Ted’s father smiled and approached the little animal. “Hi, Yank,” he said.
His hand went out to pat the round head, but to everyone’s surprise, Yank drew back with a cry of fright. Dr. Kenton’s face went red as if he had been snubbed by a human being. Ted felt sorry for his father. Did the bear unconsciously know what the scientist had done to another member of his kind?
“Don’t worry, John,” Mrs. Kenton said soothingly. “He’ll come around to you before long.”
Her husband quickly changed the subject. “I’ve made out the requisitions. I’ll send them over to headquarters now on the video-sender.”
The children watched interestedly as he went to the video-sender, which was connected to the radiophone. He fastened the slips face down on a glass plate and held open a switch for several seconds. About a minute later, a buzz came over the radiophone.
“That means it’s been received,” Dr. Kenton said. “I asked to have it sent to us tomorrow.”
“Why couldn’t you just phone it in?” Ted asked.
“This way there doesn’t have to be anyone on the other end,” his father explained. “The requisition was handled by an automatic machine.”
Yank was given temporary quarters in the basement. Dr. Kenton said he could not live indefinitely inside like this—that an outside shelter was absolutely necessary.