Ursidae

         Sunshine drifted through the trees, the forest was hushed and twilit. The girl looked around the north base of Mt. Shasta with her head tilted, her ears nearly lifting off of her head as she listened. The sound she heard pushed a primal scream to the bottom of her throat. Ursidae knew she was named for the creature snuffling, growling and occasionally giving a short howl behind her, yet the bear sent her scrambling for a tall tree. If she reached high enough for the bear to give up, she'd live to continue tracking her family.
         The tree seemed to grow ever taller as she climbed. She began to feel safe, as though she was carried in the womb of the high tower, made of some unknown-- but strong!-- material, she sometimes dreamed of. Ursidae's panic passed, she slowed, then stopped her ascent. When her heart was almost regular, and she was able to look down, her shock made it beat faster than ever! She had only climbed two lengths and was definitely not out of reach of the large bear staring up at her.
         He held a strange object. It looked as if it was cut from the trunk of a middle sized tree. He put it on the ground and his large paw--taking up half of the thing--began to move it back and forth. He held it aloft and a strange word came from his throat, "Wheel". He placed it up against the tree and shuffled back the way he had come.
         It took me a long time to climb down from the tree. I took the...wheel...with me on my journey to find the family that had moved on without me. They didn't realize I wasn't with them, it was all my fault. But that, is another story.