BY
RON GOULART
Shandy
was a teddy bear, a lion,
an
ape, a rival for Nancy Tanner's
affections....
But what else was he?
From
Worlds of If Science Fiction, October
1958.
Holman
came down out of the forest of giant orange-woods and trudged across the plain
toward the place where Nancy Tanner lived. It was late afternoon and the woods
beyond Nancy's home were already growing dark and dim.
The
door of the old spaceship was open and a dark flowered rug hung over the rail
of the gangway. Late sun glazed the round window near the door, but Holman
thought he had seen Nancy behind the strawberry-patterned curtains.
Wearing
a pale blue cotton dress, tan and slender, Nancy came out of the ship and into
the low-trimmed grass. She held up one arm and waved once, smiling.
"Ken," she said and turned to roll up the rug.
Holman
said, "How you been?" as he came near, walking at his usual pace.
Setting
the rug carefully on the bottom step, Nancy looked up at him. "Fine.
Yourself?"
"Not
bad. Had a cold last week." Holman put his suitcase down next to the
neatly rolled rug.
Nancy
frowned. "You still don't eat enough greens. That's why."
Holman
kissed her, his hands gentle on her back. "Well, here I am," he said.
"Well,
come in and we'll talk." She stepped slowly away from him and went up into
the ship.
Holman
gathered up his suitcase and the rolled rug and followed her.
He
looked in and all around the kitchen before he entered.
Nancy
watched him over her shoulder while she got two china cups. She grinned at him
as he stepped into the room.
"I
left the rug and my grip in the hall," Holman said and sat down in a
straight-backed chair. Stooping to retie his hiking shoes, he glanced under the
table. "Made it from the settlement in under four hours. Of course, I took
big steps."
"Would
you like rum or whisky or something like that in your coffee?" Nancy
asked, touching the handle of the coffee pot.
"School
teachers don't drink before sundown."
"You're
on vacation."
"I'll
wait. You go ahead, though."
Nancy
set a cup in front of him and backed away. "You really have a tent in that
little suitcase? You're not trying to get me to put you up here?"
"It's
one of those monofilm ones." He pulled the cup closer to him and it
rattled in the saucer. "I told you my intentions in my letter. And you
said okay. So here I am to court you." Holman started to rise.
Nancy
nodded him down. "I supposed it will be all right. I don't know." She
went back to the stove.
Holman
stood and started toward Nancy. He was distracted by a clicking sound in the
hallway outside. As he turned to the entrance-way, a large tan lion came in,
its black-tipped tail swishing slowly.
Holman
stopped as the lion crossed the kitchen between him and Nancy. "Don't
panic, Nancy," he said in a calm voice. "If nobody moves, it'll go
away."
Nancy
smiled. "Why should he go away? It's only Shandy."
The
lion nuzzled his head over the backs of Nancy's knees and made a growling,
purring sound. The tip of his tail flipped against the smooth white stove.
Holman
frowned at the lion and dropped back into his chair. "Shandy? The last
time I saw him he was a St. Bernard dog."
Nancy
rumpled the lion's mane. "Well, you know how Shandy is. He doesn't stay
one thing for long. He saw a picture of a lion on a sack of meal last week and
off he went."
"When
you're through fondling him I'd like my coffee. And where's the rum?"
Gently
pushing the leaning lion away from her legs, Nancy said, "I'll get it,
Ken." She patted Shandy on the back. "Go outside and play, Shandy.
That's a nice boy."
Without
looking at Holman, the lion left the kitchen.
"That's
ridiculous," Holman said, turning from the empty doorway.
"Damn
it, Ken. He's my pet and I like him." The rum bottle made a hard flat
sound as she put it in front of Holman. "You might try to accept him. He's
a very nice pet."
Holman
unscrewed the bottle cap. "Love me, love my whatever the hell he is."
"For
somebody who came by to court me you're not being very pleasant." She
poured out two cups of coffee.
Looking
at the red bottle cap, Holman said, "Okay. I'm sorry."
"You
know Shandy's been with me since I was just ten or so. And since dad died,
Shandy's been a real help."
"You
don't have to live out here." Holman poured some rum into his coffee.
"Just because your father was a naturalist and all."
"We
don't have to talk about my father. I like living here. We've always lived
here. Since we came out to Enoch."
"All
right." He paused to look across the table at her. "You want to keep
arguing or will you let me propose now?"
Nancy
shook her head. "Don't now, Ken. Later sometime."
"You
do know, though, that I want you. And you know I want you with me at the
settlement."
Nancy
folded her hands on the white tablecloth. "Oh, yes."
Holman
drank the hot coffee fast. "And, really, Nancy, I don't see how we could
keep something like Shandy in the settlement."
"Come
and have dinner with me tonight and we'll talk then."
Putting
down his empty cup, Holman said, "I'll go set up my tent at a safe
distance."
Outside
it was nearly night. A few yards from the ship, the lion was rolling on his
back in a patch of yellow flowers and growling to himself.
Holman
kept his back to the lion while he assembled his tent. And when he had it
finished he went inside and didn't come out until Nancy called him for dinner.
________________________________________
The
sky, up through the yellow-green leaves, was clear. The afternoon was warm,
with a slight feel of coming rain. Holman locked his hands behind his head and
half-closed his eyes. "And living alone by the woods is dangerous,"
he said.
Nancy
laughed. "You've just eaten lunch in it."
Holman
closed his eyes. "And how do you know what Shandy is? Maybe he's why this
place got a bad name in the first place."
"He's
a harmless pet. I'm very fond of him."
"Didn't
your father have any ideas about him?"
"Dad
couldn't figure Shandy out. He made all kinds of tests. Shandy's the only one
of his kind we ever saw. But, see, dad wasn't sure what he was originally. He's
a mimic, an over-done chameleon. I don't know. I like him."
Sitting
up, Holman said, "Okay." He touched Nancy's shoulder. "Look,
we've known each other, what? over a year now."
"Since
you made that ridiculous field trip with your pupils and trampled all over
everything." She tucked her legs under her and leaned toward him.
"Yeah.
So let's not argue or anything. But, really, Nancy, I would sort of like to
marry you."
"I
know."
"Have
you any idea if you're nearing a decision?"
"Oh,
yes."
"And?"
"Well,
I think we can."
"Marry?"
"Uh
huh."
"Fine."
After he'd kissed Nancy, Holman became aware of a shambling off in the trees
beyond their picnic spot.
Twigs
crackled and a medium-sized gorilla crashed into the open.
Holman
let go of Nancy and asked her, "Shandy?"
The
gorilla was carrying a large book in one paw.
"Yes,"
Nancy said, smiling. "He's been nosing through the storeroom again. Must
have been in one of my old picture books."
The
gorilla came up near their picnic basket and held out the book.
"He
wants me to read to him, Ken. He gets that way now and then." Nancy took
the book and opened it to the title page. "Earth fairy tales. This is one
of your favorites, huh, Shandy?"
________________________________________
"He
wants me to read to him, Ken."
________________________________________
Bobbing
his gorilla head, Shandy squatted down among the fallen leaves and smacked his
paws together.
"Is
he intelligent?" Ken asked incredulously. His scalp began to crawl.
"Oh,
no.... Well, let's start at the very beginning again," Nancy said.
Shandy
rested his head on one clenched paw.
"Once
upon a time," Nancy started.
Holman
stood and grabbed up his windbreaker. "I've heard this one before. I'll
drop by your place in the evening. Be finished by then?"
Nancy
half closed the book with her finger as a marker. "You're angry?"
His
coat seam jammed and Holman decided to wear the coat open. "No." He
walked away into the woods. He was only a few steps into the trees when Nancy
started the story again.
________________________________________
The
fire flared up, brightening the ground around Holman's tent. Nancy hugged her
knees up close to her and rested her head on them. "He would be out of
place at the settlement," she said.
Holman
dropped a log on the campfire and came back to sit beside the girl. "He'd
probably be happier running around out here in the woods."
Nancy
nodded slowly. "Probably."
The
stairs out of the old ship rattled once off in the darkness. Holman looked away
from the fire and toward the ship.
Coming
across the grass toward them was a giant teddy bear.
Laughing,
Nancy rose. "It's Shandy." She glanced at Holman. "Be nice to
him."
Holman
watched Shandy approach and didn't answer.
The
teddy bear sat down, like a dropped rag doll, next to Nancy. He rubbed his
fuzzy brown paws over his black nose and blinked his button eyes at her.
"Nice
old Shandy," said Nancy, pulling one of Shandy's round ears. She smiled at
Holman. "This is what he was being when dad and I first found him."
Holman,
tilting forward, flipped a flat stone into the fire and scattered sparks.
"That's a coincidence."
"I
was just, you know, about ten," Nancy said, patting Shandy's head.
"What had happened was I'd been playing in the woods. And, anyway, I left
my own teddy bear out there. Lost it. And I told dad, because it was almost
night when I remembered. Well, he found it and right beside it there was big
old Shandy. Dad and I both decided after looking at him for awhile that his
name should be Shandy."
Shandy
blinked his eyes and clapped his paws.
Holman's
left heel jammed hard against the ground as he shot up. "God damn, Nancy,
will you knock off all this maudlin, banal, boy and his dog stuff. We're not
taking that monster away anywhere."
"I
know, I know, Ken. Don't talk about it now." She kept patting the teddy
bear gently. "Nice Shandy."
"And
you, Shandy," Holman shouted. "I'm doing the courting around here. Go
hibernate or something, dammit."
Shandy's
eyes stopped blinking. Nancy's hand slipped from his head and trailed down his
woolly back as he rolled over and away. Without turning Shandy started off for
the ship, slowly, on all fours.
Finally
Nancy looked at Holman. "That wasn't nice, Ken."
Holman
knew that. He could find nothing to say back to Nancy. He frowned and went into
his tent, slamming the flap behind him.
________________________________________
After
closing the storeroom door, Holman carried the two old suitcases down the
bright corridor to Nancy's kitchen.
Nancy
smiled at him and then at the brown, scuffed luggage. "Oh, sure, those
will do," she said. "I guess the movers will be able to take care of
the heavy stuff."
Holman
agreed and picked up his half-finished cup of coffee. "And we can leave
lots of the stuff here. If we're going to use this as sort of a summer place. I
don't think we'll have to worry about vandals."
From
the doorway Nancy said, "Not many girls bring a spaceship as a
dowry."
Holman
took her shoulders and turned her back into the room. "We can make Shandy
sort of a watch-dog."
"If
he ever comes back."
"It's
only little more than a day he's been gone."
"You
were unkind to him."
"I
know. I'm sorry."
Nancy
edged around him and went to stand by the stove. "More coffee?"
"Okay."
Holman was halfway to her when the knock sounded on the spaceship door.
"Maybe
it's Shandy," Nancy said, partly surprised, partly relieved.
"Maybe.
I'll get it."
When
Holman opened the door a tall, slender young man, wearing a conservative suit,
stepped out of the darkness and into the light of the corridor. He had a neat
black mustache and was carrying a big bunch of red and gold forest flowers.
"Is Miss Nancy at home?"
"Who
are you?" The young man was standing close to him but Holman didn't move
back.
The
young man bowed slightly and smiled. "Tell Miss Nancy it's Shandy. Or
better, Mr. Shandy."
"Christ,"
said Holman, backing now.
Shandy
bowed again politely and walked to the door of the kitchen, knocking on the
wall before he entered.
Holman
jerked himself together when he heard Nancy gasp, and ran back to her.
Shandy
was sitting in a kitchen chair, his legs crossed. "It's a rather
interesting story, Miss Nancy," he said, smiling evenly.
Nancy
reached out and turned off the stove. "I imagine."
Shandy
brushed each side of his mustache. "Well, to begin then. I was in the wood
and suddenly I tripped, carelessly, over a fallen log and was knocked
unconscious. When I recovered I found myself in this state." He paused to
rub his head. "And, of course, I remembered."
Looking
straight at him, Nancy said, "You'd had amnesia."
"Yes.
You see, Miss Nancy, many years ago, I'm not sure how many, my people lived
here and I was quite a prominent member of the ruling class. But I incurred,
unfortunately, the wrath of an evil scientist."
"And?"
asked Holman. For somebody who'd recently been a teddy bear, Shandy looked
pretty dapper.
Shandy
smiled. "She put a spell on me which caused me to change shape, and also
made me forget what I had originally been."
Nancy
laughed softly. "Well, it's good to have you back."
With
a faint flourish Shandy held out the wild flowers. "For you, Miss
Nancy."
"Why,
thank you, Shandy."
Holman
leaned against the wall under the clock and eyed Shandy. "You back to
stay?"
"Well,"
Shandy said. "I've known Miss Nancy quite a while. And am really quite
fond of her. I hate to see her go." He looked at the flowers Nancy held
against her chest. "I have come to ask Miss Nancy to allow me to court
her. With all due respects to Mr. Holman."
"Damn
it to hell," Holman said, straightening.
Nancy
placed the flowers on the table and smiled at Shandy. He stood as she
approached him. Nancy laughed and put her arms around the young man.
With
her head against Shandy's chest Nancy said, "Poor Shandy. Poor
Shandy." She made him sit down again. Then she patted him fondly on the
head. "Stay right there, Shandy." Nancy hurried from the room.
Holman
followed her. "Listen, are you sure he isn't intelligent? Because, my God,
the scientists down at the settlement—"
Nancy
said, "Oh, no, Ken. He just copies things he's heard people say. Wait a
minute." She disappeared into the storeroom. When she returned she was
holding a dusty album in her hand. Holman followed her back into the kitchen.
Shandy
looked at the album for a moment and then smiled. "I meant well," he
said.
"I
knew I recognized you," Nancy said, turning a third through the book.
"My Uncle Maxwell when he graduated from Mars-Yale." She slid the
picture out and held it toward Holman, but he didn't take it.
Shandy
said, "Hated to see you go."
Come
to think of it, Holman thought, he does just repeat things people are always
saying.
Setting
the book beside the flowers, Nancy said, "What are you really, Shandy?
I've never had a chance to talk to you before, except in a one-sided sort of
way."
Shandy
folded his hands and uncrossed his legs. "I don't remember just now, Miss
Nancy. I used to know. I don't think there are many of us left now." He
touched his mustache again, smoothing it. "Maybe in the mountains there
are some more. I don't remember."
Nancy
patted his head. "I'm going to marry Ken, Shandy. And live in the
settlement."
"You'll
enjoy that."
"You
think you'll stay this way?" Holman asked.
"I
might. I don't know."
Holman
held out his hand to Shandy. "Anyway, we want you to stay here and keep
watch over things."
Shandy
hesitated and then shook hands. "I might as well."
________________________________________
Holman
and Nancy left for the settlement the next morning, with the suitcases.
Shandy,
still in the shape of Uncle Maxwell, they left on the front steps of the ship.
He waved goodbye to them. When they were gone, he changed slowly into a large
teddy bear. Then, with a moist gleam in his eye, he went back to reading the
thick, red-leather, picture encyclopedia in his lap.