Catching Fur

When last we left the Hundred Acre Games, Winnie-the-Pooh had survived Christopher Robin’s deadly tournament, while Tigger, Roo and other stuffed animals fell in deadly combat. Now, a rebellion has started, all because of the actions of a silly old bear…

"I didn't mean to start any uprisings," Winnie-the-Pooh tells him.

"I believe you. It doesn't matter. Winnie-the-Pooh, tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff, you have provided a spark that, left unattended, may grow to an inferno that destroys the Hundred Acre Wood," Christopher Robin says.

****

“What about the other families, Pooh? The ones who can't run away? Don't you see? It can't be about just saving us anymore. Not if the rebellion's begun!" Piglet shakes his head, not hiding his disgust with Pooh.

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like 'What about lunch?'” Pooh says.

“Can’t you think about anything but food?” Piglet says in exasperation.

“Yes, sometimes,” Pooh says. “But right now I'm so rumbly in my tumbly.”

****

“And it’s all my fault, Kanga,” Pooh says. “Because of what I did in the arena. Because I am a bear of very little brain. If I had just killed myself with those berries, none of this would’ve happened. Piglet could have come home and lived, and everyone else would have been safe, too.”

“Safe to do what?” Kanga says in a gentler tone. “Starve? Work like slaves? Send their kids to the reaping? You haven’t hurt people – you’ve given them an opportunity. They just have to be brave enough to take it. Like you.”

“I’m not brave,” says Pooh.

“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

****

"Poor Rabbit. Is this the first time in your life you haven't looked pretty?" Pooh says.

"It must be,” Rabbit says. “The sensation's completely new. How have you managed it all these years?"

****

“It is hard to be brave, when you're only a Very Small Animal,” Piglet says. “If you die, and I live, there's no life for me at all back in the forest. You're my whole life. I would never be happy again. It's different for you. I'm not saying it wouldn't be hard. But there are other people who'd make your life worth living."

"No one really needs a Very Small Animal," Piglet says, and there's no self-pity in his voice. It's true the Hundred Acre Wood doesn't need him. They will mourn him. But they will get on, and someone else will move into the tree with the “Trespassers W” sign out front… Pooh realizes only one will be damaged beyond repair if Piglet dies. Pooh.

"I do," Pooh says. "I need you.”

****

Pooh can only form one clear thought:

This is no place for a tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff