The Bear is Loose

8/16/2019 The Bear is Loose

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‘The Bear Is Loose’

The Speaker of the House growled.

His nails were always the first to go. A slight tingle on each digit, and then they popped off fake

acrylic. A bit painful, but satisfying, like cracking a knuckle. Then the pain would start, a deep

ache that quickly accelerated into a burn which spread across the hand, the forearm, theshoulder. Then sharper, dull grey alternatives to his nails began gouging their way out…

The clocks struck !"!! p.m. #t has been a frustrating week. $yan had no moment of peace

since the primary season had produced %onald Trump as the nominee. &n top of his efforts to

reform the House. 'The trains are going to run on time under Speaker $yan,( he)d warned his

office. $yan was simultaneously trying to keep his caucus together, and work with a minority

party that was beginning to smell blood in the water for his ma*ority.

+lood. $yan shuddered, the synapses in his brain crackling.

ow the media was clamoring like *ackals, begging the Speaker to dare and not endorse his

party)s presumptive nominee. #t led to a lot of stress.

Stress made him more ferocious on these nights, when they came.

-eeling the stirrings, $yan got up from his desk and made for the windows. He closed shut the

drapes with a flap, closing off the night sky and the magnificent view of the ational all and

her shining white beacons. As he turned back to the room, the top button of his dress shirt

popped off, bouncing off the surface of his desk. The button rolled across the oriental carpet,

coming to a rest near the coffee table, stacked high with briefing books. The Speaker)s hearing

improved so rapidly in that moment as he watched it role, he could hear the button final fall to

one side with a 'soft thump( when it ended the short *ourney. &nly then did the Speaker notice

the familiar discomfort and pain of the tightening collar around his neck as he began to grow out

of his clothes. The second dress shirt button popped off. His suit coat would be ne/t. #t was to

be one of the nights.

The Speaker always tried to mentally block out these evenings, and what they meant. A person

could go insane trying to figure out the reasoning why. 0hen it happened, he *ust headed for

the woods. He didn)t think about it the rest of the month, and specifically tried not to think about

it on the nights in question 1 that is, until his mind couldn)t think any more on normal terms.

That)s what his family had taught him, his close advisors had taught him, encouraged him to do

from early on. %on)t think, *ust head for the woods. &f course, that was always easy in

2anesville. The rolling hills of thicket, woods, and cow fields were perfect to roam. 0here a

stray Holstein gone missing here and there would not be noticed. 0here the wild bucks grew

fat on acorns and corn. 0here being gone on hunting trips was unremarkable. 0here he)d

encountered that tripped fur trap, and the in*ury that followed.0ashington, %.3. was harder to manage, that was certain.

The Speaker gripped the back of a sailback chair as he went into a convulsion from the pain

and the sensations. He tried to avoid looking at his increasingly hairy hands. 0hen the

convulsion has passed, $yan made for the door. He)d lost a lot of his bipedal coordination at

that point, and nearly tripped on the giant cheese hat a constituent had left as a memento that


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day. He staggered into the mantel of the ornate fireplace on his way to the door, knocking the

45!6 bo/ over, the equipment clattering to the floor.

As he passed by the security guard)s desk, he knocked twice on the counter with his knuckles.

#t was an attempt to show some recognition of the situation and his need for help, even if he

didn)t dare articulate it. Awkward but sincere. He did awkward but sincere well 1 it)s what had

gotten elected to 3ongress originally. The Speaker averted his eyes as he did it, knowing theguard knew what this meant, but unwilling to admit it to himself. He continued sheepishly out

the door and into the &ld House 3hamber.

The security guard pressed his radio call button" 'The +ear is loose.(

The light from the gilt chandeliers cast shadows that radiated out in eight different directions

from $yan has he passed across the large room where 7a-ayette spoke, all the way to the red

curtains lining the walls. -ran8oni)s marble Car of History was perched above the chamber)s

clock, and she lifted her marble features, and ga8ed in the Speaker)s direction. %epicting an

ever watchful history, the statute trailed her eyes after $yan as he passed through the

colonnades, and into Statuary Hall.

That was one of the things that got him the most 1 the statues. He was no student of the occult,

but he)d read enough Anne $ice to know that it was supposed to be vampires for whom stone

work came alive for. And he was no vampire.

#t had been easier to manage this…problem… when he was younger. #n 0isconsin, in college

in &hio, when no one cared where he came and went. +ut $yan continued to do well, rise in

prominence in the House and the party. He was encouraged to run, to run again, and again.

And then his work to stop &bamacare rose him to prominence, and then the 94 candidacy offer,

and then the Speakership handed to him on a silver :shudder: platter when +oehner screwed

the pooch. 0e)ll manage this, his handlers told him, we)ve got this handled for you.

The Speaker shoved those thoughts out of his mind. #f he thought in those terms, it made itmore scary, more real. At every step of his career, ever since this had started happening back

in college, he avoided thinking about it. He)d hoped it would stop, or wear off. This)ll be the last

time, he promised himself each morning he stumbled home. He)d taken up hunting to be able

to e/cuse absences, made a show of e/ercising to e/cuse his increasingly athletic form. He

kept those who knew him close, and ignored their knowing glances to each other; his chief of

staff, his wife, his leadership and campaign body guards…

Stumbling down some marble stairs 1 he)d lost his sense of direction by now as his navigation

skills shifted from memory by sight1 it was getting harder to keep his balance, he walked faster,

beginning to hunch over. He heard a whistle, looked left towards the sound, and spied two

3apitol Hill police guards at an e/it to the building, the metal detectors rolled to one side. 0hen

they saw $yan)s nod, they inunison held open the doors for him, and then he soared out in theblack black night… 'The +ear is loose, confirmed,( he heard one of the guards confirm on their

radio with a crackle of feedback, beeping, and channel chatter. +ut by then the Speaker didn)t

much care about the speech of men.

The lights of the 3apitol +uilding)s


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then, and he stepped right out of his shoes. His tail thrashed out, relishing the new sensation

and keeping his balance.

+y the time $yan reached the bottom of the hill, he was on all fours, which felt correct. He

picked up speed as he dashed towards aryland Avenue, S0, ignoring the eyes of =rant)s and

=arfield)s statues, their ga8es shifting to follow his growing hulk of a form. An e/plosion of

panicking ducks and pigeons fluttered upwards in all directions as he sped by the 3apitol$eflecting 4ool. The street lights and security beacons around the +otanic =arden and the

ational useum of the American #ndian ahead were suddenly snuffed, shrouding him in

darkness. The Speaker of the House headed for the all.

This was always the tricky part. $yan knew the need to be undetected; any predator had that

instinct. +ut the all was wide open, without briar or ravines, and plenty of light. He ways was

lucky that the street lights flickered out as he passed, block upon block, leaving the clumps of

tourist who were out to look at the ivory white memorials momentarily confused. The lamps

flickered back on after fifteen seconds or so, leaving the tourists and local wonks to complain

about a lack of infrastructure investment. +ut fifteen seconds was all the Speaker needed to get

past. #f he)d given it a minute)s thought, he)d reali8e those lights going off, one block after

another in succession had to be coordinated. +ut he couldn)t think in those terms by this point.

He could smell the river, his sense of smell now dominating his brain. Human bodies, the public

restrooms, fertili8er, tour bus e/haust, trash cans, the cherry trees. the entire %istrict would see. $yan lowered his ears, and dashed along

the southern curve of the hill through the runty cherry trees and picnic tables. Around the

otherside, he paused and crouched by the stone cottage the ational 4ark Service used as their

ational all headquarters. orth of the great lawn, the lights of the 0hite House flickered, a

great American flag flapping in the night above the roof.

$yan vaguely felt that something important was involved with that spot. He could smell the

grease and gunpowder of weapons, the sweat of the many men guarding the grounds. +ut his

mind couldn)t recall why the building was important. He *ust knew it was wise to steer clear

where so many guns and so much testosterone was gathered. The Speaker turned and headed

west.

The grounds west of ?th Street offered more cover; there were bushes and dips and turns in the

hills, and the denser tree cover allowed him the comfort of shadows. The river and the wilds

that his instinct promised him were tangibly close. The smell of deer on $oosevelt #sland, fat

ducks and geese along the river and streams. And men… many many men at that large five>

sided building larger than the Speaker could now comprehend. @oung soldiers, full of muscle

and blood and energy, who would fight back and make his inevitable victory and kill all the more

sweet. #t had been forever since he)d taken a man down…

Then he was at the river. The lights illuminating the 7incoln emorial dimmed until the marble

edifice cooled to a soft glow, outshined for now by the oon. The Speaker slinked past, and

crossed 7incoln emorial 3ircle and &hio %rive. Standing at the stairs leading down to the


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4otomac, the scene was absent of the usual bikers, runners, and tourists flashing selfies. Their

scent was still present, the Speaker, sniffed. #t made him hungry. He ga8ed forward, his dim

eyesight spying the lights from $osslyn and the =eorge 0ashington 4arkway shivering on the

water, the blinking spires of =eorgetown and the ational 3athedral further off to the north. The

night)s traffic hummed around the scene. The emorial +ridge gleamed white in the night to his

immediate left. The woods 1 the Speaker could smell them 1 the woods beckoned across thebridge.

Then daylight was upon him. Headlights of two vehicles to his left burst on, one the roadway

around the 7incoln emorial, and one stopped on the bridge itself. The Speaker growled at the

vehicles. They were stationary, and had seals with piney trees on their sides. Then the

e/tinguished lights of the 7incoln emorial came on again, the building filling the space with her

pearly presence, the night tourists rubbing their eyes with startled blindness. The roadway

became flooded with light, bright as the noon>day sun. oise from above as well, as a ational

4ark Service helicopter soared overhead, search lights trailing. And were the lights on the white

bridge getting lighter +o/ed in and annoyed, the Speaker moved to the dimly light baseball

fields in 0est 4otomac 4ark. He)d get across the river another way.

The ational 4ark Service vehicles followed. 'The bear is on the move,( the radios chirped.

The Speaker gritted his teeth and dashes past the golden equestrian statues that framed the

bridge, the horses rearing in fear, the semi>nude athletes astride them struggling to calm them.

The water nymphs on the large stone monolith down the street gasped and all hid behind their

rocky perch. 2ust as the statues were unnerved, so was the Speaker, who picked up his pace.

$yan ran around baseball diamond fences and over the decorative chained walkways, the

headlights trailing him. The speaker wasn)t panicking, but felt uneasy by the trailing lights,

which moved faster than natural lights. He wanted to get away from it, and be in the dark where

things made sense and obeyed the old laws.

The Speaker skirted the baseball fields lawns, darting through holly bushes at this point. Hetried to loose the lights, but the statutes at the $oosevelt emorial loomed over the bushes,

-ranklin)s and


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humming traffic. And among the lights, he could smell a few men, men he had smelt before,

indeed men he smelt every time, as he came to this park, who shepherded him in.

ot that $yan minded the park. There were no statues here, no lights, nothing to challenge him

as a predator. 4lenty of clumps of wood to shuttle between, tall grass, and wind to dissipate his

scent. There was water on all sides, so he couldn)t wander far, but the island was large enough

for the short term. Bntil he could find a way to escape the men, and escape to his belovedwoods. o concerns about anyone else taking his plot of land, no others like him, at least that

Htwitching

prey, all while looking left and right to ensure no other beast would challenge his kill. His tail

thrashed athletically, verily. Triumphant, he let out a mighty howl echoing across the 4otomac)s

waters. The Speaker didn)t think in terms of words anymore, he didn)t even really think in terms

that we could mutually understand. +ut his howl loosely interpreted was a giant '-B3E @


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put all of his energy into not thinking about his situation, as well as trying not to throw up. The

ranger knew the routine well, and $yan had to admit he did too.

As choreographed as a $oyal %utch ballet at the Eennedy 3enter, they)d wordlessly drive to the

3apitol +uilding, 8oom past the security bollards timed *ust right so the vehicle didn)t event need

to slow down, and speed through the weaving lanes on the 3apital =rounds to get to the

loading docks, and Speaker $yan would be shuttled in from the *eep to the building by the3apitol Hill police Ga slight nod between the guards and the ranger was all the communication

needed. The ational 4ark Service *eep 8oomed away at the same moment the 3apitol

+uilding)s freight elevator soared upwards, the loading dock)s doors rolled down with a slam.

The Speaker would be led into his office, long before the earliest of the interns arrived with their

Starbucks, only now regaining his balance and human gait, and his headache fading. The two

guards and the Speaker would cross the &ld House 3hamber past statues with unmoving eyes.

4ast the guard desk and the 'by appointment only( sign. 4ast the receptionist desk and the =o>

4ack>=o memorabilia. #nto the inner office. A suit and tie would be laid out, and an entire pot of

coffee. His 3hief of Staff would help him get dressed. The guards left without a word, *ust a nod

shared with the 3hief of Staff as the Speaker sat heavily on the couch, his head in his hands as

he tried to wake up, to focus, to ignore what had *ust happened, and *ust how many people hadto know in order to make it work so perfectly. How many people had to know about him and

protect him.

'+udget meetings at 5"!! a.m., followed by fifteen minutes with the a*ority 0hip, then

fundraising calls for…( his chief of staff started in, but only after the Speaker had had two cups

of coffee > black. The Speaker stared at the floor, and spotted the button on the floor, ne/t to

the coffee table. He hands quaked, barely able to hold the coffee. He told himself he could do

this, and purposefully forgot about how he woke, as he always did, as he must.

+ut he did remember how free he had been, how wild and free. He craved that feeling, like an

addict craving their drug of choice. #t was never far from his mind. He hated this, hated what

he became 1 blanching at the admission that yes, he became this something every month. Andas much as he dreaded it, he needed it. He couldn)t wait until ne/t month. He smiled that same

toothy grin he)d bared last night.

He looked up at his 3hief of Staff, smiling cleverly, and said, '# have an idea about our Trump

issue.(

'Sir( his 3hief of Staff got ready to take notes.

:::::::::::

The 0ashington press corps *oked about the 4resident and his penchant for departing the

0hite House unannounced to visit burger *oints and coffee houses. 'The +ear is loose.( There

was a Twitter feed, obviously. The security code was even heard on the law enforcementchannels in %3 from time to time, but it never seemed to correspond to the movement of the

4resident. #t was an interesting phenomenon for the 4resident to try and break free of his

shackled office, the ever>present wall of security. 4resident Truman)s '=reat 0hite 2ail.( #t was

definitely a trap of sorts.

ost did not know how trapped Speaker $yan was, and *ust how free.


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Above him, the Statue of 2ustice stood astride the 3apitol dome, her eyes cast down on him,

day and night.

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The Bear is Loose