“Look!” cried George, pointing at the wall of glass. The Protector jerked his head around, and nearly fell off the doorknob when he saw the huge throng of teddy bears that were staring at them. “Well, I’ll be …” he mumbled.

Slowly, George went over to the window wall, and put his hand up to the glass. The teddy bear creatures nearly went wild at this. They were smiling and hopping around like crazy, and a huge number of them fought each other just to put their paws on the other side of the glass from George’s hand.

“What is this place?” said George in wonder. A thought was tugging at the back of his mind, as if he should know what it was—that he had seen someplace like it before.

“I have no idea,” said the Protector, trotting up to the glass next to George. “But I can’t very well pick the lock in private with an audience like that cheering me on!”

Once more, the furry creatures went wild as the Protector approached the glass. They knocked each other down, pushed, shoved and hit, just to get at the glass on the other side of him. George was startled to see that fluffy white stuff came out of some of them when they were hit very hard. It floated gently in the air.

“They’re stuffed!” cried George in amazement. “They really are like teddy bears! But how can they be alive?”

“Incredible!” agreed the Protector from where he stood at George’s feet.

“What’s for breakfast?” said a sudden voice behind them. George jumped, then turned quickly around. But it was only Emberly who had come in and was standing in the middle of the kitchen. She seemed completely unconcerned that they were prisoners of strange teddy bear creatures, in an unknown place.

“I’m not sure,” replied the Protector. “George was just sampling the food to find out what’s good.” Emberly looked at him expectantly.

George didn’t say anything. The mention of food brought back the terrible taste in his mouth. Quickly he turned away from the window and went over to rummage through some of the cupboards, to see what else he could find.

“That ice cream and carrot were disgusting!” said George.

“Then why did you eat them?” asked Emberly. “Do you like eating disgusting things?”

“Of course not,” he responded. He pulled out a box of granola bars from the cupboard. “Maybe this will be better.” He ripped one open. But this time, he took only a small nibble rather than a big bite. And instantly, he was glad he did. It had the same, awful, pasty taste of the ice cream and carrot!

George threw the granola bar away in a waste basket next to the sink. “Everything here is sick and disgusting!” he said dismally. “It all tastes like glue!”

Emberly was starting to nibble on another one of the granola bars that George had found. “I don’t think so,” she said cheerfully. “It tastes just fine to me. Kind of like Quiffles on my home planet.”

“Here, let me try,” said the protector, ripping open one of the granola bars. He took a small nibble, then screwed up his face in disgust. “It’s awful!” he said unhappily. “You’re right, George—it tastes just like glue!”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with you two,” said Emberly, taking a big bite out of her granola bar. “I think it tastes pretty good!”

The Protector and George gave each other meaningful looks. Emberly’s taste in food had always been a bit strange. Like her bizarre craving for pickles mixed with chocolate ice cream.

George suddenly headed into the living room. When he got there he saw another huge throng of teddy bears on the other side of the glass, staring at him eagerly. Some who had been watching him through the kitchen window were pushing and shoving their way over to the living room wall-window, to see what he was going to do now. They seemed to hang on his every move.

“I’m going to see what’s on TV,” he called over his shoulder. “Maybe that will give us a clue about where we are, and what’s going on.”

“Excellent idea!” said the Protector, trotting into the living room after him.

George flipped the switch, and the TV sprang to life. There was a breakfast cereal commercial on. It was one that he had seen dozens of times in his own living room at home.

“Maybe we’re still on earth!” he said excitedly. “How else would I be getting one of our channels?”

“Fascinating!” said the Protector, staring with wide eyes at the screen. “Although I never liked that brand of cereal. Try another channel.”

George quickly flipped through the channels, and was pleased to see that there were over a dozen. They were mostly the same channels he got at home—Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, TBS. The shows were familiar, and almost felt like comforting old friends in his strange, new surroundings.

“This is weird,” said George, looking up at the Protector. “Are we on earth still? And if we are, what part of earth? And why are there so many teddy bear creatures outside the glass wall?”

“I don’t know,” said the Protector, turning to stare at the mass of teeming teddy bears still staring and pointing and laughing on the other side of the glass.

As George flipped through the channels, he suddenly came to one about animals. There were lions and tigers and bears, all of whom lived at the San Diego Zoo. They were pacing back and forth in their cages, while streams of curious people walked by to look and stare and point and laugh.

And then suddenly George knew. He knew why the teddy bears had taken them, and why one of his walls in each room was see-through glass. And looking over at the Protector, he could tell that he knew and understood as well.

“Zoo specimens,” said the Protector softly. “That’s what we are. And by the look of things, that’s what they intend us to be for a very long time!”