A Winter Melody All summer long, Barry worked hard to gain weight. He snacked on nuts, chowed down on fruit, and gobbled up fish. Barry was an American Grizzly bear, and he looked forward to his winter-long snooze every year. In order to get the best sleep possible during his hibernation, he needed to pack on the pounds. Soon autumn rolled around, and the temperatures started to drop. Barry settled into a cave for his winter hibernation. All was quiet. All was peaceful as the first snowfall slowly drifted toward the forest floor. Barry smiled to himself as his eyelids closed. His peaceful slumber didn’t last for long, though. Right then, he heard a loud, booming sound coming from the other side of the forest. He tried to ignore it. He tried to wait it out, but it just wasn’t stopping. Finally, he decided to find out what the sound was and put an end to it. He roused himself from his cave and covered the entrance with leaves so that no one would claim his spot while he was gone. Then he began following the sound to find its source. The snow got thicker as he walked slowly through the forest. But he made sure that he was going in the right direction. He felt like he was traveling a long distance, and he worried that he would have a hard time finding his way back to his cave. The sound, however, was close by. Barry soon realized that the booming noise was actually music. Just ahead was a small clearing in the forest, and he could see squirrels, foxes, chipmunks, and other small creatures making festive music together. They were having a celebration, a farewell to autumn. “What’s the big idea?” he growled. “Shouldn’t you all be preparing for hibernation?” His angry voice stopped the animals in their tracks. A small squirrel approached Barry, much to the other animals’ dismay. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping, sir?” The small squirrel’s confused look made Barry question what was happening. “You see, we celebrate the start of winter every year. No bears have ever joined us. They’ve always been asleep by now.” At this, Barry realized he didn’t feel irritated anymore. No, he felt left out. “They’ve been celebrating every year,” he thought, “and bears were never included?” He looked around at the other animals, grabbed a nearby branch in his mouth, and began to hit it against the tree trunk next to him. It made a beautiful, deep sound that added to the celebration. The other animals cheered and continued their music-making festivities. After a while, the snow stopped, and the moon shone bright overhead. The animals began to disappear one by one, saying good-bye to one another. As the small squirrel let out a big yawn, he dropped his forest instrument and smiled at Barry. Barry hadn’t thought about hibernation throughout the evening, but now he realized that he was very tired himself. He put down his branch and started the long journey back to his cave. When he finally arrived back home, he removed the leaves, lucky to find that no one had taken his spot. He once again settled in, and he smiled to himself as his dreams filled with the beautiful music of the forest. What is the exposition of the story? Use details from the story to support your answer.