Mars Bears

Jerry had a game he liked to play. A game where he went to places he’d never been and did things he’d never done. Today he was in a cabin in the woods on Mars. Sure some people said Mars didn’t have any woods, but Jerry assured himself that they were wrong and the fact that he was here proved that.

So off Jerry and his little brother Zack walked. Their noble mission of exploration saw them climbing Martian pines, skipping over Martian creeks searching for Martian frogs, and ripping the legs off Martian bugs. By the time Mission Commander Mom called them back for their evening rations, their special Exploration Suits had been stained dozens of interesting colors and Mission Commander Mom ordered them to change. It was for their own safety, of course. Everyone knew a damaged suit could be the death of you on Mars.

The game stopped being quite as fun at dinner when Zack told the Mission Commander he was worried about bears. “Oh sweetie,” Commander Mom reassured, “you don’t have to worry about that. There aren’t any bears here.”

“Yeah,” Jerry agreed, “everyone knows there’s no bears on Mars.”

That night though, Zack was still worried and while Mission Commander Mom slept in another room, he was up talking about Mars Bears. “I bet they have really big ones around here, like, bigger than a grizzly – an’ that’s why no one’s seen ‘em ‘cus they eat everyone before they can run.”

“There’s no such thing as Mars bears!” Jerry said a little too loudly, “now shut up and go to sleep.” Zack protested, but after a while he did shut up and did fall asleep. Jerry, on the other hand, was wide awake. He was worried about Mars Bears.

What if they were all around? What if they were bigger than a truck? What if they were just waiting to get him? He couldn’t take it! He had too many questions, and even though he knew there was no such thing as Mars Bears, he barely slept at all.

The next morning, Jerry stumbled over to the breakfast table and nearly collapsed in his oatmeal. When his mother asked him what was wrong, he told her Zack had had him up all night worrying about Mars bears.

“Oh honey,” Mom said, “I know you like to pretend we’re exploring this lush forest, but the fact of the matter is Mars is still mostly desert and there’s nothing living here that wasn’t brought here from earth, and why would we bring bears? Besides, if there were bears on Mars, what would they eat?” she gestured at the barren landscape on the other side of the thick shatterproof window, “the rocks? The sand? Bears need a lot of food you know.”

After that, Jerry felt better and he and Zack went back to climbing rocks, hopping over patches of sand, and picking at whatever bits of trash were to be found outside the domes.