Henry and Susie Dawkins were very careful parents.
When Molly was born, they bought two dummies - an everyday dummy and a spare dummy.
When they lost the everyday dummy, or left it behind, Susie would smile and say, “Don’t panic! There’s always the spare dummy.”
And Henry would sigh and say, “Thank heavens for that. So long as we don’t lose the spare dummy.”
*****
When Molly was older, they bought her a bottle for her milk. They bought her a spare bottle, too, in case they lost the everyday bottle or left it behind.
Once, when they were half way up the motorway, Susie cried, “We’ve forgotten Molly’s bottle!”
Henry smiled. “Don’t panic. There’s always the spare bottle.”
But Susie groaned, “I left the spare bottle at Granny’s.”
“Aha!” said Henry. “Don’t panic! I bought a spare spare bottle.”
“My hero!” laughed Susie.
*****
When Molly was older still, Henry and Susie decided to buy her a new toy.
Said Susie, “She’s never had a real teddy bear. Not a big furry one, anyway.”
There were lots of bears to choose from at the toy shop. But Henry and Susie only liked two. They were exactly the same, and they sat together on the shelf like twins.
One bear whispered to the other, “They’re going to buy me. I can tell.”
“I hope so,” said the other bear sadly. “Good luck!”
“Let’s have one of those,” said Henry.
“No,” said Susie, “Let’s have two.”
“Why do we want two teddy bears?” asked Henry.
“One for everyday,” replied Susie, “One for spare.”
*****
The everyday bear was called Bear. Wherever Molly went, Bear went too. When Molly went to bed, so did Bear. When Molly had her bath, Bear sat on the stool beside her.
When Molly went... |
