The Adventures of Emma and BearBear

Chapter (1)

The little bear’s fur was sugar cookie brown.  His dark coffee colored eyes and nose were carefully stitched on his face and his curving smile gave his face a cheery expression.  His legs and arms were short and chubby with a lighter shade of brown on their bottoms. Two round soft ears were perched at the side of his head and just a bit of a tail was attached were tail are usually attached.  On his chest, lovingly stitched were the words “My Baby Bear”.

To Emma he was her BearBear, her best buddy. They had been each other’s best buddy for as long as either of them could remember, and that was a really long time because Emma was over five and half years old.  She was old enough to be starting real big kid’s school and would be going off to kindergarten in a few months.   She was excited but a little sad too because BearBear wasn’t allowed to go to school with her.  He told her not to be gloomy he would find lots to do while she was at school. Besides he knew she would come home and tell him all about her fun day.  This made Emma feel better.  BearBear always knew just the right thing to say to make her feel happy inside.

Emma was just waking up and humming quietly to herself as she did sometimes in the morning.  BearBear was snuggled in next to her neck where it was warm and smelled sweet, it was his favorite place to sleep.  When she realized she was humming the ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider” song she started to giggle, which made BearBear giggle too.  They were like that, they liked to laugh together about silly things.  

Once, when they were playing hide and seek BearBear hid in the top draw of Emma’s dresser.   It took Emma so long to find BearBear that he fell asleep waiting to be found.  She finally looked in the drawer and found him tucked in behind her pajamas.   He was snoring softly and one of her tiny baby socks was stuck to the side of his head.  The sight was so funny that she laughed and laughed, then held him up to the mirror so he could see what was so hilarious. The sight made them have giggle fits until they dropped to the floor holding their tummies because it just looked so silly.

Hugging BearBear tightly to her chest Emma said, “BearBear, I think we should go on a Big Adventure today, just the two of us. What do you think?”  Of course, BearBear thought that was a great idea and told Emma he would go on any adventure as long as it was with her.

Emma jumped out of bed holding onto BearBear and went in search of her biggest, sturdiest backpack.  It was the backpack with the special pocket added just for BearBear.  When he sat in the pocket it put him at just the right level to peep over her shoulder and see where they were going. She found the backpack in the closet and while she was there grab a pair of blue jeans and her blue tee shirt, the one with the kittens on the front.  She quickly dressed, brushed her teeth, pulled her hair back in a ponytail and headed down the stairs.

 “First we need to get provisions”, She said. “That’s food and stuff” she explained when BearBear looked puzzled.  They went to the kitchen where Emma packed two peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches, honey, two apples, two boxes of orange juice and a small bag of M&Ms.   Into her pack she also added her princess flashlight, her duck call whistle, her green explorer binoculars, a light jackets for herself and one for BearBear, pencils and drawing paper and her camera.  After placing BearBear safely into his special pocket, she pulled the pack into place on her shoulders. Putting on her favorite hat, the pink gingham one with bows, and they set out on their Big Adventure.

It was April and although the sun was shining brightly the wind was still brisk and it sent gusts of air swirling around their heads. As they stepped out of the front door the swirling current snatched at Emma’s cap.  Reaching high with his little paw BearBear caught it just as it was about to fly away.  Laughing, she thanked BearBear as she put her cap back on more firmly this time. 

As she walked Emma hitched her backpack higher on her shoulders so BearBear would have a better view.  “Where should we go first,” she asked and thoughtfully BearBear scrunched up his face and finally said, “How about the pond where the ducks swim. We could have our picnic in that pretty white gazebo.”  Emma thought that was a fine idea, so made a right turn that took them down a curvy lane and soon they were standing inside the gazebo that perched on the bank beside the pond. 

Diana for the Poplar Grove Muse