I’m pleased to announce that my story, Silly Bear (read complete story below), came in sharing third place in the June Children’s genre short story contest in the LinkedIn Aspiring Writers Group. Congratulations to third place, Ronda Payne for “Canary Barf Yellow”. Second place went to Cindy Yatis for “Smally Small and His New Best Friend”, and first place was awarded to Carole Seawert for “The Best of Friends”. Congratulations to all who won!
SILLY BEAR
© 2006 by Patricia L. Atchison
“You don’t do anything.” Toby looked at his new birthday present from Grandma. The brown stuffed teddy bear sat on the chair. Its golden eyes stared straight ahead. It didn’t even blink.
Toby turned his back to the bear. What good was a toy if it didn’t do anything?
“Vroom! Vroom!” Toby pushed his bright red fire truck across the floor. He picked it up and pressed a button. Red lights flashed on and off. The siren wailed. When he set the truck back down on the floor the wheels grinded and squealed. It went around and around in circles.
Toby jumped back so it wouldn’t run over his toes, but he bumped the chair. Teddy fell onto the floor. Toby pushed at it with his foot. The bear just lay there. When the truck went around and around the bear, it didn’t do anything.
“What is this racket I hear?” Mama came into his bedroom. “OW!”
Uh-Oh! Mama had stepped on one of Toby’s wooden blocks.
“Turn off that truck. Pick up that bear. Clean up this messy room. I can’t even see the floor,” yelled Mama before she marched out of the bedroom.
Toby shut the door. He grabbed the truck and pushed the button. No more wailing siren. He reached to pick up teddy, but teddy wasn’t there. Where did he go?
Teddy wasn’t on the chair either. Toby stuffed the fire truck under the bed and looked for teddy. But the bear wasn’t under the bed. Where did he go?
Toby picked up an armful of blocks and threw them into his toy box. He looked for the bear in the box, but teddy wasn’t in there. Where did he go?
Toby thought he saw the teddy bear behind the toy box. He peeked, but there was nothing there. Where did he go?
Toby heard a thump in his closet. It must be the bear. He opened the door and squinted into the darkness, but there was nothing there. Where did he go?
Something tapped Toby on his shoulder. He spun around. There sat the bear on the chair.
“This game of hide and seek is over.” Toby scolded the teddy bear. He yawned and climbed up on his bed. There was stuff all over it too. He shoved everything out of the way and snuggled underneath the blanket.
“At least Mama didn’t yell at you,” said Toby. He grabbed the teddy bear and pulled it into his arms.
He felt the bear’s warmth. Just for fun he squeezed. The bear didn’t do anything. But the more Toby squeezed the soft bear, the better he felt.
Teddy’s paw reached up and touched Toby’s cheek. The bear’s other arm wrapped around Toby’s neck. The bear was hugging him!
“Gee, for a ‘don’t do anything bear’, you sure seem to be doing a lot,” Toby said. But teddy didn’t answer.
Toby told his new friend all about his morning. He talked about how Mama sometimes gets angry at him even when it seems he never does anything wrong. Toby looked deep into teddy’s golden eyes and saw a bright light. The bear stared right back at him. Toby knew teddy understood every word that he was saying.
“Silly silent bear,” whispered Toby and closed his eyes.
He heard the door squeak open and felt cool air on his cheeks, but Toby kept his eyes closed.
“Shhh little one, sleep then,” Mama whispered. Toby felt her lips on his cheek.
Uh-Oh! The space where teddy was became cold. Toby’s eyes flew open.
“Where did you put Silly?” he asked.
“He’s right here on the chair. Your room looks wonderful,” said Mama as she closed the door.
Toby held out his arms. “Come here Silly,” he said.
The teddy bear jumped right off the chair and flew into Toby’s open arms. He hugged the bear, but was afraid he would squish the stuffing right out of it, so he stopped.
Toby closed his eyes and whispered, “Let’s have a nap now you silly bear. It’s time to stop doing things.”
2011. It was a choice I made, something I’ve always considered doing, but until this year never had the chance. Wow! The experience taught me a lot. It was difficult. Was it the hardest thing I have ever done in my life? Not really. Was it a challenge? Absolutely!
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