The Bear Who Posted the Entire Forest

How it begins

Bram Bear needed a bigger envelope.

The oak tree was not fitting.

He had tried sideways.

He had tried branches first.

He had tried asking the oak to make itself look a little less enormous.

The oak had dropped one leaf on his head.

From a hole halfway up the trunk, Squirrel appeared.

"Is this a postal matter?"

"I promised to send the forest to my friend."

"Did you promise to send my kitchen?"

Bram looked at the hole.

"Not specifically."

"Then please stop measuring it."

At the post office, Pip Badger was sorting parcels.

Bram arrived with the empty envelope and a thoughtful expression.

"How large is the largest stamp?"

"Why?"

"Could it cover a hill?"

Pip put down a parcel.

"Start at the beginning."

So Bram read the letter from his friend, who had moved beyond the mountains.

I miss the forest, it said. Tell me what it is like today.

"I thought showing would be better."

Pip looked through the window.

The forest was having a very ordinary morning. Leaves moved. A woodpecker argued with a trunk. Somewhere near the stream, Duck had found something worth announcing.

"What do you like about it?" Pip asked.

Bram considered.

"The smell after rain."

"Good."

"The noise outside my window."

"Also good."

"The way everybody knows where to knock."

Pip opened a drawer and took out a sheet of paper.

Bram looked disappointed.

"That's smaller than the envelope."

"Yes."

"Much smaller than the oak."

"Also yes."

She folded the paper once, then again.

A little door appeared in the middle.

Bram touched it carefully.

Outside, Squirrel tapped on the post-office window.

"I heard you're sending home."

"Trying to."

Squirrel held up a drawing of his kitchen.

"You can post this one," he said.

Bram made room on the counter.

It was not an entire forest.

Not yet.

But it was beginning to feel like one.