28. Meeting the Bears

Merlena Bear was intrigued with this friendly little girl with the lovely smile and wondered who she was.  Michelle said her name and added, "But everyone calls me Shelley for short and I like that name too."   Merlena held Shelley's hand in her paw now and replied, "That is a lovely name and I will also call you Shelley."  They looked at the pretty things in the window together and then  walked over to where the others were standing  "Come and meet the other Bears. They will be so pleased to meet you, Shelley," said Merlena.  Shelley was almost a bit shy to meet so many bears at once but Merlena Bear told her their names.  "I am Merlena, this is my brother, Hernando, this is my cousin, Ferdinand and this is his good friend, Theodore," she said, placing her paw on each bear's shoulder as she introduced them.

27. A Surprise

Merlena Bear had stopped to look at a shop window full of beautiful hair clips, brightly colored ribbons and brushes. There were pink ones and blue ones and others looked as if they were made of pearl. "If it is alright with you, the three of us will look at the travel goods in that window over there," said Hernando Bear and they walked on a few steps to look at the selection of rucksacks, suitcases and kit bags. "Travelers need such things," said Theodore Bear thoughtfully.  Suddenly Merlena was surprised to feel a hand slip under her arm and gently catch hold of her paw.  She turned her head to see who it was.  Standing next to her was a cute little girl with a mop of blonde, curly hair and big blue eyes.  She smiled and said, "Hello, Miss Bear.  My Mummy said she did not think you would mind if I came to talk to you." and she waved at a lady wearing a blue dress.  Merlena smiled and waved at the lady too. "Why, hello, Little Miss.  How kind of you to come and greet me. What is your name?" she said.

26. So much to see

Merlena Bear knew her way around in the city so she took the lead.  She said, "Today we will do something different and we will catch the tram to the city center."   Theodore Bear had never seen a tram before and was fascinated by the coach that ran on rails and swept quietly up to the appointed stopping place. Once all the passengers were on board it left just as quietly.  "This is the business hub of our city" Merlena said and Theodore hardly knew what to look at first as they went along.  There were very tall buildings with rows and rows of windows, large shopping malls with bright lights flashing and trees and flowers everywhere.  They all got off the tram at the biggest shopping center and walked around looking at all the shops.  There were so many people rushing by and they hardly even noticed the four bears ambling along.  But someone did and stopped to chat.

25. Out on the town

The sun was streaming in the windows and all the bears were waking up.  Theodore Bear could hear the traffic rushing along the road and remembered that he was in the big city.  He jumped up from the sofa and looked out of the window.  "Goodness," he said to himself, "it is very busy out there." After breakfast Merlena Bear suggested that they all go out together, take a walk through the city and look at all the lovely things in the many shop windows before going down to the river bank with a picnic lunch.  "Excellent idea," said Hernando Bear,  "I have not had time yet to see any of the goods here and I can get some ideas what to take back to Europe as souveniers."  Theodore decided to wear his orange bow and was so surprised to see that Hernando was also wearing the same color orange bow when they were ready to leave.  "We could nearly be twins," he said to Hernando and they laughed together as they all walked out the house and pulled the door shut.

24. All Good Things come to an End

Just before midnight when the day would close on Merlena Bear's birthday, Hernando Bear called, "Last  song" and everyone linked arms and sang "Auld Lang Syne" to end the evening.  Merlena clapped and bowed. "A very big Thank You to you all for coming and being here to celebrate my birthday with me.  I have  enjoyed it so much," she said.  The guests thanked Merlena for a lovely party and one by one they left.  Ferdinand and Theodore helped Merlena and Hernando take down the streamers and tidy up.  They pushed the furniture back into the correct places and soon all the work was done.  "Many hands make light work," said Ferdinand wisely.  Now it was bedtime.  Merlena put a pillow and a blanket on the big sofa for Theodore and soon the house was in darkness and they were all sound asleep after such an exciting day.