Johnny Bear and the Meaning of Friends

By

Morgan La Femina
Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported

please print, copy and share!

To find more copies just search online by the title…

3
In a place that is just over there…

It was a hot summer day, Johnny and his friends were sitting in the sun. Johnny
rubbed his head and face ruffling his cotton fur all over. He looked and felt just awful. Nina
the penguin took her hat off; she was a smart bird, “Johnny?”

Johnny had his button eyes on an ant in the dirt. It went into its little hole. It seemed
to be a smart little ant too. “What, Nina?”

Nina loosened her buckle a bit and squinted in the bright sunlight, “It's hot.”

Marcus the money was chewing on the tip of his tail, “Yea Johnny, I thought you had
something for us to do!”

Johnny Bear stuck his tongue out, “I know.”

Eddie the bunny-rabbit teddy bear had his floppy ears covering his eyes just like
sunglasses; the only thing was he could not see any of them, “Johnny, you said we had a game
to play?”

Johnny with both mitten paws ruffled his face fur again and snapped back angrily, “I
know, Eddie!”

Eddie bounced up, uncovering his eyes, “It's just too hot and I am going home!”

Off Eddie went hopping back toward his home.

Marcus pulled his tail out of his mouth, “I'm going home too.”

4
 Off Marcus bounded toward his house.

Nina looked sadly at Johnny Bear, “I have to go home for dinner, Johnny.”

Johnny held up his paws, “Fine, go!”

Nina skipped back towards her home leaving Johnny all alone in the heat. Johnny
stared at his paws for a few moments and wanted to cry. Then with a deep sigh, Johnny got
up and sadly walked home. Sometimes it was hard being a bear.

Well, the next day was even hotter! Again, Johnny and his friends were sitting right
out in the sun. Johnny had found a tasty dandelion and plucked it from the ground next to
him.

Marcus quite bored drew circles in the dirt in front of him, looked up at Johnny and
said, “Johnny it's hot.”

Johnny picked at the dandelion. “I know Marcus.”

Nina lying flat on the ground like a fallen bowling pin with her feet up, opened her
eyes, “I am a cooked bird, Johnny.”

5
 Johnny Bear started to chew at the flower, “I know, Nina.”

Eddy pulled his fluffy white and pink ears from off his eyes. “You said you would have
a game for us to play today, Johnny.”

Johnny stood up getting angry, “I know I did, but it is too hot to play!”

Eddie got angry too, “Fine, then let's all go home!”

Johnny threw the flower, “Fine and walked away.”

Marcus said, “Fine!” and walked away.

“Fine!” Eddie yelled stomping loudly as he walked away.

Nina stood up and fluttered, “Hey, wait for me!”

Well by the third day, Johnny decided he would play all alone. He would just show his
friends by having fun all by himself. As Johnny was leaving his house, his mother called him,
“Johnny, don't forget to come home early so you can finish your homework!” Johnny closed
the front door behind him, yelling back, “I will Mama!” and off he went.

7
 Johnny passed by all the village's tall houses, the short houses, the round and even
the square houses. Johnny passed by the red houses, the blue houses and of course the
green ones too. He passed by his school and the local store he got candy from. Johnny walked
down to the stream that runs right through the village, through the tall grass and to his
apple tree. Johnny smiled, thinking to himself, “Ah, tasty apples.” Johnny Bear took a bounce
up onto the trunk of the apple tree and climbed up as bears usually do. He picked an armful
of apples, put one in his mouth and climbed down the tree. As Johnny kept going, he munched
away at the apple he had held in his mouth thinking proudly to himself, “I 'm going to find a
new place to play!”

Well Johnny walked and walked until he reached the near end of the farm. The horse
that lived there just happened to see him, whinnied and strutted on over to Johnny. The
horse lowered his head to Johnny, “Why hello there, silly bear.”

Johnny looked up eating another apple, “Hello, Mr. Horse.”

The horse shook his head and blew warm air out of his nose, “What are you doing here
bear, and where are your silly teddy-bear friends?”

Johnny took the half-eaten apples out of his mouth, sadly, “Well, I don't have any
friends, Mr. Horse.”

The house looked surprised, “Silly bear, your stuffed and fluffy and so are they.
They are your friend's teddy bear. I don’t know of any other fluffy-stuffy-silly bears?”

Johnny looked down, “Maybe.”

8
The horse saw what Johnny was holding with his big horse eyes, “Silly bear?”
 Mr. Horse saw what Johnny was holding with his large eyes, “Silly bear?”

Johnny looked up. “Yes, Mr. Horse?”

“I would like an apple.”

Johnny held one up to him. “Here you are, Mr. Horse."

The horse gently gripped the apple with his teeth and eating it as he strutted away.
“Silly bears…friends indeed!”

Johnny Bear though about what the horse said for a moment, but decided it was
oh…too hard for him to figure out. Well, Johnny Bear walked and walked some more, all the
while getting closer to the barns and the home of where the big humans lived. By this time, it
was getting quite dark and Johnny was getting tired. Johnny had gone very far, but still he
did not find a new place to play. Johnny bear took a deep sigh and put the last yummy apple in
his mouth. Well, just as he went to start home Johnny heard a rustle near one of the barns.
Out of the dark came a loud bark and then a few more. It was one of the farm owner's dogs!
The dog came running right out toward Johnny in a flash. Johnny yelped and started to run,
but the dog was too fast for the teddy bear and grabbed Johnny. The dog took Johnny up
and off he went with the poor bear in his mouth.

10
 When Johnny did not come home before dark, Johnny’s Mamma and Papa began to get
a bit worried. After a few hours more, Johnny’s parents got so concerned they told the
village elders. The village elders then went and told the rest of the parents of Teddy Bear
Land that a bear had gone missing. When the rest of the village learned that Johnny Bear
was missing, all of Teddy Bear Land gathered near the stream to go and look for him.
Johnny's Mamma and Papa were so very worried about Johnny. Johnny's friends were very
worried too, so much so that they decided they would look the next day while the adults
started that night. The next day, Johnny's friends secretly decided to skip school and go
look for their lost friend. They knew it was wrong not to go to school, but they were so very
worried about Johnny.

Nina looked so sad. “What are we going to do, Marcus?”

Marcus grabbed his brown tail, “Well, we could see Mr. Horse- He may have seen
Johnny.”

Eddie hopped, “Good idea Marcus, Mr. House knows all kinds of stuff.”

Marcus gave Nina his tail, “Hold on Nina!”

Eddie bounced, “Let's go!” and off they ran with Nina being half pulled along by
Marcus.

About an hour later, Johnny's friends managed to find Mr. Horse. Mr. Horse was busy

11
munching on the grass below him. Marcus poked at one of the horses hind legs. “Mr. Horse-
sir?”

The horse turned to the three of them. “Yes?”

Nina jumped up fluttering, “Oh! We lost our friend Johnny, and he went out, and they
went looking for him…and his parents are worried…and…now-”

The Horse interrupted Nina, “Enough, silly bears!” the horse swallowing a last little
bit of grass. “I know Johnny Bear- I remember you, you bears must be his friends.”

Eddie held his ears high, “We sure are!” then Eddie nodded, “Yep.”

The horse blew air out his nostrils. “You are looking for him because he is your
friend?”

Marcus looked up at the horse, “Do you know where he went?”

The horse shook his head up and down, “Silly Bears, he went near the barn, but after
that I do not know where.”

Marcus stuck his thumbs up, “Thanks, Mr. Horse!”

The horse began to walk away and in a low voice, “Your welcome bears.”

Marcus glanced at the rest of his friends, “Let's go!”

Eddie and Marcus ran.

“Let's go!”

Nina fluttered and hopped along behind them, “Hey, wait for me guys!”

13
 Well Marcus, Eddie and Nina ran and ran until they reached the farmers house.
Slowly they crept up to a nearby barn. The group overheard a low rustle in the tall grass.

Marcus put his paw up to his mouth, “Shhhh, guys lets go quietly.”

Nina yelled out, “What!”

Marcus yelled back angrily at Nina, “Quietly, Nina!”

But, the cat heard them carrying on anyway and bounded out in front of the
frightened teddy bears. “Hello!”

Well Marcus, Eddie and Nina were so surprised that they nearly split their seams.
Marcus was very scared, in fact they all were. “Don't eat us, Mr.!”

The cat licked its paw and cleaned its face with it, “I am a Ms. Not a Mr. and I don't
eat cotton!”

Nina yelped happily, “Good!”

Marcus questioned the Ms. “What are you?”

The cat ruffled its whiskers, “I am a cat and my name is Ms. Kitty.”

Eddie still a bit afraid of the big whiskered animal, “Hello Ms. Kitty.”

The cat sniffed them and meowed, “Hmmm, teddy bears?” eyes very wide.

Eddie bent his ears back, “Ms. Kitty, um-do you know where our friend is?”

14
 Ms. Kitty nodded, “Yes, the bear?”

Marcus shook his head, “Yep, he’s brown and got a big belly and he eats lots of stuff
too- lots of stuff- you have seen him?”

Ms. Kitty pointed with a paw to another barn, “He is in with my owner's two dogs.”

Marcus looked sternly at Eddie and Nina, “Well, I guess lets go get him.”

However, before the bears could head for the barn Ms. Kitty stopped them. “Wait
bears, you can’t do it alone. The owners' two dogs may be dumb, but they bit.”

Nina was about to cry, “So we can't get Johnny back?”

Ms. Kitty felt bad, “Yes you can, but you need help…our help.”

Marcus pulled his tail. “What do you mean by 'our' help?”

Ms. Kitty meowed loudly a couple of times and four more cats came out of the bushes.
Ms. Kitty lowered her head and looked right in Marcus's eyes, “We don't like dogs so we will
gladly help you…this time.”

Marcus glanced at Eddie, “Oh, boy!”

Marcus nodded too. “Yep!”

Well, all five of the cats ran right into the barn with Johnny's friends tailing fast
behind. The cats chased the two dogs around the barn, the dogs then angrily chasing the five

16
cats. But, the dogs being not too smart began to have so much they simply forgot why they
were angry in the first place. So, both dogs with tails wagging chased themselves out into
the fields to play. The cats then finished with their help ran out the barn themselves, quickly
disappearing in the grass.

Marcus, Eddie and Nina ran over to Johnny, “Johnny!” they all yelped.

Johnny Bear was in the corner of the barn. “Boy, I am sure glad to see you guys!

Eddie nodded, “We missed you, Johnny.”

Marcus pointed with his tail, “We should get out of here while we can.”

Nina chirped, “Good idea.”

Off Johnny Bear and his friends went running out the barn and on home.

17
 When the teddy bears finally got back to their village, the adult bears were so happy
that the next day the whole village held a big cookout. Johnny Bear’s parents were especially
happy to have their son back, even though they grounded Johnny for a week for going so far
from the village. But, it was okay because his friends were grounded too for skipping school
though all his friends parents were proud they had found Johnny.

The week passed and Johnny Bear was again sitting in the hot summer sun. His
friends sat next to him. All of them were hot, their fur matted from the afternoon heat.

Marcus frowned, “Johnny, it's hot.”

Nina rolled over on her stomach, “Yeah, Johnny, I thought you had something for us
to do.”

Johnny stuck his little pink tongue out, “I know!”

Eddie pulled his white bunny ears from his eyes, “You know Johnny you're a good
friend.”

Johnny nodded, “You guys are the best.”

Marcus and Nina nodded in agreement, both of them at the same time laughing: “Let's
go to the apple tree and eat.”

Johnny liked the idea, “Then we can swim in the stream too!”

Nina hopped up and went to leave, “Well let's go guys!”

Marcus bounced up, “Hey wait for us Nina!”

19
 It was good to be friends in a village where an apple tree grew, next to a stream, in a
place over there, were you would least expect it…

The End

20
 This book has been brought to you by-
The Children’s Healthcare Crisis Fund Inc.

Please visit us to learn more, or consider a donation at:

www.allourkidsfund.org

Thank you for reading our book, make copies, download more and pass Johnny Bear along!

- The Administrator

22