The Amazing Adventures of Toby the Teddy

 Chapter 1

Toby the Teddy Bear wasn’t just any ordinary Teddy bear, he was a very special bear. Now I know what you are thinking, every Teddy is special. And this may be true, but Toby was the most special Teddy bear in all the world. You see, Toby was special because he just was. Now that just might be an understatement. Toby the Teddy had some magic in him and he knew a trick or two, but it was not just those things that made him special. Toby was very much alive. Now, if you are asking yourself, how could a Teddy bear be alive, well the truth is, I really just don’t know for sure how but the fact of the matter is, he is.

 ***

Jamie sat with his grandfather on their two favorite kitchen chairs, facing out of two large windows that overlooked the small pond behind his grandparents’ house. To Jamie the house was quiet large, but he had no real frame of reference being only ten years old. There were three huge dark green pine trees that blocked a lot of the view to the small pond where every morning and every evening Charlie would go out and hand feed the giant catfish that lived there. He called the fish, Big Bertha, and he even talked to the fish like she was an old girlfriend. The giant fish seemed to love him back, although I'm not sure if she was a she or not, but it didn't matter. Big Bertha would swim right up to the water’s edge and let Charlie pet her and feed her. She even seemed to smile at the old man. All Charlie had to do was pat the water gently and within seconds she was there, like the family dog, which the old man had two of as well. He also had one cat, three ducks and a pet squirrel that would sit the breast pocket of his shirt.

The two sat quietly staring out the window. This is where they had their talks. It seemed to Jamie that his grandfather was the only one that really talked to him. Of course the other adults spoke to him, but Grandpa Charlie talked to him and listened. More like one of friends and not so much like an adult. 

With Charlie, Jamie could be his self. He could be silly, he could be sad, he could say whatever came to his mind, it didn't matter, Charlie would listen and he would care. Not like the other adults that were always too busy or too tired or just wanted a bit of peace and quiet, like his mother always said. It seemed to Jamie that she always needed just five minutes of peace and quiet.  Jamie wasn’t even sure if he knew what that meant, it wasn’t as if he screamed what he said, sometimes he just wanted to tell her something. But most times she just wanted peace and quiet. 

Charlie was Jamie's best friend, even though there was nearly seventy years of age difference between them. Charlie wasn't Jamie's real grandfather either, he was Jamie's step-grandfather, but it never mattered to either of them; they seemed bonded beyond a simple title. Somehow they seemed to be one mind. They understood each other without words; they shared jokes that no one else understood, and they also seemed to make Jamie's grandmother and parents madder than they should. But none of that mattered because they were best friends.

The silence broke between them with the sound of cracking nuts. Grandpa Charlie always opened a few walnuts when they sat there. The old man ate only one, then he would open the window and place a nut on the ledge. One long branch from the old pine tree seemed to stretch out to the house like it was trying to grab the nut from its perch. Or perhaps it was trying to create a bridge because without fail, a few minutes after Charlie had placed the cracked nut on the windowsill, Sheila would come. 

Sheila the squirrel. Sheila would take the nut and shove the entire half in her mouth. Now if you don't know squirrels a very skittish folk, so Charlie would wait patiently until Sheila would come to him. And she would, every time. She would shyly walk over to his hand and sniff it. In the beginning she would only sit on his palm for a moment, but after a while she would climb up his arm on to his shoulder, up his neck, on to the top of his balding grey head and then back down all the way to his breast pocket. There she would roll up, eat her nut and then go to sleep. It was the same every time and every time Charlie tickled to death and Jamie was in awe. Every animal seemed to love Charlie.

"Jamie," Charlie said with a grin. "Do you know how old I am?"

Jamie wasn't sure. "I don't know, maybe 100?" He said with a smile.

Charlie laughed. Jamie loved to see him laugh, his eyes would twinkle, his nose would bounce up and down and his wrinkles laughed along. Every line on his face laughed. It was like seeing a thousand smiles at once.  

"Not quite. I'm 78. That's almost 70 years older than you."

"68, actually. I'll be 10 in two months."

"Ok, ok. 68 it is, but isn't that almost 70?" He asked laughing again.

Jamie smiled.

Out the window, the leaves in the tree moved. A bushy tail bounced up and down on a pine branch in the distance.

"Looks like Sheila might pay us a visit." Charlie said, looking off at the tree. "Did you ever wonder why all the animals seem to like me?"

Jamie shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I never thought about it. I mean, it was always that way."

Charlie nodded his head, his eyes distant and cloudy. "Can I tell you a secret?" he almost whispered. 

Jamie’s eyes grew wide with excitement. He scooted closer to his grandfather. "Is that why you wanted to talk with me today?"

The long stretched out branch close to the window shook with movement. The squirrel bobbed up and down, watching them. Jamie knew he shouldn't move now because if he did, Shelia might not come up to the window.

"In a way,“ Charlie said. The squirrel moved closer to the window. The branch swayed under its weight.

"Jamie, my secret is so enormous that I have told no one before. But I want to tell you, because I hope…” he trailed off. “Maybe you can help me."

The squirrel tentatively put a paw on the window ledge, watching them both with her shiny black eyes. Her tail twitched back and forth. Charlie made a clicking sound with his mouth. Sheila clicked back. She was a deep chestnut brown, with splotches of white and black fur. Her ears were pointed and moved separately from one another, tracing every sound the old house made. The squirrel’s tail was bushy and looked soft and rough at the same time. 

She lept the short distance from the branch and onto the window ledge, snapping one of the nut halves up as quick as could be. Jamie just watched in awe of his grandpa. Charlie clicked again with his mouth. Sheila looked up and seemed to know what Charlie wanted. She crawled through the window and up to Charlie's hand. The squirrel sniffed the air around the room again, her nose twitching and ears moving; she seemed to be ok with whatever it was she was looking for because she crawled up on to the palm of his hand. 

Charlie lifted her up and placed her on his shoulder. She paced back and forth, and crawled over up his neck, scratching his wrinkled skin as she clawed her way up. Sheila perched on top of Charlie’s head and ate her nut. Charlie smiled ear to ear. As always, this happened nearly every day, but Charlie acted as if it amazed him every time.

"What kind of secret?" Jamie asked.

"The biggest secret of all time." Charlie said in a low voice.

"Does Grandma know?"

Charlie ignored the question and asked one of his own. "Jamie, can you get the teddy bear from your room?" Sheila finished the nut and seemed to watch Jamie, while she perched on top of Charlie's head.

"The old teddy by my bed?" Jamie asked as he stood up.

Charlie nodded, which caused Sheila to lose her balance and slide from Charlie's balding head, leaving a slight pink scratch on his bald spot. Charlie didn't flinch. She grabbed onto his shirt and pulled herself up and into his pocket. Where she flipped back and forth, then flipped upside down until finally she settled down and peaked out of the lip of the pocket.

Jamie returned with the teddy. It was old, Jamie thought it might be as old as his grandfather, although it didn't really look that old, it wasn't falling apart or anything but it looked like someone had loved it a lot. The teddy had been in the room where Jamie slept for as long as he could remember. Every night when his grandpa would tuck him in, Charlie would pat the bear on the head, like he was saying hello or perhaps, good night. Jamie never thought about things like that because that is just the way they were.

"Do you remember what I told you about this bear, when you were little?" 

"You said that he took you on adventures and that he was alive." He still held the bear in his arms.

Sheila's bushy soft looking tail peeked out of Charlie's pocket.

"Jamie, what I told then was true. We went on many adventures. And now I want you to help me wake him up."

Jamie's eyes widen from excitement and bewilderment. He was almost ten now, not a dumb baby kid. He knew when adults were trying to trick him. It didn’t feel like a trick, but sometimes you never know with adults. Charlie must have read Jamie’s mind because he smiled at him.

"Jamie, I know it's hard to believe. But you have too. I’ve never lied to you, or?"

The little boy shook his head, his eyes still puzzled. 

Sheila shifted again. This time her brown nose and whiskers peered over the breast pocket, like she had smelled something. Jamie hadn't even noticed that Charlie had cracked another nut open as he spoke. The old man held the nut out in front of his shirt pocket, teasing Shelia to come up and grab it. Her head popped out, ears twitching, nose sniffing, whiskers moving, and then two little hands reached for the nut which was held between two old wrinkled fingers. The instant that Jamie thought she would take the nut and disappear into the fold of the pocket, she stopped and stared at the bear. She made that clicking sound that Jamie understood as her way to communicate with his grandfather.

Charlie smiled that knowing smile he had.

She clicked again and climbed slowly out of the shirt pocket. Her movements were silent, her body was tense, and every muscle seemed to move at once. She held on to Charlie's shirt with her tail twitching back and forth. She clicked again and looked up to the old man. He nodded towards Jamie. Or at least that is what Jamie thought. Actually, he had nodded toward the bear. 

Sheila made her way down Charlie's shirt and on to his pants. Slowly she crept towards Jamie and the bear. Her body was tense, nose and whiskers twitching back and forth. She watched the little boy; he knew not to move. Not because he the squirrel scared him, but because he had always hoped that she would come to him as well.

Sheila was at Charlie's knee, standing on her two hind legs, her nose sniffing the air, reaching out towards the bear.

"What's she doing?" Jamie whispered, not daring to move.

"Saying hi to an old friend."

"What?" he asked, dumbfounded, his eyes not leaving the squirrel.

"Shelia and Toby were best friends. Well, actually I was Toby's best friend but Shelia thought she was."

The squirrel stretched out over the gap between Charlie and Jamie's knees and crept over into Jamie's lap. Jamie gasped with excitement, his body tensed, he wanted the little squirrel to sit on his head just as she had his grandfather’s so many times before.

"She hasn't seen him in a very long time."

Shelia, the squirrel climbed up into the little boy's arms and cuddled up to the teddy bear. She wrapped her bushy tail around the bear's neck and clicked furiously as if scolding the bear.

That was too much for Charlie. He burst out laughing. Great enormous belly laughs, ones that brought tears to eyes. His entire body shook. Charlie laughed and laughed. And the squirrel continued to "yell" at the bear. Jamie didn't know what to do. On one hand, he didn't dare move because he was afraid to scare the squirrel and the other he couldn't help but laugh at the scene playing out in front of him.

"I guess, she is still mad." his grandfather said,once he finally caught his breath.

"How? What? Are you ok, grandpa? Shelia cannot be that old. She is squirrel."

"That's the thing. She is. Some of Toby's magic must have gone to her. Jamie, Shelia is 72 years old. That's like 500 for squirrel."

Jamie stared at the old man, not believing. But Charlie had never lied to him before.

The little animal quieted down. She nudged the bear over and over.

"What's she doing?" Jamie asked.

"I think she wants him to wake up."

"The teddy bear? You are not making any sense."

"Listen, Jamie, the teddy you are holding is alive. Well, at least he was once and I hope that he still is. Toby was just as alive as we are. He ate and slept and sang and danced and was happy and sad. Just like us. Only he went to sleep when I was 14, because of me. I told him I didn't believe in him, that the adventures we had together hadn’t been real. That's what made him sleep, I think I had outgrown him. I don’t know.” Charlie paused, tears welling in his eyes. He spoke quieter now. 

“I don't know why I did it. I was mad or confused. That happens when you are young, sometimes you are mad and don't know why. Anyway, he came to me that night and told me it was his time to sleep, to hibernate, you know what that means?”

Jamie nodded slightly. He still tried to be motionless as the squirrel lay in his arms. 

“Toby said, I would know when I should wake him up, but I just ignored him. I never even said goodbye.” The old man choked up. “I… I rolled over and just ignored him.” 

He looked at Toby with watery eyes; Jamie was scared because he had never seen his grandfather cry before. 

"I've been trying to wake him up since before you were born. I thought maybe after you were born he would wake up on his own. That's why he has always been in your room. Do you remember all the stories I've told you? When I told you the stories, I always made sure that he was there, I hoped he’d heard them. But he has never woken up. All these years have gone by and I miss my friend so dearly."

"But Grandpa Charlie, he is just a teddy bear."

"He's not, Jamie. He is magical, that's what I've been telling you. Don't you see Shelia? The squirrel, look at her, how she is acting?"

By, then Shelia the squirrel had grown quiet. She had settled down, curled up in Jamie's arms with her tail around the bear.

"I don't know." Jamie said in a low voice.

"Jamie, this bear is very special, very magical. He took me to places, you could never even dream of. We did things, we flew in my bed, and we shrunk down to the size of a field mouse. I've danced with the forest animals; I've talked to them, all because of Toby."

The boy’s eyes grew wide. Clouded with confusion and excitement at the same time.

"How do we wake him up?"

"We have to believe. Believe. Then he will come back. I know it."

Chapter 2

Snuggling with a Grizzly Bear

Let me tell you the story of the first time Toby spoke to me, or at least the first time that I realized it. It wasn't until I turned five that I really remember him, though. I went to bed as usual, with the usual chorus I'm not tired, I’m thirsty, I don’t want to and so on. Over and over, I protested until finally my father put me to bed. 

I always had the smallest room in the house; with a small twin sized bed that was still a bit too big for me. I crammed all of my stuffed animals on to my bed, the three spotted dogs, one red and blue striped cat, a white chicken with a yellow beak, four teddy bears, a green frog that croaked when you squeezed it, a dragon and a long snake that my mom had made for me. The dragon was my least favorite. He scared me a bit, but I kept him all the same (I thought he would protect my room, if someone came in while I slept). Now Toby was just one of the four bears that slept next to me. Honestly, by then I barely noticed the farm of animals on my bed. But they all had their place, and Toby's place was always next to me as I slept. The others, well they just had to be facing the door. I suppose that I wanted them to see what was going on.

There I was, sound asleep. I don't think that I was dreaming or maybe I just don't remember, but something woke me up from a deep sleep. You know what I mean; one of times it takes a few blinks before you realize where you are kind of sleeps. Toby had been lying next to me in my bed as usual, when I woke up. Someone was talking to me.

Sleepily, I opened my eyes, expecting my mom or dad to have walked in. Never would I have believed that a teddy bear would be sitting next to me and talking.

“Huh?” I asked.

“Like I was saying, you snore an awful lot for such a small child. And I do say that you like to hog the blankets as well. I might be a Teddy bear but I do get cold.” Toby said.

“What?”

“You snore and you don’t share the blankets.”

I shook my head, trying desperately to wake myself up. I was sure I was dreaming. 

“I’m sorry; I didn’t know toys got cold.”

“I beg your pardon. I am not a toy.” The bear said a bit annoyed.

“Yes, you are I’ve had you since I was a baby.” I argued.

“You were not a baby, you were a toddler. And I am still not a toy. I am a teddy bear, there is a big difference.” Toby said, not thrilled.

“What’s the difference?” I asked.

“A toy is something you play with for a while and then eventually you forget about it or it breaks or gets lost. A teddy bear is much more like a friend, and we are just as much bear as any other bear. We might not be as scary or as big or as smelly, but we are bears. We like to sleep and eat and we can even growl when needed.” He stared at the sleepy little boy. 

“So I am just as much bear as a polar bear or grizzly bear or even a panda bear, and besides Teddies am so much better than other bears or toys. We are fuzzy and cuddly; did you ever try to cuddle with a grizzly bear? No? Well, I’m telling you it’s not as nice as it sounds, they are not well behaved and they stink something awful.”

“Wait… how can you be talking to me? Am I dreaming?” 

“Of course not, Charlie, now get ready.”

“Ready? Ready for what?”

Toby winked.

“For our first adventure, silly,” Toby said with a smile.

And that was the first time I remember meeting Toby and ever since that day we had so much fun together.

Chapter 5.4

The mole dancers and the Jack Rabbit band 

“Why are you awake?” I asked Toby as I sat up.

“My belly woke me up.” The bear replied, walking towards my pillow.

“Your belly, are you hungry? Because you ate an entire bag of gummy worms just before we went to bed.” 

Toby only ate gummy worms, chocolate, cookies, creams, puddings and ice cream. He never ate gummy bears, you can see why. And I don't believe that I ever saw him eating a fruit or a vegetable. He said that they made him feel ill. But Toby could be a bit crazy, so maybe he just didn't like them so much. I used to tease him with broccoli, just to make him run away.

“No, my belly told it was time to get up. That’s all, doesn’t yours?”

“No, I suppose not.” I said. “I believe my eyes wake me up.”

“How so,” Toby asked.

“I don’t know. They open and I am awake, that’s it.”

“Hm, I have never tried that.” He said frowning. Toby closed and opened his eyes over and over. After some time, he said, “I don't think it works.” He could be a very strange and funny bear.

“You must be asleep, silly.” I laughed a little too loud.

"You should listen to your belly.” He said flatly.  “It gives the best advice.”

“I suppose.” I answered. “By any chance, did your bear belly tell you why it is time to wake up? If not, I would like to go back to sleep.”

“Let me see.” Toby said, all the while rubbing his tummy and shutting his eyes tight.

“Ah ha” Toby said with a smile. He climbed down from the bed.

“Ah ha, what ah ha? Where are you going, you crazy bear? If my parents hear us, I’ll be in trouble, again.”

“My belly said that it is time to go.” And with that, he slipped on his boots. They were bright crocodile green with yellow polka dots.

“Go, go where?” I asked as I got out of bed.

“On an adventure, of course,” Toby winked at me and stood up. He sprang back on to my bed and clapped his paws together.

My bed lifted into the air and spun.

“Wait, wait!” I cried. “I’m not ready.” Having already climbed down to put my shoes on as well.

I could just grab a hold of the corner of the bed and pull myself up as we flew away, me in my pajama and without shoes and Toby in his crocodile green boots with yellow polka dots.

The animal laden bed rose into the air, flew out of the window of my room and into the dark night sky. The full moon shone down on us and we flew higher and higher, over the trees and fences and into the star filled darkness.

I never did figure out how he did it, but Toby could steer my bed through the sky. I suppose it was just a part of the magic that he had. He just sat at the foot of the bed and swayed back and forth and steered the bed like a flying pirate ship thru the night sky.

We landed a short time later, deep in the forest behind our house. The (pirate ship) bed landed softly in a pile of leaves and pine needles that had gathered on the forest floor. They seemed much bigger than normal. The leaves were almost as big as I was, or maybe I thought I was as small as they were.

“Why is everything so big?”

“That’s because you are smaller, don't you know?” Toby said to me at eye level.

“How did you get so big?”

“I’m not big,” Toby laughed. “You got small or smaller. You aren’t a very tall boy, you know.”

“What do you mean, I got small?”

“I couldn’t let you stay so big, you would scare them and then we wouldn’t be able to have our adventure now could we. It doesn’t matter, we must hurry now.”

“Scare them? Scare who?”

“The others, now come on, we are going to be late.”

“Where are we going?”

But Toby paid no attention to what I had said, he was already walking down a hidden path thru the leaves and needles, which I hadn’t noticed before. We walked what seemed like a very far distance, but my legs were only as long as Toby’s so I don’t think that we actually walked that far. I started to I feel bad for him for always walking as fast as I usually did. But I soon forgot about that because I heard music and laughing and singing.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“That, Charlie, is the Forest Ball. By the way, what are you wearing? You can’t go to the Ball wearing your pajamas. Why didn’t you put something more suitable on?”

“What?” I said throwing my hands up. “It’s not like I knew that we would attend a Forest Ball. And besides, I told you I wasn’t ready to go yet.”

Toby looked me up and down. "This just won't do, not at all." 

Toby clapped his paws together and just like that my pajamas disappeared, but before I could cover my nearly naked body, I was fully dressed in what I believe was the first and only leaf tuxedo, complete with a green leaf hat. It had all the colors, green, yellow, and red, and brown. It was the most beautiful, itchy, amazing suit that I ever wore. I mean, who can say they dressed head to toe in leaves. The hat was the best. The leaves folded together in the front to make a point, and it had a long feather from the tail of a rooster sticking out the top. I looked like an elf.

We walked towards the sounds and into a tree clearing. There, to my amazement, were forest animals of all sorts dancing, laughing, singing and talking to each other.

The squirrels chatted up the robins. The hedgehogs danced with the foxes. The blue jays sat in the corner drinking from a glass and the rabbits played all sorts of instruments up on the stage. There were deer, bears, wolves, owls, rabbits, weasels, and hedgehogs, birds of every kind, chipmunks, foxes and moles. They danced, laughed and talked all at once, until they saw us, and then everything stopped. No one spoke, no one moved.  

Toby sauntered into the clearing, saying hi to every animal as he passed, not even realizing that the entire forest had gone silent.

I, myself stood back on the edge of the clearing not really knowing what I should do. All the animals stood there with their mouths open, staring at me. Which is quiet a site to see, I mean when a rabbit or mouse has their mouth open it is not that big of a deal but imagine seeing the bears, wolves and foxes with their mouths open staring at directly at you. It is quiet, unnerving.  

“Hey, there. Hi. How are you?” Toby was saying seemingly to no one because no one was paying attention to him.

A voice broke the silence. “Toby!” a voice called out, “Hey Toby!”

The animals seemed to step aside. As an old owl shuffled and shoved its way to the front of the group, right up to Toby. They greeted each other with an odd sort of handshake (well, that is more like a paw-wing shake.) Then they hugged and laughed and both started talking so fast I couldn’t understand anymore of what they said.

That’s when I realized that I could understand the animals, each every one of them. At that exact moment only the old owl and Toby were talking, but also before when the other animals were talking I understood them. I could understand what the squirrels said to the bears, and what the rabbits sang into the microphone, and what the weasels whispered to the chipmunks.

“Toby…” I called, “Toby?”

I called him several more times until he finally turned to me.

“Charlie, stop being rude. Don’t just stand there, say hi to my friends.”

And that’s what I did. I said hi and as soon as I did, the animals all started talking at once and some wanted to chat with me, others asked me to dance, a fox shoved a glass with some sort of pinkish drink in my hand and snail gave me a flower. And there I was, the first human being ever to be at a forest ball.

It was an amazing night. I spoke with the hedge hogs about kindergarten and how that it wasn't an actual garden where kids were planted. And then I danced to the all rabbit band, and I even shook hands with a wolf. They aren't scary as the stories make them out to be; I think maybe they are just misunderstood. At least that is what Oliver the wolf told me. Who would believe me, I thought.

“Did that really happen?” Jamie asked with inquisitive eyes.

“Of course. Have I ever lied to you?” Grandpa Charlie said with a smile.

“But dad says that you just make up those stories.”

“Your dad wouldn’t believe he had a nose on his face if hadn’t seen it in a mirror.”

Jamie giggled. 

“I never had children of my own. That may be why Toby has never woken up, but I believe that we can do it together. Or at least I hope, you never know the reasons the magic works with some people and with some not. I tried many times over the years to show friends from school that Toby was real, but he would never talk to anyone else. Now, where was I?”

Talking to a white-tailed deer is quiet difficult, they are very sensitive creatures with almost no sense of humor, and they also take everything personal and seem to be constantly on the verge of tears. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy talking to them, but I had to be careful of everything that I said.

On the other hand, the robins were always joking and laughing. They loved to play tricks, and they kept giving me some sort of honey drink that made me feel all dizzy from the sugar.

The best dancers were the moles. They wiggled and jumped and shook their hips like no one else. They were my favorites to watch, although sometimes they bumped into each other and knocked a few of the other dancers to the ground. Being underground most of their lives, they don’t have the best eyesight.

The rabbit band was also very good. They played little miniature instruments. The spotted one with the floppy ears was on the drums; his ears seemed to slap him in the face to the beat as he played. 

There was one rabbit that was as black as a starless night. He plucked away on the standup bass. He seemed to be in a world all his own. His eyes were closed and his head bopped to the music, even his mouth moved with every strum he made. 

The singer was definitely the most beautiful rabbit that I had ever seen. She had snow white fur and wore bright red lipstick. She had the most incredible voice. I think if I was a rabbit, I might have fallen in love with her right then and there. She was just lovely.

The night had been the best night of my life by far and I was 5 and a half already so I had plenty of nights to compare them too, and I wish that it didn’t have to end, but Toby came to me and said we needed to go. The sun would be up soon and we had to get back before my parents would be up. We said our sad goodbyes; I promised that I would come back to visit. 

The chipmunks tried to get us to stay, three boys kept singing to us in perfect harmony. The jokester robins stole my hat, hoping that I would go looking for it, so we might have to stay longer. But Toby wasn’t having any of it. He said that we had to go, hat or no hat. So the robins gave it back.

We made our way back to my bed, as we walked I could feel a pain in my legs.

“Toby, why do my legs hurt so much?” I asked.

“You are growing again. Soon you’ll be back to the way you were before.” The bear answered.

“Oh, I was getting used to being so small. That was so much fun. Can we come back tomorrow night?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because there is only one Forest Ball every 73 years.” He explained. “It’s the one and only night that every animal in forest come together and celebrate Mother Nature. Didn’t you see her?”

“See, who?” I asked.

“Why mother Nature, of course. That’s why we went. So you could meet Mother Nature. Do you mean you spent the entire night dancing and talking to everyone except Mother Nature?”

I shrugged my shoulders. To be honest, I didn’t know if I had met a mother or not. I spent the evening talking to a bunch of animals. That was amazing enough for me. I couldn’t understand why I had to meet someone else or if they wanted to meet me, why they hadn’t introduced themselves to me.

"Grandpa Charlie?" Jamie interrupted. "Are you telling the truth?"

"I told you I was. I can prove to you they are true. You know."

"How?" Jamie asked, eyes wide with excitement.

"I still have the hat from that night. My leaf hat."

"What?" He asked in disbelief.

Charlie slowly stood up from his chair. His legs creaking. He always gets stiff if he sits too long now. He made his way through the room and towards the back hallway.

There about halfway down the hall was a hatch in the ceiling with a pull string hanging down. Charlie pulled on the rope, the hatch opened and he folded out the ladder which was hidden up in the hatch.

"Grandpa Charlie, I don't think that you should go up there. Dad said that you shouldn’t to do so much. Maybe we should wait until he is back."

"Your dad and his rules. I am almost 80 years old. I can do what I want and right now I want to prove to your dad, that I am not a liar. Now are you coming or does this old man have to go up there alone?"

With that he turned and slowly made his way up the ladder with Jamie taking up the rear. The attic was dark and dusty like most attics are. There was little light charging in thru the small round window in the corner, barely lighting the large attic. Charlie fumbled around until he found the light switch.

The attic overflowed with boxes and closets, piles of junk and everything else you could imagine.

"Grandpa, what are you looking for?"

"My chest. It has to be here somewhere."

"What's a chest?"

"You know, like a pirate's treasure chest. That's what it looks like. That's why I kept it when I was a kid. I liked to think that I hid my greatest treasures in there."

Charlie and Jamie searched the attic, but it was nowhere to be found. Charlie looked defeated. He slumped into the corner, eyes searching the space.

"I know it was up here."

In the very back corner, hidden in the shadows, was a pile of old blankets "Did you look under those blankets in the corner?" Jamie asked as he walked to the far corner of the attic.

Jamie pulled on the first blanket, and a great puff of dust filled the room. Jamie and Charlie stood there coughing and waving their arms, trying in vain to get the dust to clear.

There, buried under a pile of old dusty blankets, stood Charlie's treasure chest.

"I knew it was up here." Charlie said with a brilliant smile on his face. "Excellent work, Jamie." He said pulling Jamie to him to hug him as he always did when he was proud of his grandson.

Charlie and Jamie pulled the chest down out of the attic together. It took a great deal of work, Jamie being nearly 10 and Charlie 78. Jamie thought the chest would crush his grandpa as they lowered it down the steep ladder steps.  

"Before we open it, I think I need to take a rest, Jamie. Can you wait?"

"Of course." He said disappointed.

Charlie slowly sat down on the sofa and closed his eyes. His breathing slowed and chest moved up and down. Jamie sat next to him, not knowing what to do.

"Jamie?" Charlie called.

"Yes, grandpa?"

"I wanted so much for your dad to do all the things with Toby that I did. But Toby never woke up again."

"Why not?"

Charlie's eyes were still closed. His chest moved rhythmically up and down as he breathed. He didn't move a muscle; Jamie wondered whether or not he had fallen asleep.

"I don't know." He whispered as a tear trickled down his cheek.

"I believe you, grandpa." He whispered back. He had never seen his Grandpa cry before. He sat nervously waiting, he didn't know what to do.

"Thank you, Jamie." He said after a long pause. Smiling sweetly at his grandson. He knew that Jamie was special to him and he favored him a little more than the other grandkids, but he would never admit that.

After a few minutes Charlie sat up on the sofa and stretched out his arms, his joints creaking and popping. Jamie smiled at the site of his grandpa. He looked younger suddenly. His smile was radiant and his back was straighter.

"What do you say do we open it up?" Charlie asked.

Jamie jumped with excitement. They pulled the chest over to the sofa. The chest was just as his grandpa had described it; it looked like an old pirate's treasure chest, wooden with a brass clasp and hinges. To Jamie, it was the most magical thing that he ever seen.

"Why don't you go get that old bear and bring him over here? Maybe seeing these old things will wake him up."

Jamie jumped off the sofa and ran back to the kitchen where he had left Toby. He reached up to him and off the counter and just for a glimpse it looked like Toby smiled. Jamie yanked his hand back.

"Oh!" Jamie yelled. He grabbed Toby and ran back to his grandpa.

"He smiled. He smiled. I swear he smiled."

"What?"

"He smiled. He smiled."

"Hm. Maybe he's playing possum. Let's see if we can wake him up. "

Charlie slowly opened the chest. Jamie's eyes were wide with excitement. Inside was the strangest of things. Charlie smiled. Not just any smile. His wrinkles smiled again. His eyes twinkled and laughed. Jamie thought for a second his grandpa looked like a kid again. They both laughed with delight.

Inside the chest was an array of treasures, as Charlie called them all. Sitting on the very top of them was a tiny hat. It was just as Jamie imagined it would be, although it was brown now and no longer green. Many brown dried leaves woven together. It came to a point at the front and was wider towards the back. It almost had a boat like quality to it. Jamie lifted the hat out of the chest ever so carefully.

Toby's paw seemed to move. 

  "Did you see..." But Grandpa Charlie put his finger quietly over his lips to quiet him and gave Jamie a wink. Jamie tried not to giggle.

"Ah, here is something." Charlie said, lifting out the tiniest of snail shells. It was decorated with many colors, flower petals and ribbons.

"What's that?" Jamie asked.

"That was the winning shell from the first Snail Beauty Contest. Toby and I helped Lola the Snail win."

"You helped a snail? They are so gross."

"Gross? Oh, no. They are the most beautiful."

Chapter 5.6

Lola the Snail and the Great Forest Snail Beauty Contest

I lay on the grass with Toby next to me. We watched the clouds sail by. The sun was shining brightly and a few clouds floated around. We tried to see which each one was. It’s harder than you might believe. I saw a unicorn and alligator, and Toby saw a train and heart.

“Toby, what does a cloud feel like?” 

“Oh, a cloud is very soft, imagine the softest bed with the softest pillow, you’ve ever had. Now it’s softer than that. Kinda like a bed of marshmallows.”

“How do you know?” I quizzed the little bear.

“I’ve done many things you don’t know about, Charlie. I’ve been alive for 347 bear years.”

“You have not.” 

Toby and I argued for a few moments about whether or not Toby is as old as he said, as the clouds continued their march across the bright blue sky. It was more than a perfect day.

Finally, we decided that one bear year was half a human year so that meant that Toby was 173 1/2 years old. So he was still incredibly old to my 5 2/3 years. 

Toby scratched his bear head and thought long and hard about something. He seemed to scratch a lot; I thought. Maybe he should have a bath, that’s what my mom says if I am scratching a lot. 

“I think we have to be small today,” 

“What do you mean?”

“My ears are telling me we need to be small,” without another word he stood up and walked towards the fence. 

“Be careful where you walk, Charlie. You never know who is below you.”

I paused in mid-step with my left foot dangling in the air. I was suddenly too nervous to put it down. Perhaps Toby was right, we never know who we might flatten if we aren’t careful and just like that it happened. 

My little boy’s foot landed directly on top of a snail’s shell with a crunch. 

“This is what I thought might happen. This is what my ears were telling me.”

Toby and I lifted the small snail that hid under a big ugly weed. 

Her shell smashed. Now how Toby knew she was a she before we shrunk down to help. No one knows.

And that’s what we did, we shrunk. Before I knew it, I was no bigger than a bumblebee. The only difference was I didn’t have wings and my mom would say that I am a lot cuter than one. 

The shell of the snail was cracked and in complete disarray. 

“Oh no, oh no.” The snail cried to herself. She hadn’t yet realized that Toby and I were standing next to her. 

“Charlie’s sorry, aren’t you, Charlie?” Toby said without introducing himself. 

We startled the snail. She never saw a shrunken down old Teddy Bear and itty-bitty tiny little boy. She pulled herself straight back into her broken shell.

“Well, that is no way to behave.” Toby said. “Charlie, help me up so I can have a look at the shell.”

I did just that. I hoisted the bear on to my shoulders, so he could get a look at the damage that I had caused.

I broke the shell in so many places; Toby didn’t have enough claws to count. 

“Please come out,” I said. “We only want to help.”

The snail’s head slowly came out of her shell. She had cried until her eyes were red. 

Toby and I introduced ourselves; the snail’s name was Lola. Toby thought that it was a funny name for a snail, but he didn’t say that because he thought that it might be rude.

Lola was on her way to the first ever Great Forest Snail Beauty Contest. Now a snail beauty contest isn’t like other contests, they look to see who makes the best slime trails, who is the slimiest and which shell has the most decorations.

Lola thought that now that her shell was cracked and broken, there was no way that she could go. That thought made her cry all over again. 

Toby scratched the back of his head again, I still wasn’t sure if it was because he was thinking or he needed a bath. 

“Lola, I think Charlie and I can help.”

Lola’s tears dried almost instantly. “How?” she asked. 

“Leave it to us.”

Toby and I decided that since I had broken the shell, the only polite thing to do was help and help we did. We gathered everything we could find, feathers, flowers, sticks, grass, red pebbles, white pebbles and anything that sparkled. 

We all worked together patching up Lola’s shell as best they could, then we used the slime that Lola gave them to cover the cracks with many treasures they found. Soon Lola looked less like a snail and more like a beautiful flower covered Mardi gras Float. 

The feathers and flowers flapped on top, the pebbles lined the curves in a red and white polka dot design. She was now the most gorgeous snail that I or anyone else in the entire world had ever seen.

We couldn’t wait to see what the other snails thought and just like that we were off. They raced (snails can’t really race, but they always try) to the contest. 

Toby and I sat and watched, we cheered each every snail that came up on stage. But when Lola slid out onto the wooden stage, we went crazy. As did all the other creatures that watched.

Lola smiled, ear to ear. Snails have ears, right? I don’t think I ever saw them, but I’m sure that they do. 

And just like that, Lola won the competition. She was so excited; she actually did race to Toby and me. Promising that as soon as she outgrew her house that she would give it to us. 

After the long party that followed, Toby and I grew back to their normal size and carefully walked back to the house. It was time for dinner.

“You were as small as a bumblebee?” Jamie asked, disbelieving.

Charlie nodded and smiled. The bear’s paw moved once again. This time, they both smiled. Sheila clicked again; it seemed she had seen it as well.

The old man dug deeper into the chest. He was looking for something. 

“I know it’s here. I know it is.” He muttered.

A melodic voice rang out. “Dinner is ready.” It was Jamie’s grandma, Grandma Bess, or Bessie, as Charlie called her. She had a full head of perfectly quaffed white hair. That she rolled in curlers every other night. She wore gold-rimmed glasses and had bright red fingernails. She looked every bit like Mrs. Claus. (That’s Santa’s wife, if you don’t know.)

They sat down to another fantastic dinner cooked by a loving old woman for her husband and grandson. Sheila crawled out the window and jumped back to her tree. They sat Toby in the middle of the table, right between Charlie and Jamie.

“Who do we have here? A guest?” Bessie asked.

“It’s just Toby.” Jamie said with a mouth full of food. 

“Does Toby want something to eat?” 

“Oh no, Toby doesn’t eat our food, he only eats sweets like gummy worms and stuff.”

“Oh,” she exclaimed “That isn’t so healthy.”

Toby nodded, or maybe he just slumped a little. Everyone had a laugh. He might just wake up, thought Charlie.

After dinner we returned to the treasure chest. The leaf hat sat on the table next to it with Lola’s decorated shell. 

“What else is in there?” Jamie asked.

“Well, let’s see here.” 

Charlie began taking items out and placing them on the table. It was every little boy’s dream, cap guns, baseball cards, super old comic books and this and that. Things that Jamie would not think of as a treasure, but Charlie’s eyes lit with excitement with every new object.

His grandmother walked by smiling. She paused and watched her husband of fifty-two years grow young again. He lit with an excitement that she hadn’t seen in years. Charlie’s wrinkles bounced up and down with every laugh. His nose crinkled and ears wiggled in the frenzy.

“Have you found what you are looking for?” she asked.

“Yes… here it is.” Charlie exclaimed, pulling a rather oddly shaped object out of the treasure chest.

“What is it?” Jamie asked, his eyes twinkling.

The strangely shaped object had been wrapped in a red bandana and tied together with a piece of yarn. Charlie almost whooped with excitement. Charlie’s eyes glistened as he silently remembered. 

Henry the Hedgehog, Mrs. Lisa and the garden gnome

Charlie untied the old yarn carefully and let the aged bandana slowly fall away. He smiled brightly and presented the object to Jamie. 

“What is it?” Jamie asked. 

“What do you mean, what is it?” Charlie laughed. “It’s a garden gnome, of course.” 

Indeed, it was. It was a rather old and chipped garden gnome with a red hat that came to a point and rosy cheeks that peaked out just above a long white curly beard. The gnome smiled a knowing smile that said he had just finished doing something a bit mischievous.   He wore a faded green shirt and chipped red pants and was holding a long brown pipe in one hand. 

Bessie clapped her hands together, “How lovely,” she said. She walked away, leaving the two young boys (one newly young) to examine their new find.

“But what does that have to do with Toby?” Jamie asked.

“Lots.”

Mrs. Lisa lived across the street from us as I grew up. She had a small white house with the loveliest overgrown garden you could imagine. She almost never mowed her grass. It was as tall as my leg once the summer rolled around. The fruit-laden trees overflowed with apples, pears, cherries and plums. Mrs. Lisa grew many plants and collected an array of junk. My mother did not approve of her garden at all, but allowed me to play there because Mrs. Lisa was so nice. What my mom didn’t know is that Mrs. Lisa fed me lemonade and cookies each time I came by. The sweetest, tartest lemonade that ever was. Now I don’t know if mom would have approved or disapproved of our secret cookie and lemonade tryst but I knew better to keep those things to myself. 

I suppose she was the age that I am now, when I started going to visit her. It started the first time I kicked my ball into her garden. 

The red and blue ball bounced over and over against the house wall. Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Again and again. I would catch it mid-air, spin, and throw it again. Thwack! Just below the window, every time. Mrs. Lisa watched sometimes and always warned me I might break the window, if I aimed just a smudge higher. Thwack, it bounced back, and I caught jumping high in the air.  Landing, I cocked my arm back and threw as hard as I could. The checkered ball soared up, higher and higher. Oh, no, I thought. It headed for the window, the second dragging slower and slower. My eyes widen, I knew it would break. Thwack. 

It bounced super high off the window ledge, just below the glass, shooting the ball high into the air and over my head. It disappeared into Mrs. Lisa’s overgrown garden. I grabbed Toby, looked across the street and ran to the fence. 

“Mrs. Lisa, Mrs. Lisa?” I called.

No one answered. Now I wasn’t supposed to go into the garden unless Mrs. Lisa was home and I knew that, but this was my ball, my favorite ball. I debated for about two seconds before I tossed Toby over the fence and into the garden, and a second later I followed.

The garden was a magical place, at least for a kid of seven. There were wagon wheels, an old silver and rusted Schwinn bike, there was a wheelbarrow full of dirt that grew the tallest weeds I had ever seen. The trees grew wild and full of fruit. The grass was knee high, a rainbow of colors erupted from the garden floor. She had a small old shed that sat in one corner of the lot. Perched on the roof of the shed was a concrete donkey pulling a cart with a small bush planted in it. I always wondered how it got there. Under the awning were tons of old gardening equipment there, most of it covered in rust. Her laundry was a drift in the wind, drying in the sun. Most of all, I like to go to the far edge of fence and pick the berries that grew there. I would eat them until my fingers, cheeks and lips were dyed red and purple. But the coolest thing about Mrs. Lisa’s garden were the gnomes. She had hundreds of them. They were everywhere. Some hidden, some not, some broken, some old, some new. Mrs. Lisa called them her friends, and each one had their own story to tell, she had said. 

My ball was nowhere. I looked and looked. It was as if the garden had swallowed it up. I felt like crying; I loved that ball. I looked by the fence and in the tall grass. By the shed and under the wheelbarrow. It was gone. 

Toby called out. “What about under those leaves?” 

“It wouldn’t be under the leaves, we would see it.” But I went and looked, anyway.

There it was, and it wasn’t alone. My red and blue ball was pressed under the leaves with an assortment of other things. Two mismatching socks which had probably fallen from the laundry line, there was a length of rope, a candlestick holder, an old hammer and Mrs. Lisa’s gardening hat. I wondered why Mrs. Lisa would bury all these things together under the pile of leaves.

“Toby, why do you think Mrs. Lisa put all of this under the leaves?”

“Maybe she didn’t want to clean, like you sometimes, when you push everything under your bed,” he replied.

I smiled, knowing what he meant. My mom never seemed to realize that under my bed was a treasure trove of toys, clothes, half-eaten sandwiches and apples. 

Just then, Mrs. Lisa came outside. She had grey hair that framed her face, glasses that made her eyes look very large and she wore a brightly colored blouse with a khaki colored pants and no shoes. I don’t think that I ever saw her wear shoes in her garden, even when it rained. I asked her once, and she said she liked to feel the worms between her toes and threw her head back and laughed at that. 

“What did you find, Charlie?” she asked.

“Sorry, I was looking for my ball and I think I found your mess that you were hiding from your mom. I’ll cover it all back so she doesn’t see it.”

“What are you talking about? My mother? My mother is long gone.” she laughed.

“This…” I said and pointed at the pile of stuff we had uncovered.

“My gardening hat. I’ve been looking for that, and my candle holder. I lost that a month ago.”

My eyes grew wide with excitement. “You mean you didn’t put it here?”

“Heavens, no.” 

I looked to Toby, but I knew he wouldn’t move because Mrs. Lisa was here. But I think I could read his thoughts at that moment, and his thoughts echoed mine. We had discovered a mystery. 

“Who do you think did?” I asked.

“Hm, now that I am not sure.” the old woman replied. 

That settled it. I determined right then and there, that Toby and I would solve the case. Now being seven I had no idea how to go about doing any actual police work but Mrs. Lisa told me the first thing that I had to do was tell my mother that I would be in her garden for a while and the second thing was that she was going inside to get lemonade and cookies to help with our detective work. 

While Mrs. Lisa was inside, I asked Toby what we should do.

“Well, I think that whoever was hiding everything, must still be in the garden because he took your ball.” 

“That’s true…” I blurted, a little scared. “Do you think it could be dangerous?”

“I don’t know, but we should be very careful.”

So Toby and I hatched a plan on how to catch our thief. Toby was the bait. First, he would shrink me down so I could hide under the leaves and wait. Second, he would wait in the tall grass, like I had forgotten him or something. His thinking was, this thief took whatever was lying around. Mrs. Lisa came out with her freshly baked cookies. 

I ate until I couldn’t anymore. Her lemonade was sweet, tart and ice cold.  I told her my plan, leaving out the fact that I would have to shrink down to the size of chipmunk and that it was all Toby’s idea. She said that she would be in the house, if I needed anything and to be careful of the gnomes they seemed to be very active lately. 

I had forgotten about the garden gnomes. “Why should I be careful of them?” I asked.

“I think they are planning something,” she whispered and looked around wide eyed.

I looked to Toby and my eyes grew big. She smiled a wide toothy smiled and laughed. As she went inside, I whispered to my furry friend.

“Do you think she was joking?”

Toby shrugged his shoulders. That gesture did not make me feel any better. But we had a mystery to solve, and I was determined to put an end to the disappearing tricks that were playing out. 

I settled myself next to the enormous pile of leaves that held the treasure from before.

“Are you ready?” Toby asked.

“Ready as ever,” I replied.

Toby clapped his paws together, and the world spun around in a dizzying array of images. Everything grew bigger and bigger until I was the size of a chipmunk. Even Toby looked huge from my vantage point. Now bears are not the gentlest of creatures but teddy bears are the exception and Toby managed to pick me up ever so gently and placed me beneath the pile of leaves. I crawled inside of Mrs. Lisa's gardening hat, hiding behind a large maple leaf. I peered out from behind the crinkly brown wall I had made. From here I could still see Toby but no one could see me, I was sure of it. Now all we had to do was wait. 

Waiting is hard for anyone, but waiting is especially hard if you are seven years old. And it wasn't any different for me at the time. The seconds ticked slowly past, then the minutes. I felt as if I had been waiting for hours (it had only been three minutes, but to me it seemed like three hours). Suddenly, Tody started to shift awkardly. 

At first, I thought Toby was scratching again, and determined to give him a bath as soon as I could. But then his body slumped to the side as if he had fallen over. Then he slid jerkly over the grass, but he was going the wrong way and the grass was so high, I could see who was pulling him. 

My