Cindy held her grandmother’s hand as they walked through the park. “Grandma, this is my favorite time of year. I love spring.”

“Why do you love spring, Cindy?” Grandma asked.

“I love the beautiful flowers, baby birds, bees and the sunshine,” Cindy answered.

“Isn’t it nice that we have different seasons? Imagine what if it is always winter. What if it stays the same all year long?” Grandma said.

“I wouldn’t like that. I don’t want to have snow on the ground all year long. I don’t want to have autumn leaves all the time, either. I like it when the seasons are different. If it was winter all the time, we’d never have butterflies. We can only see them in spring,” Cindy replied.

“Can you see those two butterflies flying about in the flowers?” Grandma asked.

“Of course, I can see them,” Cindy smiled.

“Even the butterflies are different. One has blue wings, and the other has orange wings, but they are both butterflies,” Grandma explained.

“Can we have our picnic now? I’d like to sit under the tree. Look, there are the birds and butterflies from the tree,” Cindy said.

“OK. We’ll stop right here. I’m also a little hungry. We can see the pool from here, too. Look at the fish swimming about. Some are orange and some are white. They are diverse. That’s what makes everything unusual and beautiful. Nothing is the same.” Grandma said.

Betty wanted to lead the way back to camp and went on talking cheerfully, asking different kinds of questions about plants and wildlife.

As we walked about halfway down the hillside, Betty fell over a stone. I ran up to where she tripped (绊倒).

Suddenly, I saw a bear about ten feet up on a huge rock watching me. It was making a long deep angry sound.

I stood perfectly still, holding my breath, wondering what to do next. Betty was crying down below. I couldn’t shout to her to be quiet, or the bear might attack me.

Then, remembering Dad’s words, I slowly dropped my backpack and took off my T-shirt. With the pack on one arm and the T-shirt on the other, trying to look as wide and big as I could. Carefully I moved away down the hillside toward Betty, keeping my eyes on the bear.

“Betty,” I called. “Stop crying. Get up slowly and catch my belt. We’re going down the hill and there’s a bear at the top.” We moved quietly and slowly down the hill. I was so nervous that I was in sweat (汗水). Once back to the forest, I removed the sweat from my face with my T-shirt before putting it on, and looked at Betty. She had a few small cuts, but nothing serious.

I pulled out the map. The camp ground was on the other side of the hill. We had hiked for miles before we finally made our way back to the camp.

Dad saw me first.

“Where have you been?” he shouted. “We were so worried,” Mother cried.

“Mommy, you didn’t have to worry. Brother Eric is really smart,” Betty said. I caught Dad’s eyes. He smiled with satisfaction. At that moment, I realized I was a big brother.