The Little Things That Count

     Taking a deep breath so he could speak without his voice cracking with emotion, he explained, “It was an accident. He’s so old he was already fragile...” He took another breath before continuing. “Is there anything we can do?”

     As a parent of sorts, I probably should have told him to let it go. I should have told him it was time to grow up like a big boy and put away his old doll.

     But I absolutely couldn’t.

     My face contorted to more emotion even than his. I had an abundance of sympathy, for I still had my most loved doll and he had many repairs lovingly performed by my mother after I had loved him too much myself.

     I knelt down and hugged Seraphi’s little blue shoulders. “I’ll figure something out. I would sew him up right away, but I really can’t sew. I might make it worse. Put him on your shelf; I’ll see if someone I know would fix him up for us. I have a couple of friends that are a little good at sewing and that sort of thing.”

     His expression relaxed a bit. He was at least happy to know I cared enough to try. Even so, no one I asked could patch up a doll. I discovered my friends had more talents in making clothes or knitting than patching a stuffed animal. My heart sank each time someone told me they couldn’t help. I seemed more upset than Seraphi, but I refused to tell him I was asking and getting many ‘no’s.

     One would have thought that since he didn’t bring it up anymore he had gotten over it, moved on and grew up. However, every time I went to straighten up in his room, I saw it there. The Fuzzy Bear was placed lovingly on the center of one of the shelves; his head gently propped up where it should be on the body. He kept it close to his bed as if he comforted it at night like a sick child. Mind you, I never actually saw him comfort the doll, so it could have been my imagination, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were true.

     Probably a week or two later I had mostly lost my hopes of repairing poor Seraphi’s Fuzzy Bear. I honestly did not know what to do since I really couldn't sew in the slightest and I knew no one willing to help. To this day I can hardly believe my luck on a faithful encounter...

     On a trip unrelated to the mangled doll, I was traveling around Terror Mountain. I don’t visit often because I have a very poor tolerance to the cold. On this day, I had a desire to play scratch cards and wanted to visit the Ice Cave Kiosk. After a pleasant chat with the Wocky and a trip to the Ice Crystal shop to raise my body temperature back up over a bottle of flaming snow, I decided to climb to the peak of the mountain - having come this far and all.

     It had been quite some time since I had made the trek all the way to the top of the windy, frigid ice peak. Things were different than I had remembered, so it was already worth the trip examining new shops as well as visiting the classic favorites like the Garage Sale and getting a Chia Pop from the Lenny at the Super Happy Icy Fun Snow Shop – my personal favorite.

     It was a lucky thing that I did not have my face buried in a fruity Snow Puff like Seraphi at the time, or I may have missed what would be the most important thing on that fateful trip. I glanced right on our way back toward the Ice Caves from the snow shop when I noticed a little cottage that I didn’t recognize. I wandered that way to check and see if it was simply someone’s home, or if it was a new shop I had overlooked. My heart felt like it stopped when I read the small wooden sign hanging next to the door. I was about as shocked as if I had jammed my tongue in a light socket.

     “Toy Repair Shop”

     It seems like a trivial thing to get that worked up over, but at the time it seemed too good to be true. I had never seen this place before, yet now when I needed it, as if sent by faeries, there was a toy repair shop right before me on this frozen mountain.

     Grabbing Seraphi’s hand, I led him into the small cabin that seemed to serve both as the shop and the owner’s cozy home. He had been rather involved in his Snow Puff, so he stayed quiet and looked around curiously, unsure of where I had steered him. I was quiet too, feeling a little sheepish walking into someone’s home, even if the home was filled with unusual tools and bit of toys along all the shelves. Before I knew it I was up to a counter with a gruff-looking old Bori on the other end.

     For a moment, I must have stared stupidly at him because he had to speak first to get my attention. “Hey lady, do ya need somethin’ or what? I ain’t a tour guide, so if yer lost, look somewhere else.”

     I snapped out of my daze, shaking my head a little to clear my thoughts. Feeling even more shy since he seemed somewhat hostile, I had to put on a brave face to talk to him and ask him what I couldn’t stop asking myself at that moment.

     “Oh, uh, excuse me. I meant to ask, do you really repair neopets’ broken toys and things?” I asked, trying not to seem nervous.

     “That’s what the sign says, ain’t it? You have somethin’ ya want fixed?” he replied, with a skeptical look at me for my rather silly question.

     “Do you suppose you could fix a stuffed animal?” I asked.

     Seraphi’s attention was all on this now, as he had figured out that I was looking to get his Fuzzy Bear fixed. He now had the deep, transfixed stare and awed silence that I had upon entering the cabin.

     “’Course I can, but not by sittin’ here talkin’ to you. Ya hafta give it to me to fix it,” he replied, seeming at least mildly annoyed by my stupid questions.

     Seraphi and I exchanged wide-eyed glances, and then turned back to the Bori whose patience was dwindling.

     I cried, “We don’t have it with us, but we’ll be back with it soon!” At that, both Seraphi and I stormed out of the Bori’s home like a tornado. Thinking back on it, I could practically feel him roll his eyes as he watched us take our bizarre exit...

     Out of sheer adrenaline, we nearly kept that whirlwind pace all the way home. Even so, it was past dark when we got back, and we certainly couldn’t return up that mountain then.

     I remember vividly, I peeked into Seraphi’s room that night to check on him. He had turned on his night light and was sitting on the edge of his bed, staring at the Fuzzy Bear on the shelf. I couldn’t tell you what he was thinking. His face was very straight, not betraying his emotions.

     The next afternoon when I got home, we prepared ourselves once again for the tiring trip up the freezing mountain. This time, Seraphi made sure he carefully packed away both pieces of his bear in our bag before we set out.

     Perhaps because of our anticipation, the already long trip seemed to take forever and a day. We were both so eager to hurry up and get up there; every second seemed like an eternity. We finally did arrive at the top and made a beeline toward the Bori’s cottage.

     As we stepped inside, we both had to take a moment to compose ourselves and try not to pant, since we had practically run there. Once we were sure would could handle it, we approached the counter. Seraphi carefully slipped his hands into my pack and retrieved his broken bear. He handed it someone reluctantly over the counter into the hands (or are they claws?) of Donny the Bori.

     Donny gave a few gruff mumbles as he moved the pieces carefully around in his hands to inspect the damage. He looked up and gave me an estimate – a very modest sum of neopoints for materials – then stood up to go to his work area. Before getting to work, he turned to us.

     “Y’all should go shoppin’ or somethin’ fer a while. This’ll take a bit,” he explained, clearly not wanting us looking over his should the whole time like we all knew we would. So, without another word we stepped out.

     We busied ourselves with bustling around the Garage Sale and waiting around for the restocks. As much as we outwardly tried to act like we were normal, we both were just trying to pass the time as quickly as possible. Waiting to make sure Donny was finished was even more painful than getting up the mountain had been. You would have thought we were waiting for another child’s surgery rather than just a doll.

     After one of the longest hours of both our lives, Seraphi and I casually made the walk back to Donny’s shop. We had the misfortune of walking in right as the red Bori was tossing something into a large greasy trash bin. I admit I had a mild shock run through me, and I could see Seraphi’s wide-eyed face visibly blanch to the pale blue color of the sky on a sunny afternoon.

     Wiping off his hands on a rag, Donny turned to see us silently hovering just inside the doorway. “Oh, yer back. What’re ya standing there for? C’mere.”

     We both calmed a bit and walked toward the counter as Donny went to grab something from one of the shelves. I didn’t think Seraphi’s eyes could get any larger than they were when Donny had thrown something out, but they sure did. Donny pulled out a Fuzzy Bear and handed it gently over to Seraphi with a gentle smile.

     “There ya go, lad, all fixed.”

     It was the gentlest I had seen Donny since we had met, and I felt like I could understand now why he worked in toy repair. The first thing Seraphi did when he received his bear was check to see where it had been fixed. He was actually making sure the doll was really his, and we hadn’t just paid to replace it with a new one - especially after just seeing him throw something out.

     I can understand why he did too, because that Fuzzy Bear came back looking totally different. Not only was the head back evenly on the shoulders, but it was clean and white as ever. It was also soft and plush with stuffing. The bear looked like it had looked new out of the box. Sure enough, when Seraphi gently brushed away the fuzzy fur, there was some intricately stitched, subtly white thread keeping the head securely on the doll.

     Seraphi closed his eyes and clenched the Fuzzy Bear tightly in his arms for a long moment. He once again looked like he might have wanted to cry – this time for joy – but didn’t allow himself to. This caused Donny to smile a little more seeing how happy the boy was to have his favorite bear back. I also smiled warmly, first at Seraphi, then at Donny.

     As we made to leave, I took a moment to go back to Donny one last time.

     “Thank you. Truly, thank you. You made him so happy. It just means so much-“ I was cut off by Donny raising a claw to stop me mid-sentence.

     “I know, I know. Just doin’ my job.” He smiled a bit, and then went back to his work.

The End