The day Teddy and Elephant went home

The day Teddy and Elephant went home

The big sewing machine had just put on Teddy’s ear when he came to life.

He was scared, it was so loud around him, all those big machines were sewing
and filling stuffed animals.

Two aisles over, Teddy saw a cute green Elephant that was looking just as lost
and lonely as he felt deep inside. They both fell on the line at the same
time. It led them to the big bucket with all the other stuffed animals.

“Hey” said Teddy to the Elephant. “Do you know where we are?”

The Elephant answered: “ I’m not sure, I think it’s a factory for toys.
Whatever it is, it’s pretty scary here. Would you mind staying together and
holding hands? It’s easier with a friend by your side!”

Teddy agreed and made sure he stayed close to the friendly Elephant.

Minutes later the big bucket got emptied into an even bigger wooden box. With
all the other stuffed animals falling around, Teddy lost Elephant’s hand. They
both got very scared. But they could still see each other past the snake and
rabbit between them. Then the light went out … someone had closed the box.

Teddy whispered: “Elephant, are you still there?” “Yes Teddy, I’m here,”
Elephant answered, somewhere to the right of Teddy.

“Do you know what’s happening Teddy? It’s so dark in here and I’m afraid of the
dark” cried Elephant. All of a sudden, the box started to move and all the
animals inside started falling around. Teddy felt Elephant beside him and
grabbed hold of his hand. Both felt a little better instantly, they had their
new friend by their side.

Two days went by while they were steadily being moved and shaken around in the
box.

“Hey Elephant, wake up, wake up, there’s light.” said Teddy. Someone had opened
the box. It was very loud at this new place, not as loud as the sewing machines,
but they heard a lot of voices and beepings. “Elephant, hold on, don’t let go.”
Teddy started screaming, he was so scared.

Someone had turned the box upside down and they were all falling.

Out of the corner of his eye Teddy saw the snake and the rabbit again … but
where was Elephant?

“Teddy? Where are you Teddy?” That was Elephant’s voice somewhere behind him.
“I’m right here in front of you!” Teddy hollered really loud, hoping Elephant
would hear him.

Then he landed on top of a big purple turtle. He looked up and saw the big
empty box above him. “Elephant, Elephant do you know where we are?” asked
Teddy. Elephant replied: “No Teddy, I don’t know but I’m so glad it’s not dark
anymore. Thank you for holding my hand while the lights were out.”

“That’s what friends are for.” Teddy said.

The place they had landed in was one of the big “grab it” glass containers at
Walmart.
A few hours went by while Teddy and Elephant were singing songs and telling
each other jokes. Teddy couldn’t see Elephant, he was somewhere behind him, but
it was good to hear his voice.

After a while Teddy saw a little boy right in front of him. The boy was pulling
on his daddy’s sleeve. “Please daddy, please, just one try.”

Elephant and Teddy didn’t know what the little boy was begging for and paid
close attention when the boy’s daddy pulled two quarters out of his pocket.
The man put the quarters in a slot somewhere out of their sight. It went:
“Click, click!” and then Teddy and Elephant saw the big claw over their heads
moving “ZZZZZ”. Teddy started screaming, “Elephant, what is that? What’s
happening?” The big claw kept moving “ZZZZZ” and came down right beside Teddy,
grabbed the rabbit and took off in the air.

Teddy heard the Elephant say: “Be careful rabbit, hold on, don’t fall.” The
rabbit was swinging away, somewhere behind Teddy. “Elephant, what’s going on, I
can’t see the rabbit anymore.” Elephant told Teddy: ”The claw is swinging rabbit
over a big hole back here, oh no Teddy, it dropped him!”

Rabbit disappeared. Ten seconds later, Teddy saw rabbit in the little boy’s
arms on the other side of the glass in front of him. The boy was jumping up and
down full of joy, pressing the lucky rabbit on his chest. The boy walked away
telling rabbit that he was gonna give him a good home now.

“Elephant, what is a home?” Teddy asked his friend. “I don’t know Teddy.”
Elephant replied, “But it looks like that boy was really happy to be rabbit’s
new friend. I think the rabbit will be fine.”

Over the next few days Elephant and Teddy saw quite a lot of kids in front of
their glass container. Some walked away with snakes, turtles, cats or little
dogs. All of them were pretty excited to get one of the animals out of the
glass box. But there were also quite a few kids walking away crying because the
big dangerous claw couldn’t grab a stuffed animal for them.

One time the claw tried to grab for Teddy. He was really scared because he
didn’t want to leave his friend Elephant. The claw had already lifted him in
the air a little bit and Teddy called out: “Elephant, I’ll miss you.” But then
he got loose and fell back down.

Later on that day, two more kids stopped in front of their window. The mom put
two quarters in the slot “Click, click!” and the claw started moving “ZZZZZ”.
Once again it came down on Teddy but this time the claw held on to him. Teddy
was already floating over the big hole, and he was crying really bad: “Bye
Elephant, I’m gonna miss you so much.”

Elephant felt so bad to see his friend go, he couldn’t hardly talk: “Bye Teddy,
I’ll miss you too.” And then Teddy was on the other side of the window in one of
those little boy’s arms. Teddy felt good, the boy was hugging him and talking to
him, but he also felt bad because now he could see Elephant’s sad face inside of
the glass container. The little brother of the boy holding Teddy pulled his mom
away to the glass box on the other side of the wall, he wanted her to get him a
football. Mom agreed to try for one but didn’t get lucky.

Teddy was hoping that the little boy would change his mind and wanted a stuffed
animal too, but how high would the chances be that the claw would grab Elephant
even if the boy would change his mind. Teddy got really sad and blinked an eye
at Elephant as the family was walking away with him.

They met the little boy’s dad at the corner. He had a lot of bags coming from
one of those beeping things. Teddy didn’t pay much attention to him because he
was just too sad. But then the smaller one of the two boys started to talk:
“Daddy, daddy, can you give me two quarters? Mommy got that Teddy for Michael,
I want one also, please daddy, please.”
The daddy said: “Let me check Christopher, you might be in luck.”

Teddy couldn’t believe it, were they really turning around to go back to his
glass box?
“Yes, yes, yes……..Elephant, I’m back.”

The daddy put two quarters in the slot: “Click, click!” The claw started moving
and Teddy heard the best words ever. Mom said: “Look Ray, the green Elephant
looks easy to get, it’s sitting right on top.”

Could it be true? Teddy was so excited … the claw was swinging in Elephant’s
direction “ZZZZZ”. It dropped down and grabbed hold of Elephant’s left ear and
his trunk. Teddy would have jumped up and down if he could have. “Yes, yes,
hold on Elephant!”

Elephant lifted in the air and got dropped in the big hole. The little boy
Christopher reached in the hole, and there he was … Teddy’s friend Elephant!

“Elephant, Elephant, you don’t know how happy I am to see you.” Teddy said.
Elephant felt the same way but couldn’t really say anything because the little
boy was squeezing him so hard.

When he finally got his breath back he looked at Teddy and said: “Let’s go home
Teddy, we can be friends forever now!”