Teddybear War

"I'm the cutest!" Baxter Bear said to Billy Bear. He was certainly a very handsome teddy bear. His fur was soft brown and he wore a purple sweater and straw hat.

"I'm the cutest!" Billy Bear insisted. He too was a very handsome teddy bear. His fur was snow white and he wore a red sweater with little glasses on his cute teddy bear face.

They were sitting on Cindy's bed. The little girl loved them very much and always took good care of them. She wiped them with a soft cloth everyday and changed their sweaters all the time. She let them sleep in bed with her at night. She had a tea party for them every Saturday afternoon. She even took them to Grandma's with her when she went to visit.

The two teddy bears had been content with this arrangement for quite some time. Lately, they both thought that maybe one was better than the other.

"I don't wear yucky glasses the way you do," Baxter pointed out to Billy as they sat on the bed waiting for Cindy to come home from school.

"I don't wear a silly straw hat the way you do," Billy pointed out.

"You wait", Baxter said. "When Cindy comes home from school she'll pick me up and kiss me first. She always does."

"No, she doesn't," Billy told him. "I'm the one she always picks up and kisses first."

"We'll see about that," Baxter said.
"We'll see about that," Billy said.

They sat on the bed together waiting for Cindy to come home. They sat on the soft pink blanket all afternoon not saying another word to each other. At one time, they had been best friends but now, they were in the middle of a fight to see who was the cutest. Both thought that he was. Cindy had lots of toys and dolls but Baxter and Billy had always been her favorites. She got them from her grandpa, who died right before Baxter and Billy came to her. They were very special indeed.

All afternoon they sat together in silence and then they heard Cindy downstairs. She was home from school! They heard her come bounding up the stairs.

"We'll see now," Baxter whispered to Billy.
"We'll see now," Billy whispered back.

Cindy came running into her bedroom and threw herself down onto the bed. She was adorable in her brown pigtails. She had freckles on her nose and was missing her two front teeth. Baxter and Billy remembered when she put the teeth under her pillow so that the Tooth Fairy would come and visit her. The Tooth Fairy had left her two dollars and she had brought the straw hat for Baxter and the glasses for Billy.

She picked both of them up at the same time and hugged them together. "How are my two favorite boys doing?" She gave them each a kiss on the cheek. "I have such wonderful news to tell my darlings! My other tooth is loose and that means the Tooth Fairy will be coming to visit again. When she does, I'm going to buy you boys a nice little teddy bear bed that you can share. Mommy said that she will help me pay for it because she knows how much I love my babies." She kissed them again. "Now, darlings, I'm going to get my milk and cookies. You boys behave and I'll come back in a little while." She set them down carefully on the blanket and ran back downstairs.

Baxter looked at Billy. "Maybe we are both special."
Billy looked at Baxter. "Maybe we are both the cutest teddy bear to Cindy."

They smiled at each other and sat on the bed waiting for her to eat her snack and then come back and play with them.

-From http://www.bedtime.com Debbie Bailey (2002)-