Author: Tom

What time is it? What day is it? Have I been asleep long?

Oh yes, we went for that very very long walk, me and Kimbleton Tardigrade.

I was tired out after that, and I suppose I’ve been sleeping since.

Nice sleep. I’ve quite warmed up.

I’ve been feeling chilly ever since Um and the Baby left, but I think I’ll take off my anorak now.

That’s better.

I’ll choose myself a badge. I haven’t worn one for a while.

I wonder where Kimbleton’s got to?

They’ll have had to fend for themselves while I’ve been asleep.

Hmm, smells as though they’ve been doing some cooking.

Yes. Oh dear.

Hard to say what that was going to be, but just as well I woke in time to turn the gas off before the whole house burnt down.

I’d better check the rest of the house.

Ah, someone has sent me a postcard. There’s a leek on the stamp. It must be from Wales, or else the Republic of Macedonia.

Curly writing. It’s from Dillion the Welsh dragon.

A whole choir of sheep must sound beautiful.

Well, I’m pleased that Dillion’s enjoying the harp. Fancy him taking it all the way to Wales with him.

Let’s see what the picture is of.

Ah, a Welsh Emporium!

Very nice. You never know when you may not need some ironmongery, china, or stores.

I’ll put the card on my fridge.

Oh, it seems that Kimbleton has taken all my other postcards off the fridge.

Here they are on the floor.

What a mess.

What can have possessed Kimbleton?

My nail scissors and the other manicuring equipment, the optical curiosities, and all the paint-brushes and my grandmother’s palette knife.

And what have they been doing with the pedal bin, and the Oxford Dictionary?

I hope they haven’t been throwing things away. I’d better have a look.

No, the bin’s empty.

Very strange.

But where is that Tardigrade?

Kimbleton! Kimbleton!

Kimbleton?

Perhaps they’ve gone out.

Perhaps they got bored while I was asleep, and they’ve gone away completely.

Oh dear, I’d have liked to be a better host, but sometimes if you’re tired you just have to sleep.

RING RING

Where’s the telephone? Maybe it’s Kimbleton ringing to say where they’ve gone.

Lunch break? I haven’t even had breakfast.

Come to think of it, I’m quite hungry. I hope Kimbleton hasn’t burnt all the food.

Kimbleton Tardigrade here. I’m staying at Tom’s house.

Tom fell asleep when we got home from visiting his friends in their various parks, and he hasn’t woken up yet.

Poor old thing. He doesn’t seem as fit as when I met him at the seaside last year.

I don’t know why he wears that anorak all the time. He surely doesn’t need it in his nice warm sleeping-bag.

While he’s asleep, I may as well make myself useful, and try to repay his hospitality.

Tom said that little Strawberry had brought round some gooseberries from her garden. I’ll make them into jam.

While it’s boiling I’ll have a chat with the cuckoos in their lovely clock.

I don’t understand why Bimbo and Tom haven’t got the cuckoos involved in their Zoom Ensemble. They sing quite nicely.

I had to dance very slowly on my t’rung to encourage them to join in.

I tried to do it at the authentic 87 beats per minute, but it’s hard to tapdance that slowly.

I lost my balance.

We tried it faster, but the cuckoos got their beaks tangled.

In the end we compromised, and I think it worked out all right. You can hear that on the Zoom Ensemble page.

I’ve been feeling a bit guilty, because Tom’s not aware that I haven’t been vaccinated against the Virus.

He said something about “Now that we’ve all been vaccinated”, and I failed to tell him that I haven’t had a jab yet.

I’ve been travelling around, so it hasn’t been convenient.

And you do hear all sorts of things about this vaccine.

It could be a government plot to step up surveillance, or even to dispose of those of us that they deem less necessary.

Creepy-crawlies are not high on ministers’ lists of favourite people.

Besides, they say there can be nasty side-effects. I don’t have many cells, so if just a few of them are adversely affected, that could be serious for me.

Anyway, I don’t like needles.

Some people don’t seem to mind them, but I’m particularly sensitive.

When Tom wakes up, I’d better own up to him that I haven’t been jabbed. I hope he won’t want me to leave.

What else could I do that would be helpful?

I know! He’s been talking about hunting for a pocket watch. I’m good at finding things. Sometimes an outsider can spot something that the locals are failing to notice.

I think Tom said he’d got up to L in his search. I’ll start with M.

No watch among the Masks, or the croquet Mallets.

I know where Tom keeps his Manicuring tools.

The first time I saw them, I teased him for being so delicate about his paws, but he explained that he feels that furry people should be careful always to keep their claws short. I don’t believe he actually has any claws, but he wants to be ready to deal with them if they appear.

No watch there.

No watch among the Nightclothes, the Nuts and Bolts, or the Name Tags.

Nor behind the Oxford Dictionary, or in the Optical Curiosities Area.

I got a bit dizzy watching Euler’s Disc. It certainly is a curiosity.

You don’t need to watch the whole video. Just start it off and go and do something else for one minute and seven or so seconds. It will still be going when you get back.

I looked in Tom’s collection of Postcards. No pocket watch.

I looked in the Pedal Bin. There was a nice sock, but it had a big hole, and it can’t ever have fitted Tom.

I’ll put the rubbish out for the Refuse Collection Operatives, but I’ll keep the screwdriver. Tom must have thrown that away by mistake.

I’ll have a look under the phone.

Oh! The phone’s ringing. I’d better answer it, or it will wake Tom.

What a pompous little teddy bear. I’m surprised Tom has such a prig for a friend.

But it’s probably true that I should get vaccinated.

I didn’t mention my horror of needles. I’d like to see even Ruffy find a way round that problem. But I’ll do it for Tom’s sake. Nothing to do with Duty. Just because we’re mates.

All right, off I go.

I wonder which leg I should ask them to stick the needle in.

My guest has been getting fidgety again.

They’ve been tapdancing extremely fast on their t’rung.

I think it’s time I took them out on another expedition.

They enjoyed meeting Jenny in her park the other day.

I’ll take them round to meet some more of my friends. Out of doors, because I’m still nervous about going into people’s houses, even though it is allowed now.

We’ll start with Points.

She’s organising a rally of the Red and Green Teddies.

It was to have been enormous, with busloads of teddies and other cuddly red-and-green-thinking people coming together from all over the place.

But the Prime Minister’s Road Map has changed, which is a big disappointment for poor Points.

The rally will have to be a rather limited gathering now. Just thirty delegates representing their different Red and Green branches.

Oh bother. I should be wearing a badge. I’ve been forgetting about my badges, since Um and the Baby went.

I’ll look one out when I get home.

Oh dear. Poor Bimbo.

He doesn’t like people talking while he’s playing.

Perhaps this expedition was a bit too ambitious. Three parks in one day is quite a lot.

It is good to take the weight off my feet.

I don’t think Kimbleton uses the title “mister”, but I’m too tired to worry about that now.

I’ve been having a nice sit on the babies’ blanket, rocking the youngest mouse in its pram.

But I think that was Ellie’s way of telling us that it’s time to go.

I hope Kimbleton won’t mind giving me a lift home.

Having a visitor in the house is good for me.

I’m tidying up much more than usual.

But with all the conversation, there never seems to be time to get anything else done.

Kimbleton is a seasoned traveller. They’ve told me many a tale about their journeys all over the world and into outer space.

They like looking at my maps.

While they were up there on the map shelf, they got talking to the cuckoos.

I’ve never managed to communicate with the cuckoos, but Kimbleton seems to find it easy. I suppose that’s the advantage of foreign travel.

I asked them to find out whether there’s anything I can do to improve the cuckoos’ living conditions.

That clock seems a bit bleak to me. Not cosy.

RING RING

I hadn’t thought of Teddy as a party bear.

Anyway, I didn’t like to pour cold water on his hopeful plans, but Ruffy’s been warning me about New Variants.

Apparently the Vaccines Minister says we’ll have to carry on being careful even after the twenty-first.

It’s still a worrying situation for a vulnerable bear.

I have a visitor here at the moment.

It’s someone that I met at the seaside last year.

I must say, they’re an easy guest.

They seem happy to eat anything I give them.

I made a big pot of soup which lasted a few days.

I used up all the old bits of things in the fridge, and it turned out rather well.

But now we’re back to the condensed milk.

Kimbleton seems quite happy with that.

They spend a lot of time reading, so I’ve managed to catch up on a few things.

I’ve been practising the triangle, and getting back to my Welsh lessons.

Dw i wedi bod yn dysgu Cymraeg am bron i flwyddyn nawr. But I sometimes think I forget as much as I learn.

It goes in one ear and comes out the other.

I’ve also been doing my yoga.

And I’ve continued my search for my great-grandfather’s pocket-watch, which I believe I have the key for.

I looked everywhere I could think of beginning with E and F and G, and got started on H.

No watches of any kind in the hall, or the holdall or the hamper, or my hat cupboard.

I looked in the health-and-beauty area, but it was completely empty. I’d better ask Ruffy to get me some more toothpaste.

Then I thought of the Baby’s hidey-hole in the airing cupboard. I didn’t find the pocket-watch that I was looking for, but I did find a wrist-watch without a strap. The Baby must have hidden it there, the little dickens.

It did love hiding things.

I’d forgotten that some of those pipes get hot.

I’m afraid I didn’t take my caring responsibilities seriously enough. The Baby could have got badly burnt.

That was enough searching for one day. I thought I should catch up with some of my friends.

Kimbleton was still happily reading, so I phoned to ask after Lopsy.

She had some worrying side-effects after her first vaccination.

(She doesn’t seem to think that I’m behaving irresponsibly by having a visitor to stay in the house.)

.

So we’ve made a plan. I’m going to take Kimbleton to meet up with Jenny in a park over her side of town.

Jenny says she’ll bring something for a picnic.

Most of my food got used up in the soup, so I wasn’t sure what we could take as our contribution.

But Kimbleton has been looking at my jars, and suggests we make popcorn.

We completely forgot that the crucial thing about popcorn is to put a lid on it.

I wish the Baby was here. It would have loved all this mess.

Now that we’ve picked it all up, we’re a bit late for meeting Jenny.

We’d better hurry.

I’m getting used to being on my own again.

I’m not feeling quite so bleak and chilly. Now and then I wear my anorak without the hood up.

In some ways it’s quite nice to have the house to myself. Peaceful, and I can be as selfish as I like.

I wish Um and the Baby hadn’t left, but I appreciate being able to sleep all night without being bounced on, and not having to tidy up all the time.

The Baby did like to scatter things around.

It seemed very particular about how many beans should be in each line, clever little thing.

I never needed to watch the television, with the Baby’s ingenious antics to watch.

Not that I have a television anyway.

Of course it’s good that I can play my triangle without the Baby wanting to swing on it, but I miss the little scamp.

My cousin Peter and I have been playing a Zoom duet together.

Peter chose a sad song. It ends with both of us full of tears.

It made me resolve to take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs.

Does grass grow on weirs?

Bimbo is pleased with our recording.

It wouldn’t have been easy to achieve that with the Baby around.

That’s not to say that I wouldn’t be delighted if they turned up on the doorstep wanting to live here again. On the contrary, I would be extremely happy.

Ding-dong

Oh, there’s the doorbell!

Could it be Um and the Baby? No, don’t be silly, Tom. They’ve gone, and they won’t be coming back.

It can’t be a canvasser, because the election’s over.

Not likely to be the postperson with a parcel, though you never know.

Well, blow me down! Look who’s here!

It’s Kimbleton Tardigrade!

I met them at the seaside last year when I was on my great cycling expedition.

I thought it was just a holiday friendship. I never expected to see them again.

I wonder if I’ve got anything I can give them for supper. They probably aren’t used to eating condensed milk out of the tin.

I wish I could ask Ruffy what he thinks about it. He reads all the latest medical research.

Oh dear oh dear.

I’ll open the windows, and keep well away from Kimbleton.

I am quite vulnerable, and I know how nasty The Virus is, from when Bimbo was so ill last year, and then poor Bunce and Snowy still aren’t quite right, though they’re now managing to help a little with the farm work.

Monkey says the weather isn’t good enough for convalescents to be out of doors, so he just lets them do what they can while tucked up in bed.

Ruffy tells me that there are New Variants arriving as well, so we do still have to be careful.

But then, it is also important to be hospitable.

Oh dear oh dear, I don’t like having to make difficult decisions in a hurry.

At least I’ve had my first vaccination. I wonder if Kimbleton has had theirs?

I should put on my mask, really, but perhaps it would look rude, as though I think Kimbleton is germy.

I wonder what a t’rung is. A mat for dancing on, I suppose.

Or perhaps a sort of basket, like a trug.

What am I going to give Kimbleton to eat?
I know. I still have a bit of that lentil mush that I cooked. It was quite tasty.

Kimbleton did a quick tap-dance on the t’rung, and I realised that to play along with that, I’d need a very delicate silvery touch on my triangle.

It’s lovely to play live music again with another musician. I’d forgotten how enjoyable it is.

Kimbleton dances beautifully. Who would have thought a tardigrade could be so nimble?

It’s quite hard to keep up with their twinkling toes.

Imagine what fun the Baby could have with an instrument that you can jump on.

Now, what on earth am I to suggest we do next? Is Kimbleton expecting to stay the night? I wonder if they’ll be happy just to sit around, or whether I should think of ways to entertain them.

I’m afraid I’ve forgotten how sociability works.

I’ve been trying to get back into my old routine.

I’m doing a bit of yoga regularly every morning.

That wasn’t so easy when the Baby was around.

It liked to push me over when I was trying to balance.

We used to have a good laugh together, lying in a heap on the floor.

I think Georgina the Yoga Rabbit is pleased that I’m getting back in the swing of it.

I’ve been doing a bit of cleaning too. About time, really.

I suppose it’s the same for anyone with a young child in the house.

You don’t want to get out a bucket of soapy water and risk it being spilt all over the place.

When I was sweeping, I’d get a nice pile of dust ready to collect up in the dustpan, and then the Baby would come and jump in it.

So cleaning is definitely an easier task now.

I made another batch of brownies for Bunce and Snowy.

I’d run out of cocoa, so they had to be a different sort of brownie. Not as brown as usual.

Monkey says that Bunce and Snowy are a lot better now.

He takes them out to sit in the onion patch. He believes that breathing in the onion fumes will be good for them.

They’re still quite weak.

Poor Monkey is exhausted, trying to keep their farm going single-handed.

I’m still hunting for my great-grandfather’s pocket-watch.

I looked everywhere beginning with A, and B, and C, but it wasn’t in any of those places.

D was hard work. I thought there was just a chance that the watch could have fallen down the drain.

It definitely was time to clear out the drain.

I found a number of pencils. They needed a good wash after I fished them out.

It seems funny that I’d have dropped so many of them down the drain without noticing.

It couldn’t have been the Baby, could it?

Yes, it must have been the Baby. It did enjoy posting things through holes.

The little rascal! It must have had such a lot of fun.

No wonder the sink has been draining so slowly.

But no watch.

I checked on all the doors, because most of them have hooks that a pocket-watch could hang from.

The Stork’s hook is still empty.

The Stork said he’d come back. But it’s been a long time now.

I don’t have a desk, or a divan or a davenport, or a daybed.

Then I remembered my chest of drawers. I forgot it when I was checking all the Cs.

I can’t remember what I keep in there.

I think the Baby must have been here. It did like tearing up paper.

It seems to have made nests in all the drawers, and buried things in them.

Here’s the egg-timer. And the book of tongue-twisters. I wondered where that had gone.

And here’s a pocket-watch. Wherever did the Baby find that?

But this pocket-watch hasn’t got a key-hole. I think you wind it up with the knob. This must be my great-great-aunt’s pocket-watch.

I’ll have to keep on looking for the other one.

I’d better check through the torn paper before I throw it away.

Lots of election leaflets. I never saw those when they arrived.

Of course it is very crucial to take part in the local elections, but don’t they know that teddies don’t get a vote?

It’s very frustrating. We’ll be as much affected by the results as anyone else.

Points and Ruffy will be out campaigning, and I think Jenny’s been doing some telephone canvassing.

I suppose I should do something like that, really.

Here’s my Xenakis music, that I played as a duet with Lopsy. I was wondering where that had gone.

I’ll try and reassemble this crossword.

ring ring  ring ring

There’s the telephone.

Was “fondest regards” appropriate? I’m not sure.

I’ve checked my paws, and I don’t think they look green. Oh dear, poor Lopsy.

Now, let’s see what this paper says.

It’s from little Strawberry.

Well, that would have been nice.

The Baby would have loved playing in Strawberry’s garden.

Oh dear, what a pity I didn’t get to see this in time.

I should have tried to take the Baby out more.

It must have been very bored here. No wonder it took to shredding all the paper.

I wish… Well, it’s no use desponding.

I’ll go and visit Strawberry anyway. It will do me good to get out.

I haven’t visited anyone for more than a year. But Ruffy says it is allowed, if we’re out of doors, and spaced out.

I feel a bit nervous.

Of course I’ve talked to people on the telephone, and on those clever Apps, but I’m out of practice at real-life conversations.

When Um was here, we didn’t really manage to converse.

I’ve not been to Strawberry’s house before, but it’s only up the road. Better wear my mask.

I feel like a giant. It’s an unusual experience for me.

Strawberry’s laid out her best linen tablecloth on the grass, and she’s brewed up an apple-blossom-petal tea.

It doesn’t actually taste of anything much, but I appreciate the kind effort.

It’s quite nice to take part in a social event.

Strawberry’s shown me her vegetable patch, and we’ve talked about this and that.

It’s not so very difficult.

But should I have taken Strawberry a little gift? Not flowers, because she has plenty of those.

And perhaps I talked too much. Or maybe not enough.

Now that I’m back home I feel a little lonesome.

I should be practising my triangle, ready for a duet with my cousin Peter on his penny whistle, but I don’t feel like it.

I wonder if the Baby will learn to play an instrument. Percussion of some kind, perhaps.

I’m going to play my bagpipes.

Don’t you think the bagpipes make a nice comforting sound?

It’s me again.

You see I’m wearing this very cosy anorak that my aunt crocheted for me.

That will have been back in the sixties, when anoraks were all the rage.

They say the weather’s not so cold now, but I’m still feeling a bit chilly, so I’m wrapping up warm.

I’m sorry I was out of touch for a few days.

I was feeling a bit miserable, but I’m better now.

No point moping.

There are plenty of things that I should be getting on with.

The first thing was to tidy away all the Baby’s toys. And its cot, and its sleeping-bag, and the blanket that Lopsy knitted, and all the equipment that my friends collected for it.

The Baby did look so snug tucked up in its little sleeping bag.

It used to do some ingenious things with those teething rings. I do hope that the environment it’s in now is sufficiently stimulating.

No no. The only crucial thing is for Um and the Baby to be safe and happy. Of course I’m very glad that the Stork has found a good place for them to be.

I’ll give Ellie back the toys that she borrowed for us from her nursery.

I was going to ask little Strawberry to take the rest down to the charity shop, which apparently is open again now.

But Strawberry says she thinks I should keep them in case the Baby comes back to visit.

I don’t have much hope of that happening. But I suppose it would be silly not to be prepared, just in case.

I’ll pack it all away in a box. Out of sight, out of mind.

Except for the playpen. I’ll give that back to Gibbs. It never really worked.

It is quiet here now, but the cuckoos are kindly cuckooing twice as often as usual: on the quarter as well as the hour and half past.

It’s very nice of them.

I played them a new cuckoo piece on my triangle. It’s by Delius, but I think it’s a bit derivative. It sounds like Billy the Kid to me.

I can’t practise my duet with Teddy yet. He hasn’t quite finished tuning his shampoo bottles. Lopsy says they’re sounding good.

I must be sure to make a very shiny clean sound when I play my triangle with him.

I hear that Gibbs and Seaford have been playing a little dance together on recorder and kazoo.

I can practise twice a day, now that there’s no one to interrupt.

The house does feel empty.

My friend Dorset Monkey sent me a parcel.

What a kind monkey! He saved half his chocolate easter egg for me, to cheer me up.

Tasty. It certainly did cheer me up, for quite a while.

I remembered the little chocolate easter eggs that I’d got ready for the Baby.

I was going to hide them for it to find, but we never got the chance.

So I ate those too.

Perhaps that wasn’t a very healthy breakfast.

I’ll have something plain for lunch. Rice and lentils, and maybe a bit of a carrot.

After that, I have to hunt for my great-grandfather’s pocket watch.

I have a hunch that it may be the thing that my key will wind. I’ve been trying for months to work out what that key is for.

But I don’t know where the watch is. I haven’t seen it for years.

I wanted to show it to the Baby. I believe babies like mechanical things.

Well, there’s no time for sitting around idly thinking of what might have been.

Things to be done.

I’ll look for the watch systematically. First, in all the places beginning with A.

Nothing in the airing cupboard. Or where I keep the apple juice. Or the Antiseptic Area.

I’ll keep on trying.

Hello! Lopsy here!

I went round to Tom’s this morning, as usual, to pick up the Baby for our run in the park.

I enjoy taking the little thing out. Trying to keep up with it keeps me fit.

Nobody answered when I rang the doorbell.

I banged on the window. No answer.

So I jogged home and tried to phone Tom. Still no answer.

Teddy and I were worried.

I went back to Tom’s, and climbed in through the window.

Oops, I should have been wearing a mask, shouldn’t I? I completely forgot about face, paws, space. I hope the Prime Minister didn’t see me.

It was very quiet. No sign of that little rascal, the Baby. At least, I didn’t see the Baby itself, but there were definitely signs that it had been around.

The place was so quiet, it was quite uncanny.

How could a house be so still, with that little rapscallywag loose in it?

Then I found Tom. He seemed to be fast asleep.

He wasn’t wearing pyjamas. He’d gone to bed in his clothes.

He didn’t answer when I called him.

I panicked for a moment, but then I heard him breathing – you know that sort of in-in-in-in-in way that people breathe if they’ve been crying.

Perhaps he’s having a sad dream, poor Tom.

Tom showed me a message that the Stork had left for him.

It did look as though Um and the Baby and the Stork had left.

Just then Tom’s phone rang.

I used Tom’s best tea-set, but that was a mistake. It upset him.

To be perfectly honest, I think the Baby was quite often a hindrance and an obstacle, actually. But of course I didn’t say that to Tom.

I helped Tom to get out the ingredients for the brownies.

Of course it was against all the rules for me to be in his kitchen, but sometimes you have to weigh one risk against another.

I decided that the risk of Tom going back to bed and never getting up again was worse than the risk of one of us giving Covid to the other.

I believe that as I climbed back out of the window, I heard the sound of his triangle.

I love the spring!

The weather’s not cosy warm yet, but it’s so good to have longer days.

I can see the buds on the trees outside my window, and the birds wake me up with their racket every morning.

I’ve put on a springy shirt, and a hopeful badge.

Little Strawberry brought me a spring posy.

My friend Georgina would love it. I wish I could send it to her in Australia.

I showed it to Um.

I think she liked it.

The brownies that I baked the other day were a success.

Ruffy kindly delivered them to my friends.

Lopsy and Teddy enjoyed theirs.

Monkey said that Bunce and Snowy still have no appetite, but he did manage to coax them to eat some tiny morsels of brownie.

He checks their temperature and oxygen saturation regularly, and says the figures are hopeful.

At least the brownies will be useful for Monkey. He needs plenty of energy for his farming and caring duties.

He doesn’t even pause for meals, just eats his packed lunch out in the fields.

Didcot said my brownie was the best thing he’d tasted since Pancake Day.

Oh bother, I forgot about Pancake Day. That must be weeks ago now.

What a shame. The Baby would have enjoyed tossing pancakes.

We could have poured treacle on them. What a sticky mess the Baby would have made of that.

I can imagine it might have wrapped itself up in a pancake. Or wrapped me up.

Never mind, there’s always next year.

After the brownies’ positive reception, I felt encouraged to try some more baking.

It’s Easter weekend. Um might enjoy a simnel cake.

I may as well introduce her to some of the good bits of our culture, since I don’t know what her culture is.

I’ll do the baking while the Baby is out running with Lopsy. That will be quicker than letting it help.

I seem to have run out of dried fruit, so it’s not quite the usual sort of simnel cake.

Um can’t disapprove of marchpane. It’s full of almond protein. I do hope she likes it.

It is easier not to have the Baby helping, but I wish I had waited and let it join in the fun. What’s a little bit of mess, after all.

I’m getting quite excited about Easter.

I’ve got some Easter eggs. I’m going to hide them for the Baby to find. I’ve put one under my bicycle helmet.

The Baby will definitely find that one. It’s always throwing my helmet around.

We’re having a Zoom egg-painting party later on.

The Baby will enjoy that. It has quite a talent for painting.

Um came to wait at the front door with me, to welcome the Baby when it got back from its run.

I thought that was nice. She seems to be feeling ready to take on a more active parenting role.

Perhaps she’ll even join in with the egg painting.

She hustled the Baby away as soon as it got home. I think she could see that I needed a rest.

I had a good nap, and woke just in time for the Zoom meeting.

I got out my paints and brushes, and went to call Um and the Baby.

My friends are very kind.

But oh dear oh dear I couldn’t face telling them the news.

When I went to look for Um and the Baby, I found a message from the Stork.

He’d put it by my triangle, so I’d be sure to see it.

It’s clear that Um and the Baby and the Stork are waving goodbye. They’ve all gone away.

Then at the bottom there’s the Stork again, and at first I thought that was the Baby with him.

But no, the Baby doesn’t have any legs. That’s a bear with a triangle. It’s meant to be me.

This message means that the Stork will be coming back, but he’ll be coming back on his own.

It means that Um and the Baby have left for good.

The last time the Stork wrote me a message, the Baby was here. It ripped the message into shreds. It was such an active little Baby, full of ideas and mischief.

I think I’ll go to bed now.