Tales of Comfortable Place

by Carol Birkeland-Green,

 

The Bedtime Story:  The Great Bear Detective

It was a cold and windy October evening at Comfortable Place.  The fallen autumn leaves danced and swirled, rustling around the empty square. 


BiscuitA Teddy Bear appeared in the charity shop window, it was Biscuit the bear. He pressed his nose against the window peering out into the darkness, the warm air making the glass steamy. Biscuit drew a little pin-bear on the window and then quickly wiped it away with his paw before closing the dusty red velvet curtains, shutting out the cold and dark.

Inside the charity shop, it was all warm and cosy.  There was an open fire roaring in the hearth and a comforting glow was coming from the large lamp standing tall in the corner of the room.
The Teddy Bears were cuddled up together on the sofa.  They all had their milk and biscuits and were eagerly awaiting their nightly bedtime story.  Every night the bears would take turns to read a story.  Tonight it was Wine’s turn and he was a VERY excited Teddy Bear!  Wine was the youngest of the bears and tended to get a bit carried away whenever he tried to do anything.  He usually landed up in a muddle with one of the other bears having to come to his rescue. 

The story that had been chosen this week from the bookshelf was one of the bear’s favourites.  It was about their hero ‘Somerset, The Great Teddy Bear Detective’, this week he was trying to solve ‘The case of the missing jar of honey.’  The Teddy’s eagerly waited for Wine to start.  The light from the open kitchen door streamed in and Wine made his dramatic entrance.  The Teddy’s stared wide-eyed, their biscuits grasped in their paws, as Wine appeared all dressed up for the role.  Earlier, Wine had raided the dressing up basket and found an old cape, a very ill fitting hat and to finish off a large magnifying glass from the toy chest.  
“Chapter Ten”, began Wine, he raised himself up onto the tips of his paws, to look taller.  He continued.
 “Somerset The Great Teddy Bear Detective had gathered all the suspects together in the Kitchen around the large oak dinning table.  Lord and Lady Pultney were sat next to the cook Mrs Lunn.  The housekeeper, butler and gardener were sat on the other side.  Everyone looked nervous as Somerset walked slowly across the room and threw open the pantry door to reveal the empty space where the precious jar of honey had once sat.” 

Wine threw up his pawsAt this point Wine got rather excited and threw his paws up into the air, knocking over the open book from which he was reading.  The bears all watched in amazement as the book somersaulted high up towards the ceiling, then dropped like a stone, landing with a loud thud on top of Sherbet, who was fast asleep in front of the open fire having a very nice dream about bones.  Needless to say poor Sherbet didn’t know what on earth was happening and thought the house was falling down around him.  He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, twice round the room, finally coming to rest, hiding, panting, behind the sofa. 

Biscuit shook his head and looked at the clock on the mantelpiece, it was ten past eight, well past the bear’s bedtime. 
“I think that this might be a good place to stop for tonight.  He said, stretching his paws in the air. 
 We all have an early start in the morning.”

The youngest bears, rubbed their eyes sleepily, yawning. Reluctantly they all clambered down from the sofa, and headed towards the corner of the room.  There, the bears climbed slowly into the large wicker toy basket and snuggled down, all together, among the blankets and pillows to dream up their own adventures about Somerset The Great Teddy Bear Detective.

 

   

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