It Was the Kinda Day Nobody Knew My Stuffed Animal Was Really Alive

I’d started bringing my old childhood teddy bear with me to school cuz I always felt so alone teaching the class. It was just me up there versus a whole bunch of them, and I needed a loving ally to even the odds. As I taught them lessons on thesis statements and topic sentences and transitional phrases, I’d look over at the bear, and he would be alive, breathing and blinking. He’d give me a little nod and wink, and it would give me the strength to discuss concepts I never really cared about but was now required to explain for money. It was our secret. No one in class even noticed he was there. And afterward when everyone left, I’d say “Thanks, Living Being,” and give him a good long bear hug.