This story is an excerpt from Long Division Book I: Roy & Tracy, a book project that I've been working on since 2016.  This tale follows a bear named Roy, whom we meet here as a cub in 1917.  Co-created by Ruxx, illustrated by Syntech, and with cover art by SpiderDragon, the first volume in the Long Division series is now available in paperback and electronic editions from LD-Books.com.

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Brothers
September 1917


With great care, the young bear cub scratched the letters into the fine grains of sand covering the surface of the playground.

“Whatcha doing?” came a voice from behind him.

The bear looked over his shoulder to see a gray cat just about his own size standing there.  He hadn’t heard the other boy approach.

“I’m writing, see?”

“What’s it say?” asked the young cat, dropping to his knees beside the bear.

“It’s my name!  See?  R-O-Y.  That spells Roy.  What’s your name?”

“Marco,” answered the newcomer, “I’m four.”

“I’m gonna be four.  Mama says my birthday is in two weeks.” Roy held up his fingers for emphasis.  “Wanna come to my party?”

“You bet!” said Marco, his golden-green eyes went wide with excitement.

Roy regarded his newly invited party guest.  The young feline wore only a colorful bathing suit.  His fur wasn’t a uniform gray, but was mottled with darker patches and he had long black tufts of hair growing from the tips of his ears.  “I never seen a cat like you.  Where’s your tail?”

“I have a tail!  See?”  Marco spun around on his knees to show his short-tailed back side to his new friend.  “It’s what lynxes got.”

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” the bear cub laughed, “You’re just like a bear!” and Roy, too, spun around to present his own stubby tail.

“You’re just like a lynx!  We’re brothers!”  Marco took Roy by the paw and tugged him along.  “Come on.  Let’s go on the sliding board.”

Roy followed the cat across the playground.  “I don’t have any real brothers,” he informed Marco.

“I got one.  Sammy’s mean.  You’re nice.”  Marco scampered up the ladder of the slide and whooped with glee as he slid to the bottom.  He looked to where his friend remained standing at the foot of the ladder.  “Come on, Roy.  Your turn.”

“It’s kinda high,” said Roy meekly.

“You can do it.  You can!  Come on, Roy.  I can catch you.”

Slowly and carefully, the bear climbed the ladder.  As he seated himself at the top he looked to where his mother was seated on the nearby park bench.  She smiled at him and waved encouragingly.  Another lady sat next to her.  She was wearing a straw hat that obscured her face, but even from here Roy could tell that she must be Marco’s mama.

“Come on, Roy!” called Marco from the bottom of the slide.  His arms were outstretched forming a tiny feline safety net.

Roy scootched forward over the lip and…  Whoosh!  Roy’s bib overalls provided virtually no friction on the surface of the shiny steel sliding board.  Recalling the incident in his adult years, Roy would swear that he broke the sound barrier as he flew off the end of the slide.  The bear crashed into his new “brother” and the two cubs plowed a furrow into the soft sand.

The little lynx laughed with joy as he pushed the bigger bear off his chest.  “See?  Wasn’t it fun?  Let’s go again!”  He ran back to the ladder.  

Roy followed and looked up from the ground as Marco climbed.  He could hear Marco squeal with laughter as the cat disappeared over the edge.  The bear had just placed a foot on the bottom ladder rung when he felt a tap on his shoulder.  There was a fox there, standing a little taller than himself.

“Get going, slowpoke,” said the fox.

“I’m going.”

“No, you’re not.  Slowpoke, slowpoke!” jeered the fox.

At that moment, Marco arrived.  Ears flat, teeth and claws bared, he snarled at the bigger boy.  With an audible “Yip!” the vulpine turned tail and fled the playground.

“Ha-ha!” laughed Roy, who had never seen such a display in his life, “That’s funny!  Do it again.”

With all the ferocity he could muster, Marco held up his claws and let out a pint-sized “Rawr!”

“That’s scary too!” exclaimed Roy.  “You sure chased him away!”

The boys were interrupted by a call from the bear cub’s mother.  “Roy, it’s time to go.”

“Aww, Mama!”  Roy protested.  He took Marco’s gray paw in his own and the two walked hand-in-hand to the bench where their mothers sat.  Roy announced, “Mama, this is my friend, Marco.  He’s coming to my party.”

Roy’s mother raised an eyebrow.  “Is he now?  Maybe we should ask his mama first.”

“Okay.  Can he eat lunch with us today?”

“Slow down, my little cub.  What am I gonna do with you?”  She turned to Marco’s mother, “Would it be alright?  I can feed Marco and walk him back home after they play a while.”

The female lynx considered the proposal.  “I suppose so.  But he usually takes a nap right after lunch.”

“So does my Roy.  Otherwise I’d never finish my housework.  They can nap together.”

“You should ask your husband to get you a maid.  Anyway, this will give me a chance to get my nails done.”  Turning to her cub, Marco’s mother asked, “Will you be a good boy for Mrs. Carrara?”  The young lynx nodded with enthusiasm.  “Then it’s fine with me.”  She kissed the top of Marco’s head and made her way toward the gate.

“It’s been very nice meeting you, Mrs. Russo,” said Roy’s mother.

“You have my address and telephone number,” called Marco’s mom over her shoulder as she strode out of the playground.

The matronly bear looked down at the two youngsters.  “Come on, boys, let’s go home and I’ll fix you some lunch.”

With this assurance of their continued playtime together, the cubs danced and hugged each other with youthful glee.

“Marco is my brother!” announced the little bear.

“And Roy is mine!” asserted the little lynx.

“Mama Mia!  How quickly these things happen!”  Roy’s mother reached down to take their tiny paws in her own and headed for the gate opposite the one taken by Marco’s mother.  The trio skipped the entire three blocks between the playground and the Carrara apartment.