TEDDY EDWARD PLAYS SLIDES
By John Cox
Emma’s mum kissed her goodnight and crept silently out of the bedroom.
She had left the light on, just a little bit, so Emma didn’t feel too
scared. Emma didn’t like to be completely in the dark. It wasn’t nice,
not being able to see all her teddies. Especially Teddy Edward.
Teddy Edward was Emma’s favourite teddy. He was all squishy and soft,
and he had an enormous, lovely smile. He always looked just like he
wanted to kiss everybody. Of course, he wasn’t allowed to kiss just
anybody. Only those people who Emma allowed. Emma smiled to herself.
She was very happy to have Teddy Edward in bed with her. She cuddled up
close to him and shut her eyes.
When he
was sure that Emma was asleep, Teddy Edward sat up straight and looked
around the bedroom. He waved at Big Ted. Then he waved at Scraggy Ted.
They both waved back to him. Teddy Edward smiled. It certainly was an
enormous smile, he looked ever so happy.
“Shall we go and play slides ?”, he
asked the other teddies.
All three teddies carefully crept out of the bedroom. It was a very
funny sight. There was Teddy Edward in front, his checked waistcoat
shining in the soft light. Next there was Big Ted. He towered above the
other two. He looked a bit like a monster in the nearly dark room, his
shadow covering Scraggy Ted completely. Then last was Scraggy Ted,
moving uneasily on his long legs.
At last they reached the top of the
stairs.
“Ok” said Teddy Edward, “let’s play
slides”.
Teddy Edward climbed up onto the
banister rail that was next to the stairs and swung his legs over it.
“Wheeee !”, he cried out as he slid to
the bottom. “Come on Big Ted, it’s your turn now”.
Big Ted got onto the banister rail very
quickly and zoomed down to the bottom.
“Ho, Ho, that was fun”, he said.
Scraggy Ted hadn’t played slides before, and he was very scared. The
other two teddies looked up at him from the bottom of the stairs.
“It’s easy, just climb up, and then slide down. That’s all there is to
it”, Teddy Edward explained, calling up to him.
Carefully, Scraggy Ted climbed up the banister rail. When he reached
the top he awkwardly placed one leg on each side.
“I’m ready”, he whispered.
What happened next, no one was quite sure. But somehow, Scraggy Ted had
an accident. He was lying on the stairs, about half-way down, crying.
Poor Scraggy Ted. He looked like it was hurting a lot. His legs were in
an unusual position, too. They seemed to be twisted across his tummy,
not lying out straight like they were supposed to be.
Teddy Edward quickly took control of the
situation.
“We need a stretcher to carry him on”.
He disappeared into the kitchen. Very soon Teddy Edward was at the
bottom of the stairs again, but this time he was dragging something
very big behind him. It was one of the trays that Emma’s mum used, to
carry the tea and the cups.
“What’s that for ?” said Big Ted.
“You’ll see”, replied Teddy Edward.
Teddy Edward and Big Ted climbed up the stairs to where Scraggy Ted was
laying. Then, very carefully, they lifted Scraggy Ted onto the tray. He
looked very funny just laying in the middle of it. Next, Teddy Edward
and Big Ted stood at each end of the tray and carried it, with Scraggy
Ted, back to the top of the stairs.
“Now what do we do ?” said Big Ted.
Teddy Edward wanted to be a doctor when he was bigger, and so he knew
just what to do. He asked Scraggy Ted if he could wiggle his toes and
Scraggy Ted did just that.
“Good”, said Teddy Edward, “I don’t
think anything’s broken. Now see if you can straighten your legs again”.
Carefully, Scraggy Ted moved his legs,
one at a time, until they were back in the right place.
“Now for the hard part”, said Teddy
Edward.
“I want you to try and stand up”, Teddy Edward asked Scraggy Ted.
So, slowly, Scraggy Ted sat up. Then he
tried to
stand up. He wobbled a bit at first, but soon he felt much better.
“I think I’m Ok”, he said to Teddy
Edward.
“Good, then we had all better get back into bed, hadn’t we? It will
soon be morning. We don’t want to be caught”.
Quickly and quietly they all got back
into bed.
The sunlight peeked through a gap in Emma’s curtains and woke her up.
She rubbed her eyes and looked all around.
“It’s going to be a lovely sunny day
today”, she said to herself.
It was then that she noticed the kitchen
tray laying by the side of her bed.
“I wonder where that came from”, she
said out loud.
She had no idea. But we know how it got
there, don’t we ?