Something special is pasted down to Chrissie
Bobby couldn't concentrate. It was hard for him to translate a Latin scripture John had given him to solve, since he could feel like he was being watched. Bobby glanced towards the table edge, in which he could see a pair of green eyes observing his every moment. It was merely John's four and a half year old daughter, barely able to peek over the table and having to resort to standing on her tip toes.
"Unca Bobby?" queried the little girl. "Whatcha doin' ?"
Letting the paper scripture slide out of his hands, Bobby sighed heavily. His eyes returned to the child staring up at him with a wide curious expression. Leaning back in his chair he could feel the tense muscles in his lower back ache with age and stress.
"Trying to read something yer Daddy gave me" he replied, rubbing his greying beard.
"Does it have dragons in it?," asked Chrissie. "Sammy tolded me a story last night and it's had dragons. Der was a dragon called Jam and it's was sad and he scarded of clowns but he den maded friends with a knight called Deano and they's fighted the clowns and Jam was happy."
Bobby smirked as Chrissie rambled on about her latest bedtime stories. Her brothers knew how to entertain her by means of creating fictional stories for her innocence to believe in. Bobby had been fortunate to have done so on one separate occasion when John had dumped the child on him in order to train his sons, his main priority. He was surprise that his story about a talking car was successful. Irritated by John once again, who had left Chrissie in his care so he could focus himself with his boys, and the fact of the impossible to understand scripture, Bobby was now a babysitter to the four year old.
"You er.." started Bobby uncertainly. The infant blinked up at him. "..want somethin' to eat?"
After thinking about it for a second the little girl nodded in agreement and followed Bobby into his kitchen.
"Will a sandwich do?" asked the gruff voiced hunter.
Chrissie nodded silently once more and proceeded to watch the man assemble an awkward looking creation. Minding her manners, Chrissie gratefully took the peanut butter sandwich from Bobby and began to nibble it slowly. Suddenly Bobby remembered. It was her birthday next week. Quietly he slipped out the kitchen and searched about for the present he had for her. Since the infant shared a birthday with the middle sibling, he reminded himself to deliver Sam's present whenever he got back later that evening. In the meantime, Bobby scoured his ram shackled house for the object. Then he found it.
A bizarre looking teddy bear with stitched eyes and a lopsided red smiling mouth. Now seemed to be the time to give it to the child. Even though it pained him to part with it.
Chrissie whipped her head around on hearing her third father figure return. She clambered down from the chair and whilst beaming up at him she stated proudly:
"I's eated the sandwich"
Her eyes then clamped on the patchwork teddy bear he was holding in his hands.
"Whose dat?" she asked curiously as Bobby knelt down in front of her.
"This is Goober," said Bobby examining the bear with sad eyes. "My wife made him herself years ago. It was hoped that he would belong to our very own little uns' but…."
His late wife was always a painful subject but doing this was part of the healing process he guessed. Stroking the material on the bear stomach with the pads of his thumbs, tears clouding his vision, Bobby continued:
"Since I have no kids of my own, I thought it would be best to give him to you."
Chrissie gasped in awe as she was handed the teddy bear over and was soon cradling in her arms as if it was a baby. She grinned happily and kissed the bear on it's button nose.
"Call it an early birthday present from me" said Bobby.
"Thanks you Unca Bobby" replied Chrissie, embracing him into a vice like hug.
Goober was now the new unofficial member of the family and wherever Chrissie went, sure as anything, Goober would be along for the bumpy ride ahead.