January 4, 2004 - From Ms. Mary to friends:
I thought I was going to return home without company this trip, and I was really proud of myself for getting around in Maryland and DC without picking up any hitchhikers, but I made the mistake in BMI airport today of walking into a little shop to buy a bottle of water to take on the plane. A sad-eyed panda bear was lying on his tummy in a lower shelf and reached out and grabbed my leg as I went by. I couldn't stop in time so I accidentally yanked him off the shelf onto the floor as I swung my leg forward. I picked him up and -- instead of just stuffing him back on the shelf and walking on -- I gave him a little hug . . . and then I was lost. I just couldn't put him back on the shelf. And as we were standing in the aisle seemingly glued in a hug, he whispered to me about his friend, a red bear with a "#1" on his chest who had been parted from his best friend at the bear-birthing place when they were shipped to different states.
How did they know I had picked up a red bear when I was in Minnesota?
Now, the chances of my Minnesota red bear being the friend of the #1 red bear in Maryland were pretty slim, but it was not totally impossible for the two to be the long-lost friends. Didn't much matter if they were or not; by then I had held the #1 red bear long enough that he was becoming part of the family. So I ended up with two bears and a bottle of water in my carry-on bag as I boarded the airplane. As soon as we arrived at my apartment, I freed the bears from my carry-on. Although the Minnesota red bear is not the friend that the #1 red bear was hoping to connect with, it turns out that the Maryland red bear and the Minnesota bear are third cousins twice removed (or twice-shipped; I'm not exactly clear on what they mean by the "removed" business) and they are looking forward to explaining family trees to the menagerie on the bookshelf. I certainly hope they do not intend for us to begin a search for long-lost relatives or to work out a plan to gather those relatives in Long Beach for a reunion.