I Would Like To Report A Kidnapping......

We all had a favorite toy growing up. I was no exception. My favorite was my Pooh bear with a wind up butt that played his theme song. Oh how I loved that chubby little stubby all stuffed with fluff Pooh bear. He went everywhere with me.

One day he was missing. He couldn't be located anywhere and I was quite upset. My baby had disappeared. We launched an all out search and rescue effort involving the entire family, neighborhood, local police, US government and Canada all to no avail. Well okay it was just me and Mom looking but we certainly put forth the same effort that the above mentioned others would have had they known of the kidnapping. I was devastated, he was gone forever and my little tiny heart was broken. Never again would I hear the Winnie the Pooh theme without feeling a pang of sorrow for my little guy who had been kidnapped.

Fast forwarding to about five years old and Mom had purchased a number of flowers to plant in the flower bed right out front of the house. She enlisted my little hands with a small spade to assist in the planting. She would point out where to dig the next small hole and I would follow orders and dig. This process repeated several times until I hit something hard. I continued to work my spade around that hard object until it was freed and I pulled it upwards. I was shocked and horrified to discover in my hand the music box to my Pooh bear as well as some tattered remains of his stuffing and fabric body. I cried. I tried to wind the music box but alas years of it being buried in the moist ground through several winters had rusted the mechanism and my baby was completely dead. Murdered in the prime of his life. It was generally accepted as fact that the prime suspect was my brother Jeremy. He was however never arrested and charged with any crime in connection with the murder.

As a way to deal with my grief I located a crib mobile music box that played "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" and continued to carry that around and play it relentlessly for a very long time. That mysteriously disappeared as well............