The Teddy Bear Story

Once in everyone’s life there is something special. This “something special” is a teddy bear, or something along those lines. It could be an imaginary friend, a special spell or mantra, an inanimate object that you claim has feeling, or a simple teddy bear. Deny it all you want, but everyone has something like this in his or her life. At least once in your life you have believed that an object was “alive” or you had an imaginary friend. I will not focus on those things in this story; this is the Teddy Bear story after all.

Everyone has a teddy bear, you may not have it anymore or even know where it is, but you had one or at the very least, wanted one. In this short story we shall discuss why this is so. Teddy Bears aren’t all bears; there are rabbits and cats, dogs and giraffes, zebras and all sorts of animals. They also come in several colors, blue, red, black, and white, yellow, and purple. Some of them have button eyes, others cloth eyes, drawn on eyes, glass eyes, or even bead eyes. Within the modern world of today there are all sorts of possibilities for these bears.

~*’-‘*~

A girl in London twirls around in a field, she swings a small butterscotch bear around in a circle. The bear has a red-checkered ribbon around its neck and golden honey eyes. His name is Candy. The girl is pale and has freckles along the bridge of her nose, her eyes are green and her hair is blonde. Her name is Mary. Mary is five and Candy is her best friend. Together they play and sing,

Ring around a rosy, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down!

Mary falls to the ground giggling, her blonde braids fly about her face as she hits the ground and throws Candy into the air. She catches him again and hugs him to her chest; her red dress matches his ribbon. Candy is small, his fur is soft and fluffy, it tickles her face, his bow is silky smooth, it is cold against her arms, and his eyes are warm and bright, they remind her of her mother’s eyes.

~*’-‘*~

A boy in Peru walks around the playground, he drags a black bear in a green jumper behind him. He’s new to this place, this orphanage. His parents died in a car crash, ironically on the way home from getting him this bear. The bear’s name is Sofrer, or Bear. Sofrer is black with a light brown muzzle and paws. He has a pea green jumper with a pocket on the chest, the pocket has a yellow duck, and he also has a green and yellow cap on his head, the kind with the pinwheel attached to the top. Sofrer’s eyes are kind and deep, chocolate brown.

The boy is four, his name is Ben, and he has tanned skin, brown eyes, and black hair. He’s not very big and Sofrer is half his height. Ben doesn’t understand why he’s here, nor does he know where his parents are, all he knows is that Sofrer is all he has. Ben holds Sofrer to him and buries his face into the bear’s soft black fur, he whispers in the bear’s ear, Bear, don’t leave me alone, I want us to go to Mommy and Daddy together. Ben walks into the orphanage not knowing his fate.

~*’-‘*~

A girl in a small city on the outskirts of Beijing stares at her new rabbit. The rabbit is pure white with pink striped ears, paws, and nose. The eyes are pink buttons and it has a pink tutu with a matching leotard and dancing shoes. This girl is three months old and her name is Shia. Shia doesn’t know the name of her rabbit; she doesn’t know how to talk yet, so she settles for cooing happily and squishing the rabbit to her face. She drools and giggles at it like all little children do, and sticks the rabbit’s ear in her mouth.

Shia has pale skin, black eyes, and brown hair. Her parents work all the time so she stays with her Grandma. Her Grandma is very old so she can’t keep up with tiny Shia’s antics. Rather, a fluffy white cat watches Shia and fetches the old woman when he thinks something is wrong. The cat’s name is Katsuya. Katsuya loves Shia and her rabbit.

~*’-‘*~

A little girl in Rhode Island hugs a white teddy bear to her. Her parents are trading her off; she spent the week at Mommy’s house, so now she’s going to spend the weekend at Daddy’s apartment. This little girl is named Anita (short for Annette), and Anita doesn’t like these exchanges, her parents say nasty things at each other and yank her back and forth. Anita has solved this problem by using both arms to hold her best friend to her. Her best friend is a stuffed blue elephant named George. He has pink, yellow, white, and green patches, black button eyes, and is always smiling. George is very large; he’s half of Anita’s height and takes up plenty of room in her arms. Anita has brown hair, pale skin, green eyes, and big ears, just like George, who she likes to call Georgie.

Georgie? Do you think Mommy and Daddy might stop fighting someday?

Georgie just smiles at her, he doesn’t say anything, he never does when other people around, or so Anita notices.

~*’-‘*~

Teddy bears have strange magical properties, they “talk”, they “listen”, and they do certain gestures that make children feel loved. They offer a solace that nothing else can. This is because they are always there, they are where the child last left it, they don’t leave to go to the bathroom, they don’t complain on how hard you squeeze them, they don’t get upset because “it’s too hot” or “it’s too cold”. Teddy bears just sit and smile; they bring comfort to children when they need it most. Think about it, when you are panicked you don’t want to look to the ones you love and see them panicking too because it just increases the fear. However a teddy bear is a constant source of comfort that never panics.

Let us say a small child of around three to five years old has had a nightmare, it was terrifying, and they were alone in the dark and monsters were trying to eat them. The child wakes up, their parents are nowhere in sight, on first instinct they have is to scream and cry; they think that the dream had been real after all. But lo and behold, there is the teddy bear! It’s still smiling, it’s right there where mommy or daddy, or perhaps even the child left it. The bear is smiling, its eyes are warm, the bow is secured, and most importantly it’s smiling! The child holds the bear close and falls back to sleep knowing there is something in his or her arms. The child dreams again happy dreams of candy and sweets, toys and games.

~*’-‘*~

Mary sniffles; her mommy is upset because she ruined her best dress. Her mommy yelled at her and was very loud. Mary is going to turn seven tomorrow, she’s worried that this means she wont have a birthday party. She’s hiding in a closet right now; she’s scared so she runs out and comes back in holding her treasure. A rather dirty bear (the stains don’t wash out) in a rather dark shade of caramel with a worn checkered bow, his name as you will recall, is Candy.

Candy, do you think mommy will cancel the party?

Candy says no. Candy only talks when nobody is around and when Mary needs him the most. Candy hasn’t talked much in a few years Mary notes. Candy just sits and smiles now, and his smile looks tired. Is Candy sick?

Candy tells Mary that her Mommy loves her and is mad for now, but will come around eventually. Mary sniffles and wipes her tears on her sleeve, thank you Candy she murmurs and hugs the bear close to her. Mary isn’t ready just yet to see her Mommy. She holds Candy to her and hums “Ring around the Rosy” a few times. A few minutes later all her tears are gone and she’s tired of crying, she leaves the closet and puts Candy on her bed, she doesn’t sleep with him anymore, but it’s his spot. She trots off to find her Mommy to apologize and closes the bedroom door behind her. Candy sits and smiles at the door.

~*’-‘*~

Ben is eight now, he’s grown up tall and skinny, a little on the bony side but other than that he has grown up well. Sofrer on the other hand has lost an eye, has had his tummy patched, the ducky on his jumper is peeling off, and he’s long lost his pinwheel. Being the only toy in the orphanage safe for young children Sofrer was shared by plenty of toddlers over the years, he’s also been the subject of bullying from big kids, being thrown back and forth in games of keep away. Ben loves him all the same though; Ben finally knows his parents aren’t coming back. Ben often stares at Sofrer and thinks, is this all that’s left? Is Sofrer all that’s left of his parents? Is there some remnant of them out there in the big, big world?

Sofrer says yes, Sofrer didn’t speak much when he was a child, but now he speaks out more and more. Sofrer is very talkative, whereas Ben is not. Sofrer tells Ben that his parents must have left something out there other than him for Ben; Ben just has to go and look for that something. Ben doesn’t really agree, he’s not sure. Right now Ben’s main concern is keeping himself out of harm’s way and keeping Sofrer in one piece, which he admits, he hasn’t done very well.

~*’-‘*~

Shia is two, her Grandma still takes care of her while her parents work, and Katsuya still watches her for her Grandma. Katsuya is getting old though, he’d rather sleep and be petted than actually warn Grandma about what dangers Shia might get herself into. Her rabbit has now been named; her name is Lipsy, because it sounds like “leap”. Now it’s Lipsy’s job to talk Shia out of her dangerous stunts. Whenever Shia thinks it would be “fun” to jump out of her high chair Lipsy casually suggests that it would be nice to stick around for a cookie, or that Grandma might not be able to give her their favorite dumpling if she can’t find them. So Shia sits impatiently in her chair while Grandma bustles about the kitchen getting food ready. Shia thinks Lipsy has nice ideas.

Once in a while Shia doesn’t listen to Lipsy though. Just last week Shia thought it’d be exciting to run around in Grandma’s parlor, glass tables, hard cherry wood floors and chairs, china figurines, and a forlorn brown studio piano spelled disaster galore. Lipsy hastily whispered how scared she was of the tall piano. Shia said that there was nothing to be afraid of and that she’d protect Lipsy (all in baby talk of course). Katsuya, who was asleep, did not see them enter the parlor, but he did hear the acute crash of a toddler against a piano. Shia wailed and bawled, Lipsy tried to calm her crying, she said that if she’d listened to her they wouldn’t be in this mess. Next time Shia would know better than to run in Grandma’s parlor. Shia nodded and crawled, sniffling whenever her injured knee hit the floor, Katsuya was outside the parlor door, and he licked her knee and rubbed against Shia’s side. Shia giggled and set of on another adventure, much to Katsuya’s amusement and Lipsy’s dismay.

~*’-‘*~

Anita tugs at her braids, she stares at her plain gray dress and white shirt. It was the first day of her new school in New Jersey, she’s entering second grade. She skipped a grade, her Mommy is very proud. Anita doesn’t know if her Daddy is proud, he’s still in Rhode Island and he doesn’t like visiting or calling, Mommy yells at him louder. Mommy and Daddy still fight, Anita doesn’t see her Daddy much, if at all, anymore. Sometimes he calls or visits, sometimes he sends her mail, but Mommy doesn’t like this. Georgie’s blue patches are a little gray now, just like her uniform. He still smiles and his trunk swings back and forth. Georgie reassures Anita that there’s nothing to be afraid of, Anita responds by saying that she isn’t scared. Georgie says sure she isn’t and smiles his knowing smile. Anita grudgingly admits that maybe she is, but it’s because she’s in a new school and a new state and a new grade. How scary is that? Georgie tells her she’s very brave, most children would be crying right now. Anita asks how he knows this, he just smiles again, and Anita leaves for school exactly three minutes later. Georgie stares at her bus leave through the window she sat him at. Good luck Anita, he sings.

~*’-‘*~

People slowly grow out of their bears, just like they forget their imaginary friends and stop using their mantras. Sometimes people don’t grow out of them though. Sometimes people need them more as they find more problems and hit more snags in their lives. People forget and give the bear away, or loose them, sometimes they even put them away never to be seen again.

There is a secret city above the clouds, next to the city of fairies, just behind the town of imaginary folk, and right in front of wonderland. This city is the Bear City. At first teddy bears were born there, but as time came on rabbits and pigs and all sorts of animals came to be. This city has large buildings of wood that resemble cottages; teddy bears live here, sometimes not all the time though. When a teddy bear becomes old and dirty, when they aren’t needed any more they “disappear”. Just like when people “forget” their imaginary friends they “forget” their teddies. The bear is taken away by a dream fairy and is brought back to the city. There they rest and relax for a few days, their fur becomes clean and fluffy, their bows (or clothes) look like new again, and their eyes become bright again. An old bear comes to Bear City and leaves looking like a young bear again. Few days in these cities is like years in our world though, so by the time an old bear returns to Earth looking like new their old child is an adult (or an old adult) and has a child of their own.

Sometimes the bear will go back to that family, and the person will remember the bear again or “rediscover” it and give it to their child or grandchild.

Note that not all stuffed animals can be teddy bears. A teddy bear is born when a child loves a stuffed animal with all their heart, unconditionally and forever, then their parents take the bear away, or lost in a fire, or stolen. The sad feelings bring life to the bear, calling the dream fairies to it. They whisk it away to Bear City and the bear learns all there is to know about being a Teddy Bear.

Teddy Bears have special meetings in Bear City. Bears from around the world go to these meetings at night, dream fairies drop of their dreams and take the bear to the meeting. The bears talk about problems their children have and how to solve them. They talk about illnesses and situations children have and suggest various ways to take care of it. When meetings are done the dream fairies take them back along with the dreams they deposited with the child. The child wakes unaware that their bear has left.

Dream fairies are small creatures the size of your thumb. They dress in various styles depending on the dreams they give, for example a fairy that brings dreams of food may dress in candy stripes or a fairy that brings dreams of snow may dress like a snowflake or a snowman or perhaps an icicle. They have baby faces; pointy teeth and ears, small thin hands and legs, translucent wings and can stand on the tip of a needle. In their arms they carry a shell, or what looks like a shell. It is very small and usually in the shape of what appears to be a conch (the occasional oyster here and there), they whisper the dreams they want to give in the conch and the conch whispers it into the child’s ear. You may wonder how these small beings take bears up to Bear City; it’s rather simple actually. The fairy takes his or her conch (or oyster shell) and puts it up to the bear’s mouth, the bear blows a breath into the conch and the conch sucks the air in like a dream. The conch then sucks the bear in with the breath transporting the bear to Dream Town, where all dreams are made. It is a short stroll from Dream Town to Bear City, just a rainbow and cloud away actually. The bear then walks back the same road and hops into the same conch to get back to the child.

~*’-‘*~

Mary is sixteen now, she does not really use Candy. Candy sits on a bookshelf and watches Mary do what ever she does. Sometimes she will stop whatever she is doing and fix Candy’s bow or straighten his posture, but otherwise she’ll ignore him. Candy smiles sadly. I’m going to miss you Mary. He says, Mary doesn’t hear him, she can’t. She’s too old and she doesn’t need him anymore. Mary walks out the door for her date, shutting the door on Candy, he smiles again and lets out a sigh. Candy isn’t what he used to be. His fur isn’t soft it’s hard and lumpy, his bow is faded and frayed at the ends, and his honey eyes are faded. He watches her go one last time.

~*’-‘*~

Ben is twenty; he was adopted when he was twelve by a young couple who raised them as if he was their own. He’s become an architect. Sofrer has lost his hat altogether, his paws have lost most of their cotton, and his jumper has lost the duck. Ben doesn’t remember Sofrer or that Sofrer is in his closet, he was never unpacked from when Ben moved to his new house. Ben can faintly remember that he had a bear; he doesn’t remember anything else though. Sofrer is pretty new to this job; he’s only been a bear for two years. He’s never been forgotten his adventures with Sofrer though. Sofrer knows it’s foolish to scream for Ben; Ben stopped hearing him a long time ago. Sofrer knows that he’s leaving for Bear City soon. He wishes he could say goodbye, he says it to Ben’s old toys. Goodbye, tell Ben, if you ever see him, that I love him. They don’t respond, they can’t, they aren’t teddies.

~*’-‘*~

Shia is twelve, Lipsy’s ears are loose, her tutu isn’t so stiff, and her ballet shoes aren’t very clean and flat anymore. Shia doesn’t play with Lipsy anymore, there isn’t any time because she goes to school, practices piano, violin, and cello and meets with her friends all the time. Lipsy isn’t new to this like Sofrer is, but she’s never been forgotten this early in a child’s life. Lipsy wishes her time with Shia could’ve lasted longer but Shia doesn’t notice her anymore, she doesn’t hear her anymore either. Shia put her on that shelf at Grandma’s left and never looked back for her, no matter how many times Shia comes to Grandma’s Lipsy isn’t needed anymore. Katsuya is still around though, he’s old, he’s party deaf, he’s lame, and his eyesight isn’t what it used to be, but he’s there. Katsuya and Lipsy sit together watching the little girl who they watched over since infancy do her homework. Katsuya looks at Lipsy; cats have certain sensitivity to such mystical creatures as Lipsy.

Tonight? He asks her in his old raspy voice. He’s seen enough teddies come and go to know the signs of their leaving.

Yes, tonight. She whispers, her voice is sad. She’ll miss the old cat.

~*’-‘*~

Georgie’s lost most of his stitches and his trunk hangs limp, his button eyes are loose and his smile is rather droopy. Anita hasn’t talked to him in a while he notices, just like she used to notice things about him. It’s like they switched roles. Anita used to be talkative, and he the silent one, now he needs to talk and she is silent and doesn’t hear him. He’s going to miss her; he hopes that he’ll be able to see her again someday. He watches her sleeping form and smiles his knowing smile one last time. His trunk wobbles a bit and he’s gone.

~*’-‘*~

Dream fairies take the old bears in their conches and the old bears are back in Dream Town. The old bears walk back into Bear City where a group of other old bears meet them. Lipsy greats Georgie and remarks that he’s droopier this round than the last, her retorts that her tutu is a lot more faded than the last few children combined. Candy walks silently behind the two arguing friends, he is the oldest of them all, and he’s listening to Sofrer whine about how much he misses Ben. Candy thinks that was how he used to be, but now even though every child is important to him they fade away in his memory. Perhaps it’s because he’s old. As they walk to the city cottage windows and doors open as the residence wake up. A few wave to the small group, a few more old ones join them as they walk to the city’s main square, where all the meetings are held. They see a few young bears toddle off towards registration; they head towards a different section of the main square. The section they go to is called Report, as the name states they report all the things their child did under their care, where a few bears who have retired from teddy work write it all down. Then they are sent to Restoration, a place where their bows are fixed, their fur is fluffed, and their eyes are shined.

Now they have a few days off and then they return back to earth for another child to take care of, a dream fairy will arrive when they’ve fully recovered with a new conch and the information on a new child. The process repeats, sometimes the child isn’t so new though. Sometimes the child is the grandson or niece or nephew of their original child. That’s how teddies are passed down you know. The council rules that the bear was definitely attached to the child and sends them back to the same family. The original child “remembers” where they put the bear or finds a bear that “looks like a bear they had” and buys it for their grandson or daughter. The cycle has started anew.

~*’-‘*~

Mary stared at the bear in the shop window, it wasn’t very special, it was small, light in color, with a checkered ribbon. Compared to all the other newer toys around it the bear looked extremely plain. There were white rabbits, gray elephants, spotted giraffes, striped zebras, and tabby cats in all sorts of colors. But this bear was different, it looked like the bear that was in all her baby pictures, she vaguely remembers that the bear’s name was Candy. She feels the lump over her stomach; perhaps her child would like it too?

A few minutes later she walks out with a white paper bag with the words The Toy House emblazoned in gold with silver sparkles on its side. Inside is a brown bear with honey eyes, it smiles and says, although she can’t hear it, I missed you Mary.

~*’-‘*~

Ben looks down in a crib in a pink painted room. He squeezes the slim waist of his wife who also looks fondly into the crib. A small tiny baby sleeps nestled within layers of fluffy blankets and pillows, watching over it at the head of the crib is a black bear in a green jumper with a yellow duck and a pinwheel hat. Ben had dug out his old bear Sofrer from a box her found in the back of his closet and found it repaired. He wrote this off as something his mother did before he left and put it in the washer. Sofrer came out looking good as new and he had given the bear to his baby girl. He smiles as he remembers all the things he went through with his bear, he can almost hear Sofrer rumble in his low voice

Remember the good ole days Ben?

In fact…Sofrer does rumble that, but Ben’s too old to believe it.

~*’-‘*~

An old woman rocks in her chair on her porch, a black cat purrs at her feet. A little girl toddles past her and the cat yowls just before the child trips and falls onto a small white rabbit. The old woman turns her head slowly, oh so slowly and gets to her feet to help the crying child up. Before she makes it over the little girl has stopped crying and is running around again with the white rabbit in a pink tutu flying after her. The rabbit’s head seems to turn and her pink button eyes appear to say Just like your Grandmother Shia and just like your Grandfather Katsu. The black cat blinks and mewls; Shia nestles back into her rocker leaving the child to her devices.

~*’-‘*~

A couple drives up to an old Victorian house; a little boy jumps out of the backseat a gray-patched elephant in tow. The couple walks hand in hand after the boy up the porch. The little boy opens the door and squeals, as he smells cookies. He giggles and heads into the kitchen. A gray-haired woman with milky brown eyes stands in front of the kitchen counter, placing cookies onto a plate. She stares at the toy the boy has. She remembers she used to have an elephant exactly like that one, she called him Georgie; her mother had thrown him away on accident on her first day of second grade. She had bawled for days over him.

Georgie? She whispers in surprise. The little boy giggles and says No Grandma, I’m Joey! He takes a still hot cookie from the plate and plops on a chair to enjoy the treat. All the while the old woman stares at the elephant with its all-knowing smile. The elephant seems to turn its head at her and wink. I’m glad you remember me Annette. She smiles, her eyes crinkle and her lips part to show white teeth. It’s good to see you too Georgie. “All is well with the world she thinks”. And this is so.