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A story with dad, mom, Mircea and the polar bear

A story by Mediana Stan , translated by Anca Maria Pop Lupu, illustrated by Ráduly Melinda

 -Mom, it's time for my story!
 -Hmm, yes, you're right! What story would you like to hear?
 -One with dad, mom, Mircea, the polar bear and dad going to the North Pole and then coming back to Mircea...
 -Ohh!
 Once upon a time, there was... dad, who went to the North Pole to take some pictures he needed for work. Dad went by bus, by train, by supersonic airplane and finally on a sleigh drawn by twenty huskies. He got to the North Pole and started taking pictures while a polar bear kept walking around him. The bear befriended dad so much that when dad finished taking photos of the ice floes, the glaciers, the seals, the penguins, the auroras borealis and the eskimos and got in his sleigh to take off, the bear quickly climbed up the back of the sleigh and rode along with dad to the nearest airport. 
          Riding back with the bear was no easy thing to do; the polar bear had to be hidden carefully, otherwise he could not have gotten on the plane. Dad crammed him in an huge travelling bag, the most enormous bag ever to ride the luggage conveyor belt of an airport, but he got away with it because nobody checked it. Dad was watching the bag getting closer and closer and was worrying about how he would pick it up, but it leaped off the conveyor belt by itself, then dad and his jumping bag got out of the airport and...

 -One taxi, please, at the airport... for the railway station. But when the taxi arrived and the driver saw what he was about to carry, he quickly turned around and left without hesitation. Finally, a horse-drawn carriage stopped, picked up dad and the polar bear and, with moil and toil, took them home.
 Upon getting home... they got in the house. The neighbours were watching through the fence, asking themselves what could their neighbour have brought home from abroad; what a huge bag he had... they were looking forward to being invited to see it, especially because dad was a very friendly person and the neighbours were always welcomed to their house. Only this time nothing happened. Dad had a mysterious smile, mom was very busy and the little boy would shriek, and many times you could hear this indescribable noise, the doors and the windows would shake, as if the whole house was jumping and it seemed it wasn't really straight anymore. The neighbours knocked at the door to say 'Hi' but mom served them coffee in the garden, on the little table covered in snow. There was no noise coming from the house; it was very quiet and calm.

The polar bear walked around the whole house, inspecting it, then stopped by the fridge – it was somewhat familiar – he opened it, took out the whipped cream and the milk and drank... well, actually gulped them down, and continued to sniff the cold box that was now buzzing because its temperature was rising. 
 He found the bottom compartment, a drawer full of frozen fish. He took out the drawer, sat down in a corner and began to lick, suck and champ the fish, then he licked the drawer clean and threw it far away.
 -Hello, mom called dad, you'd better go and buy fish, whipped cream and the fattest milk. 
 -How much?
 -Well, about a hundred kilograms of fish and as much whipped cream and milk as you can buy, and a huge freezer to fit them all.
          -For the bearrrrr?
 -Exactly, what do you think your little friend from the North Pole will eat? Or you want him to eat us?

Dad never became flustered:
 -The best solution would be to rain with fish, a whirlpool to sweep through the pond and pour the fish into our yard... 
 Mom didn't become flustered easily either:
 -Yes, that would be the best solution, but since the ponds are frozen now...
 Dad got home with a huge cooling box, full of fish and a few litres of whipped cream and... Knock! Knock! On his right:
           -Hello, neighbour, would you please stop taking the milk to the collection centre, I'll buy it from you!
 -Twenty litres a day, neighbour.
 -Twenty, I hope it'll be enough.
 Knock! Knock! On his right:
 -Hello, neighbour, would you please stop taking the milk to the collection centre, I'll buy it from you!
 -Well, it's ten litres, neighbour!

-Deal!
 The two neighbours leaned towards each other at the gate. 
 -What is our neighbour's business with our milk? Ever since he got back from the North Pole, they've all been acting so weird!
 And the bear would sit with the fish drawer in his lap and lick, suck and champ in great haste, and you could see about five bottles of milk and whipped cream lined up in front of him: two fish, half a bottle, two fish, a bottle, and a bit further away, sitting at the table, dad, mom and Mircea were eating bread with salt and tomatoes. 
 At night, they would go out to walk the bear, gently, for him not to get hot, because polar bears have a thick layer of fat under their fur and they warm up fast if they run, and the dog was supposed to watch over him. 
 Then the food ran out. The bear would sit and lick the empty fridge and would give dad a very sad look when he came in the door. Mircea would pass by their neighbours, sometimes the one on their left, sometimes the one on their right, and would smell the pots they had on the stove. They would ask him to come in and eat and were surprised at how hungry he was and what a nice figure mom had. It's obvious she goes to the gym every day, her friends were saying.
 One day, dad looked at the huge freezer – empty - and told the polar bear:
 -Let's go back, boy! What would the bear do, winter was almost over and spring was going to be hard to endure.

Dad and his white buddy got ready for the journey, only this time they were helped by an organization for the animal protection who sent them a truck. Dad accompanied him to make sure he got there alright and left him right there where he had met him, that is, the North Pole, on an ice floe, using this opportunity to take some more pictures. The bear jumped in the ocean, grabbed a fish and wolfed it down, then he brought one to dad as well. Dad thanked him, put it in his bag and told him: 
 -I'm going to eat it at home, with Mircea and mom!
 And so he did.