Bearography

Good evening, I'm Calliope. Tonight on Bearography, we look at the Bear with the big feet, the Stompy Story.

Stompy was the first Bear to come live with Jim. Jim and Stompy first met where Jim worked.

Jim: I was working for a consulting firm at the time, and shared my office with a woman named Ann.

Any relation to the Ann some on the WD might have heard you refer to dating?

Jim: *slight shudder* No, no relationship to her. This was years earlier, and this Ann and I worked together, and became quite good friends, but never dated. Anyway, Ann and I were talking one day, and she asked if I had ever gotten a Teddy Bear from a woman. I told her no, and she said that every man should get a Teddy Bear from a woman at least once. I kinda forgot the conversation, but when I walked into the office months later on my birthday, Stompy was sitting on my desk.

What were those early years like?

Jim: Well, Stompy usually spent the week with me at the work, sharing the office with Ann and me. And I'd bring him home on weekends. Sometimes Ann and I brought him out for drinks with us--Stompy was quite good at chatting up the ladies back in those days.

Stompy and Jim were later joined by Blinky. However, it was years before Blinky became animoo, as he himself described in his Autoobioographoo of Bear X.

And then came the dark times...

Stompy: Jim put us in a fucking box in the closet for two years.

*cut to Calliope for horrified reaction shot*

Jim: I feel really bad now. I don't know what I was thinking. We just, grew apart for a while. *Jim rubs his eyes, takes a drink of ice water, the large ice cubes rattling against the sides of the glass* I still remember the look on his face when I took him out of the box. His hair had gotten pushed up, and... he just looked so pissed at me. *pause* Yeah, I don't think I can ever fully forgive myself.

And maybe you shouldn't.

But Stompy being a forgiving Bear, and Blinky not yet being animoo, they quickly moved on from the closet experience. And they were soon joined by Spike, and then Spike's own pet dog, Ollie. Here we can see Stompy with his red bow and big feet (on left), Spike the Rottweiler Puppy Bear with his blue blanket, and in front of Spike, his dog Ollie.



Spike: Stompy is like the Big Brother I've had ever since I met Stompy. Just like I've been a Big Brother to Ollie.

Ollie: *long pause, then Spike's voice* That's right. Spike is my Big Brother.

And the Bear family at Jim's grew, as many more of us joined the collective of anarcho-syndicalist Bears that came together at Jim's.

Blinky: Those were heady days of revolution. Revolution, and caaaandy.

And through it all, if any one Bear has consistently risen to the challenge of leading this group of Bear individualists, it has been Stompy. He is seen hear leading the Bear group in buying caaaandy on-line with Jim's 'Merican 'Spress. From left, on back of chair Spike, Stompy, just to the left of monitor Sargeant Mauja, on top of monitor Papito, and to the right of monitor Blinky.




And so the Stompy story continues. Thank you for joining me tonight on Bearography.