johnny bears big hug and the apple tree

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Johnny Bears BIG HUG

and the apple tree

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Johnny Bears BIG HUG

and the apple treeMorgan La Femina



v

Copyright © 2009 Morgan La Femina

ISBN XXXXXXXXXX



Johnny Bears BIG HUG and the apple tree 1

It wasn’t here. It was over there.

Far in the woods where the bright green trees met the fields of bright blue shimmering grass, a quite uncommon village of teddy bears lived. Infact, you could say it was far away from us humans, but it was not quitetoo hard to find if you looked hard. It was Teddy Bear Land in a teddy bearworld. Teddy Bear Land was not too much different from ours; it was just

filled with fluffy and furry animals.In this village, there were tall houses, short houses, square houses,

and even a few round houses. Some had blue roofs and some had red, a few brown or green. In the houses lived all different types of teddy bear families.Of course, some were bears, some were rabbits, cats, or birds, some weredogs, and some were even monkeys. Johnny’s family lived at the very edge

of Teddy Bear Land. Johnny’s mom and dad loved Johnny very, very much.Every morning Johnny’s mom would cook him porridge in a great big blackiron pot. In the evening, Johnny’s dad would read him his favorite bedtimestories and tuck Johnny in his warm cozy bed.



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Every day after school, Johnny would go and play with his friends.

They would play baseball, hopscotch, and soccer. His best friends were Eddiethe rabbit, Nina the penguin, and Marcus the monkey. You could say Eddiewas timid, Nina was always trying to fly, and of course, Marcus was thecurious one of the bunch. When evening came, Johnny would come in andclean up, which he didn’t like at all, and get ready for bed. Johnny alwayswould fall asleep when his dad read to him just before bedtime. Johnnie’s

eyes would slowly droop and finally close. He would fall fast asleep anddream of what lay beyond the field near their teddy bear village.

In the morning, Momma Bear yelled up to Johnny, who wasgetting ready for school. “Johnny, I have your favorite—a nice big pot of porridge!”

Momma Bear had cooked up porridge in her big black iron pot. Johnnyreluctantly ate his porridge like a good little bear and rushed off to school.Some days later and many bowls of porridge later, he began to think of theporridge. He thought about how many times he ate porridge and how itseemed to look like the paste he used in school to stick construction papertogether. Then he just decided that in fact he just had too much of it and did

not like porridge at all. But Johnny did not tell Momma Bear. He did notwant to make Momma Bear feel bad by telling her that her porridge tastedlike paste. The next time he ate porridge, Johnny just stuck his tongue out,quickly ate it, and ran to school so he would not be late for class.



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Johnny’s mom and dad loved Johnny very much. In fact if Momma

Bear knew that Johnny thought the porridge she cooked with care tastedlike paste, she would have given him pancakes, but Johnny only complainedto himself. Every day after school Johnny would find his friends, and theywould all play until supper and then do homework.

Well, a few days went by and nothing much happened with Johnnyand his teddy bear friends until a certain gift was given to Nina by herparents. Johnny and his teddy bear friends were excited because Nina had anew soccer ball to play with. That, of course, meant they all had a new soccer ball to play with. They were all having great fun kicking the black and whitecheckered ball around and getting all their fur tangled and dirty—that is,until Eddie got so excited that he kicked the ball right down the field. Upand over a hill the soccer ball went.

Johnny yelled at Eddie, “Eddie!”

Eddie scrunched his pink nose. “Sorry.”

Nina hopped up to get a better view but came right back down. Shecould not see the ball at all. “Now what will I do? That was my new one, andPoppa just gave it to me!”

Marcus pulled at his brown furry tail. “Maybe we should get it?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Johnny complained.



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Poor Nina started to cry.

Marcus looked back, holding his tail. “We should go get it!”

However, before Johnny could say no, Marcus bounced downthe field.

Johnny cried, “Wait!” But it was too late. They all hurried after. They

did not want Marcus to get lost.

Down the field they went and up the hill and down, looking for the ball. Little Nina scrambled, trying to catch up, her little feet moving quickly.“Wait up, guys!”

Marcus pointed. “Look!”

They raced to catch him. The bears did not realize he could beso fast.

After catching Marcus, they began to look for Nina’s soccer ball. Afterlooking for awhile, they did find something though.

Johnny looked down; in fact they all did.

“What is it?” Johnny questioned.



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Eddie sniffed the small red and green thing. “Smells sweet.”

Johnny scratched his head of fur. “Sweet sounds good, but it is tootiny to be our soccer ball.”

Marcus picked up the hard object, sniffed it, scratched it, and took a bite.

Nina questioned the puzzled look on Marcus’ face. “Well, what doesit taste like?”

“I can’t tell.”

He gave the object to Eddie. “You try.”

Eddie complained but bit down, eating half of it with one bite. Hesmiled. “It’s good to eat!”

Well, seeing Eddie simply enjoy something so sweet was too muchfor Johnny to bear. He snatched the object and took a bite. In fact, they allate it until there was only the core left. But while they were so excited aboutthe red and green round thing, they did not know a rather large shadow hadquietly come over them.

Marcus held the core with his tail. “I wonder what it is called.”



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“Silly monkey, it is an apple,” spoke the large shadow from up

above.Marcus looked up, shocked, and dropped the apple core. All the little

teddy bears looked up.

Johnny and the others, especially Eddie, started to shake with fear.“Are … are you a teddy bear?”

“Silly bear, I am a horse,” the horse said. “I am certainly not stuffed,and I certainly am not a bear. I am certainly not small like you are.”

Johnny was so surprised that he could just about speak up to the horsehigh above him. “Where did you come from?” Johnny said in a tremblingvoice.

“My friends and I live in the stables; we eat the grass in this field andthe apples we find.” He lowered his head closer to them. “You bears shouldgo home before it gets dark, you know. It can get scary out here alone in thedark.”

Johnny and Marcus ignored the warning. “Are there more apples?”The horse shook his head sideways and whinnied. “Silly teddy bears,

there are always more in the orchard. We horses eat them all the time.”

Johnny and Marcus both yelped for joy. “Well, let’s get some!”



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Eddie hopped and thumped his feet a bit. “Great! It is getting late

though, Johnny.”Nina agreed with Eddie, and they began to argue. Johnny and Marcus

were so excited about the apples, pictures of shiny red and green round things bouncing in their stuffing heads, that is, until the sound of the owner and hissons riding toward them could be heard over their squeaking voices.

The horse waited patiently, and then having had enough of the stuffedanimals’ disagreement, he let out a loud whinny. “Enough!”

The teddy bears froze right where they were.

The horse yelled at them, “You need to go, silly bears.”

Johnny looked up at him through button eyes. “Why, Mr. Horse?”

“Well, that is simple, because the owner will take you teddy bears forhis family!”

The owner and his sons were getting close, and they could almost seethe bears.

Johnny glanced at Marcus. “Run!”




Well, they ran so fast that Nina could barely keep up; instead she took

Marcus’ tail and was half-pulled along! By the time the teddy bears stoppedrunning, they were back in the woods and completely lost. Marcus lookedaround at the trees. Oh, it was all so very unfamiliar.

“We’re lost,” Johnny frowned. “Daddy Bear is going to be verymad.”

Eddie became scared again. “What shall we do? Johnny! Johnny?”

Johnny yelped at Eddie, “What!”

Eddie bit his stitches. “Nothing.”

Johnny shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s keep going.”

So, on they walked deeper into the woods, all the sights and soundssomehow now strange and unfamiliar. The bears knew their village andthe stream that went right through it. They knew the tall houses, the shorthouses, the square houses, and even the round houses. They knew the blueroofs and the red roofs, but not this. They felt all alone. Then just as night

set in, the trees seemed to be in neat rows with lots of spaces in betweenand those red-green things everywhere on them. But just as it was almostcompletely dark, Nina cried, “What shall we do!”



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Marcus pointed up. “Look!”

Johnny could barely make them out in the night sky. “Apples! Let’sgo!”

Johnny and Marcus could climb the tree, but Eddie and Nina were just not the kind of teddy bears that could. Johnny helped Eddie up the tree,pushing him all the way, while Nina was pulled up by Marcus’ tail.

Johnny was exhausted, and Marcus rubbed his hurt tail.

Johnny took a few deep breaths, rested for a moment, and picked anapple. “Let’s eat!”

Well, eat they did. They ate so many apples that the bears almost

split their stitches. They began to feel safe, and as they rubbed their tummies,they grew tired and fell fast asleep. They slept soundly, sleeping the coolnight away.



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The next day Johnny woke up to the bright yellow sun shining in his

button eyes. He shook Marcus and said, “Marcus, get up.”Marcus let out a loud snore and turned over on his branch.

Johnny pushed him harder and shouted, “Marcus!”

Johnny pushed so hard that Marcus fell straight down the tree. He

hit the ground with a loud, rousing thump. Hitting the ground woke upMarcus, and the sound of it woke the rest of the teddy bears.

Nina jumped, ready to fly and almost forgetting that she couldn’t.“What was that?”

Johnny picked an apple. “Let’s get some apples and find our home.”

Marcus rubbed his bottom. “Ouch! That hurt, Johnny!”

Well, the teddy bears took as many apples as their little paws couldcarry and walked right back into the woods, even though they really did notwant to. After a long, long time wandering about, they grew hungry, andone by one they started to eat the apples that were with them. Their armfuls

of apples started to shrink. Then there were just a few.

Eddie sniffed around, taking a big bite out of his last apple. “Are weclose yet?”



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Johnny held his last apple. He really just wanted to save it. It was the

only one left.“I don’t know.”

They walked even more and were so tired. The poor teddy bearsnearly wore off their feet pads, but they kept on walking. The day passed by. Johnny held his apple, now so hungry.

Just as Johnny was about to eat his last apple, Marcus pointed. “Look,our stream!”

Johnny lifted his eyes. “What?”

“Look, Johnny, our stream!” Marcus yelped, pulling his tail.

Nina yelled out, “We just have to follow it!”

Johnny clutched the apple tightly and they ran. They ran and ran.They walked and walked. They walked and eventually dragged themselveswith their tattered, dirty fur into the village.

There all the village bears surrounded the young ones, cheeringhappily and relieved that they were back safe and sound. All the village bears, especially the young bears’ families, began asking Johnny and histeddy bear friends about their journey. Each one of Johnny’s friends was




given a great big bear hug from their parents. And each young bear was

lifted and carried home. They each got a warm bath, a hot dinner, and agood night’s sleep. Johnny looked up sadly to his parents and held out hislast apple to Momma Bear. He was so down.

“I played, and we got lost. We found apples, and now there is just oneleft.”

Momma Bear smiled warmly at Johnny, took the apple, and gave hima great big bear hug. “Well, that’s okay, Johnny. I tell you what, I will cookit up for you.”

When Johnny heard this, he began to cheer up a bit.

Daddy Bear gave him a second great big hug and put him right on his

shoulders. “Let’s go home, son.”

Well, the next day Momma Bear peeled the apple, cut the apple, andcooked it in Johnny’s porridge. She cooked the porridge and apple slices inthe great iron pot she always used. Momma Bear gave a big, hot bowlful tohim.

“Here is your porridge with the apple, too,” she said so proudly.



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Johnny tasted the porridge and waited a bit. He decided it was very

tasty. In fact, it was so good that he ate that bowl of porridge and applesand another. He ate so much that he almost busted his stitches. MommaBear looked at the clock and reminded him not to be late for school. Johnnyrubbed his tummy, rested a minute, got his book, and hurried along. Theschool day passed, as did the next day.

But as the days went by, Johnny was sad because he could not have

his porridge with apples. In time, though, he forgot. Then after a long, longtime, Johnny wasn’t looking where he was going, and he hit his teddy bearhead on a low tree branch. Funny, he could not remember that tree beingright there in the middle of the village next to the stream. Well, when Johnnywent to walk away, he stepped on something round and fell in the mudwith a plop. Muddy and now angry, Johnny picked up what he had tripped

on to throw it. He went to throw the pesky thing away, but just then Johnnylooked at it. It was an apple! Well, Johnny just yelped for joy! He looked up.The young bear could not believe it. It was an apple tree filled with yummyapples ready to eat! Momma Bear had thrown the core out. The core musthave been carried downstream where the seeds planted and grew into atree! The stream must have brought it there where it grew!



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Johnny took an armful of apples and ran home. All the village of Teddy Bear Land with its tall houses, short houses, square houses, and roundhouses would have apples. All the teddy bears, some bears, some rabbits,some birds, and even some monkeys now could have apples any time theywanted. Yes, some in fact could even have them in their porridge. You canfind that place where the tree now grows if you look for it hard enough. Just look for the fluffy, stuffed bears in a village where a stream passes rightthrough it and an apple tree stands tall. From now on, Johnny would haveapples with his porridge, and so would his friends.

The end

johnny bears big hug and the apple tree

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