Grey Bear, a Love Story
By ruthless48
The frightened little girl stood behind her mother's skirt as they waited
in the great hall. She was glad to be out of the cold, but missed the
company of her father. She had spent the summer days with him in the
market, weighing vegetables, keeping the flowers looking fresh. But
the harvest was through, and father was too busy cutting firewood to
watch after a little girl.
So this morning she was scrubbed clean
and had to wear her faded blue dress which was washed, pressed, and kept
in mother's cedar chest. Now she stood, feeling quite awkward in shoes,
overwhelmed by the wasteful decadence of a stranger's room. Soon they
were ushered in by a rude man to the kitchen where the little girl would
spend her days at the kitchen table while her mother cooked for a family
she never saw.
One day, the warm kitchen became the object of
curiosity to the daughter of the family. She become even more curious
about the little girl at the table, who seemed to be about the same age
as her. The cook's daughter had been strictly instructed to speak to
everyone, even the little girl her own age, with respect. But the 'yes
ma'ams' wore off quickly as the two became aquainted. Whenever something
more exciting than the cook's daughter came along, the little girl of
the family flitted off ~ generally leaving behind her favorite toy ~
a magnificent grey teddy bear.
The cook's daughter had no toy as
special as the teddy bear. Her mother had made her a rag doll. But
one eye had been lost after a day at the market, and she was really quite
shabby. But the grey teddy bear was superb! He had soft brown eyes
that made her heart melt every time she saw him. She longed to take
him in her arms and just hold him all night long if she could. She
wondered if the little girl ever did.
Sometimes, she felt sad for
the grey teddy bear, when the little girl would forget him in the kitchen,
on the floor toppled over, as she went on to the parlor for games, or
the garden for tea. The cook's daughter would slowly walk over from
the kitchen table and sit the grey bear up, and smooth down his hair.
Mother would always scold, but she would just say that she
only wanted him to be happy. He looked so uncomfortable.
One day when the little girl left the kitchen, and the grey bear overturrned
on the floor behind her, the cook's daughter slowly slid off the kitchen
chair to make 'her' grey bear more content. But this time she couldn't
put him down. He felt so good in her arms, like an old friend she had
known all her life, and loved too.
That night she dreamed the grey
bear and her were really together. That his soft brown eyes twinkled
with magic and he came alive. They danced all night long in the forest,
and sang songs. The little girl felt so safe and warm in his arms.
The spot in her heart that she was so afraid to let anyone in to, now
belonged to the grey teddy bear. Her heart was his, and she decided,
it always would be. Because to be safe and warm once, can
last through a lifetime of cold nights alone. She knew
then, she would always love the little girl's grey teddy bear.
For
a while, the cook's daughter even felt as pretty as the little girl,
with her brand new dresses, and bouncy little curls and bows. When
she found grey bear alone again the next morning, she held him high in
the air and twirled him around the kitchen. They danced and she began
to sing him a song. Then she held him as tight as she could, as if
he had always been hers and hers alone.
Just then mother came up
behind her and took the grey teddy bear from her arms and set him back
down, quite awkwardly, by the panty door. The cook's daughter's eyes
welled up in silent tears as she looked down at the floor. Her face
flushed with embarrassment and pain.
She had forgotten herself and
returned to the kitchen chair.