THEO'S TEDDY BEAR

BY DIRT

[ part 1 ]

The Beginning

The teddy bear only vaguely resembled that one first created by Rose Mitchom at the behest of her husband, Morris, just after the turn of the last century. Nor did this particular bear ever receive, on President Theodore Roosevelt’s personal stationary, permission to be called ‘Teddy.’ But nonetheless, it was so appealingly cute, that Mr. Banks could not resist. Anything for his now motherless 2 year old son Theodore. (NOT nick named ‘Teddy’ but Theo). And truth be told, Mr. Banks could have used some special loving attention himself at that moment, as he felt so desperately crushed even now, remembering his wife’s untimely passage only four long months before. But with an astonishing deliberate force of his will, he put aside his own anguish, and with an almost perfect moment of unselfishness, concentrated on his son’s well being. And that included at the moment, buying this special bear. And thus a remarkable series of events was put into motion.

But it was nearly eight years later that the second part of this event ‘motioned.’ The boy now was an amazingly cute, precocious, and inquisitive 10 year old. His father had happily remarried several years ago, and a now the normally cheerful boy had a loving mother. Who every-once-in-while wondered how come that the boy’s old teddy bear never seemed to need washing in spite of it being dragged around constantly in the manner of Linus van Pelt of Snoopy fame, and his “security” blanket. Nor did the bear ever seem to be in need of repair, unlike many of the boy’s other manhandled toys. But nobody seemed to get overly concerned by trivialities.

And so it wasn’t until the boy’s eleventh birthday before the true nature of this particular Teddy Bear begin to be revealed. At first it was merely a strange sort of light and shadow which seemed to fleetingly show up in connection with the bear, as if there was some unseen light coming from some unseen direction that shown itself on the bear.

But it was three days later before the specter allowed itself enough duration that something was mentioned.

“Theo, are you playing with your flashlight again?” his step-mom inquired.

“No Mama, that light just happens.”

“You mean you know about this strange light and did not tell us?” His step mom was concerned since Theo even confirmed the strange occurrence. “George (Mr. Banks), could you come here please.”

Mr. Banks noted the peculiar strain in his wife’s voice and quickly responded. As he entered his boy’s bedroom, he inquired: “What’s the matter hon?”

“Have you seen any strange light shining on Theo’s Teddy Bear recently?”

In fact he though he had just the other day, but decided that his tired eyes had played tricks. But now he too was suddenly mystified, and not a little concerned.

Theo during this time was trying to tell his Mama something. “Mama, please! Won’t you listen? Nothing’s the matter. Teddy promised. There’s no problem. Teddy’s just becoming me!”

Now Theo had both his parent’s unrivaled attention. What a strange thing for Theo to say. Sure the boy had frequently been seen talking to his Teddy, but this was just normal kid’s fantasy. Wasn’t it? But both were thinking of the strange light and this placed a certain poignancy and fear into their hearts. “Teddy’s becoming you?” they both exclaimed.

“Yeah Mama, Teddy said that it was almost time for me to go on an exciting adventure and he knew how sad you’d both be, so that he said he’d replace me so you wouldn’t be sad anymore.”

What a strange and frightening story, Mr. Banks thought. Of course, if it weren’t for that strange light he “thought” he’d seen, he would have dismissed the story totally out of hand. But now?

Mrs. Banks, of a more inquisitive bent, asked he son: “Theo, you know that a stuffed bear can’t become you don’t you?”

Theo was suddenly upset. He KNEW what his bear had been telling him, but he was also certain that he didn’t want to upset his Mama. Or even his Dad. So he replied: “I guess not.”

“Good. Maybe you shouldn’t keep Teddy with you tonight.” His Dad stated.

A sudden disquiet overcame Theo, but he was a genuinely obedient boy and generally of a submissive bent, so he decided to give in. After all it was only for one night. But he knew that his bear had promised that both his Dad and he would be rewarded. His Dad for that moment of nearly perfect altruism, and Theo for his genuinely giving nature that he had in part learned from his Dad, but also in part had learned from taking his Teddy’s advice when needed.

Of course, Teddy was a sophisticated simulacrum of a quite advanced civilization. And probably of even more import, what they believed to be a “reward” may differ not just slightly from what the typical human might appreciate.

Of course locking up of Teddy that night was night was to no avail. When Theo was roused from bed that next morning, she had no realization that it was indeed Teddy in the guise of her son. But so thorough was the mimicking of this advanced piece of futuristic technology, this bear was able to replace Theo days at a time, with no one being the wiser. And because both parents had decided to dispose of the bear the very next morning, each parent had assumed that it was the other who had done just that. Neither one suspected that their beloved Theo was now not only on a planet 232.1 light years distant from “earth,” he was also in an alternate universe. And he was presently undergoing a memory upgrade. After all if Theo was to get his “reward,” eventually becoming a very important personage within the royal household, he needed to learn their language.