When Pooh awoke, he felt as if he had never slept so long. His first thought, of course, was to find something to eat, but cobwebs and dust coated every jar of honey on his shelves.
"Oh, bother!" he muttered. "Well, perhaps I could join Piglet for lunch."
On his way to Piglet's house, Pooh noticed a new creature, something that looked a bit like him, but this bear was white and had a bow in her hair.
"Delighted to make your acquaintance," she greeted. "My name is Lady Mary. Do you know where I can get some tea?"
"I'm not sure we have any tea in the Hundred Acre Wood," Pooh answered, "but you can come with me to find some honey!"
"Would you mind terribly if I invited Lady Jane?"
Before Pooh could answer, a very unusual animal walked over and stood beside Lady Mary. This creature looked like a human, if humans had fur and long tails, that is. Lady Jane wore a dress and carried a basket.
"You must be Christopher Robin's friend." Lady Jane smiled. "Were you dead too?"
Pooh frowned. Being a bear of very little brain, he was puzzled.
"From what we can tell, Christopher Robin got too old to believe in you, so the Hundred Acre Wood and all those in it ceased to exist. It's like what happened to us when Betty Lou grew up. We're all in the same place now because Betty Lou and Christopher Robin were married, and since we're alive now, there must be someone who believes in us again."
As Betty Lou's childhood friends and the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood tried to piece together this unusual situation, Christopher Robin rocked the baby in his arms.
"When I was a boy," he began for yet another story, "my best friend was a bear named Winnie the Pooh…"