Please, Look After This Bear
By Michael Bond
A. Bending down, the bear unlocked the suitcase with a small key, which it also had round its neck, and brought out an almost empty glass jar. “I ate marmalade,” he said, rather proudly. “Bears like marmalade. And I lived in a lifeboat.”
B. THE Browns came up to the bear. The bear looked at them inquiringly. “Can I help you?”
C. The bear nodded. “Aunt Lucy always said she wanted me to emigrate when I was old enough. That’s why she taught me to speak English.” “But whatever did you do for food?” asked Mr. Brown. “You must be starving.”
D. Mr. Brown looked rather embarrassed. “Well… no. Er… as a matter of fact, we were wondering if we could help you.” Mrs. Brown bent down. “You’re a very small bear,” she said.
E. He bent down. “Would you like to come and stay with us?” he asked. “That is,” he added, hastily, not wishing to offend the bear, “if you’ve nothing else planned.”
F. “A stowaway?” Mr. Brown lowered his voice and looked anxiously over his shoulder. He almost expected to see a policeman standing behind him. “Yes,” said the bear. “I emigrated, you know.” A sad expression came into its eyes. “I used to live with my Aunt Lucy in Peru, but she had to go into a home for retired bears.” “You don’t mean to say you’ve come all the way from South America by yourself?” exclaimed Mrs. Brown.
G. She turned appealingly to her husband. “Oh, Henry, what shall we do? We can’t just leave him here. London’s such a big place. Can’t he come and stay with us for a few days?”
H. “But what are you going to do now?” said Mr. Brown. “You can’t just sit on Paddington station waiting for something to happen.”
I. The bear puffed out its chest. “I’m a very rare sort of bear,” he replied importantly. “There aren’t many of us left where I come from.” “And where is that?” asked Mrs. Brown. The bear looked round carefully before replying. “Darkest Peru. I’m not really supposed to be here at all. I’m a stowaway!”
J. “Oh, I shall be all right… I expect.” The bear bent down to do up its case again. As he did so Mrs. Brown caught a glimpse of the writing on the label. It said, simply, PLEASE LOOK AFTER THIS BEAR.THANK YOU.
A Bear called Paddington by Michael Bond ©P&Co.Ltd.2012
