Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Our Own Version of THE THREE BEARS

(This version does have a Papa Bear, a Mama Bear and a Not-So-Baby Bear. No porridge. No beds. And, yes there is sort of a Goldilocks involved.)

Once upon a time, Papa Bear and Mama Bear were preparing to move to a cozy little condo in the city. They had raised two fine cubs who were now on their own in the world. Their daughter cub had married and their son cub was about to be married.

Now it just so happened that the Papa Bear was particular about finding just the right chairs - folding chairs to be specific. These chairs must be strong. They must be able to be stowed away until other bears come to visit. They must be reasonably attractive. And so the search began. Store #1:

The folding chairs here (no picture available) were quite attractive and reasonably priced. But when Papa Bear went to "test" them out by sitting in them, they wobbled just a bit too much. He looked at the sticker on the back and the purchase was nixed when the weight limit was 160 pounds. Store #2: This store has a lot of B's in it - not the buzzing variety. While the chair was attractive and slightly higher priced than the first place, the Papa Bear "test" once again revealed a not-so-sturdy feel. And the chair was hard to unfold, and Mama and Papa noticed stress cracks in the wood. On to the next REALLY BIG store that starts with an "I" and serves up a fine Swedish Meatball platter.

This time the Bear parents had their strapping Jr. with them...he loved the mega meatball platter, too, and was one not to turn down free food. After a delicious meal together, the Three Bears headed to the chair department. The Papa Bear tried out a chair much like the one above and declared it sturdier than the others. The Mama Bear liked the way the chair looked. The Jr. Bear - at close to 200 pounds decided to give the chair a test drive. He sat in it, shifted his weight to one side and then the other when CRACK...the wood splintered, the chair (and the Jr. Bear) fell to the ground and was destroyed! Oh Dear! What is this Bear family going to do?

So, Papa searched out a helper in the chair department wearing the blue and yellow shirt, and what do you know...she had blond hair just like Goldilocks! Except she had a cell phone glued to her ear and when the busted chair was brought to her, she couldn't have cared less and kept talking on her cell phone and simply took the chair handed to her, didn't inquire about bears paying for said chair, and the Three Bears departed empty pawed, having had enough of those chairs!

There is no Happily Ever After part of the story yet, but Jr. Bear was not hurt in the fall - his Mama Bear only remembered to ask him much later if he was okay, and felt guilty for having shown so little compassion at the time of the "accident." And, if you should happen to know about a trust-worthy, hard-working folding chair for this Bear pair, they would be most grateful if you named brands and locations as to where they should shop next. The End.

8 comments:

Marta said...

This is a great story, Deb. But sad indeed--poor Jr. Bear!

I have some classy folding chairs around my kitchen table which I inhereted from my older sister bear who received them as a gift from our mama and papa bears who purchased them from Sam's Club. They are super sturdy and look good, too. However, the date of sale was at least 7 years ago I imagine, so i'm not sure if it's still possible to get such good looking, quality folding chairs--but it may be worth a look.

Best wishes on the bear chair hunt!

Lindahl News 2 said...

Thanks, Marta! Maybe there's hope for these bears to find just the right chairs!

oatley said...

Well, I must say - we too needed (wanted) attractive "extra" chairs to be on hand when necessary. We purchased four from the store with so many B's and the former with an L n' T (at two separate times so the styles vary ever so slightly.) You get used to the folding / unfolding. and therefore it's not so complicated. We are happily ever after - The End.

Lindahl News 2 said...

Sandi, ha! Glad you are the happily ever after. You are wise to advise.

Kristin said...

Ha! That is hilarious. I think that you actually showed just the right amount of sympathy since you didn't take a picture of it and post it on the blog! That is what I would have done and I don't have much sympathy! oops!! Good luck finding a chair. Oh, and my vote, just go to Wal-mart! Sounds crazy, but I have had to buy some stuff there recently and some of there furniture is so heavy; pretty impressive(that is, unless maybe you are one that won't go into that store)

____ said...

You crack me up, Deb! Good luck finding those sturdy chairs!

Katie said...

Duncan has some sturdy foldable chairs that look like regular table chairs. They are called Stakmore chairs and I think they're sold at many different retailers. Here's their folding chair web page.

Lindahl News 2 said...

Thanks, all, for your tips (and even web link!) for finding just the right chairs for these bears.