The Upright Cub

The Upright Cub

By Michele L. Hinton

High on a ridge of the Smoky Mountains lounged a mated pair of cougars relaxing after satisfying their appetites on a deer. Myr, the female, Ska, the male, as roughly translated in cougar speak, licked their claws.

“How was your meal, Ska?”

“Delicious! That deer was just right. Very tender. You made an excellent choice from your hunt.” Ska leaned closer to her and gave her lick on the mouth.

“What was that for?”

“There was a small piece of meat left on your whiskers you missed. Waste not want not, my mother always said.”

Myr sighed. “So true.” She looked away and contemplated her past.

Ska noted the melancholy in her tone. “Why the sudden sadness?”

“Wish I’d known my mother. She was killed by a bear protecting me when I was just a small cub. I would have died too if it hadn’t been for two uprights who found me and nursed me back to health in one of those odd caves they live in.”

Ska nuzzled her and purred. “I’m sorry to have reminded you. I’d forgotten. It’s been many bright skies ago since you told me.”

Myr nuzzled him back. “That’s okay. The uprights who cared for me were kind. Especially, their cub. She felt like sibling. The two grown uprights called her Sa-rah, if memory serves me. I don’t remember what the other two were called. Sa-rah gave me the best scratches around my neck and ears.” Myr rolled over and looked up at the sky. “Those scratched made me purr from my very soul!”

Ska put a paw across her abdomen and then started licking her around the ears. “Are you saying she made you purr better than I can?” His tone was seductive.

“Purrrrrr! Definitely not! If you keep licking me like that, you’re going to put me in heat!”

“Are you complaining?” Ska continued his attentive licking.

“Not complaining, but encouraging!” Myr purred.

Just as they were about to start their mating dance, a great, startling sound came up from below the ridge.

“What in the name of the Almighty Cat was that!” Ska exclaimed.

They bristled for a moment and then looked over the edge.

“Look! One of those running caves that move along the hard, black grass has smashed up against a tree,” Myr said. “I haven’t seen a running cave in this area for a while. I bet there’s an upright in it.”

“I have no doubt.” Ska growled and shook his head. “Those uprights sure know how to kill a mood.”

“Come on, Ska, let’s have a look.”

“Why? I’m full.”

Myr growled lightly. “Just like a male. The only thing you think about is food and mating, or mating and food.”

“What else is there?” Ska sat down and crossed his paws as he looked over the cliff.

“There’s curiosity. And I’m curious. You can sit there if you want, but I’m going!” She turned to make her way down the ridge.

Ska looked toward her. “Haven’t you learned that curiosity can kill the cat!”

“Coward!” Myr teased.

“It’s called being cautious!” Ska looked over the cliff and growled in a low tone, “Why in all nature did the Almighty Cat create uprights, I’ll never know.”

Myr looked back. “Did you say something?”

“Nothing important.” He stood. “If you insist on being foolish, wait for me.”

The two cougars reached the bottom of ridge and cautiously studied road and the jeep which had slid slightly down a hill.

“I don’t see any uprights getting out of it,” Myr said, in a low tone.

“I don’t either, but I do hear something. It’s a faint sound coming from the inside that thing.”

Myr listened for a moment. “I hear it too.” The sound brought back a memory. “I remember Sa-rah making that sound. I bet there’s an upright cub inside.”

“I’m not that hungry, but I guess we can save it for later,” Ska said.

“There you go. Thinking about food again.” Myr trotted across the road, made her way down the hill, and jumped upon the side of the jeep. She immediately saw the two adult uprights and the small upright cub.

Ska cautiously sniffed out the situation around the road and then joined Myr on the jeep. “I think I know why this running cave hit the tree. I smell deer blood. I bet the thing hit the deer before the tree.”

“Looks like the deer won. I don’t see it around,” Myr replied.

“Good for the deer. These running caves never eat what they kill. I’ve seen more than one deer on the side of the hard, black grass left as crow and vulture food.” Ska shook his head. “Wasteful. Just pure wasteful.”

Myr turned her attention back to the uprights inside. “The two large uprights are leaking blood.”

Ska took a sniff. “I smell death. So much for two of the uprights.”

“The cub is alive.”

“So, now that your curiosity is satisfied—” Ska nuzzled against Myr and licked her behind the ear. “—how about we go back to the ridge and get back in the mood for a little mating.”

Myr shook her head. “Like I said, if it’s not food, it’s mating. We need to do something about this upright cub.”

“Why? Either something else will come along and eat it or it will make its own way.”

Myr thought about how the uprights had saved her. “Listen, Ska, I know a little about upright cubs. Small ones like this can’t make it on their own. It’s smaller than cub Sa-rah was. Upright cubs don’t have any sense of survival.”

“Don’t uprights teach their cubs anything?”

“Upright cubs are very slow learners. It takes many bright skies for them to even learn to feed themselves.” Myr thought for a moment. “There’s an upright's cave not far from here.” She hesitated another moment. “I’m going to take the cub to them.”

“Have you lost your mind!” Ska growled. “You know uprights are unpredictable and dangerous. I’ve seen uprights point noisy stick things at all kinds of residences of these mountains. Once those stick things sound, most of the time, death is immediate. If they see you with an upright's cub, you will surely die!" He nuzzled her. "I don’t want you die.”

“Then I just won’t let them see me. You can assist me or not. But, I’ve made up my mind.”

Ska knew it was useless to argue. “Well, how are you going to get it out?”

“Easy. Since this dead running cave doesn’t have a ceiling, I’ll just pick the cub up by the scruff of its removable skin.”

Ska cocked his head. “Removable skin? Like snakes?”

“Similar. Only with uprights, they continually change their skins. I remember Sa-rah changing her skin sometimes twice a day. Sometimes two or three layers of removable skin.”

“Uprights are strange. No doubt about it.” Ska shook his head. “Well, if you’re going to do this thing, let’s get to it.”

Since the top of the jeep had been down, it was easy for Myr to get inside. She sniffed the two-year-old, crying child. “It’s a female cub.” She grabbed the child by the hood of the hoodie she was wearing and tried to pull her out.

“What’s taking so long?”

“It’s stuck.” She looked over the child. “It seems to be held down by some strange looking black vines.”

Ska growl slightly. “Move over. Let a male handle this.”

Normally, Myr would have shot back with a sarcastic reply to his self-imposed, male superiority, but since he was willing to help with this foolhardy adventure of hers, she held her tongue and moved aside.

Ska looked at the seat belt holding the child in place and then with extended claws, gently pawed at it.

“Be careful not to scratch the cub. They’re very fragile,” Myr warned.

“Please, I know what I’m doing.”

When Ska starting pawing at the seatbelts, the child quit crying, looked at him, and then petted his head. “Kitty!”

Ska looked at Myr. “I think it’s trying to communicate, but have no clue what it said. Its language is strange. In fact, it’s nonsensical.”

“It takes a while to understand uprights. During the time I spent with them, before they released me back to these mountains, I learned to interpret some of their wants.”

It took a while, but Ska was finally able to shred the seatbelt away. He was about to grab the child by its removable skin, when she crawled out of the car seat and put her arms around Ska’s neck. “Kitty!”

Ska pushed her away and the child started to cry again. “It attacked me!”

“It did not!” Myr growled lowly. “That was just it’s way of showing affection. Move over. Let me handle this.” Myr purred and then licked the child, who once again started to laugh.

“Good kitty,” the child said, and then hugged the cougar around the neck.

Myr slowly backed out of the child’s grasp and then out of jeep. When the cougar left the jeep, the child started to follow, until she too was out of the vehicle.

Myr turned to Ska. “And that’s how you get an upright cub to do what you want. Sa-rah used to follow me all the time when I was a cub.”

“But now that it’s freed, how do we get it to follow?” Ska asked.

“Just lead the way to the cave of the uprights. I’ll take care of the cub.”

Just as Myr thought, the little girl followed. On occasion, she had to nuzzle the child along or pull her by the hoodie she was wearing. But after traveling for quite a distance, the child sat down and started to whimper, “Mama.”

Myr sat next to the child, purred, and nuzzled her. A moment later, the little girl leaned her head against the cougar and fell asleep.

“Oh great!” Ska growled. “I was hoping we could be shed of this upright's cub. Now it falls asleep. We’re so close.”

“What do you expect? It’s a cub. Even our own cubs could never travel very far for very long.”

“Alright. We’ll let it rest a while. But the bright sky will be gone soon and then the dark sky predators will start to come out. It will be difficult to protect this unpredictable cub at that time. Our cubs were easy to manage. They were quick to understand us.”

Ska sat down beside them and rested as well, however, even though his eyes were closed, just as he had protected Myr and their own cubs, his senses were constantly alert for potential dangers around them.

After a while, Ska caught a scent and growled in low tones. “Myr, I smell bear. Wake the cub. We’ve got to go.”

Myr nudged the child, but it just groaned, rolled over, and continued to sleep. “It won’t wake.”

“Then you better grab it and run. The bear has got our scent and is coming toward us. I’ll hold it off and divert its attention. Go!"

Myr grabbed the child by the hood of her clothing and started pulling it through woods. The child woke abruptly and started crying as the bushes and brambles scrapped up against her while being dragged. Myr’s concern was split between the cub of the uprights and her mate, but she knew Ska was cunning and had faced more than one bear in his life time as she, too, had done. But this child of the uprights would have no chance with the bear.

Slowly, the roar of the bear and the growls of Ska dissipated with distance. Myr knew Ska was leading it away from them. When the scent of the bear and the sound of battle could no longer be detected, Myr stopped and checked on the upright cub. It’s cries settled to whimpers of unintelligible sound of, Mama, once more.

Myr looked around and sniffed the air. She could detect none of the usual predators in the immediate vicinity, however, she did detect the scent of an upright. Seeing that the upright cub had settled itself on the ground once more, Myr went off to scout the area. It didn't take her long to find the cave of the uprights in a clearing. She observed it through a stand of trees for a few and thought how unnatural their cave looked. It was made from dead trees stacked on top of each other on four sides. The problem now was how to bring this cub of the uprights to them without her dying in the process.

There was only one way she could think of. Myr went back to the upright cub, grabbed it once more by the hood, and dragged it through the brambles. Again, it started to scream. Seeing no uprights around, Myr ran into the middle of the clearing with the screaming child, let it drop to the ground, growled as loudly as she could, and ran back into the woods as quickly as she could. Once securely hidden from view, she watched to see what might happen. It didn’t take long before she saw an upright male exit the cave with one of those noisy sticks that made the residence of the woods die. Upon spotting the crying cub the upright male and quickly approached it. When Myr saw the upright male pick the cub up and go back into the cave of stacked, dead trees, she ran to find Ska. When she reached the area where she last saw Ska, she stopped and sniffed the air. A moment later she heard a familiar, low growl.

“Looking for me?”

Myr turned and saw Ska. He was bleeding. She approached him and licked the wound on the side of his head. “Are you alright?”

“Just a scratch. You know bears. Some of them can be lumbering idiots. I gave him some scratched he’ll never forget. He ran off with his stubby tail between his legs.”

“I’m glad you’re alright. I’m sorry for dragging you into my crazy adventure. I was just compelled.”

“I’ve heard of strange compulsions by others. Perhaps it was the will of the Almighty Cat. An upright saved you when you were a cub. Now you saved an upright’s cub.”

Myr purred. “Perhaps.” She nuzzled against him. “But now, what do you say we find someplace cozy, and I’ll lick your battle scars. And then maybe do a little mating dance?”

“Mating dance, aye? And you say that’s all that we males think about.”

Myr purred seductively. “Catch me if you can, stud." She ran off into the woods with Ska not far behind.