A Boy, A Bear, and A Blanket

I

“Come on, Beary! Let’s keep going,” the boy says. The nine-year-old boy is running through the woods, holding the stuffed bear’s paw. As they weave through the trees, the boy’s shaggy blond hair sways back and forth like an upside-down tree in the wind. His hazel-green eyes shift back and forth as he searches for the best route between the trees. They run and they run and they run. They approach a small fallen tree and the boy easily climbs over the lumber, but the bear is not able to. In an attempt to climb over the collapsed tree, Beary falls down and cuts his arm open, causing stuffing to stick out.

“Help! Bo, come help me!” Beary calls out. The boy, Bo, keeps running, unaware that his stuffed friend is calling out to him for help. “Help!” Beary yells as loud as he can, but when Bo is out of sight, the bear says it quietly to himself as he sits down against the tree. “Help.” He sits there, waiting for Bo to come back for him. Sitting there, humming to himself, he hears a noise behind him. He stands up in hopes that it’s Bo standing there, only to find a tiger, one of the stuffed kind, approaching the fell tree.

When Bo realizes that Beary is not with him, he spins around and calls out to his friend. When he doesn’t see or hear him, Bo starts to run back to where he came from. He’s running, yelling, and his hair sways to and fro. He slows down when he sees the fallen tree in the distance, and the tiger walking towards it. Bo sees Beary standing by the log, and starts running again. When he gets closer, Beary sees him and yells out to Bo. The tiger turns around and starts running to Bo. He has no time to react and prepare himself before the tiger jumps on top of him. The momentum from the stuffed tiger jumping onto Bo causes them to roll on the ground. When they stop rolling, the tiger is standing on top of the boy.

“Hey, Bo! I haven’t seen you in a while!” the tiger excitedly exclaims.

“Hi, Tanya. I think you hurt me while we rolled,” Bo says while chuckling. Tanya gets off of Bo and lets him stand up.

“Oh, I’m sorry Bo. I didn’t mean to hurt you if I did.” Tanya and Bo walk back over to where Beary is waiting. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We’re trying to find my lost blankie,” Bo says. He’s more focused on Tanya, so he doesn’t notice Beary’s injury.

“Hey, um, Bo?” Beary says quietly. “Could you fix my arm?” He lifts his arm up to show the boy. Bo looks at it and pulls out a band-aid from his pocket. He puts the band-aid on the bear’s tear after pushing stuffing back in. The band-aid blends in with the tan fur of the bear. “Thanks! That’s so much better.”

“Bo, could I go with you guys to help look for your blanket?” Tanya asks. Bo nods.

“Yeah, we’re headed over to Chip to see if he has it,” Bo replies.

Bo helps Beary get over the log, and they continue to run. Tanya’s sleek orange and black fur ripples in the wind as they run. They run and they run and they run. Soon, they reach the place where Chip lives, and they knock on his door. He opens the door almost immediately.

“Bo! What’s going on, my friend?” The lynx asks the boy, his chocolate-colored spots illuminated by the sunlight.

“Hey, Chip! Do you know where my blankie is? Did I leave it here by accident?”

“Oh, no. I’m sorry but it’s not here my friend.” Disappointed, they all say their goodbyes and part ways from the lynx. The three of them start to run to their next friend’s house.

II

The boy, the bear and the tiger are running through the woods, all in search of the boy’s lost blanket. They continue to run through the woods until they reach the edge. Then they run along the edge of the woods and the plains, looking for the home of their friend. Eventually, they find the furry friend lying in the shade below a tree.

“Timber!” Bo says to the wolf while walking up to her. She leaps up onto her feet and growls, then stops when she sees who woke her up.

“Oh, hey! You scared me,” Timber says. “What are you, Beary, and Tanya doing on my edge of the woods?” Her stuffed paws motion to the trees next to her.

“I lost my blankie and I’m hoping you know where it is.” Timber tilts her head in contemplation, then shakes it.

“No, I don’t think I know where it is, Bo. I’m so sorry,” she replies. “Beary, what happened to your arm?” Timber says after noticing his band-aid.

“I fell while trying to climb over a log. I didn’t lose too much stuffing, so it’s okay,” Beary explains to Timber.

“I’m glad it wasn’t too bad,” Timber says to Beary. Suddenly, a tree next to Tanya bends down and a face in the bark appears in front of Bo’s face.

“The blanket in which you seek can be found near a small creek.” Bo and Beary look at each other, then back at the tree. “Although, beware! An evil monster may also be hiding there.” With that, the tree straightens back and continues swaying in the wind.

“Well, I’m just going to let you guys go do that. I’m going to go back to sleep,” Timber says in the midst of a yawn. She starts to lay back down under the tree.

“Do any of you guys know where a small creek is?” Bo asks. He looks at Beary and Tanya, and both of them shake their heads. They all look at Timber lying on the ground with her eyes closed. After a minute of them staring at her, Timber peeks an eye open, sees them all standing there and then lifts her head.

“Why are you guys still standing there?” Timber asks. Then she realizes they were waiting for her to answer the question about the creek. “Oh. I do know where a creek is, but I’m no—”

“You do? Show us!” Bo quickly says. “I need my blankie,” he adds to guilt her into taking them to the creek.

“Oh, alright. I’ll take you, but then I’m coming back here immediately to finish my nap,” Timber says. She stands up and starts walking back into the woods. “Follow me.” They all follow Timber into the woods, with Bo right behind her, and Beary and Tanya taking up the rear.

III

“I think the creek is right down here,” the stuffed wolf says to the bear, tiger, and boy walking behind her. Walking through the woods and listening for the sound of trickling water, Bo can’t wait to find his blanket.

“Can we walk any faster?” Bo says. He runs past Timber, runs down a hill to the small creek in the valley. He looks to the left and to the right, only to find nothing. “Where is it? The tree said it would be here!”

“The tree never said a specific spot,” a new voice says from behind Bo. He turns to see his current friends standing there. He looks up and sees a small bird, one with blue and white feathers, sitting on a tree branch above them.

“Oh, hello Jay,” Bo says.

“What do you mean, Jay?” Tanya asks. She walks up and stands next to Bo.

“I just so happened to be sitting in a tree next to you guys, and the tree only said the blanket was near a creek.”

“Yeah, and that’s right here,” Bo argues.

“Right here is near the creek,” Jay flies to a tree across the creek. “But this is also near the creek.” He flies to another tree. “This is another spot near the creek. See what I’m getting at?”

“Yeah, I do,” Bo says. “How do we find my blankie now?” Jay flies back to the tree above the group.

“Didn’t the tree say something about a monster?” Beary suggests.

“It did, and I think I know what monster it’s talking about,” Jay says, peaking everyone’s interests.

“You do? What monster and where?” Tanya asks.

“I’ll show you.” He flies off in one direction down the creek, and everyone follows except Timber.

“This seems like a good time to go finish my nap,” she says to herself as she watches them all run through the trees. She starts walking back to the tree she naps under.

IV

Jay leads the way down the creek, flying through the trees and dodging the branches and leaves. Bo is following, running with his head bobbing up and down, watching where Jay is flying and trying not to trip over roots. The other two trail behind them. Beary trips on a root below him, and Tanya helps him back onto his paws. They reach a bend in the creek, and Jay stops Bo and his friends.

“Just around the corner is the monster. I’ll go fly ahead and see if your blankie is there,” Jay volunteers. He flies ahead to find the lost blanket on the ground underneath the monster. He returns and reports his findings to the small group. “The blanket is under the monster, but it’s sleeping. We can’t get your blankie without waking it up.”

Out of curiosity, Bo peeks his head around the corner to see a giant, sleeping dragon laying on the ground. The dragon is pink, with large, faint light blue spots all over its body. It has a huge tail, and it also is covered in thick scales. Coming out of the nostrils as it breathes, is smoke.

“We have to try to get it. Even though it is a dragon, we need to try,” Bo says. Tanya and Beary have a face full of shock. “We can do it.” Bo, Tanya, and Beary quietly walk out to the dragon. Bo slowly reaches for the blanket and pulls on it. He gets it partially out when the dragon stirs. It lifts its head and quickly turns to look at the unwelcome thieves. It snorts out smoke at the group and opens its mouth to breathe fire when Jay flies in like a torpedo underwater and claws at the dragon’s face then flies away. He startles the pink monster enough for Bo and his friends to run and escape the fire. Bo hides in a bush, trying to figure out a way to grab the blanket, while Tanya runs up behind the dragon. She jumps onto the dragon’s back and digs her claws in, hoping to get the monster to move. In response, the dragon flaps his wings, with one of the wings batting Beary and knocking him to the ground.

Flapping its wings, the dragon quickly flies into the air with Tanya still on its back. The blanket is still on the ground, and Bo is left with a choice: either get his blanket, or help his friend Beary. He makes a quick decision and starts to run towards the blanket to save it, when a brown and gray streak appears, grabs the blanket and runs off. Timber, who never made it back to the tree to sleep, is running with the blanket in her mouth. She weaves through the trees and turns her way back to the dragon’s lair to give the blanket to Bo. She stops in the middle of the clearing.

“Bo! I got it!” she exclaims. As she’s standing there, Bo doesn’t head to her. He looks up and tries to warn her. The dragon, with Tanya still on it, dives down and attacks Timber. It doesn’t attack her with its claws or mouth, but instead with fire. The flames depart from the mouth and engulf Timber and the blanket. The intense inferno destroys every ounce of fabric inside. When the fire dissipates, the only thing left of Timber is her lifeless, plastic eyes and a small piece of Bo’s blankie.

The event happens in a matter of seconds.

“TIMBER!” Bo yells. Tears stream down his cheeks.

The small blue jay picks up Beary, who is in complete shock, and helps him get away from the dragon to safety. Tanya falls off of the dragon, gets up and immediately runs over to Bo, pushing him to move. “Bo, you need to move. We have to go. She’s gone.”

V

Tanya’s words echo in the darkness of Bo’s mind. She’s gone. She’s gone. She’s go—Bo’s eyes shoot open as he wakes from his slumber. He sits up, panting; he looks around frantically. Timber. Blankie. Timber. Blankie. Confusion courses through his brain as his eyes dart around his surroundings. The room he’s in is dark. A sliver of light peeks through curtains hiding a window behind them. Specks of dust glitter in the ray, dancing and bouncing around as if they were static on a television screen. The spotlight illuminates an object on the floor.

Laying on the floor in the middle of the light is a small, brown and gray plush. The lifeless, plastic eyes look up at Bo as if saying: “Don’t worry, I’m still here.” Under the object, is something that is very dear to him. He climbs off the bed, reaches for both things and sets them on the bed, then looks around him. In other places on the floor, are other different stuffed animals. He grabs the bear, tiger, lynx, and blue jay and places them in a row on his bed. He then climbs back in bed and lays there on his side, staring at the pink and blue winged character on the desk in his room. Bo clenches his blankie in his hands and holds the stuffed wolf close to his heart as he falls back into a slumber.