Roxie had to carry on with life, of course, with or without her Mayoral Chain. She kept hoping that the Chain would turn up. She also kept hoping that no one would notice. And if they did, she had an excuse ready.
“Town Mayor” said Councillor Pompous McDoom, one evening at a council meeting, “Where is your Chain of Office?”. (That was not his real name of course, but that is how Roxie thought of him. Her nickname for him helped her to cope with the usually unhelpful, grumpy and miserable things he would say in council meetings.)
“It’s safe and sound in a very special place” Roxie explained without actually lying. She just wished she knew where that special place was!
“Was I meant to wear it this evening?” she asked innocently? Her cheeks went a little rosier, than usual.
“Well no, there is no need, but past Mayors have sometimes done so” huffed Councillor McDoom, not noticing her cheeks.
“Well I am the present not the past Mayor, and I will wear what I want, when I want” said Roxie defiantly, and just a little bit nervously.
That evening she went home, worrying even more. She knew she had to find the Chain in time for the annual Teddy Bears’ Picnic and it was now only just under two weeks away. What was she going to do?
One thing she knew she had to do was to find a bear to take to the picnic. It was the tradition in Netherneither End that every new Mayor would bring a new stuffed bear to the annual Teddy Bears’ Picnic. Roxie decided she would find one the following day in her lunch break.
When she got home from the council meeting, all the children had gone to bed. Samalan had left her a poem on the kitchen table:
Sometimes when you think
There is nothing more to think
You just turn around
Roxie often wondered what Samalan thought about all day. She sat down in her wide and comfy armchair and pondered on the Teddy Bear’s picnic.
Past Mayors had always gone out to buy a new stuffed bear. Roxie decided that instead, she would look for a second hand one as that felt more special to her. The next day Roxie went round all the charity shops in the town looking for a bear. She found lots of jigsaws, sets of three wine glasses and many, many books but there were very few stuffed toys. And then in the last shop she came across two stuffed bears sitting together high up on a shelf at the back.
One bear was beautiful, her fur was bushy and bright like burnished gold, and she had arms and legs that could move. Roxie picked her up and cradled her. She was a very lovely and cuddly stuffed bear with a huge smile. Roxie knew that she would look wonderful sitting in the council chamber on the small shelf reserved for the Mayor’s Bear. She was about to go to the till and pay for this bear when she glanced back, looked at the other one and turned around.
The other bear was smaller and a little less shiny and not quite as fluffy. This bear had obviously been loved a lot. But this bear would not look so good in the council chamber. Roxie knew she had made the right decision and she was about to turn back to the till when something rather odd happened.
The bear’s eyes twinkled. Roxie blinked. Perhaps the sun outside had reflected off a lorry window but it was a grey day and there was no bright sunlight. She looked again. The bear’s eyes twinkled, again.
Roxie took a breath, and ran her tongue around inside her mouth while she thought. She carefully replaced the bear she was going to buy and picked up this one, the one with the twinkly eyes.
“That will be five pounds”, said the shop assistant. “Thank you” said Roxie, “I think he is just what I have been looking for.” And she tucked the bear under her arm and left the shop.
Roxie was walking back to work when she heard a small woody voice. “My name is Strumbold”, whispered Strumbold, “thank you for picking me”.
She stopped and stared at the bear, with all the hairs on her neck vibrating. “Well” she whispered, “I think it was you that picked me”.
Roxie smiled nervously but happily. Somehow she knew this was the start of a very big adventure. But she did not quite know just how big it was going to be!
And she didn’t know just how important Strumbold was going to be when the whole town found out that the Chain had been lost.
Go to part four
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