1972 School Magazine

J,#,

When I was young I had, like most other children, an enormous number of toys ranging from rattles which played "Little Miss Muffet" when shaken, to a four-foot golden-haired, blue-eyed walking doll called Gertrude Amanda Elizabeth Jane Brown. But my favourite toy was my teddy bear- Today he is lying in the back of a cupboard, but from the day I turned two months old until I was nine I loved that bear more than all my other toys put together, even more than Gertrude Amanada Elizabeth Jane Brown. When he first came to me he was reclining peacefully in a plastic box and was the most handsome and immaculate bear you have ever seen. He had long, golden fur, a fat body, four short little legs and a very distinguished head from which stared two black glass eyes. To complete this perfect qpecimen of a bear, he had a blue ribbon around his neck tied in an enormous bow. He was too good to be true! But in my expert hands, Teddy rapidly deteriorat- ed. First came the ribbon. I nearly strangled myself with it, and was only rescued after my face had turned a colour which was the exact shade of the ribbon. Then followed the ear. I was teething and after chewing all the fur off his right ear (it was delicious but gave me shocking indigestion) I eventually bit it off. Then, until I was two, Teddy only suffered from a cracked eye and loss ofstuffing, but as soon as I could walk well, the real torture for my bear began. In six months he suffered from. "The Big Squash" (Teddy was run over by a car), "The Growing Disease" (I planted him in the garden), "The Clean-up" (he experienced the excitement of his first bath) and, "Being Uke Mummy" (Teddy was powdered, perfumed and smothered in lipstick). At the end of these adventures my bear was thoroughly mutilated but he had kept smiling through it all. When I was five the major disaster occurred. I decided that my bear needed a haircut and proceeded to give him one, using the bread-knife. I got as far as making his one remaining ear, his feet and his back completely bare when I cuy myself. Three stitches were duly administered in my thumb and the knife drawer was locked. Teddy, to my amazement, looked rather peculiar. Teddy then suffered the rigours of playing at "Afternoon Teas" and "Mothers and Fathers" with my friends and me. Then I took a geat step forward in my life. I went to school. Teddy was completely forgotten during the week but on the weekend he was loved twice as much as before. Mostly I played "Schools" with him but this practice was soon given up in exasperation because he was extremely unco.operative. After twelve months of being a "grade-oner" I progressed to the far superior class of grade 2. Now I

tried to educate my bear in the art of swimming. He was not particqlarly apt at that either. Sinking was his best stroke. Grade 3 arrived and then grade 4. Teddy was still my best friend. Then during grade 4I discovered that no one had bears any more. The opinion was that teddy bears were for babies only. Afraid that my class mates would think that I was a baby, I gave my bear a last kiss and a hug, dressed him in his warmest clothes and threw him in the rubbish bin. Eventually my mother found him lying between Friday night's scraps and a broken vegemite jar, washed him as much as his dilapidated condition would permit and put him in a high cupboard. He is still there, as far as I know, spending his old age in peace. Annette Tyson, 34

Alison Fraser IVD

Page Thirteen