Hibernation
Hi everyone, V here. While Karl and I gear up for another summer season of stuffocation, things at the SZ are coming more alive. Hibernation season is over, and many of our stuffed animals are coming out after a looooong nap. Bleary-eyed and hungry, they rejoin their animal friends:
Ceilia the Stuffed Bear for example, came out of her “cave” (she actually builds herself a sleeping quarters out of cardboard cereal boxes, a trick she learned from Popeye) and met Hetta, who doesn’t hibernate, at the river. “I had such an amazing dream,” Ceilia said. “It all began in a sailboat, where I was eating candy gummy snowmen . . .” Ceilia then proceeded to tell Hetta her entire dream – the only one she had all winter – the one that lasted all winter. Hetta, being too polite by nature, listened half-heartedly for the entire four and a half hour story.
One unlikely hibernator this year was Bentaro the stuffed chameleon. We’d heard him whispering in the fall how jealous he was of all the animals who were preparing for their four-month nap, so it wasn’t entirely a surprise. He was almost more popular asleep than awake, though; you see, as he dreamt, Bentaro’s skin continued to blend in with what he thought was his natural environment – only, he was dreaming. I must admit it was fascinating to watch. There he was, asleep in his grape-leaf bed, eyes and legs twitching a bit, like a dreaming dog, when his whole body would turn steel gray. “I’ll bet he’s dreaming he’s on the moon,” Karl whispered. A while later, Bentaro would morph into a deep blue-green, probably dreaming about the ocean.
All stuffed animals are good sleepers, but around here, some of them make it an art form. It’s almost worth it to stay up and watch them do nothing. But, then again, with their softness and cuddliness, even I cannot resist the urge to crawl away into my own bed, and have my own adventurous dreams. Though I wish they’d make my skin change color. Seriously: it was awesome!
