The Berenstain Bears in the Wax Museum
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Authors: Stan Berenstain
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The Berenstain Bears in the Wax Museum
Stan & Jan Berenstain
Contents
8. The Too-Tall Seal of Approval
Chapter 1
The Good Old Days
Every spring, when Bear Country School let out for summer vacation, cubs' hopes were sky-high. Whether they planned to be at home or at camp, most of them expected to have a great time. But summer was a funny thing. It had a way of turning out to be not quite as great as you'd expected.
That was often the case for Brother Bear. And he was a summer bear if ever there was one. He liked school well enough. But summer meant fun, excitement, adventure. Of course, Brother's best friend, Bonnie Brown, wasn't usually around in the summertime. She lived at Grizzly Mansion with her aunt and uncle, Lady and Squire Grizzly, during the school year, but often went out to Hollywood for the summer to act in TV commercials and sitcoms and spend time with her movie actor and actress parents.
Fortunately for Brother, though, he could always count on good old Cousin Fred to keep him from getting too bored in the summertime. He and Fred went way back. When they were babies, they played together in the same playpen in Brother's backyard in the summertime. When they were toddlers, they were inseparable in their summer playgroup.
But it was when Brother and Fred were old enough to go to Bear Country School that the summers really started to heat up, so to speak. They had all kinds of summer adventures together: running races, playing softball, fishing, hiking, going to Grizzlyland Amusement Park, and snooping around in places they weren't supposed to beâlike Farmer Ben's hayloft.
And this summer won't be any different
, Brother thought as he walked home from the last half-day of school. He was going to phone Fred right away to make plans for the afternoon. But he never had the chance, because Fred beat him to it.
Fred, who was known to read the dictionary for fun, never used words he couldn't define. “Premonition,” he said. “A feeling of anticipation about a future event.”
“Okay,” said Brother. “So what's your premonition?”
“You know how we always said that summer is for adventure?” said Fred.
“Sure,” said Brother. “And it's true. When's a better time for adventure?”
“But we always end up doing the same things summer after summer,” said Fred. “Fishing, hiking, Grizzlyland, and all that stuff. The same adventures. Well, I had a premonition that we're gonna have a new adventure this summer. Just you and me. And it'll be more than an adventure with a small a. It'll be a Great Adventureâyou know, the kind with a capital G and a capital A.”
“What kind of Great Adventure?” asked Brother.
“Dunno,” said Fred. “That's where the premonition left off.”
“Well, I don't know about any Great Adventure,” said Brother. “But I have a premonition that you and I are gonna do something this afternoon.”
“You must be psychic,” said Fred. “But why wait till this afternoon? We could go downtown for lunch right now.”
“Deal,” said Brother. “Burger Bear or Pizza Shack?”
“Let's decide when I come by and pick you up,” said Fred. “See ya ⦔
As the cubs got ready to go out, neither of them had the slightest idea that their Great Adventure would begin that very day. In fact, it would begin before they even had a chance to eat lunch â¦
Chapter 2
Dullsville
Minutes later, Brother and Fred were walking through downtown Beartown on their way to the Pizza Shack for lunch. As they strolled through the town square, someone called to them from the bench in front of Old Shag, Beartown's historic back-scratching tree. It was Grizzly Gramps.
“Hey, you two,” said Gramps, rising. “Wait up. I just happen to be headed in the same direction you are.”
Now, Brother and Fred usually liked to run into Gramps. Gramps was one of their favorite bears in all Bear Country. But today was different. For one thing, their stomachs were already growling, and Gramps was one of Beartown's slowest walkers. If he walked them to the Pizza Shack, they might faint from hunger before they got there! For another thing, even supposing they didn't faint from hunger on their way to the Pizza Shack, what if Gramps invited himself to have lunch with them? After all, this was their very first day of summer buddyhood, and in that kind of situationâwell, two's company and three's a crowd, as the saying goes.
