The ABC Bear (Chapter One)

Aubrey Benjamin Cassius Bear belonged to the Captain of a ship. The Captain took Aubrey on every voyage and even kept him on the bridge whilst he was managing the ship. The rest of the crew understood that Aubrey was a sort of mascot, and in any case they didn't dare to laugh at the Captain who was a rather fierce man. He had a thick black beard and a square face and bright blue eyes. When he gave an order, the crew were quick to carry it out.

The Captain was never fierce to Aubrey though. He would discuss all his ideas and problems and the days events with the little bear, who was a very good listener. Aubrey had been the Captain's friend since childhood. He had been a birthday present from a rich uncle, who happened to be an Admiral of Her Majesty's Royal Navy.

The Captain's Mummy, (he wasn't the Captain then of course), had asked him what the sturdy little brown bear's name was. After consulting with Aubrey, a conversation that Mummy could not hear of course, (grown ups seldom can), the Captain told her the bear's full name.

Mummy said that it was a very long name for a bear, and that they had better call him well before tea in order to have time to finish before all the honey sandwiches were gone. The Captain, who even when he was little was a rather sombre chap, said that his bear would of course answer to just Aubrey, but that he was the ABC bear and his name was longer to reflect this important fact.

Being a wise woman, Mummy had smiled at this. She said that she was very pleased to make Aubrey's acquaintance, and invited him to the Captain's birthday party that afternoon. Where, she said, there were certain to be some honey sandwiches. Aubrey was impressed, and he and Mummy always got on very well after this auspicious start.

Aubrey had watched the Captain grow up, and had gone with him to naval college to learn all about tides and latitudes and anchors. He'd travelled with the Captain as he served his apprenticeship aboard various vessels. They had visited many ports together in a great number of different countries.

Now the Captain was in charge of his own ship, and Aubrey was sitting near a porthole, watching the sea go by. He was also watching a thin line of very black clouds as they slowly expanded to fill the horizon. The Captain had seen them too.

“Some bad weather coming Aubrey.” The Captain told him, and Aubrey agreed.

“I shall be busy soon.” Said the Captain and he went off to direct the crew to prepare for a storm.

The storm was indeed soon upon them. The ship was buffeted and chased, harassed and tossed by squalls of wind and huge waves. The Captain had to bellow his orders, just so that the crew might hear them.

At the height of the storm something was slammed into the porthole that Aubrey was sitting next to. He didn't see what it was, but it shattered the glass. At the same time a huge wave tipped the ship over to the side. Aubrey fell out of the porthole and into the sea.

What a horrible surprise for the small bear. One moment he was watching the storm, the next he was in its clutches. He bobbed about in the roaring, swooshing sea. Something bumped into Aubrey's back and when he turned to see what it was, he found it was a lifebelt. It must have been torn from the ship.

Gratefully Aubrey clambered into the belt and held tight to the rope that was threaded about it. He peered around for the ship, and was dismayed to see that it was already a considerable distance away.

A cold and soaking wet bear watched dejectedly as the ship was driven further and further away by the churning sea and the howling wind. Eventually he could no longer see his home at all. All that was left to do was to cling on to the lifebelt and hope against hope that he'd be rescued.

All night the storm pushed the belt about in the dark water. But as dawn began to show her grey pyjamas, the storm grew tired and eventually blew itself out. The clouds thinned and the sun shone down on Aubrey. He was weary, and still cold, so the sunlight felt good on his fur. Better yet, now that it was properly light, Aubrey could see a coastline.

The land was quite a way off, but the little bear paddled his lifebelt in that direction. As if sorry for its misbehaviour the previous night, a strong wind now pushed Aubrey towards the beach. The bear pulled himself onto the wet sand. Then with the last of his energy he dragged the belt and himself up to where the sand was dry above the high tide mark. Here he sat in the middle of the belt and fell asleep.

“What do you think it is Olmex?”

As he woke up, Aubrey could hear voices nearby.

“No idea Teenoch. It could be a jellyfish?”

“Don't be silly. Its nothing like a jellyfish. They're all wobbly and covered in custard. This things brown and covered in fur.”

Aubrey opened an eye, then he sat up and looked around. He couldn't see anyone.

“Oh its woken up. Now we can ask it. What are you strange brown furry thing?”

Aubrey realised that the voices came from above him. Looking up he saw two macaws sitting side by side and peering down at him curiously.

“Excuse me, do you mean me?” Aubrey asked.

One of the parrots bobbed his head and looked up and down the beach.

“Well, I don't see any other brown furry things here.” he replied. Aubrey thought this a little rude, but he didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with the parrots, so he simply replied,

“I am Aubrey Benjamin Cassius Bear and I am a teddy bear.”

“See Olmex, it's a teddy bear not a jelly fish. I told you so.”

“So you did Teenoch. So you did.”

“We're pleased to meet you Aubrey,” said Teenoch. “I'm Teenoch and this is Olmex and we're macaws.”

“Very pleased to meet you too. Do you know where this is please?”

The two macaws looked at one another.

“Its here.” they said in unison.

Aubrey realised that this was likely to be the best answer they could offer.

He stood up and looked around. The first thing he saw was a large trunk. It was sitting on the beach and must surely have been washed up by the storm.

“I'm just going to look at that trunk.” He told the birds, and walked towards it.

The macaws looked at one another again, and then fluttered after him, setting in the branches of a nearby tree.

As he got closer Aubrey could see that there was a label stuck to the side of the trunk. It proclaimed it to be the property of The Great Caspian. Aubrey suddenly remembered a little man who had boarded the ship. He was a stage magician, and this was his trunk. He hoped that the magician hadn't drowned, and that if he hadn't drowned, then he wasn't missing his property too much.

Aubrey would have felt much relieved if he'd known that the little magician had wanted to be a baker for some time. With the insurance money he got for his lost trunk he was able to open a little bakery, and he was extremely happy there.

The trunk wasn't locked and Aubrey heaved it open, closely watched by the now silent macaws.
He couldn't see inside, but nearby was an old lobster pot which he dragged over and stood on. He was now tall enough to look in. The first thing that he saw was a top hat. Aubrey seized it with both paws and put it on his head. It was a little large, but that was good because it meant it fitted snugly around his ears. Wishing he had a mirror he looked down at an array of exciting objects. With trembling paw he selected a magic wand.

Waving it about he said a magic word rather loudly.

“Alakazam!”

A bunch of flowers appeared from the end of the wand. Aubrey was so surprised that he fell backwards off the trunk and landed on the sand with a bump. Teenoch and Olmex were startled too and flustered upwards off their branch with loud squawks.

Aubrey lay on his back gazing at the bunch of flowers. He wasn't hurt, and soon he was back on his paws and dragging the rather heavy trunk further up the beach. The parrots flapped from branch to branch and watched with considerable interest.

Once the magician's trunk was safe, Aubrey trotted a little further down the beach, where he'd noticed something shining in the early morning sun. It turned out to be a very large frying pan.

“Well that will be useful if the sea ever washes up a string of sausages.” Aubrey thought.

Then he noticed his reflection in the shiny pan. He was pleased to see that the Top hat suited his bearish good looks.

Teenoch and Olmex had been fairly quiet whilst watching Aubrey work, but this wasn't to last.

“He's very busy isn't he Teenoch?”

“The word you need is industrious Olmex. He's a very industrious bear.”

“That he is Teenoch. He certainly is. And he looks very dapper in his hat.”

“That's a Topper that is.” said Teenoch knowledgeably.

Aubrey was only half listening to the birds as he wandered about the beach looking for anything else that the sea might have thrown away.

“What's he doing now then Teenoch?”

“That's called beach-combing that is.”

“Caww!” Exclaimed Olmex, clearly very impressed.

Aubrey's beach-combing had been rather successful. In addition to the trunk and frying pan, he had found a large piece of sail; a tightly sealed tin of biscuits; a portrait of Her Majesty the Queen and best of all a brass bell.

Aubrey draped the sail over a low branch. This might have taken some time, but when Teenoch and Olmex realised what he was trying to do they helped by pulling the edge of the sail over with their beaks. Once this was done, Aubrey pulled out the edges and weighed them down with large stones he gathered from the beach. Then he heaved the trunk over and set it in place at one end of the makeshift tent.

The parrots were clearly most impressed.

“Proper little home from home isn't it Olmex?”

“That it is Teenoch, that it is.”

“Thank you both very much for your help.” said Aubrey, who had been taught good manners.

He pulled his treasures into the tent and making a bear shaped hollow in the warm sand, Aubrey curled up for a nap.