Little Rimmer - Chapter Three

Henrietta flapped off into one corner of the shed, from which emanated a lovely orange glow. As he climbed up a haystack and peered over to see if he could see what this Dotty creature was, he saw this huge metal object that seemed to be sitting on four stacks of bricks. There were various chicklets running about beneath the rusty blue leviathan in a boisterous game of chase. Around the other side, he could just see Henrietta’s tail feathers peeking out and shaking excitedly as she chattered to an unseen creature, and sitting on the lid of this giant tin was a lantern which cast shadows on the back wall. Rimmer could see Henrietta’s shadow flapping around and getting all excited. He tried to make out the shape of the other creature, but it didn’t make sense to him. He stood captivated by the shadows, captivated by the way they interacted with one another, captivated with the way the light danced and the shadows made Henrietta look almost like a beautiful buxom lady. He was sure that the more he looked, the more the shadows were turning all sorts of wonderous colours. He strained his eyes and stuck his tongue out of one side of his mouth, as if it were going to help him discern what he was actually seeing with his own two little beady eyes.

Just then, Henrietta bustled up to him with a look of excitement on her face. ‘My, my, this is a turn up for the books!’ Rimmer grew acutely aware of the silly expression on his face and immediately stood to attention, feeling a little sheepish yet ready to obey instructions. She extended her wing around him and ushered him forth to meet Dotty. As they walked around the metal vessel, Rimmer got more and more frightened and hid his eyes in Henrietta’s warm fluffy feathers and covered them with a paw. He just couldn’t bear to look.

‘Come on, little seer, let me have a look at you,’ came the most soothing voice Rimmer had ever heard. He couldn’t describe it, but it was almost like singing, except not ordinary singing. It was almost as if there were two voices singing in perfect harmony together, one deep and resonant, the other sweet and lyrical. Rimmer took courage from Dotty’s comforting words, and peered out from under Henrietta’s wing. He stood there speechless as he saw one of the most beautiful and most frightening things he had ever seen.

Dotty sat on a wooly tartan rug spread out on top of a few bales of hay in one corner of the barn, just behind the rusty blue truck. She was poised and sophisticated, and her front two feet were placed together just so, in such a neat way that Rimmer could tell that she was a real lady. Her sleek black coat shone as if her very fur was alive, and her green eyes twinkled softly as she looked at him. As she spoke, Rimmer could see two long sharp teeth protruding from the top of her mouth, and he knew that this was a creature not to be messed with in the slightest. Dotty licked her lips and Rimmer saw her whiskers quiver, which make him take in a sharp breath.

‘Do not fear, little seer, I am not here to harm you’ she coaxed. There it was again! Thought Rimmer. She called me that before, what on earth did she mean? He took a tentative step forward and played with his hands behind his back. He couldn’t say anything, but just waited, as Dotty looked him up and down. He thought he even saw a hint of a smile as she began to speak.
‘We’ve been told about teddies like you,’ she purred, ‘but we never thought you actually existed.’
‘Like me? Are you sure?’ Rimmer was quite taken aback, ‘I didn’t know there were any more teddies like me!’
‘It is because you are a rare breed, young seer.’ Dotty sat down on all fours, tucking her front paws under her, looking like she was about to tell him something so important, you had to sit down for it. ‘There is a story,’ she began, ‘that tells of a little creature who possesses the ability to see things as they really are. These creatures are sent to us who are in great need at the time. So great is this need that you know you are in trouble if one of these creatures comes your way. Of course, we knew we were having a few problems, but we didn’t realise quite how bad things were! Your presence merely confirms our worst fears. Are you surprised?’ The question was directed at Rimmer, but he was sure that he wasn’t actually supposed to answer, so he just nodded his head, trying to recall all the adventures of the day so far.
Henrietta clucked at this point, and shuffled her feathers about, ‘Oooh little one, you’ve brought us despair and hope at the same time!’
Rimmer decided to sit down, because he couldn’t actually quite take in what was being said, ‘Miss Dotty, what exactly do you mean? I’m a little confused. Why do you keep calling me seer? What is that?’
‘One thing at a time, little bear,’ Dotty’s voice was smooth and calm, ‘Tell me something,’ she said, pointing a whisker in the direction of a group of quarrelling chicks in the corner, ‘What do you see?’
‘Two brothers. One looks up to the other one and wants to be just like him. They’re both going to be great watchmen one day.’ As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Rimmer was surprised at the speed of his reply! Where did that come from? How did he know that? Was it really him who was speaking?
Dotty just smiled, ‘Are you trying to tell me we’re getting excited for nothing, young man?’
‘ooooh!’ squealed Henrietta, ‘Its true! Its true!’
‘Stop flapping, Hen!’ Dotty chided, and turned to Rimmer who was staring at Dotty in disbelief, ‘I think you’re a bit new in the world, aren’t you, little one? I have a feeling I understand why you’re so perplexed. Do you think perhaps you’ve not realized that there was something different about you because you’ve had nothing to compare it to?’
‘Oh Dotty!’ Rimmer cried, ‘I never thought there was anything special about me! When I looked at my reflection in the pond, all I could see was plain old checked Rimmer. Everything else looked so glorious and solid and more real than in the here world!’
‘Calm down, darling!’ Dotty spoke and he was still. All the disappointments just hung in the air, waiting to be expelled, ‘Did you never think that when you looked at your reflection, it showed the opposite of what we see? You do understand that when we look at you, we see a glorious ray of hope? We see a little ted that is more real than anything we’ve ever seen before! Why, its no wonder Hen almost had a heart attack when she cleaned you up from all that mud! You are practically shiny!’
‘I am?’ Rimmer was quietly reflective.
‘Little Rimmer, seer of truth, be blessed! You’ve been sent to us for a reason, but before we get down to it, I think you’ve had just about enough for one day.’ Dotty instructed Henrietta to find him some lodgings for the night. ‘Try to get as much rest as possible, little one. You’ve got a long day ahead of you tomorrow.’
Rimmer sighed, and settled down in amongst Henrietta’s thirty four children.

Little Rimmer - Chapter Two

Soon Rimmer found himself winding down a long country lane. He was feeling a little sorry for himself and hung his head low, mainly due to the fact that he was a bit soggy and needed to drip dry. He sort of meandered down the lane, kicking little pebbles that he found in his track. At one point in the road, things started getting a bit muddy and wet, and Rimmer could feel the dirt starting to seep into the very fabric of his being. It was going a little bit crusty just around knee height, and it felt like his feet were growing more and more heavy as he just tried to keep going. It had begun to grow dark by now, and he was worried that he would have to crawl under some brambles just to find shelter for the night. He rather didn’t relish this thought, and even though his feet were getting heavy with mud, he still plodded on. Rimmer started thinking about the sweet comforting fragrance of his loving mother and started to grow very homesick indeed!

Things seemed to be going from bad to worse, and Rimmer was very close to giving up and just lying in the middle of the country lane until a bird thought he was good enough to eat and carried him off. But before he had lost all hope, Rimmer noticed a kind of excited sound coming from up ahead. He pricked up his ears, and strained to see if he could make out some kind of words. His pace gathered speed. He grew curious. What was this odd chattering noise and where was it coming from? Rimmer was almost running now, as the noise was growing steadily louder, and he had just about forgotten that his paws were caked in mud and feeling heavy. Before he knew it, Rimmer was peering through a wooden gate at the most amazing scene he had ever seen! That was quite a good thing considering that the reason he had left home was to see what he could see. He crawled under the gate, getting a little more muddy in the process, and took a few steps up a little driveway. The driveway led to a big cottage that overlooked a glorious field. There were a few ponies sticking their heads over the fence, and Rimmer just stood in awe of these creatures. He had certainly never seen anything that large before, nor as beautiful! He just wanted to take it all in, and not forget one little bit. The cottage had a thatched roof, and what looked like a mixture of different flowers entwined all the way up the facade of the house! One of the windows on the top floor was open, and there was a girl leaning out of the window, smelling one of the flowers! At the front of the house, there was a cluster of strange looking animals all different in shapes and sizes. Rimmer had never seen anything so wonderful, nor frightening. The noise was quite loud now and he was getting a little overwhelmed.

‘Um, excuse me!’ he cried, trying to be heard above the din, ‘Hello! Can anyone hear me?’
Nothing happened. Well, almost nothing, because at that moment, a large black and white creature with its tongue hanging out of its mouth ran at speed from one side of the front garden right to where Rimmer was standing. ‘Woof!’ it barked, and put its head low to the ground, peering at Rimmer who was now petrified. He didn’t know what to make of this monster whose breath was making him feel a little queasy. He was absolutely terrified and didn’t know what to do, so he did nothing. It felt like ages before anything happened, but Rimmer couldn’t risk making a noise. That is, until there was a high pitched whistle from nowhere. The dog barked again, picked Rimmer up in its mouth no less, and ran off!
‘Aaaaahhhhh!!!!!’ cried Rimmer, ‘Help! Get off!’, as he found himself upside down and travelling at quite a speed to an undisclosed location. He did not stop screaming. In fact, not only was he thinking that his adventure was getting quite dangerous and feared that he would make it through alive, but he was feeling even more soggy and homesick as a result!

Rimmer must have blacked out, because when he awoke, he was no longer in the dog’s mouth, thank goodness! Instead he found himself in a large space. He thought he was inside, but he couldn’t be sure. It wasn’t like any inside that he had ever seen before. There were yellowish blocks all over the place, and when he sat up he noticed that he was in fact sitting on some of the same yellowish stuff that was in the rest of the place.
‘Ooooh! My head!’ he cried, and clutched a muddy paw to his forehead. He patted himself all over just to make sure none of his insides had come out, and thankfully couldn’t find anything to write home about, certainly nothing to worry his dear mum about. He was, however, feeling a little loose around the edges and now even sorrier for himself than before. Could this day get any worse? He wondered.

‘There, there, little one! It will all come out alright in the wash!’ For a moment, Rimmer thought someone was speaking to him, and breathed a sigh of relief. But when he looked up, he saw a fluffy creature with very big soft arms ushering a little fluffy creature into the shed.
‘Are you speaking to me?’ Rimmer asked.
‘Oh! I didn’t see you there, little one.’ The chicken waddled up to Rimmer and bent down to take a closer look, ‘Francis, you go and play with your brothers and sisters,’ she commanded, as she turned her attention to Rimmer. ‘What are you, dearie?’ she asked with a puzzled expression.
‘What am I? What are you, madam?’ said Rimmer, hoping that she was indeed a madam, ‘I mean, I’ve never seen so many strange creatures before in my short yet eventful life!’
‘Ah, dearie. I won’t take offence at your tone, because I can see by that question that you are new to the world, and as a result are in need of a bit of an explanation.’ She clearly began to feel sorry for the little bear, even from only having exchanged a few words with him, and Rimmer was both taken aback by the intelligence of her answer and the softness in her voice.
‘Oh dear, I’m so sorry, madam. I’ve had such a rubbish day. My head hurts and I’m all soggy and I don’t know where on earth I am! I’m far from home and my adventure is turning into a bit of a disaster. Can you help me at all?’ He looked up at her with imploring eyes, at which point her heart melted and she extended her wing around the little bear’s shoulders.
Rimmer got up and leant in close to the chicken, letting her lead the way.
‘Of course I can help, dearie. Let me begin by introducing myself. I’m Henrietta, and these,’ she said proudly, pointing to a mass of squabbling little chicks, ‘are my children.’
‘Oh my! All of them?’ asked Rimmer, both comforted by the soft downy feathers protecting him, and excited by the cheery rabble he saw before him. There were so many chicks running around that he could hardly count them!
‘Well, not strictly, but they are certainly in my charge and I do my best by them.’ She said, leading Rimmer to what looked like a pool of water.
‘Oh no! You’re not going to throw me in there, are you?’ he protested and hid himself further under Henrietta’s wing.
‘Now, now, little one, don’t be afraid, we’re only going to clean you up a bit to see what you are!’ she said, and with that, gently guided him into the pool. It was surprisingly warm, and not that uncomfortable to be wading about in the water.

As Henrietta fussed over him, making sure he cleaned behind his ears, and pointing out all the spots he had missed, and helpfully splashing him with water, Rimmer recounted the story of earlier that day when he had met the frog. He told her how the frog bounced up and down and up and down, and how he tried to bounce but to no avail. He even told Henrietta of the strange thing that he saw when he looked in the reflection of the frog in the stream. Henrietta made all the right sounds, ooo-ing and ah-ing at all the important places. Rimmer thought how lovely it was to have someone to talk to; it was almost like being back at home. As he scrubbed, and talked, and talked and scrubbed, he started to feel both happy and sad at the same time. The memories of the day were starting to take on a different hue as he recounted the tale to Henrietta, almost heroic and noble. But Rimmer wished that it was his own mother that he was recounting the tales to, so that she could say how proud she was of him. But Henrietta only smiled, and ushered him forth out of the pool and told him to give a good shake so the extra water would drip off. She told him to squeeze his limbs a little just in case any water still remained in there, and she drew him in close to her, rubbing his back with her wing till he was cosy and tight and safe and starting to get warm and dry.

‘Now, let’s have a look at you,’ Henrietta said, taking a step back. She drew in a quick, sharp breath, ‘Oh my!’
Rimmer stood there looking up at her expectantly. What had gone wrong now? He was almost sure that he had either done something wrong, or that he looked terribly strange and that it would frighten the lady.
‘Oh my, my, my!’ Henrietta muttered, almost in disbelief, ‘Whoever knew you were such a.. Well, well, I’ve got to tell Dotty, she’ll be ever so… mmm Dotty!’ Henrietta started flapping about and getting so worked up that Rimmer didn’t know what to make of it. He wasn’t sure whether her reaction was good or bad. Why was she getting so excited?
‘Henrietta, are you alright? I haven’t done anything wrong, have I?’ he asked.
‘What?’ she asked, spinning around so quickly she almost knocked him off his feet, ‘oh, my dear little one, whoever said anything about doing wrong? No, no, no, no! Everything is far too exciting for that! Oh dear, where do I start? I think I had better let Dotty explain everything…’

Little Rimmer - Chapter One

Once upon a time, there was a teddy bear by the name of Little Rimmer. He was called Little Rimmer because he was only three inches high. There was nothing extraordinary about him, apart from the fact that he was three inches high, and checked. Being checked was something that came so naturally to Little Rimmer, that he couldn’t remember why it was so important.

Not long after his mother kissed new life into him, he blinked both eyes, shook his head, stretched his paws above his head and strolled off into the world to see what he could see. This task was a bit inevitable, but nevertheless compelling, as up until that moment he had only seen his mother and was quite unused to seeing in general as his eyes were so new. The irony was that it was only the sweet kiss of his dearest mother that had planted an adventuring spirit his soul in the first place, together with a song in his heart and a faint, indistinguishable thought in his mind of something quite altogether bigger than himself (this not being hard since he was so little). Although parting with Rimmer was something that made his mother sad, she knew it was something that had to be done for him to be able to stand on his own two paws. Perhaps his adventure would give him the answers to the questions that had just been awakened in him?

One day, not long after he had left the comfort of the only home he had ever known, he was strolling through a luscious and leafy glen. Singing a merry tune as he wandered, he quite mistakenly and not at all on purpose came across a frog hopping about near a little stream.
‘Hello!’ said Rimmer to the strange creature.
‘Ribbit!’ said the frog, bouncing up and down and up and down.
‘What are you? You seem to be talking some kind of foreign language!’ exclaimed Rimmer as his head followed the bouncing frog, up and down and up and down.
‘I is a frog,’ replied the frog, up and down and up and down.
‘Oooooh! How lovely!’ said Rimmer, ‘What is a frog? I mean, what does a frog do?’
‘We bounce!’ said the frog, up and down and up and down, ‘What do you do?’
‘Not sure yet!’ said Rimmer, a little puzzled at the question. He knew that he could sing a little, but not much else apart from that, and since he had always known how to sing, he didn’t consider it that clever or that unusual. Suddenly, Rimmer had a brainwave! He wandered if maybe he could bounce too! ‘Um, Mr Frog, do you think that I could bounce as well as you?’
‘Well there laddie,’ said the frog, ‘Why don’t you just try it? Ribbit!’
So, taking a deep breath, and squeezing his eyes shut, he bent his knees and pushed off from the springy turf.
‘Ooooh!’ Rimmer exclaimed, as he came back to land on the ground, rather more quickly than he had anticipated ‘I don’t bounce!’ he said, quite forlorn, ‘I only went up half an inch and you’re bouncing way up above my head! And when I came back down, I just seemed to stop!’
‘You’re not trying, laddie, try again!’ said the frog, up and down and up and down.
Rimmer took another breath, scrunched up only one eye this time, and stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth like he was concentrating very hard, bent his knees and pushed off from the springy turf…
THUD! He came crashing back down to earth in a mess of checked limbs, ‘Oh no!’ he cried, ‘I’m not bouncy at all!’
‘Ahhhh,’ said the frog, up and down and up and down, ‘you must be missing the vital ingredient!’
‘What’s that?’ asked Rimmer, his gaze following the frog up and down and up and down.
‘You is not a frog!’ said the frog, up and down and up and down.
Rimmer started to get quite cross. He decided that he was not going to take any more of this nonsense, ‘Listen here, frog, what makes you so special that you bounce, then?’
For once, the frog stopped bouncing and came to land just next to where Rimmer had collapsed in a heap.
‘Laddie, I don’t mean you any disrespect, but you don’t look much like you were designed to bounce!’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Rimmer, a little perplexed.
‘Well, can you see these long, strong legs that I’ve got here?’ asked the frog, extending a rather slender and well-proportioned limb in Rimmer’s direction.
‘I can, now that you’ve stopped bouncing,’ said Rimmer, whose head wanted to move up and down and up and down but had just grown tired of it.
‘These long strong legs are what give me my bounce! And would you like to know a secret?’ asked the frog.
‘Oh yes please!’ asked Rimmer eagerly.
‘When I bounce, I am the happiest frog in the land, because I know that it is what I was made to do! Why else would I have such long strong legs if it were not to bounce?’ And with that, the frog started bouncing again, up and down and up and down.
‘Oh dear!’ thought Rimmer. Although he was happy for the bouncy frog, he was sad for himself because he couldn’t bounce. He leant over and looked at his reflection in the stream. ‘I’m just a little check bear with no place in this world.’ Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the reflection of the frog bouncing up and down and up and down in the stream. For a minute, he had to look twice, because he almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The frog that was in mid-bounce looked like a slimy green bouncy thing. But when he looked at the frog in the reflection, the frog not only seemed to have a translucent glow around him and be a better looking sort of frog, he also seemed to be bouncing higher than the frog in real life! In fact, the more he looked at the bouncing frog in the reflection, the more he was convinced that what he saw in the reflection was more real than what he saw on dry land! Rimmer was so captivated that he moved closer and closer to the water’s edge. Soon, he had bent over so far, he was looking at his own reflection. He almost dared not look, because he didn’t want to frighten himself, but he closed one eye and stuck his tongue out of one side of his mouth and really looked…

But all he could see was a checked Little Rimmer. He slammed down his paw on the surface of the stream which sent a splash of water all over himself. ‘Oh bother!’ he said to himself, shaking himself off and picking himself up. He was now not in a very good mood at all, ‘I’m not a very special bear in the slightest!’ and trudged off in the opposite direction from which he came.

Creative Outlet

So, the stories about my miniature teddies are growing rapidly by the day. I think I'm going to have to create a blog just for them. Hence this one! So, stay tuned with the adventures of Little Rimmer (no guessing as to where the name came from), and The Professor and Elspeth will be moved to this slot here too...

oooh, this cyber space is fun fun fun!