"Get the hell out of here!" yelled one of the kids. He swung his baseball bat menacingly.
"We don't want you here nerdboy!" yelled another. This prompted laughter from the other kids.
"But--" said Davy.
"I don't want to have to tell you twice!" said the first kid.
Davy felt defeated. He walked backwards slowly as they laughed at him. He took off his brand new baseball glove. He was afraid to turn his back on them in case they decided to harass him some more, but he also didn't want them to see the tears welling up in his eyes, and eventually he turned. Fresh peals of laughter rang out behind him. He tried to walk away nonchalantly, but wanted to run home.
He crossed to the other side of the field. His mother banished him from the house for the day in order to get 'fresh air', which was a difficult thing to do in a town with a lumber mill. He sat down in the roots of a tree, and watched the kids playing an argument filled game of baseball. He flopped the glove down on the grass and kicked it with his foot. He wondered if his mother kept the receipt. He'd rather put the money towards a video game.
Davy reached into his pocket and took out a plastic sandwich bag filled with warm gummy bears. His mother gave them to him and suggested he give them to the other kids in order to make friends, but he was far to embarrassed to proffer them, afraid they would laugh at the pathetic lumped-together mass. And of course they laughed at him anyway. He opened the bag and unstuck a blue gummy bear, and popped it in his mouth. He chewed unenthusiastically, and dropped the rest of the bears on the ground. He watched the tiny figures of the other kids playing and having fun. He hated them intensely. Tears started to roll down his face. He put his arms around legs and cried into his knees.
"Hello," said a voice. Davy looked up, but couldn't see anyone. He thought maybe he'd imagined it, but quickly wiped his eyes just in case. "Hello," said the voice again.
"Who's there?" Davy stood up, and looked around. "Where are you?"
"I'm right here," said the voice again. A small figure, a few feet tall, walked from behind the tree trunk. Davy yelped abruptly, and fell back, tripping over his baseball glove. He held his hands over his mouth as he stared at the creature. It was covered in bright blue fur. It had stumpy arms and legs, with no apparent hands or feet. It's face was very human, but with a short snout tipped with a shiny dark blue nose. It had big eyes and crescent-shaped ears at the top of it's head. It smiled at him, showing two rows of white pointy teeth.
"Wh--what are you?" asked Davy.
"I'm a gummy bear," said the creature. "I'd like to be your friend."
"You're a...you're a what?" asked Davy, trying to stand up.
"I'm a gummy bear," it said, smiling again. "Won't you be my friend?" It held out an arm in Davy's direction.
"Uh..."
"What's wrong?" The bear cocked it's head to one side.
"You're a...gummy bear?" asked Davy quietly.
"Yes," said the bear.
"But...how?"
"How am I a gummy bear?"
"Yup..."
"How are you a boy?"
"Uh...I just am I guess," said Davy.
"I just am too," said the bear.
"But you can't exist!" said Davy.
"But I do exist. I'm right here aren't I?" said the bear.
"But..."
"I'd like to be you're friend," said the bear again.
"I must have fallen asleep," said Davy, looking down. He pinched himself on the arm. "Ow!"
"I don't think you're asleep," said the bear. "Won't you be my friend?"
"I'm a little freaked out!" said Davy, stepping back slowly. The bear advanced a couple of steps, tottering on it's awkward legs. "Stay back!"
"Oh," said the bear. It stepped back, and looked at the grass. It sighed heavily. "I see," it said. "You don't want to be friends. Just because I'm a little different." The bear peered up at Davy with baleful eyes. Davy felt a surge of guilt. He looked down at the glove again, remembering the way the other kids treated him.
"Uh, wait," said Davy. "That's not what I meant. I mean, I've just never seen anything, anybody like you before. I don't have anything against you personally."
"Really?" the bear's chest heaved, and it cracked a wide sawtooth grin that frightened Davy a little.
"Yeah, sure," said Davy. "It would be nice to have someone to play with."
"Oh, you're the best...say, what's your name?"
"It's uh, Davy," said Davy. "What's yours?"
"Blue Bear," it said.
"Oh. That's very...descriptive."
"Yes I know!" said Blue Bear happily. "What game would you like to play first?"
"Well, I wanted to play baseball today, but the other kids wouldn't let me."
"Oh. Other kids. Tsk-tsk," said Blue Bear. He looked at the other kids in the distance. "You could teach me to play baseball?"
"Well, you kinda need more players," said Davy.
"Oh. That's too bad. I know a game we could play," said Blue Bear, looking at the kids. It narrowed its eyes, and its ears pricked forward.
"What's it called?" asked Davy.
"It's called bearball," said Blue Bear.
"I've uh, never heard of that one," said Davy.
"It's really new," said Blue Bear.
"So how do you play it?"
"I'll show you," said Blue Bear. "First, you have to collect all the rocks you can hold. Since you have pockets, you can use those too."
"Um, what do you do with the rocks?" asked Davy.
"You'll see," said Blue Bear. "Just pick 'em up." Blue bear set about collected rocks. Davy watched him, and wondered how he was able to do so (and easily) without any discernable hands or paws. Davy bent down and collected a handful of rocks from around the tree roots. They weren't more than pebbles.
"What next?" asked Davy.
"We put them in a pile together. But first we have to walk across the field."
"To the kids?"
"Yes, near them."
"But they're...going to...I don't know."
"It'll be fine." Blue Bear started marching off across the field, holding an improbably pyramid of pebbles in it's arms. Davy scooped up his glove and the bag of gummy bears. He put the rocks in the hollow of the glove, then looked at the bag, wondering if there was some connection with Blue Bear. He started after Blue Bear.
Halfway across the field, the kids took notice of the odd pair.
"Hey, is that a blue dog?" said one of the kids.
"What IS that?" asked another.
"What the hell is that?" one asked Davy.
"This is my friend!" shouted Davy.
"It's just some little kid in a blue fur suit!" shouted one of the kids.
"You're scraping the bottom of the barrel! Loser!" said another.
Davy and Blue Bear kept walking closer.
"Are you deaf?" asked one of the kids. "Didn't I tell you to go away before?" He had the baseball in his hand and slapped it menacingly into his glove.
"Okay, stop here," said Blue Bear. It dumped its pebbles on the grass. "Add yours." Davy dumped his pebbles on top of the pile. "It will take a few seconds," said Blue Bear.
"What will?"
"You'll see."
"What the hell are you doing here nerdboy? I can't believe you're making me tell you a third time!" said the kid with the ball.
The pile of pebbles started to shift of its own accord. The pebbles were somehow enlarging.
"What the heck!?" exclaimed Davy. The pebbles grew to rocks the size of fists before they stopped growing.
"Perfect," said Blue Bear. Davy looked on, unable to believe his eyes. The other kids were all staring, standing dead still.
"What just happened?"
"We grew the rocks," said Blue Bear, matter-of-factly.
"That's not possible," said Davy.
"Of course it is," said Blue Bear. "It just happened, didn't it?"
"Yeah but..."
"Now for the next part of bearball..." Blue Bear picked up a rock with his stumpy arm. Somehow it stuck to the end of the arm. He reached back, then wheeled forward, launching the rock at the kid with the baseball. The rock hit the kid in the soft part of the stomach. He fell backwards, curled up, and started waling.
"You can't hit people!" yelled Davy. Suddenly Blue Bear bared his teeth and growled.
"But that's the point of bearball," said Blue Bear through gritted teeth.
Davy looked at Blue Bear, shocked. The kids ran to kid who was hit and helped him up. They started running away. Blue Bear bent down and picked up another rock.
"No!" shouted Davy. Blue Bear narrowed his eyes and growled again. He turned and hurled the rock at the departing kids. The rock hit another kid in the backside, and his screamed out.
Davy kicked the rock pile. Blue Bear growled again at him, and gnashed his teeth. Davy turned and ran. He ran all the way back to his house. His heart was pounding. As soon as he got inside he locked the door, and went around the house closing and locking various doors and windows. He found his mother in the kitchen.
"You're supposed to be outside playing," said his mother. Davy ignored her. Instead he took out the bag of gummy bears and dumped the gelatinous mass in the sink. He found a fork and pushed the lump into the garbage disposal. He ran the tap and turned on the disposal. It whirred and made 'chk-chk-chk' sounds. Finally the disposal cleared, and Davy sighed deeply. He looked around the room, hoping no bears were about to appear.
"Mom?"
"What's wrong honey?"
"Please don't make me play outside again."
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