A SURPRISE REUNION

The little bear looks round the room, she gives everyone a fierce look !
" has na one told youse it rude to stare!" she demands looking Mossy then Edward in the eye!

"Well no! "
"Yes My apologies " say Mossy and Edward at the same time
"Surely there cannot be two of them? " whispers Aimee so loud the newcomer glares at her

" Na there canna !" says the bear giving Aimee such a look that she decides she needs to be elsewhere, so she scurries from the room.

finally the bear wipes her lips and sighs, over in the corner Gertie holds her hand out to Gunther for her winnings !

The bear looks at Edward " Can youse show me to ma bed laddie ? I'm fair whacked and need a rest!"
"If it weren't for that accent they could be twins!" says Mossy earning himself another glare!
"Today would be good!" says the bear looking at Edward
"Sorry... yes...  please follow me " They leave the breakfast room. everyone left relaxes.

Five minutes later the door opens and Reuben enters everyone stops and stares " What ? " he says irritated
"have you nothing better to do than stare a bears!"

"It's uncanny " says Gertie and they all laugh
Gunther goes over to Reuben  " Reuben say ' na there canna "
Reuben gives him a steely look " I most certainly will not! What kind of talk is that? Na Canna? have the Scots invaded? " he turns away picks up a book then leaves giving them all a superior look as he does.

Gunther returns to Gertie
" It's like he's been cloned!" says Hugo
"What's cloned !" asks Gertie
"It's when aliens make someone just like you but nasty !" tells Hugo with relish
"A A Aliens?.. " trembles Gertie " They're aliens!"
Gunther pats her shoulder " Don't listen to him , he's been watching too many films ! "  he gives Hugo a stern look but Hugo just grins " I'm sure there's a perfectly sensible reason that there are two cantankerous bears who look just like each other one from Scotland and the other from England !" all the other bears stare at him "What!"

Some time later when the rooms empty of bears and children, Jamie is resting with a book, he's not reading just relaxing after his long journey across the country to safety.

He still cannot quite let his guard down.

Suddenly he' quiet is disturbed by the arrive of a reddish pink bear " Ruby I thought you were sleeping? "
The bear carrying the book pauses then hurries across the room.

The bear jumps up beside him, seeing his mistake Jamie too pauses !
"What did you call me? " Demands the bear
Deciding to be careful Jamie replies " I called you Ruddy !"
The little bear looks disappointed but continues " What are you doing here? aren't you an NP boy? "
"I suppose I am " says Jamie " I'm Jamie and you are ? "

"Trapped!" says Reuben looking down and sighing " I should be out looking for Np girls but no I'm trapped here with Hattie and these ignorant bears!"
"That's a bit hard " Jamie says " why do you need to be out looking for  Np girls? "
" Because I need to find the most beautiful one and go home with her "
"Why? " ask Jamie bemused " Why the most beautiful? "

Reuben looks up at him with the saddest eyes Jamie'd ever seen " Because that's whose got my sister !" Reuben shudders " We were two tiny bear cubs playing happily in the toy shop when a woman arrives with her child, she looked at all the dolls and chose one , I could barely see as we were standing as still as we could , but I just managed to catch a glimpse of blonde hair, much like your own in colour" he studies Jamie's badly cut hair " Don't ask " says Jamie , Reuben nods in understanding then continues his tale " when they are about to leave , the child says she wants her doll to have a bear! " Reuben trembles as the old memories fill him , he voice now barely more than a whisper " she comes over to the shelf where we had been playing , I was half hidden by a big jack in a box but Ruby, she was sitting out by the very edge !......" he pauses lost in his memories Jamie waits
"Then the child's hand reaches out and picks up Ruby ! She turns away saying ,this one please! I rushed forward and threw myself off the shelf and landed with a thud on the floor.... they all turned round and the owner picked me up and showed me to them ..... I held my breath would she take me too......" Reuben's voice is but a trace of sound as he finishes " no... they turned away and Ruby was gone..... "

Unable to look at Jamie, Reuben stares down at the sofa " That is why I seek the most beautiful of NP girl's so that one day I may find my twin sister "
Jamie wipes his eyes without Reuben seeing and takes a deep breath to clear the lump in his throat " I ... " it comes out strangled he coughs  " I just need to go get someone " He tells Reuben.

Hurrying towards the door Jamie orders Reuben not to go anyway! Reuben watches him leave.

Reuben sighs and tries to shake off the memories, picks up his book and reads while he waits for the boy to return pondering why it is that Mrs Mum always seems to find the waifs! Why can she not buy a nice most beautiful NP and then maybe he'd get his sister back!

It's not long before Jamie's back being followed by someone who is yawning and grumbling at the same time.
" I was havin a lovely dream! This had best not be like last time you said you'd found him and I was confronted by that thing you'd made that had one eye down by his mouth and his nose all twisted ! " barely pausing for breath the voice continued " and it was ORANGE Jamie ORANGE Ma brother would no be ORANGE! "
Reaching the sofa Jamie just says one word " LOOK!"

Shocked Reuben sits frozen while the little reddish pink bear jumps up beside him
"Well I never !" she exclaims " Would youse look at that!"

She looks up at the grinning Jamie " Why it's just like me, ya ken ! But my eye's are smaller , see " she flutters them at Jamie." But a grand job all the same.. ya didna make this ya self? "
Jamie laughs

"What ya laughing for lad? did youse get that Hattie girl to make him? If so she's a verra talented lassie  !"

Suddenly Reuben recovers from his shock " Ruby is that you ? " he asks in wonder
Ruby falls back with a cry " eeek ! ma god !" shaking Ruby whispers " Ruddy? Ruddy am a dreamin ? "

Then they are squeezing each other tight in a bear hug and all that can be heard is weeping and questions too unintelligible to understand or be answered their sobs so strong.

Jamie sits and waits , wiping away a few tears himself and sniffing.

It's a long time before the twins can bring themselves to sit apart. Ruby asks " Did you no look for me Ruddy ? I was waiting so long for youse to come !"
"Oh Ruby I have never stopped looking but whenever I found a beautiful blonde NP girl you were nowhere to be seen !"
" Blonde NP girl? " repeats Ruby " Ya daft ha'peth ! it were no a lassie I was with but himself  Jamie ! "
"Pardon!" a stunned Reuben mutters " It was a girl with glorious blonde hair, I was there I saw her , it's burned in my brain "
Giggling Ruby answers " It was Jamie, I've never been the bear of any other, only Jamie, he did have the most beautiful hair once !"
"Well I never !" say Reuben
" Na ya didna !" Ruby adds!" Now come along and meet ma sweet lad Jamie "

Jamie finds himself with two almost identical bears sitting on his lap, they spend sometime talking about how Jamie and Ruby came to live a large part of their early life together up in the highlands and then in Northumberland.

It had been an emotional couple of hours, Jamie'd noticed Edward look round the door a while back then
shoo people and bears away. He was sure the little Panda was out there now standing guard.

Resting his head back Jamie lets the little bears words wash over him as they start to catch up on where they have been and what's happened to them over the years they've been apart.

Who would have believed that in coming to the Sasha Village that Ruby would find her long lost twin brother , it's a small world indeed.

Jamie rests and listens but soon he'll need to move, he's legs are beginning to cramp and he could really murder a cheese and onion roll and a cup of tea !

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NB

Back when Reuben arrived from the house of  Kingaby NP girl heaven , Ruby was already here ! I had bought her a few months before. Reuben who was as you all know appalled to arrive in a non Np household made quite a fuss about trying to get back into such a house of NP's.
The story line above has been ticking away on the back burner for the last few years waiting for the opportunity to be told and resolved, yes it's been in my head for that long. The fact that Reuben was searching for his twin sister who was owned by an NP girl being why he was determined to live with one himself.
All I needed was to put the end together but it was forever being left, then this week when I had planned to go and take some photo's in the woods, I decided to wait for Jamie to arrive in the post and the as I drove to the woods, Lindsey was with me and I started to discuss with her Reuben's love hate relationship with NP dolls and why , which made me realise that I should have taken Ruby with me as this was now the right time to  resolve and finish this storyline!
No I did not turn round and go get her, I improvised :) and had Percy and Gunther appear with her the next day.

And so finally Reuben's story as been told and maybe you now all understand why he was so mean and nasty :) that's not to say he's a new lovely bear but hopefully he'll be not quite so rude...... hopefully.....

Dee xx