The teddy bears are not teddy bears. They are lost and lonely beings from a once great species who spanned the metaverse, a race who left their home long ago until, cut off from the biosphere that produced them, they mutated and de-evolved until now they were few, no longer capable of the same feats of intellect and ingenuity as before. They no longer remember where their home was or even how to go back to the strand they had once left so long ago. They continue to explore and to watch various worlds, the dramas, triumphs and tragedies contained within. They sometimes walk hidden among the populations, always disguised, always observing subtly, on the periphery. But once a year is the teddy bear picnic. Every year they meet in a designated location to exchange stories and information, count how many of them are left, and comfort one another. This year however was slightly different. This year they had a visitor. A plant. A plant who had gained consciousness, reached a state of transcendence and gone off to explore the many worlds and narratives. The journey had been wondrous, but also long and dangerous, tiring and lonely. At one point the plant worried that too many narratives had taken its toll, that simple joys were now forever beyond its grasp. It learned to understand despair. In a moment of crisis, it decided to go off in search of the mythical teddy bears. It hoped that older, more seasoned travelers could give it insight in how to keep its heart whole past so many sordid tales and fleeting lives. It took years, but the quest gave the plant meaning and purpose. Finally it arrived at the teddy bear picnic, and wept to know that it hadn’t been chasing a phantom, a mythology, that they were real. Alas, the teddy bears could not offer the wisdom and insight the plant sought. They too struggled. They could offer comfort and consolation, though, so all the teddy bears gathered round the plant and embraced it. They all stayed in that sweet, still embrace a long, long time. During that embrace, Paul Shapera played on an old boombox laying off underneath a tree.
