Percival was a teddy bear. He lived in a lovely house on the edge of the Lake District. His most particular friend was Henry. Once Upon... A Tooth! By Susan Brown

Percival was a teddy bear.

He lived in a lovely house on the edge of the Lake District. His most particular friend was Henry.

Now Henry was a little boy of about seven and a quarter and Percival went everywhere with Henry. It was a bit hard on Percival’s arms as Henry tended to carry him about by his paw and after a few hours, Percival’s stuffing, which was a bit loose at the best of times, tended to slip down making him look a bit strange. Apart from that, Percival was quite happy, except for one tiny thing. Well, to be honest it wasn’t that tiny.

Percival wanted to be a doll. He knew that it was stupid, but ever since he could remember, he loved the idea of being a doll. He loved the way they looked and dressed and he felt deep down, that somehow he had been mixed up at birth and he was made into a teddy and not a doll.

Apart from wanting to be a doll and aching to be able to wear nice dresses and things and have lovely long blond hair, he was fairly happy. Henry was a nice boy, shy and gentle, always ready to give Percival a cuddle and they always went everywhere together, so Percival had to be satisfied with what he had got.

One day it was raining outside and Henry looked worried. Mummy was in the living room with her lady friends having tea or something. Henry went over to the door and made sure that no one was outside. He shut the bedroom door quietly and went over to Percival, who was relaxing on the bed. He lay down on the bed and picked up Percival.

‘Percival,’ he whispered. ‘I have a secret.’

Percival looked at Henry with his unblinking eyes and saw that his special friend was worried about something.

‘Don’t laugh or anything, but I am really a girl.’
Percival didn’t laugh or blink. Some dolls could do that; he had been with Henry when they went to the toy shop before Christmas. He wished he could blink and laugh.

Henry took a deep breath and continued.

‘Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a girl. I feel in my tummy that I shouldn’t have been born a boy. I love the way girls look and dress; the pretty dresses and skirts. I want to have long hair and ribbons and things; it’s not fair! I’m not a rough and tumble boy like my three brothers.’

Percival could see that Henry was upset and was sad that all he could do was lie there and do nothing. He knew how Henry felt as he wanted to be a pretty doll and couldn’t be.

That night when it was bedtime, Henry said goodnight to his Mummy and snuggled down with Percival under the soft and warm covers.

Henry sighed, as he wiggled at a loose tooth. It was a front one and it was nearly loose enough to twist. His mind was a bit preoccupied and was thinking of a lovely dress he saw when he was out shopping with Mummy and Teddy. It was pink and floaty and had a net underskirt. Henry wanted to wear that dress more than anything in the world.

Percival was thinking similar thoughts. After looking in the dress shop window, they went into the big toy shop on the high street. They went through the dolls section and Teddy saw how many different, pretty dolls there were. He could have sworn that one blinked at him, but it could have just been his imagination.

If Teddy could sigh, he would have.

Henry kept wiggling at the tooth and finally, it came free!

‘Ouch.’ said Henry.

He looked at the tooth and then grinned a toothy grin.

‘Wait there Theddy.’ he lisped through the brand new gap in his teeth.

He got up and rushed out of the room, just wearing his jimmy jams.

A few minutes later, he came back, holding his Mummy’s hand.

‘Right Henry, back in bed now. Look, I’ve put the tooth under your pillow and perhaps, if you are lucky, the tooth fairy might come!’

‘Ooh.’ said Henry.

‘Yes, “Ooh,” now snuggle up with Teddy and go to sleep; you might have surprise when you wake up!’

Mummy kissed him and Henry, with Percival under his arm, went to sleep.

It was late at night; everyone was asleep in the house by the lake. The moon was out and an owl was making hooting noises in the distance.

There were a million stars twinkling in the sky and it was a perfect summer’s night.

Henry’s bedroom window was open and the net curtains moved slightly in the soft night breeze.

One of the twinkling stars seemed to come down from the sky and the breeze became just a little stronger.

Henry was dreaming about being a bridesmaid, wearing the lovely dress that he had seen in the shop. He had long flowing blond hair with tiny flowers woven into it. He smiled in his sleep as he walked along the isle behind the blushing bride.
Percival was dreaming too! His dream was that he was a lovely doll, being pushed in a dolls pram. Everyone thought he was pretty and he loved the way his eyes could blink. He had on a long satin dress that looked lovely and shiny and the little girl who pushed the pram looked just like Henry but a girl Henry with long hair, a beautiful smile and a lovely pink floaty dress.

Henry started slightly as he woke up to the sound of something falling on the floor. It was only a slight sound but Henry was a light sleeper and it didn’t take much to wake him up. Percival, being Henry’s special Teddy, woke up too; a bit unhappy at not being able to finish his lovely dream.

‘Oh flip.’ said a tiny voice from below the bed.

Henry leaned over the side and saw a slight glow coming from beneath the bed.

‘Wait here Percival.’ whispered Henry as he quietly leaned over and looked under the bed.

Henry’s eyes opened wide as he saw a tiny glowing fairy with gossamer wings bending over and picking up what looked to be some sort of wand with a twinkling star on the end. On the floor, was Henry’s tooth!

‘Hello.’ said Henry.

The fairy looked up and leaped up in surprise, hitting her head on the underside of the bed.

‘Ouch and bother,’ said the tiny fairy, rubbing her head.

‘Are you all right?’ said Henry.

‘No I’m not. I’m new at this and it’s all gone wrong.’

‘What’s gone wrong?’

‘You mustn’t say anything it’s a secret.’

‘Can I tell my Teddy?’

‘Only if he promises not to tell.’

‘He will.’

‘All right,’ she said coming out from under the bed and sitting down beside Henry.

The fairy was about nine inches tall and had a lovely angelic face. She had a lovely little silver fairy dress on and tiny silver sandals.

‘Right,’ whispered the fairy holding her wand in one hand and Henry’s tooth in the other. ‘I’m a tooth fairy; my job is to take children’s toothy-pegs away and leave something behind if they have been good. Normally it’s money.’

‘Wow.’ said Henry, clutching Percival tightly against his chest.

‘But, there is a problem.’

‘What’s that?’

‘If I’m seen by the child, I have to give them a wish.’

‘A wish?’

‘Yes; a wish. Now you have seen me; what wish would you want me to grant you.’

Henry thought of one straight away and then shook his head.

‘What is it?’ said the fairy tapping her dainty foot on the bed covers.

‘You wouldn’t.’

‘If it doesn’t harm anyone else and is a nice wish, then I can.’

‘Can I…Can I…Can I be a little girl?’

‘Why do you want that? You look a very nice boy.’

‘I,…I’ve always been a girl inside.’

‘hmmm, most irregular. Wait here.’

With that, the fairy whooshed out of the room through the window, leaving a sort of starry trail behind her that twinkled in the strong moonlight.

Before Henry could blink three times, she whooshed back, making a perfect two point landing on the bed.

‘Right, I’ve spoken to the Fairy God Mother and she’s had a quick chat with the Boss.’

‘Boss?’

‘Yep; You Know Who!’ Her eyes went skyward and she put her hands together as if in prayer.
‘Wow!’ said Henry, who was very quick for a little boy.

‘We’ve had a look at your files and it looks like that there was a bit of a mix up…you should have been born a girl but you wasn’t so we can change things.’

‘Will Mummy and Daddy upset?’

‘About what?’

‘Me being a girl.’

‘No they will only remember you as a girl. They wanted and prayed for a girl anyway.’

‘Oh.’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘They didn’t want me?’

‘Of course they did silly. It was only that there are lots of boys in your family and they wanted a girl, this time, just for a change. That doesn’t mean that they don’t love you as Henry…I happen to know that they love you lots and lots.’

Henry thought about his three elder brothers and nodded, realising that Mummy and Daddy had a point.

‘Right, go to sleep now and see what happens in the morning.’

There was a pink puff of smoke that smelt a bit like strawberries; then there was a tiny flash of lightening and she was gone, just like that!

Henry held on tightly to Percival as he went to sleep. He wanted to think about what had happened, but he was so tired.

Percival stayed awake for a bit. He hadn’t said much…well teddies couldn’t, not like some of the lovely dolls that he had seen in the shop. He was happy for Henry though as Percival didn’t have a mean bit of stuffing in his body. He wasn’t jealous; good teddies aren’t made that way, but deep, deep down in the middle of his tummy, he hoped that Henry would still love him tomorrow.

Percival woke up to light filtering through the window. He felt a bit strange; he was on the side of the pillow looking up at the ceiling. He couldn’t put his finger on it…well being a teddy, he had no fingers, not like those lovely dolls in the shop…anyway, he felt not quite right.

He heard a sigh from the other side of the pillow and sensed Henry moving in his sleep. Henry turned over and that made Percival turn toward him.

If Percival could talk, like some dolls could he would have said, ‘wow!’

Henry wasn’t Henry any more. He was a she!

Then Percival heard a noise and it sounded like a ‘wow.’ coming from his very own tummy!

Henry suddenly opened his or now her eyes and looked straight at Percival. Her eyes opened wide and her mouth opened but nothing came out except a squeak.

Henry sat up in bed and picked Percival up.

Percival could see that Henry was wearing a pink nightie with little fairies all over it. Her hair was long and blond and she was very pretty.
She grabbed Percival by the hand (hand?) and rushed over to the mirror.

‘Wheeee.’ said Henry jumping up and down; making Teddy feel a bit wobbly as his eyes kept opening and closing. Strange, his eyes had never done that before!

The Percival who was always a bit slow at waking up at the best of times, focused his eyes on the mirror. Henry was not holding a teddy bear, she was holding a doll!

Percival had turned into a doll!

‘Wow.’ came the little voice from Percival’s tummy. She looked lovely in a tiny nightie that matched Henry’s exactly. She had a pretty face, lovely eyes with real looking eyelashes. Her arms could move and so could her head. Her hair was the same as Henry’s, long and pretty.

Henry kept jumping up and down and giggling.

‘’Look, Percival you are like me, you are even wearing the same things.’

Suddenly Henry stopped and looked closely at Percival.

‘Percival that is you isn’t it?’

Percival somehow managed to nod her small head slightly and Henry sighed with relief.

Just then the door opened and Mummy walked in.

‘Hayley Henrietta Smith what is all this noise and why are you jiggling Prissy, your dolly about like that?’

Henry, who was quite quick for someone aged seven and a quarter, quickly realised that things had changed and Mummy only knew Henry and Percival as Hayley and Prissy.

‘Sorry Mummy.’

‘I should think so. Now go and have a wash and then we need to have breakfast and go to the fitting.’

‘Fitting, Mummy?’

‘You are dense this morning Hayley. You have been so excited over the last few days about being a brides maid; you can’t have forgotten?’

‘No Mummy…sorry.’

‘That’s okay, princess. Go have a wash and then put something on. Breakfast will be ready in twenty minutes, okay?’

‘Yes Mummy.’

Mummy closed the door behind her and Hayley walked over to her closet. She vaguely realised that instead of a boy’s room, it had now changed to a girl’s one with pink walls and carpets; the furniture was white with golden edging…very girlie and it was all a long way from what it had looked like last night!

Henry’s bestest wish had been given and now she was happy and looking forward to being a girl…for ever. Hayley hugged herself and then realised that her tooth had grown back! It was a bit wiggly and she wondered if she could take it out again and then get another wish…hmm…

Prissy had been put back on the pillow and as it was opposite where the mirror was, she was admiring herself. She didn’t know how things could change so much…it must have been magic. She had lovely blue eyes and she was long and slender. Prissy looked forward to having a real fun time as a doll and hoped that she was going to have a special dress for the wedding too!

THE END

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