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The Bucket

Page 7

by Allan Ahlberg


  It’s the end of The Bear Nobody Wanted: the bear has found his final home. A boy named Trevor has rescued him from the horrors of a bombed-out building, cleaned him up and made a present of him to his little sister.

  Sophie snuggled down with the bear in her arms and the rabbit on her pillow. She began to talk: ‘It’s Sunday School tomorrow … My daddy is a sailor.’

  After a while, Trevor put his head round the door. He came over to the bed and crouched beside it. Sophie held the bear up for them to see each other. Trevor shook him by the paw.

  ‘What will you call him?’ he whispered.

  ‘I will call him … Teddy,’ Sophie said.

  Trevor left, and slowly Sophie drifted off to sleep. Her arm remained around the bear and her warm breath touched his fur. With only the slightest movement of his paw, the bear returned her cuddle. He would not sleep for ages yet. His heart and mind were just too full. He was, of course, the happiest of toys: an altogether wanted bear.

  THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

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  First published by Viking 2013

  Published in Penguin Books 2014

  Text copyright © Allan Ahlberg, 2013

  Original illustrations copyright © Jessica Ahlberg, 2013

  All rights reserved

  The acknowledgements on p. xi constitute an extension of this copyright page

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  Cover illustrations by Jessica Ahlberg

  ISBN: 978-0-241-96904-5

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Beginnings

  1 ‘Having a Baby’, Collected Poems (2008).

  The Clothes Horse

  1 The Clothes Horse and Other Stories (1987).

  Treading the Boilers

  1 The Boyhood of Burglar Bill (2006).

  Child Watching

  1 Heard it in the Playground (1989).

  Fear of Eggshells

  1 ‘The Boy Without a Name’, Heard it in the Playground, extract (1989).

  Seasons

  1 The Mighty Slide, extract (1988).

  Poor Old Soul

  1 The Clothes Horse and Other Stories (1987).

  Reading and Writing

  1 The Bear Nobody Wanted (1992), £9.99.

  Ends

  1 In Friendly Matches (2001).

 

 

 


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