Bea the wee Bear realized that this problem was bigger than she. This caring wee bear was determined to help her new friend find his hope. He was scared and lonely. She could not leave him in this terrible situation. Putting all thoughts of her rigorous strolling exercise aside, Bea moved a distance away from Scruffy to begin her brain exercise -- which simply meant a very rigorous thinking time, away from distractions while she worked on figuring out an answer to a problem. Bea knew if she invited him to be a guest in her home there would be difficult times; but they could take it one step at a time. She did, however, quickly take a mental inventory of her supply of honey -- did she have enough to share?

When the answer came up "yes," she invited Scruffy to live with her. He had no reason to go back, so he accepted her invitation. Bea, this wee kind bear, told Scruffy that his dish would never be empty again. She did her best to help him get some of the snarls out and to clean him up a bit. This wise bear knew that after living by herself for so long, she needed to watch her fears, which at times like these, snuck in--fears that she wouldn't have enough of everything to be able to share, especially her "be-good-to-myself" treat. Finally practicing her notice exercise, Bea realized Scruffy didn't even want to take all of her honey; he didn't even like honey. Still, there was a need to do her on guard exercise.

This was her old way of dealing with the fears she used to get when any sharing had to be done with her brother and sister. When they would begin arguing over who got the most, her mom would tell them they would have to measure or count everything out evenly. But now, her mom wasn't around to help; she had died a few years earlier. Bea hadn't felt this way in a long time and didn't like it very much. It was time to do the brain exercise which her mom had taught her.

Bea remembered that the maker of the bees had taken care of things in the past. She quieted herself the way her mom had shown her and began her talk to the maker of the bees, telling of her fears There was a buzzing, as if fifty bees were flying around inside her. After a few quiet minutes, she heard a nice comforting hum in the air, of busy bees making honey and she knew things would work out for both her and Scruffy.

But, we all know that sharing does not always go smoothly. As you might have guessed, Bea was doing a little bit of her pretend exercise in her mind of imagination. And her imagination was very strong. As strong as the dam in Timothy's Pond. It was not until reality hit her square in the face that this wee one had to search for courage to be honest with herself.

At first, Scruffy was content to hang out in the cave because as promised, after accompanying Bea to the nearby babbling brook to catch fish, he had more than he could eat. His tummy was not used to so much food and so rich a meal. Ever.

Bea would have done well to do her NOTICE exercise and listen to the song the brook was singing. If she had, there would have been heard, the message of chaos and confusion. But, instead, Bea was busy thinking of how happy she was making Scruffy. The first night ever, that Scruffy had been able to just relax and enjoy his life, he couldn't. He was so restless. Bea, of course, was tired and wanted peace and quiet. She was just not used to this.
Rudely awakened, she heard the strangest sound there'd ever been. It grated terribly on her ears and her nerves. It seemed to be coming from right beside her.

It was! Scruffy was yowling not meowing in the sweet way when they first met. Not the contented purring found to be so rewarding for her labors. Not of his satisfaction when he was enjoying the fish that Bea had caught for him. NO. It was a very loud and annoying YOWL. Bea could have none of this. She promptly scooped him up much like her mom had in her frenzy to get them to safety.

But this was for an entirely different purpose. Bea needed to sleep. She did a quick brain exercise; clearly not thorough enough of an exercise as we will soon see. After setting Scruffy down in a farback room, the sleepy ruffled bear returned to her still warm leaf & grass comfortable bedding. That solution brought far worse results. Just as the lightning flash during storms illuminated every wall in the cave, the cat YOWLING was bouncing off, reverberating from every room in the entire cave home.

Bea could stand it no more. He had to go. She stormed to the back of the cave, into the room that was the loudest. Swiping Scruffy between her very angry paws; thankfully, no claws used, proceeded to remove him from the home Bea so generously offered him. It could be called an evening eviction. She set him down, in not such a gentle manner, and said nothing more.

Actually, if time had been taken time to do her notice exercise, there would have been a realization that she'd spoken not a word that entire time, nor remembered to breathe throughout that whole incident. Without much delay, returning to the spot where a wee bear easily falls asleep; Bea did. This happened without having any of her "be-good-to-myself" treat, which we certainly might expect.

While preparing to do her talk to the maker exercise as she did to begin every bear day, she had a bad memory. This not of when she was young, but about last night. There was a great need to do her brain exercise to understand what had happened. What had she done? Then it hit her, what had gone on. And it struck her even harder after Bea did her humble exercise.

The sad bear remembered how she had acted. Poor Scruffy. She had acted like a bully toward him. Bea realized there was no difference between her and the mean little bears or the people he had lived with. How must he feel? Bea knew how she felt. Horrible. She had to find him.