A Love Story with a Prisoner of War - 8. On A Maple Tree

The black bear was about half a mile away from us. It was running in our direction at full speed. The sound of its running footsteps was fearfully loud and menacing. The two of us were shocked right down to our toes. The terror was so enormous that my heart nearly stopped beating.

We were in the middle of the woods, meaning that we were an-hour walk away from home. Clearly, running back was not an option because when compared to the bear, we ran like two little pathetic snails. In addition, judging by its deafening roar and the fact that evening was approaching, it was apparent that the monstrous bear was finding its target for dinner. So lying on the ground and playing dead would not prevent us from being eaten up alive by the monster. What other options did we have? Confront the bear? No way. I had no offensive weapons with me; the only thing that came closest to a weapon was a blue water canteen with no water. Ha.

Ok. The one and only possible solution that I could think of at that particular moment was to climb up a tree. I was reliably informed that bears were EXTREMELY good at climbing tree, but what other choices did we have? Climbing up a tree would gain us a better position to confront the bear. It might at least offer us a way out of the danger. If we stay on the ground, it would be doubtless that we would be brutally slaughtered right away.

‘Tree!’ I shouted, fingers pointing at an old maple tree nearby.

The bear was still dashing. It was now a few hundreds meters away from us.

We helped each other climb to a branch which was strong and thick. We were actually quite lucky that the branch was pretty close to the ground (about 2m). I was not sure if the branch could take the weight of us two, but I had faith in God that He would take us through this peril.

Now, the black bear was about 10 feet away. It must be a male bear, for it weighed at least two hundred kilograms. Its dark eyes stared ravenously at us, hungry for our flesh. It circled the maple tree slowly, waiting for the right time to attack. On the branch, Axel was sitting right in front of me, frightened and speechless. His back was touching my chest, and I could feel him gasping for air. All the blood drained out of his face, leaving his face in gloomy white. Even though I was as well horrified, I tried to put on a brave face because being fearless was the only way to get us out of here. I needed to protect my Axel and I didn’t want anyone of us to get hurt.

Long time ago, I was once told that when confronting a bear, you have to stare hard at its eyes because it was the only way to intimidate the animal. I was highly dubious about the suggestion, but what else could we do?

‘Axel, look at the bear in the eyes.’ I murmured to Axel, who was shivering in shock.

‘What?’ He asked, short of breath.

‘Look at its eyes.’ I repeated.

‘Oh…O…Ok….’ He replied in a quavering voice.

After 5 minutes of staring, which felt like forever, the monster didn’t seem intimidated in the slightest. The bear was still moving slowly down below us, speculating the best way to get us down.

‘Xavier. Sandwich. Sandwich.’ Axel said shakily.

‘Give the remaining sandwich to the bear?’ I asked.

‘Yes. It wants foo.’ He said, trying to stay sane.

‘No. Don’t give them food. They will ask for more. My awful sandwich can’t fill them up.’ I said.

‘What we do?’ Axel squeaked.

‘I don’t know. Watch out for the bear. If the bear climbs up, we need to hit it right in the face.’ I said while clenching my fist.

‘Like this?’ Axel asked as he punched me lightly with a fist.

‘Yes.’ I said.

I guessed Mum and Jake must be very worried about us. I told Mum that we would be back by 6, but the time now should be about 7. ‘Mum, Jake, I love you.’ I muttered when images of being eaten up alive by the bear appeared in my mind.

After a while, the bear stopped moving and sat comfortably on the ground. It looked so fierce and hungry. My blood was pounding in my ears and my entire body was perspiring profusely. I had never felt so frightened in my whole life before; it felt like death was waiting for us just a few feet away. To calm both of us down, I wrapped my arms around Axel’s shoulder from the back as tight as I could. His body was cold as ice; his breath was frequent and short; his heartbeat was louder than a train wreck. I knew I shouldn’t be feeling good at that perilous moment, but having Axel in my arms was so damn amazing, probably as amazing as the day when World War II would be declared over. It just felt so splendid to be so close to him.

The day worn on and the sun would dive below the mountain very soon. We had been sitting on the maple tree helplessly for about half an hour. The bear now looked so relaxed; it even yawned a few times. It seemed to me that the bear was using tactics - it was trying to wear us down with time so that we would be too exhausted to fight back when it strikes. ‘Cunning’, my mind said.

We could not go on this way, I thought. When the night sky falls, we would be in real danger. There was only about an hour of daylight left; we needed to divert the attention of the bear to something else; otherwise, heaven (or hell) would be our next destination.

After minutes of contemplation, I came up with a plan. First, throw my water canteen to the other side, hoping to divert the attention of the bear. I assumed the bear would be curious about the canteen and play with it for a while. Second, I would throw my sandwich box further away. Last, I would throw my duffel bag even further away. I hoped these would increase the distance between the bear and us; and I hoped that the bear would be so interested in those objects that it would forget about us. I honestly didn’t know if this plan would work or not. But we had to try.

The bear saw me throw the water canteen and chased the canteen like a dog chasing a ball. Bingo! It was interested in the canteen! The bear even put the canteen in his mouth to see if it is edible. Then, I threw the sandwich box further into the woods. Expectedly, the bear chased the box and toyed with it for a while. Last, the duffel bag. I used every ounce of my energy to throw it as far away as possible. The farther away, the better. At last, the duffel bag landed about 20 meters away from the maple tree. The bear grabbed the duffel bag and played with it ecstatically like a 6-year-old boy who has received a bike at Christmas. All those objects consumed the attention of the bear, and to our greatest relief, it seemed like the bear had forgotten about us.

Axel watched all these in silence. His face was still in the color of fear and apprehension.

‘I just hope the bear would not come back.’ I said when the bear was about thirty, forty meters away.

‘Run home?’ Axel asked.

‘No, the bear will run after us.’ I said calmly. ‘It can run very fast.’

‘What we do?’ He asked.

‘I hope the bear will find food and walk away. We have to stay where we are. I guess someone will start looking for us soon. If we leave the tree, and the bear is still within distance, we’ll definitely be killed. We can’t run faster than the bear. We need to stay here for help.’ I said in an expert tone.

The time was about eight; daylight was gradually replaced by darkness. The bear was still within sight, but it had wandered quite far away from us. I couldn’t see if it was still playing with my duffel bag; but it seemed like the bear would not return very soon. My heart was praying that the bear would find something to eat, so it would forget about the dinner on the maple tree.

Soon, the sun was gone, leaving the sky alone with the crescent moon and the twinkling stars. The night was cold and the winds were picking up speed. We hugged each other tight so as to keep ourselves warm. The bear was no longer visible, and we could not hear its footsteps anymore. We breathed a sigh of relief, but we had not let our guard down since it was in much likelihood that the monster would come back for us.

In the darkness, Axel and I shared the remaining egg sandwich. Now, the sandwich tasted even better than caviar or lobster. Axel and I sat facing each other while eating the sandwich, and our eyes locked. His eyes were so captivating and blue – even we were in the dark, its blueness still shone. The indescribable beauty of this German boy made my heart race like the bear. His blemish-less face was so awe-inspiring that I believed no one in this world would ever dislike it. I could really spend my whole life just by reveling in the beauty of this Nazi soldier. His hairless arms, his broad shoulders, his muscular body were the definitions of perfection. All I needed was one more second to look at him. Even though sitting on the hard branch was not comfortable at all, I didn’t want the moment to end. I wanted time to stop.

Feeling uncomfortable with my gaze, Axel asked, ‘Xavier, you ok?’

‘Oh yes.’ I replied sheepishly.

‘I want home.’ Axel said.

‘Me too. But we need to stay here coz’ we don’t know where the bear was. The bear may still be around. If we go down to the ground, we may be attacked. I think Mum must have asked for help by now and we’ll soon be rescued. Relax.’ I said slowly.

‘Ok.’ Axel said. ‘I no want bear. I want sleep.’ Axel said.

‘I know. Don't fall asleep. If we do, we may fall on the ground. Stay awake.’ I said. ‘Chat with me. Practice your English.’ I said orderly.

‘Ok…’ He replied.

Pause.

‘Do you like living with Mum, Jake and me?’ I began.

‘Yes. I like. All you good. I like here. Xavier, you really good.’ He replied promptly.

Elation filled my mouth, which made me speechless for an entire minute.

‘You… You… are… are not telling lies right?’ I said suspiciously.

‘I real like mum, Jake, you. You good teacher. Jake good farm. Mum good cook.’ He replied, with a small smile on his face.

I really didn’t know how to respond to his statement. I felt so proud and good to hear that. It really boosted my ego like never before.

‘You… very bave (he meant brave)… today. Thank make away bear.’ Axel said slowly. ‘I so afraid!’ He added.

‘You don’t need to thank me. I want both of us to come out this place alive.’ I said.

We paused, allowing each other’s words to sink in.

‘Do you know when you will go back Germany?’ I asked, trying to hide the sadness in my voice.

‘I no know. I think the war end.’ He replied.

‘Right. Do you miss Germany?’ I knew I should never feel this way, but my mind, at that particular moment, wished that the war would never end.

‘I want Germany. But Canada good. You so good… Hahaha.’ He said, with a big smile on his face.

He paused. I stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

‘Ah. No talk that. Next week, I nineteen.’ Axel said.

‘What? You are turning nineteen next week? When is your birthday?’ I asked in surprise.

‘One.’ Axel replied.

‘First of July?’ I said.

‘Yes. First Juli (Juli is the German equivalent of July)’ He said when he raised a finger.

‘Oh. I see.’ I replied nonchalantly, trying to hide my excitement. Ok, next week, you are going to have the best birthday party ever, I thought.

‘So, what birthday present do you want?’ I asked.

‘You.’ He said in a lighthearted tone and when he said that, he was looking at me in the eyes.

WHAT? WHAT? Was he kidding? Did he just say he wanted me??? Oh! My! God! Oh! My! God! When I was about to ask for a pardon, he said, ‘now, teach me English.’

‘O…Ok…’ I replied, hoping to hear what he had just said to me. At that moment, my body was shivering in euphoria and I just wanted to hear it once again for confirmation. But I guessed he was just joking so I decided not to push him to say it again. So as requested, we had an English lesson on that maple tree.

Axel now knew a lot of nouns and verbs but only a handful of adjectives. When he tried to describe something, either good or bad was used. So I taught him some adjectives such as delicious and tired to kill time. When I explained to him what beautiful meant, I pointed at him. When I taught him ugly, I pointed at myself.

Axel laughed out loud and said calmly to me. ‘No no no. Beautiful you. Ugly me.’

I blushed furiously. I never expected that comment. Was he only joking? Did he know how handsome he was? God. This boy was stealing my breath away. Did he really mean it? Did he really want me for birthday? Oh My God. Please tell me he was not joking.

After teaching ugly, we heard something that was neither my voice nor Axel’s voice. It was about 10pm at that time. Not too far away, I heard human voice. Faintly, I heard my name. ‘Xav, Xav.’ In response, I shouted, ‘We are here! We are here!’

Jake, Andy and Stephen Williams (2 very old men) from the other farm came to rescue us. They brought along two rifles and two burning torches.

I was on the verge of tears when I saw Jake. I hugged him tight in my arms, unable to speak for a whole minute.

‘Thank God. I love you Jake. We ran into a bear and stuck on a tree. I thought we were going to die. I know you would come to rescue us. I love you!’ I whispered in his ear.

‘Good that you are still alive. Go home now. Mum was sobbing her eyes out.’ Jake said, trying to hold back his tears as well.

‘Thanks. Andy and Steve. Thanks a lot. ’ I said.

‘Our pleasure.’ They replied in unison.

*  *  *

At the end, I estimated that we had sat on the maple tree for about 3 hours. Can you imagine how exhausting it was? My feet were sore after sitting on the hard branch for hours and my butt pained me for 2 whole days after that day.

Home sweet home. There is no place on earth that is better than home. Mum was over the moon when she saw us. She wrapped Axel and I in her arms and let out a sigh of relief. She was smiling from ear to ear. Her eyes were red and swollen from hours of crying and seeing that really hurt my soul. But now, here we were, back to a lovely place called home. It was overwhelming to be reunited with your family after such a danger.

'I love you, Mum.' I said.

'I love you too Xavier. Axel, you too.' Mum said, tears in her eyes.

*  *  *

Oh. And yes. Next week. It’s Axel’s birthday.