Sebastian (6 page)

Chapter 10: Lost and Found Bear

I forgot about being a travelling bear for a few days while Annette was looking after me, but one morning I woke up and remembered Toots and Diddy and Amanda and felt very sad. They would never see me again, I supposed. I was beginning to cry stuffed-bear tears when Annette came in sobbing and picked me up and hugged me.

“Mummy says you can't come to school next week and I did want them all to see you. And I shan't be coming home till Christmas. You'll have to stay all on your own.” My nose was getting quite wet. “But never mind,” she said. “Grandma's knitting you a new cardigan and you can sit on the window seat till I come back.” She dried her eyes and said, “I'd better wash your jersey and trousers and give you a good brushing before I go,” and went off with my special jersey that Auntie Vi had embroidered.

I was beginning to feel a bit self-conscious of my furless tummy when Annette came rushing in, all arms and legs, and skidded to a stop.

“Sebastian, you
are
lost bear after all.” She waved a piece of paper and I recognised my picture. “It was in your pocket,” she said.

Luigi must have put it there.

She ran off, all bright with excitement. I heard her Daddy grumbling and protesting, but at last he gave in and I heard him pick up the telephone and ask for the Paris police. Just like a film!

Annette came and fetched me down to listen.

“Plumstead here,” he said. “Can I speak to Sergeant Pigeau? It's about - er - a bear. No, not a real bear, a teddy bear ... Edward ...Teddy ... yes ... no, not lost - found.”

He drummed his fingers on the table while clicking noises came out of the telephone.

“Ah, Sergeant Pigeau? Plumstead here, of Hampstead, England ... Hampstead, yes. No, Mr Plumstead of Hampstead. It's about your bear, the one you lost. Pardon? No, in the paper. Yes. Yes, that's right. Really?”

Annette and I were fizzing with excitement.

“Not far away at all, actually. I'll write it down.” Annette passed him an old envelope and a pencil. “Twenty-seven, Church Lane. Yes, I've got that. Thank you, Sergeant and good-bye.”

He finished writing down my address and said: “Well, it seems that this bear belongs to a little girl called Amanda who lives in a village in Surrey. And Sergeant Pigeau's daughter is staying there for a week's holiday at the moment.”

“Couldn't we take him back today, Daddy?” pleaded Annette.

“Well, actually I'm due at the Golf Club but I suppose - well - all right. Perhaps after lunch?”

So it was settled.

“I don't really want to lose you,” said Annette as her Daddy was driving us along, “but I expect Amanda is missing you terribly.” She straightened my jersey and adjusted my tie but I could see she was feeling sad now that I was going away.

We turned into Church Lane and I could recognise the houses with their different coloured front doors and painted stonework.

Mr Plumstead knocked loudly and I heard Amanda's Mummy calling “It's the insurance man, dear. Will you let him in?”

Amanda came to the door and Mr Plumstead, who seemed to be enjoying himself, said, “Are you the young lady that lost a bear? Well, how would he do?” And held me up.

Amanda's expression was more surprised than any of the Great Zingo's models. “Mummy, Mummy, quickly!” she shouted. “It's Sebastian, he's come home.”

Everyone came running. First Géraldine who burst into tears as soon as she saw me, then Amanda's Mummy, and Auntie Vi and Uncle Alec and finally Grandpa. Mr Plumstead explained what had happened and introduced Annette.

“How kind and thoughtful,” said Amanda's Mummy, “bringing him back after you'd bought him. He really belongs to you now.”

“Oh, no,” said Annette bravely. “I want him to come back to his real home.”

Amanda hugged Annette and me together. “I know,” she said. “Let's say Sebastian comes to stay with you for his holidays every year.”

Annette clapped her hands and said what a lovely idea, and Amanda's Mummy invited her to stay for tea.

They had hot scones, toasted tea cakes, blackcurrant jam, and jelly and trifle. I began to wish stuffed bears did eat after all. I had the place of honour, of course, at the head of the table and Mr Plumstead sat at the other end.

“What has Sebastian been up to all this time?” asked Amanda. “I put a lamp in the window every night like they did in the story about the lost sailor, but it didn't do any good.”

“Papa and I toured all the streets in the squad car after Sebastian had been stolen,” said Géraldine, “but we never saw him. And then about fifteen days later,” she said, turning to Annette, “I was with Maman at the theatre and there was Sebastian on the stage with a conjurer. But somehow he magicked him away and that was the last I saw of him.”

“We found him in this awful shop,” said Annette, “looking very sad with cobwebs round him. He must have been there for years.”

“Well, about a month really,” said Amanda. “What was he doing though before he went to the theatre? And who sewed those funny gilt buttons on his jersey?”

They went on chattering till it was dark and Mr Plumstead said they would have to go. Annette hugged me again and waved goodbye and Mr Plumstead asked them all to tea the next weekend.

Amanda had to go to bed early because her Mummy said she had had an exciting day.

“Don't ever be a travelling bear again,” she said, tapping me on the nose. “Now I expect you've all got lots to talk about.” And she took me upstairs.

Diddy and Toots were waiting for me, sitting on top of the cupboard, with a poster pinned to the wall.

WELCOME HOME SEBASTIAN

And there was my portrait, all in beautiful splodgy colours, in a white frame, and signed by Gaston Delaunay.

“Three cheers for Sebastian,” said Toots. All the animals cheered, including a stuffed parrot I'd never seen before.

“A present from Auntie May,” said Diddy. “Well, we're all ready for you to tell us your tale.”

“Yes,” said Toots, looking all comfortable on a blue cushion. “Did you go to the North Pole? Or meet any dragons?”

“Well, I was fed to a computer,” I said, “then frozen nearly to death, then cooked like a pudding, then turned into a dreaded Yeti, then taken to Russia, then brought back again, then sawn in half...”

Diddy's eyes were getting bigger and bigger. I went on telling the story till it chimed midnight.

“You ought to put it all in a Book,” said Toots.

“I tried to write a book once,” said Diddy, “but I just didn't know where to begin.”

“Then you would be called Sebastian the Great, or something, and Go Down in History,” said Toots.

What an idea, a bear writing a book! Well, plenty of people had written books
about
bears, so why not a book
by
a bear,
about
a bear,
for
bears? They were always having stories read to them at bedtime. And I hadn't really much to do now that I was a sitting bear again instead of a travelling one.

I was nodding off, feeling all contented to be back in Amanda's room, when I noticed a new travel poster she had pinned up.

COME TO SUNNY SAN SEBASTIAN

it said. Fancy that! Naming a place after me.

SEE THE DAZZLING SPECTACLE OF THE BULLFIGHT. LISTEN TO THE ENCHANTING MUSIC OF THE GUITAR.

BREATHE THE FRAGRANCE OF ROMANTIC SPAIN

Very interesting. What an address
that
would be!

Sebastian Bear

San Sebastian

Spain

I might even learn to sing to a small guitar ... like the owl and the pussy cat. If Amanda put me on the bus at the post office tomorrow, and I got a return ticket, I might even back in time for tea.

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