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by
Sally Grindley
Two Ton Ted was a funfair bear. Sarah had won him by rolling a coin onto a lucky number. Two Ton Ted was happy living with Tom and Sarah and all the other toys, but sometimes he missed the lights and the noise and the colour of the funfair, and he missed his best friend. Blue Bow Bear.
One day, Tom stuck a poster on the playroom wall.
It read GIANT FUNFAIR and said that the funfair would be visiting the town at the weekend.
Two Ton Ted's tummy went all funny. He tried not to look at the poster. He tried to forget what it said. But the poster stared at him with its spinning carousel,and he couldn't help staring back and feeling all excited.
On Saturday night, as soon as everyone was asleep, Two Ton Ted slipped out of the playroom and down the stairs. He opened a window and climbed through, into the pouring rain, then he listened hard. He could hear the sounds of the funfair jumbling through the night air. He ran towards them as fast as he could, splashing along the empty pavements.
The sounds grew louder and louder. Suddenly, there in front of him sprawled the roundabouts, the big wheel, the bumper cars, the coconut shy, the rifle range and so many other sideshows. Two Ton Ted's eyes grew wider and wider with excitement. Here were the lights and the noise and the colour. Here was the world he had left behind a year ago.
Two Ton Ted crept round the outside of thefairground so that no-one would see him, then he made himself as thin as he could - which wasn't very thin - and squeezed himself between two trucks to find himself in amongst the stalls.
He pretended to belong to one of the stalls while he looked around, but a rough voice said, "'Ere, go and find your own stall!"
Two Ton Ted looked up to see a huge green frog staring at him crossly.
"Sorry," said Two Ton Ted, "but can you tell me where the ROLL A LUCKY NUMBER stall is."
"Over there, mate," said the frog. "Now push off."
Two Ton Ted trod his way carefully over the muddy ground. He was a very cold, very wet, very grubby bear by now, and his paws were sore because people kept treading on them.
Then he saw it - the ROLL A LUCKY NUMBER stall.
He looked at the great big bears hanging from the top of the stall. Other bears sat in the middle, where a man was yelling, "Last chance to win a bear!"
One of the hanging bears saw Two Ton Ted and shook his fist at him. "Go away," he said. "We're the next to be chosen when someone wins. You dare push in!"
But then another voice whispered excitedly, "Hey, Two Ton Ted! Over here. It's me, Blue Bow Bear."
Two Ton Ted moved closer to the stall, and there was his friend, Blue Bow Bear, waving at him.
"I missed the funfair," said Two Ton Ted.
"Huh!" moaned the big bear. "You don't know when you are well off. We hang here all day, hoping that someone nice will win us and take us to a cosy new home where we will be loved."
"He's right, you know," said Blue Bow Bear. "You remember the lights and the noise and the colour, but you've forgotten the bad bits."
At that moment, the man in the middle of the stall dragged out an enormous box and began to pull down the hanging bears and throw them into it for the night.
"Quick! Run away before he catches you," yelled the big bear, as the man tugged at his leg and hurled him across the stall and into the box.
"You re right," said Two Ton Ted to Blue Bow Bear. "I dont want to come back. But you could come with me!"
"Oh, please take me with you!" cried Blue Bow Bear.
Even as she spoke, a rough hand grabbed Two TonTeds ear and lifted him up." 'Ere where did you come from? Into the box."
Two Ton Ted wriggled and kicked and tried to free himself, but the man held him tight. Then Blue Bow Bear pushed the man's tin of money onto the floor and the noise made him lose his grip for a second. TwoTon Ted twisted himself free, grabbed Blue Bow Bear's paw, leapt down from the table, and they ran away as fast as they could.They ran and ran, splashing along the empty pavements, until at last they reached the house. They clambered through the window and crept back to the playroom.
The other toys were delighted to see TwoTon Ted, and to meet Blue Bow Bear, and they listened in amazement as he told them all about his adventures.Two Ton Ted looked at the poster saying GIANT FUNFAIR, but this time his tummy didn't go funny.
Funfairs were all right, but home was best. He hugged Blue Bow Bear and they settled down to sleep. Next morning, Mum found muddy paw marks all round the window.
And to this day, no-one has ever discovered where Blue Bow Bear appeared from.
