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Buster and Babbit

It was late in the afternoon and tall trees were casting long shadows on a quiet stretch of road. 12 year-old twins, Maria and Sasha, were sitting on the wood fence of their uncle's large backyard garden. Then, from the corner of her eye, Maria noticed something small and furry lying in the middle of the road to her left. She craned her neck a little. Taking notice, Sasha followed her sister's gaze, "Ew! Road kill!" she said, screwing up her face in a mixture of fascination and disgust. "Let's take a closer look!"

She leapt off the fence and sprang towards the furry object, which was about 10 metres away. Maria let out an inaudible sigh and trailed after her sister. Sasha was the more exuberant of the two. Energetic and curious, she liked to poke her nose into things. Maria on the other hand, was quiet and reserved, but overall, the more observant twin.

"Whoa! What is it?!" said Sasha, puzzled, as she bent over the strange furry object with her hands on her knees. "I'm not sure", Maria replied, crouching down beside the thing. "It can't be a dead animal," she observed, "It's wearing some kind of clothing. Plus, it doesn't stink". "Yeah," muttered Sasha in agreement.

It clearly wasn't a dead animal, but it sure looked like one. Its body, blackened by tire treads, was a mangled mess of brown and blue fur, with bits of fabric and rope stuck in it. "I think it could be a soft toy," said Sasha, glancing over at her sister, who was now gently prodding the thing with a stick she had found. "It's a teddy bear," replied Maria, realisation dawning upon her face.

Sasha looked up and down the stretch of road they were standing on. She took in the swaying trees on each side of them, their leaves rustling in the breeze. It was very quiet here because not many cars came by this way. "How do you suppose this bear got all the way out here?" she asked. "Well," Maria speculated, "I suppose a child was holding it out of a car window and it fell".

The twins looked down at the unfortunate bear at their feet and felt a twinge of sadness. They could both imagine a child, crying and pining for this very teddy bear, somewhere out there. Standing together in the middle of the empty road, the twins didn't have to tell each other what they were thinking or how they felt. They just knew. They've always been able to understand eachother, in the unspoken way that most twins do. But in this moment, they understood above all that the loss of a beloved stuffed toy animal could prove

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