Page 19 - Sophie's Christmas With Teddy & Mouse

Teddy thought about Mouse's words. He knew that Father and Mother Bear were not taking good care of him, and always felt he had to stand on his own paws when he was old enough, but hadn’t dared to do that yet.
Teddy sighed deeply. "Now I understand why my father and mother bear didn't invite other families around, and why I don't have any friends to play with."
“It wasn't very good at home," continued Teddy, and he kept talking as if all the words had been as trapped as he was, and now they all poured out of him like a waterfall.
He talked about the dusty closet he was often locked in, about his blue and white striped woolen blankets, the only place in the house where he ever felt safe, and the dreams he had as a captain of his blue pirate ship.
He said he dreamed of a friend to play and laugh with until it was way past bedtime, that he was lonely and afraid of the dark, and afraid of the human children.
They heard the strange noise again. Tríng! Tríííng! They leapt to their feet.
"Look,” said Teddy, “now I see it again, over there by that stone cottage, the human child with peaked hair in her red dress with the embroidered owers."
"Come on," said Mouse, "now I'll take you to my home and introduce you to my family."
"Oh ..." said Teddy, "I would like to meet your family, but do we have to go past the human child?"
"Don't be afraid," said Mouse, "just trust me."
And so they walked together to the stone cottage, or rather Teddy walked and Mouse lay comfortably like a king in his golden carriage under the warm woolen cloth, swaying at every step Teddy took.
Mouse quietly hatched a plan.
Slowly they came closer and again they heard a loud 'Tríng!' and saw the human child zoom by surprisingly fast. She seemed to y just above the winding path, oating past the apple trees and the old, friendly looking house.