Kelly Bear, The First And Second Things

Yon Povi's First Time Meeting The Dancing Bear Cub

I was four years old when I told my Papa about that little bear cub that tells me things and dances.

He didn't miss a lick of whittling, didn't look up and said "Girl if you see a haint don't you dare run."

Then he looked at me pointing with that whittling knife. "Little girl, if a haint comes after you, you best stop your running, turn right around and stare that thing in the eyes, you hear me?"

I told him "it ain't no haint, Papa" "It's a dancing bear cub, I done told you"

I knew what a haint was though, maybe better than some, unless they didn't talk about seeing haints either. That's if talking about haints came up at all.

Kelly Bear came after I saw the it the first time.

I liked this bear better than the haint, that's for sure. Don't remember how I learned his name.

---

Kelly Bear usually came right out of the place between the wall and the ceiling, the first time it was summer and hot.

I was turning over in my bed trying to catch a breeze and must have opened my eyes for a second when I turned, there he was, looking right at me and laughing real soft.

"Howdy girl! did I wake you up, I tried to last night but you was sleeping hard"

I was squinting to see if that bear was really wearing a red shirt, then I was wonderin' how he got in.

He was hopping back and forth, one foot after the other.

My little girl mind didn't know how to think of this thing.

It was a smilin' bear, dancing around and talkin' real quiet to me. Didn't scare me one bit.

You can believe it or not. He used to come see me every couple of days and now hardly ever, he must be getting old Ha Ha!

"I'm goin' to tell you things and you're goin' to tell them to somebody else when you're old, better learn your letters soon!"

He didn't know nothing, I could do it already, seems I was reading and writing when I was three.

I had my old grannies' reading books. I never got to see that old one, but I heard plenty about her.

Kelly Bear told me the first thing, and I started writing it down and putting them all in a big old chest Granny Ma left with Papa.

This is the first thing.

"Evans man, bent nose, black hair, talking about Blue things, feathers and bigger bears than me. He's gonna be younger than you, he ain't born yet. Tell everybody to listen to that man"

Then he told me I Evans was coming here after a war and I would only meet him one time, and know who he was. I sure did, Ha Ha!

The second thing.

"Fenn art man ain't born yet either. He's something to think about, better tell them to listen to him too. He's gonna talk about Brown and Gold. This one's gonna have a key."

Next he told me "That boy is moving down to Santa Fe after another war. You ain't meeting that one, but he'll hear about you from Evan's later, maybe he'll know who you are, maybe, he won't"

The next thing I know I was waking up, the sky was getting a little cloudy and I heard Papa say he was hoping for rain.

I wrote it down, and didn't care what that bear was talking about.

That's the end of the first and second things.

Maybe I'll tell you about haints next time.