Freddie and Boris's "Bear Magic"
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"Halloween" by Uncle Ben
We had not been in The Warehouse all that long, when early one morning our sleep was disturbed by a great deal of activity. Woof, my Old English Sheepdog friend, jumped down from the shelf going off to investigate. She looked rather forlorn and worried on her return. "What on earth is wrong?" I ask rather fearing the reply "There are strange things happening" replied Woof "never seen anything quite like it before." "Come on tell us please!" shouted the Little Bears together. "No!" I said sternly Woof looked very uncertain. "Let me talk to Woof first." I gently led Woof away from the Little Ones, so they could not overhear us talking.
"What have you seen?" I inquired as Woof flopped onto the shelf. "Difficult to say " she began "large strange round Orange Objects, with horrible looking faces, little arms, short legs with very big feet. They walked down the ramp of a truck into The Warehouse. Very orderly they were, marched in two by two, keeping time with each other, but very frightening all the same." Woof sat up, took a deep breath and continued "These Orange Objects were escorted by Dolls, dressed in long black dresses with matching tall pointed hats. Then, then, came the broomsticks, flying along behind the Dolls .……. and there were bats sitting on top. Big black ones scary looking, with large wings."
Beside herself with worry Woof asked "Oh goodness what does it mean? Do you think we should find a safe place to put the Little Bears? I mean, if these Orange Objects and the Dolls are going to be walking about, not to mention the broomsticks, we may be in some sort of danger…." "Not that I disbelieve you" I replied " but I had better go and take a look for myself." By that time I got to the far end of the building, the newcomers had arrived in their designated area of The Warehouse, luckily, I thought, it was quite some distance away from us. The Orange Objects did indeed look very ferocious, I understood why Woof was so worried. The Dolls were by no means attractive, they all had long pointed chins and rather nasty looking hooked noses. The broomsticks were now stationary, stacked together in dustbins, the bats though were missing.
Maybe Woof had reason for concern, it was difficult to tell. I decided the best thing was to get some of the Bigger Bears to watch carefully what was happening. Calling all but the Little Bears together to explain, I was delighted Timmy was the first to volunteer, quickly joined by his friends. To be on the safe side, Woof took off to seek a safe hiding place for the Little Bears if necessary, she was still fearing for their safety. A tool bunker that had been taken out of its wrappings, put together ready to go on display in The Showroom, this was thought to be the answer, and Woof carefully placed a box of chocolate biscuits, loads of crisps and some fizzy drinks inside.
The rest of the day went by without anything more than the usual comings and goings of The Warehouse staff. As the working day came to an end, I could sense Woof was becoming more and more apprehensive. The Guards came on duty, did their usual rounds, then went off for supper and to watch television, we were left alone.
"Try not to let the Little Bears see you are worried" I whispered to Woof, who did her best to play games as usual with them. In fact they enjoyed a wonderful evening, not a mention made of the new arrivals. From secret hidden supply Woof came up with hot chocolate drinks and honey sandwiches. Just as we were all about to settle down for the night, whooshing sounds were heard coming from the far end of The Warehouse. Timmy was first to leave the shelf, he had left his friends on watch and wanted to know straight away what was going on. Taking immediate action, Woof herded the Little Bears to the safety of the tool bunker. At least she thought she had! Waiting for Timmy and his friends to return seemed like forever, when they did arrive they were laughing and demonstrating various manoeuvres with their arms. Woof was first to demand to know what was going on, not to mention her anger about being left so long without any news. "Quidditch" replied one of the Bears. "You know like in Harry Potter." "Gosh, you mean Harry Potter is here?" squeaked one of the Little Bears, appearing suddenly out of the shadows and clearly very excited at the mention of a great fictional hero. "Hold on, hold on, what is all this about? Just how did you get out of the bunker/" I demanded. All the Little Bears looked a tiny bit sheepish. "After we had eaten the chocolate biscuits and crisps" said one " we climbed up on each other’s shoulders and push the top open!" "And, umm, how have you heard of Harry Potter?" "My fault" piped up Woof "one of The Guards had left a book in the office, so I borrowed it and read to the Little Ones." "Quidditch" repeated another Little Bear rather dreamily, "flying around on broom sticks trying to catch a snitch … " Then, looking at Timmy and his friends, added with much curiosity for one so young "you mean there are broomsticks here? In The Warehouse?" After that it was impossible not to tell the Little Ones what we had seen. Instead of being concerned, they seriously thought their hero was about to fly in! Somehow Woof eventually managed to settle them down for the night, promising to find out more the next day. "Now what?" all the other Big Bears asked together "We still do not know what this is about, do we?" In my dreams that night I was chased by an unmanned broomstick, escorted by two of the Orange Objects to a meeting with the Dolls and licked on the face by a black cat.
Again the cat meowed. Woof drew back, and her dislike of cats was immediate! The cat though refused to be deterred and went closer to Woof, she sat down and gently put out a paw and beckoned. "Think she wants us to go with her" I remarked. We set off following the cat along the centre isle of The Warehouse, a route we knew and had taken many times before. Nearing the far end of the building the cat stopped, turned to us and motioned her head towards a side isle. Slowly and carefully making our way along, fearing this might be some sort of trap, we came face to face with one of the Orange Objects. Having seen them before, maybe it was not as frightening as it could have been. A short stumpy arm pointed us towards a ladder, just like the one we had found to help everyone on and off our own shelf. Climbing to the first level, we heard a voice call out "welcome" and a doll appeared from nowhere. "Gosh" said Woof without thinking, "how did you do that?" "It’s called magic" replied the Doll. Oh dear, Woof said quietly, the Little Bear are going to love this! Magic, that is very Harry Potter! The Doll invited us all to sit down, explaining the other Dolls had asked her to speak on their behalf. "Like yourselves" she said "we come here to The Warehouse, once a year. However things have been running late, delivery schedule went wrong, otherwise we probably would have been long gone before you Bears arrived. Normally we occupy the shelf you are on! I know we must be a bit scary to you, but that’s the way we are - all ready for Halloween." "Hallo ……. what?" I asked. The Doll told us more about the events that happen on the thirty first of October every year, adding that they were not quite as frightening as they sounded! "In a couple of days," she continued "we will be moved into The Showroom, where a special sale is being held. Can’t have us hanging around too long! Anyway, we wondered if you would all like to join us for a party tomorrow evening. Bet your Little Bears would love it!" "Indeed they would!" I replied. Woof was a little uncertain, her perceptive doggy instincts coming to the fore, and we left thanking the Doll for the invitation, saying we would let her know in the morning. Back on our own territory, we talked it through. Timmy pointed out that it might be very difficult keeping the Little Bears away, they would want to know what was happening. Of course as soon as the Little Bears heard about the party, they couldn’t wait for it to start! Woof took off on one of her day time expeditions, which she had become very good at, returning with a copy of the brochure containing the forthcoming sale details. That bit is at least correct she said. We all agreed that the Little Bears could go to the Halloween Party accompanied by some of the Big Bears. On learning about the party, the Little Bears were very excited and spent hours dressing up in all sorts of things Woof and the other bears found. Once The Guards had settled down to watch television on the evening of the party, the black cat appeared with The Doll, and said the party was about to start, the Little Bears were jumping up and down, unable to wait for the party to start. As we walked through The Warehouse escorted by flying broomsticks and Numerous Orange Objects, ghosts appeared from nowhere and bats flew overhead. The Dolls welcomed us, offering drinks and a wonderful selection of food, then they gave a flying display on broomsticks but made the Little Bears promise they would never try to do it themselves. Some of the Orange Objects formed a band, the Little Bears danced and everyone played games. It was wonderful to see them so happy.
Getting the Little Bears to leave was going to be a problem, but The Doll had that worked out, the broomsticks waited, lined up on the floor. Anyone ready for a ride, she asked. Without hesitation the Little Bears lined up, oh yes they shouted. Once round The Warehouse, said The Doll, then back to your shelf! Woof hurried off to be there when the first group arrived. It took a number of trips to compete, when the last Little Bears were on their way we said thank you and our farewells, returning down the wide isle of The Warehouse escorted by our Halloween friends. The evening had been good fun, it was nice also to find out we were not the only ones to be annual visitors to The Warehouse. Next day we managed to watch as the procession of Orange Objects and Dolls, together with the broomsticks, and the bats, left for The Showroom. "Hope they all find good homes to go to" said Woof "after all my doubts - they really are rather nice!"
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Bear Magic for Teddy Bears and Soft Toys All rights reserved Freddie and Boris Thursday July 08, 2010
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A cat! I was awake in seconds, a really big,
very beautiful gleaming black cat was staring me in the face. She meowed and
motioned her head to one side, stood and jumped down from our shelf.
Instinctively I followed. Woof was sitting on the floor, very much at attention,
looking around, waiting, watching. On guard.
