6-68. Welcome Back, Bella

All the residents of Greenwood Forest were excited. Spring was finally here. The weather was warm, and the flowers were blooming.

     "Chirp, chirp, chirp! Spring is here! Spring is here! Chirp, chirp, chirp!" sang out Rosie.

     "Hey, it’s my turn to announce spring! You did it last year!" cried Maggie, Rosie’s twin sister.

     Old friends were sharing stories about the winter.

     "It was the most awful winter of my life!" cried Sandy the squirrel. "Some days I couldn’t find a single nut to give to my children."

     New friends were also moving into the forest.

     "Hello, everyone. I’m Rhoda. These are my children, Kit and Katie," said Rhoda the rabbit.

     All the animals and birds in Greenwood welcomed Rhoda’s family.

     "You’re just in time to see Bella," said Henrietta the old owl.

     "Who’s Bella?" asked Katie.

     "Bella is a bear, and she is coming out of her hibernation," answered Pinkey the snake.

     "Hibernation? What does that mean?" asked Kit.

     "Come along. You can ask Bella yourself," said Henrietta.

     "Yes, let us hurry. We want to welcome Bella when she comes out of her cave," said Sandy.

     The residents of Greenwood skipped, hopped, crawled, flew, and jumped to the entrance of a dark cave. Everyone stood and waited quietly. Suddenly there was a loud roar!

     "Mommy, I’m scared," cried Katie.

     "Don’t worry, dear. That’s just Bella yawning. She’s been sleeping for a long time." Henrietta chuckled.

     The ground began to shake. Thump! Thump! Thump!

     A big brown bear with sleepy eyes poked her head out of the cave.

     "Bella!" cheered her friends.

     "Oh, is it springtime already?" Bella asked sleepily.

     "Yes! It’s springtime! It’s springtime!" chirped Maggie.

     Bella stood on her feet and stretched her body. She was very tall and very big!

     "Who are they? Hello. I don’t think I know you," Bella said to Rhoda.

     "I’m Rhoda Rabbit. We just moved into Greenwood Forest," said Rhoda. "These are Kit and Katie, my children."

     "Don’t be frightened! I promise I won’t eat you, even though I am very hungry," Bella said with a smile.

     Katie poked her head out and said timidly, "What does hibernation mean?"

     "Winter is very cold, and it is hard to find food. So bears, like me, eat a lot of food right before winter comes. Then, when winter arrives, we go into our caves or trees and rest," answered Bella.

     "Do you sleep the whole time?" asked Kit, hiding behind her mother.

     "We sleep a lot, but not the whole time. We don’t like to move very much. Otherwise our bodies might want to wake up, and we would get hungry again. As long as we stay still, our heart beat becomes very slow, and our body temperature drops lower than normal," answered Bella. "It keeps us from getting hungry too soon."

     "How long do you hibernate?" asked Katie.

     "Usually from the beginning of October until springtime," answered Bella, smiling.

     "Are you the only one who hibernates?" asked Kit, still hiding.

     "Frogs, bats, and snakes hibernate as well," answered Bella.

     Kit and Katie were amazed. They had never met someone who had slept for so long!

     "Thank you all for welcoming me into spring," said Bella.

     "It’s good to see you, Bella!" cried her friends.

     "Well, the welcome party is over," said Henrietta. "Spring is here, and we have a lot of work to do."

     "Work?" asked Katie.

     "Of course. Now that the sunshine is here and the weather is warmer, we must prepare for next winter, before it gets cold again," said Sandy.

     "Don’t worry," chuckled Bella, seeing the gloomy expressions on the rabbits’ faces. "We will have lots of fun too."

     The animals returned to the center of the forest, looking for food along the way.

     As they left, they shouted to Rhoda, Kit, and Katie, "Welcome to Greenwood Forest!"

     "Thank you!" the rabbits replied.

     "I guess we had better go too," said Rhoda.

     And they hopped off to find a burrow in their new forest.

     "Spring is here! Spring is here!" chirped Maggie.

     "No, it’s my turn! It’s springtime! It's springtime!" Rosie shouted happily. The two birds flew off into the sunshine.