My friend is a professional geologist. A geologist needs to go on expeditions for his work. On one such expedition he brought home a bear cub. It happened that the bear cub came to the geologist’s camp and moaned plaintively. The geologists fed him and thought that he would go away. But he remained in the camp.

When the expedition ended, they had a question—what to do with the bear cub? It was small and couldn’t feed itself. My friend decided to take it with him. He lived with his family in a region where there was a green pasture and few cars. At that time his older son was three years old and his younger twins were several months old. My friend’s wife met the bear cub with little joy. She was afraid for the children. But the bear cub turned out to be very friendly and was easily trained.

He enjoyed playing with the older son who allowed him to do everything; twitch his ears, touch his nose and sit on horseback. If the younger children began to cry, he approached their bed, knocked on it with his paw and they quieted down. Soon my friend’s wife understood that bears become adults quicker than children. She had an assistant.

She brought the twins out into the courtyard and left them under Misha’s care (that is what they named the bear cub) and watched them from the window. Misha went around the carriage and the children slept peacefully. As soon as anyone began to whimper, Misha knocked her paw on the handle of the carriage and the children fell asleep again.

Time passed and the bear cub became an irreplaceable comrade at play for the children, and for the adults a member of the family. The bear cub grew up and changed into a beautiful bear. His eyes were never cruel. He didn’t cause harm to anybody.

One day an unfamiliar person rang the doorbell at the house. He brought a paper, which he ordered my friend to read and sign. On the paper it said that in accordance with the law, mountain beasts may be kept in the house for one year only. There is no point arguing with the law. The bear was taken to a zoo. The children searched a long time for Misha. They called him, but it was impossible to help them. It was the first misery in the children’s life.

Atida Shapiro is an advanced beginner ESOL student at the Maynard Adult Learning Center.