Chilly Eyes

    Once there was a mischievous little bear. He spent his whole life playing tricks on others. He locked his friend in a closet, crept on his mother and scared her, pretended that he was sick and got the doctor to come, and many other tricks. One day, he saw his friend, a giraffe, eating leaves from a eucalyptus plant. 

 He asked the giraffe, “Why do you eat from the eucalyptus plant?” 

 “I eat from the plant, so I get energy. They are very delicious. I wrap my long blue tongue around it and eat it.” answered the giraffe. 

 “Oh,” said the bear. 

     Years had passed, and now the giraffe had become a responsible adult. Yet, on the other hand, the bear had become a trickster. When the giraffe responsively earned money, the bear would cheat his way into it. When the giraffe sold reliable products, the bear sold cheap, useless products. The giraffe didn’t know that the bear had done these things, and they remained friends. One day, the giraffe and the bear were walking together, but as soon as they stepped outside, people crowded around them with papers and pens, mics and cameras, screaming, “MR GIRAFFE! OMG!!!!!”. 

 Everyone surrounded the giraffe and asked for autographs and whatnot. As everyone squeezed in closer, the bear got thrown out of the crowd. 

 “Hey! I’M GIRAFFE’S FRIEND!!!” he screamed. 

Yet, nobody paid any attention to him. They were too busy with the giraffe. People still gave dirty looks at the bear. They were the ones fooled into buying the products. 

 That night on the news, the headline was “MR GIRAFFE IN THE PUBLIC!”. Then the famous news reporter, Neeli Nightingale, went on about the giraffe. “Breaking News! Mr. Giraffe, the highest-rising celebrity, was spotted near the clearing! He was handing out autographs!!!” she said. 

 Then they flipped to a commercial and said the famous Timothy Toucan would be on next. Timothy Toucan was the wealthiest animal in the jungle. That meant money, money, and MONEY!!! That’s when the bear came up with a plan. He knew that the giraffe was generous. He knew the giraffe gave out autographs. If he were to disguise himself, he could sell his signature everywhere! 

 “But, I can’t ask Giraffe for more and more signatures. I can forge it!! Won’t I get tired? I can print it. Why can’t you ask Giraffe for his signature and then print it? First, fun. Second, I am a trickster!” he thought to himself. 

 He made a disguise for himself out of leaves, twigs, and paint. He took a piece of paper and a pen and walked to Giraffe’s house. He knocked on the door and waited patiently, but when the giraffe opened the door, he belted out. 

 “OMG!!! Mr. Giraffe!!! Can I please have an autograph?” he squealed. 

 “Sure,” said the giraffe as he signed the autograph. 

 The bear went home with an evil smile. He made forgeries of the giraffe’s signature. Then he went to Timothy Toucan to introduce the plan. 

 “So, a 50-50 split?” asked the bear. 

 “I’m doing most of the work, marketing and all. I get 60 and you get 40. Deal?” argued Timothy Toucan. 

 The bear thought it over for a minute and replied confidently, “Deal,” 

 Over the next few years, the bear became rich like the giraffe. The audience loved him. Autographs and photos! Yet, someone realized it was a forgery and sued the bear’s company. While in court, Timothy said he had nothing to do with this and explained his side of the story. In the end, the bear lost and was put in jail. After a year, the bear had to pay back all the money he cheated and give Timothy thousands of dollars for what he had roped Timothy into. As the giraffe’s popularity grew, the bear grew more jealous and tired of it all. Yet, throughout that all, the bear and the giraffe were still friends. The giraffe had worked hard to bail him out. Then the bear saw the giraffe eating from the eucalyptus plant and remembered what he had asked him all those years ago. He thought of a plan to embarrass the giraffe. He went and collected some chilies. Then, he made chili paste and rubbed it all over the eucalyptus plant. The giraffe and he went for dinner together and right before the giraffe started to eat the chili paste-coated leaves, something went into the bear’s eye. He rubbed it, but he did not wash his hands, and now, his eyes were burning. 

 “Aah! My eyes! My eyes! They are burning!!” he screamed through the pain. 

 “Bear? Bear! Are you okay? I’ll get you some water!” said the giraffe. 

He rushed to the lake. There were crocodiles in that lake, they could eat the giraffe. The giraffe didn’t care, he wanted to make sure his friend was all right. So he took some water and sprayed it all over the bear. He did this a couple times, risking his life for the bear. After a little bit, the bear’s eyes healed. 

 “Oh, thank you Giraffe!” said the bear. 

 “It is okay, but how were your eyes burning in the first place?” asked the giraffe. 

 And with a big gulp, the bear narrated the whole scene. He apologized to the giraffe many times. The giraffe didn’t look harmed and he said, “Oh, stop apologizing. It is okay. You’re my best friend bear, never forget that. I’m sorry.” The bear learned to be more honest, and within a couple of years. He earned back to trust and broken friendships. He became rich, and the giraffe and the bear started a company together. The bear was not a trickster anymore as he had learned a lifelong lesson. Moral - If you take the easy way out, you will regret it someday. It might be a life-long mistake.