting in the semi-shallow waters, cramming dozens of thick and juicy salmon into their Ravenous jaws.
Staring wide eyed at the many bears Kenai was almost teetering on the edge of the waterfall that was, until Koda gave him the nudge he needed and sent him Cascading into the waters below. The bears all turned around at the sudden splash and laughed as they saw Koda at the top of the falls.
"Koda you finally made it!" a rather large bear had paused from his eating to waddle over to the brown cub, just barely missing Kenai on his way over. Kenai however had just resurfaced and was looking about frantically, never having been around this many bears at once, especially now that he had to keep his cool. But, he simply laughed nervously and tried his best to get up to Koda before he backed into a black furry wall, he turned and looked up a few feet above him and saw a HUGE black bear looming over him.
That was the breaking point.
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
The smaller bear shrieked as he saw the huge bear above him, its strong paws wrapping around him, and pulling him towards his muzzle.
"So this is your friend Koda?" the huge bear asked sniffing over the tan colored bear.
"Yeah Tug that’s Kenai, he helped me get here when I got separated from mom. Kenai this is Tug." he said and jumped down into the water himself.
"H,h,h,h,h, Hi..." Kenai gulped still staring at the huge bear’s muzzle,
"Well its nice to meet ya, good thing you came along too, was starting to get worried about little Koda here." the Bear boomed as he set Kenai back in the water. Tug laughed some and leaned over to Koda,
"Kinda jumpy, isn’t he?" he whispered.
"Yeah but he's cool" Koda replied and watched Tug waddle over to the now settling Kenai.
Kenai was sitting by the water, finally realizing that he was a bear amongst bears and would fit in just fine. Most of the other bears who at this point were filling their faces, seemed nice enough, almost a lot like his Family back with the tribe, he felt….he felt, welcome…
"SO! How long ya been with Koda?" Tug boomed and knocked Kenai back into the water; the large bear chuckled some and pulled him out with amazing ease, sitting him beside him.
"Well, heh, not too long, just a few days now, he’s been a real help getting here...” he said but was cut off by his own gurgling stomach...
"Heh and I guess we haven’t eaten too much since we got here." he smiled and rubbed his stomach. Tug grinned and leaned down a bit to the much smaller bear.
"Well, I know a spot over on the other side of the river where the salmon are fattest and juiciest around here; u can check it out if ya want; only me and a few other bears know about it, so keep it quiet." He winked and waddled over to Koda and a few of the other cubs.
Now Kenai sat there, his stomach growling and getting louder by the moment. The thought of eating salmon raw didn’t sound too appealing to him but his stomach thought otherwise. So, with another few growls of hunger pangs and the sight of all the other bears eating he was quickly on his way to where Tug had directed.
Just as he was stepping into the river to cross it, Koda swam by him on his back.
“Hey Kenai, where ya going?” he asked inquisitively.
“Oh just over on the other side of the river where tu … tulips grow!” he grinned and quickly corrected himself. Koda's head tilted to the side as he heard this, “where tulips grow?”
“Yeah where tulips grow! I love tulips.” He smiled and scratched behind his head some,
“You’re so weird Kenai.” Koda laughed and swam over to some smaller bears nearby. Kenai sighed a breath of relief and began to dog paddle across the fairly shallow water to the other side, shaking himself dry as he reached it. He looked back to see if Koda was watching and then made his way over to a side river near the main one.
Luckily for him this river was separated by a rather large boulder which concealed it from sight. As he stepped around the Boulder however he instantly saw Tug's little spot. There were about 5 other male bears there besides tug himself. They were all sitting in the middle of the water (as it wasn’t that deep) laughing and eating salmon. Kenai walked over somewhat sheepishly.
“And then he said, “Yeah right! Those things taste horrible with clothes on!” so I said, “that’s why you catch em’ bathing in the river!” Tug laughed and saw Kenai walking over to the group.
“Ah Kenai! So you made it! Glad to have ya!” he boomed as Kenai took a seat in between him and another rather chubby bear.
“Guys this is the one I was talking about…” Tug asked and stood up, looming over Kenai, as did the other bears near him…
“So it was him huh?” one bear asked walking a little closer to Kenai, the 6 of them pretty much had him surrounded at this point. Kenai gulped some and looked about, seeing there was no escape route.
“Look guys, I,I,I I’m sorry!” he asked trying to back up but just ran into another large bear.
“I think its time for us to…Thank you!” Tug said and pulled the little bear into another hug.
Kenai coughed as Tug was cutting off his air from the hug.
“Thank me?” He gasped as Tug set him down; the other bears nodded and said thanks as well.
“If it wasn’t for you I don’t think little Koda would’ve gotten here alright! Once I heard he had been separated from his mother I thought for sure he wouldn’t turn up, but thanks to you, here he is! You have my thanks and my friendship!” Tug explained and offered a large salmon to Kenai.
“Well it really was nothing, I just followed him really. And thanks for the salmon but I couldn’t…” he replied and waved his paws as if to say no,
“Would ya look at that he’s modest and selfless! But please I insist!” Tug replied and stuffed the salmon into Kenai’s mouth muffling him before he could say another word. The taste was odd…yet good, and the fact that it was still wiggling in his maw made it taste even better. In a moment to his own surprise he had gulped down half the salmon and watched as the tail hung from his mouth.
Tug himself even seemed to be surprised at how quickly the smaller bear had gulped down the Salmon and the other bears were cheering him on. With another loud GULP the wiggling fish had found itself in the bears gut, he sat for a moment uneasily and then burped contentedly.
“Whoa, hungry weren’t ya little guy?” Tug chuckled and pat Kenai on the back, he grinned some and pat his gut, feeling fuller than he had in a long time.
“Heh, guess I did good for my first salmon huh?” He snickered and looked to the other bears that seemed to be in shock, a rather pudgy dark brown one spoke.
“Did you say your very first salmon? What have you been eating all this time?” the bear asked almost in a state of shock.
“Well…I uh…” Kenai stumbled over his words when once again Tug came to his aid.
“That’s why you’re so skinny now! But enough talking already lets get some grub!” he bellowed and Began to run up the stream.
“Hey wait up!” The other bears called as they chased behind him, “C’mon Kenai!” one of the bears called back and Kenai quickly followed.
Now, a little further up the stream was a large Pond where the salmon were practically on top of one another. The bears all stood on the edge of the Pond practically drooling at the sight.
“Well what are we waiting for?!” One of the bears yelled and dove head first into the water, emerging moments later with a mouthful of salmon, the others followed suit and began to gorge themselves as well.
Tug and Kenai however remained behind once again,
“Well Kenai you’ve done pretty well thus far, and I think its time to make ya a big bear like me. You’re gonna love it! And I’m pretty sure that one salmon didn’t make ya full yet did it?” Tug grinned and poked the smaller bears gut, the following gurgle was all he needed to hear.
“That’s what I thought, you wait here a minute. I’ll be right back…” Tug said and dove into the water as well. Moments later he returned from the water, Carrying in his arms as much salmon as he possibly could. Kenai blinked as he saw it all, beginning to drool a bit himself at the sight.
“And you want me to eat all that?” he gulped and pointed over to the pile.
“Well, I doubt you’ll be able to just yet, but let’s see how you do.” Tug chuckled and stuffed yet another salmon into the bear’s muzzle. This one wasn’t nearly as big as the last and he gulped it down in no time, he was actually beginning to enjoy the taste, even the squirming salmon in his gut pleased him.
Tug grinned and nodded as he saw the look of enjoyment on Kenai’s face. After a while, He no longer even needed Tugs help! He reached over to the pile and leaned on Tug’s huge gut and began to drop the wiggling fish into his own Maw, occasionally tossing one up to tug.
The bears all sat around now, eating salmon and joking with one another, some even laughed as they saw how Ravenous Kenai had become, almost finishing the huge pile of salmon in no time flat. Tug reached down to grab another salmon and blinked curiously as he saw there were none left!
He smiled and looked down to Kenai who was now sitting back and rubbing his wiggly salmon filled belly. It wasn’t nearly as small as it was when he got there; as a matter of fact it had a nice round shape and was beginning to hang over into his lap!
Tug laughed and poked a claw into Kenai’s belly, “Heh, we had better get going guys, before Kenai eats up all the salmon around here!” They all laughed and struggled to stand to their feet, bellies hanging low to the ground as they walked. Kenai was the last to get up, not used to being so full in his life! He rolled over onto his side as his gut wobbled about almost painfully full, with a few failed attempts he rose to his feet and begin to shuffle along behind the rest, his gut swaying from side to side.
In another few minutes they had reached the Salmon run again and a number of bears ran up to meet them, including the very inquisitive Koda.
“Hey guys where were you! Every year you run off somewhere and leave me behind!” Koda pouted and sat on his hind quarters, folding his arms.
“Heh, don’t worry little guy, you’ll be able to go someday.” Tug chortled and pat the little bear on his head, ruffling his fur about some.
“Really?! Great!” He smiled and quickly picked up his mood, just then he saw Kenai waddling back from out the corner of his eye.
“Kenai! I was waiting for you to….whoa…” he chuckled and tried to hide his smile as he saw the well fattened Kenai sit down, exhausted. The little bear wasted no time in climbing up onto Kenai’s gut as he flopped onto his back to catch his breath.
“Kenai you’re huge!” He grinned and bounced some on the bears gurgling belly.
“Heh, I know, and you’re bouncing about isn’t helping much!” He growled some and Koda immediately stopped.
“Heh, sorry about that, but I can’t believe you got so. So...”
“Huge?” Kenai laughed and finished the cub’s sentence for him.
“Well, I guess that would be the best word for it!” Koda chuckled and made himself comfy on Kenai’s gut.
Kenai grinned and grabbed his gut with both paws and wobbled it about some, shaking the smaller bear off and laughed as he rolled off to the side.
“Heh, I think I’m gonna like being a bear…” Kenai grinned only to look over and see Koda staring dead into his face,
“Oof, I, I, mean a BIG bear!” He grinned trying to hide his worry, sighing a breath of relief as Koda simply waddled off and dove back into the water. He sat up and watched the others for a moment and then waddled over to the waters edge, drifting off to sleep, cradling his new girth.


The end….for now