Chester
Is This Someone You Know?
I have forgotten how many times I have fallen asleep with the lights on and the water running in the tub late on a Saturday night with no date.
I have forgotten how many times I sat alone in a cafe dreaming that I was Superman and that I was going to save the world from evil and marry Lois Lane on a warm summer Sunday.
I have forgotten how many times my mother did not kiss me goodnight and I went to bed clinging to my teddy bear who lived in a special world for dumb animals who happen to be stuffed.
But I have not forgotten my teddy bear. His name was Chester and he spent hours beside me absorbing my tears and chasing away my fears. He was a brown bear with black eyes and a thin red mouth. He would talk to me when no one else was around and he would share his innermost thoughts of how he wished he could grow up and become somebody.
Chester wanted to be a movie star and have his face up on the big screen. He thought he was another John Wayne or James Cagney. He could do impressions of both. Once he did an impression of Marilyn Monroe and I almost fell out of bed laughing.
My teddy bear went wherever I went. Even to church on Sunday. He would sit next to me and make wise cracks about what the preacher said. I tried to shut him up but he wouldn’t listen. Once he…
