Cast of characters

Bea –mom bear to puppies & Scruffles Part 1&2

Sweet Puppy– from Part 1&2 invited by Bea to live in cave

Scruffles–  from Part 1&2 invited by Bea to live in cave (RIP)

Doolie –mom bear to puppies from Part 2

Benny–miniature sheep dog  from Part 2  (RIP)

Annie–Brussels Griffon from Part 2 (RIP)

Maddie–3-legged Brussels Griffon from Part 2

Buddy bear--friend of Doolie & Bea who worked with troubled puppies 

Zoe– Tibetan Terrier from Part 2 Like foster kid who gets moved around a lot

         She lived with Doolie & her crew, then Bea & Sweet Puppy, 

         & finally to live with Buddy bear & her puppy Stormy

Stormy- lived with Buddy bear

Willow–counseling tree (metaphor for people who help children) Part 1&2

Bea was getting ready for Sweet Puppy and her to move in with Doolie & Maddie. Everyone else had gone to the bridge of rainbows. There was a disturbing incident outside. 

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Bea is conflicted and yet, she needs to follow the path laid out for her. The maker is asking something of the wee brave bear.  She had the same fifty bees darting in every direction inside her as she had, many leaf-filled trees ago. 

When she just knew something was very wrong with her favorite path that she named Bea’s Golden Path. The maker always seemed to give her clues when something was wrong around her. There was that same sinking feeling she’d had when she was sure a buzzing and crashing sound meant danger for Willow.

Trees were being sawed down. Fortunately, Willow was safe. Bea noticed the 50 bees did not cease their deafening humming, meaning definite trouble. This time things would not be all right. Even doing her talk to the maker didn’t help. 

She stared at the pathetic picture of the puppy slowly calming enough to be able to speak clearly and be understood.  Bea thought she must have been exhausted running on her three little legs all that distance.

Bending down, Bea found the courage to ask Maddie what had happened that she’d hippety-skipped all this way from her home, soon to be filled with Sweet Puppy and her.

A shattered Maddie still only mumbles the message through a very wet, flat-nosed face.  Bea is able to pick out a few words such as ‘fell’ and ‘head’ which gives her no real clue to solving the shaky situation.

Bea understood Maddie to yell that it was too late anyway and that somebody’d already gone. The wee flabbergasted bear needed to get to the bottom of that garbled message and fill in the missing words.

When calmly asked, the hysterical puppy was able to answer the question about what happened when she whimpered that someone fell. Bea felt she was making progress and decided to ask if Maddie could tell her who fell.

Bea turned pale under her fur, and her mouth fell open as she heard Maddie say that Doolie had fallen. It was when Bea asked if there was anything she could do, that the rest of the tragic tale was completed.

Maddie finished the whole topic off by telling Bea that Doolie had already left for the bridge of rainbows, but that she left the message that Bea and Sweet Puppy should still move in and join Maddie. That way Maddie will not have to relocate to Bea’s cave home.

Bea has a difficult time believing that Doolie is really gone, that the next time she and Sweet Puppy enter Doolie’s cave home, only Maddie will be there.

She invited Maddie in to rest and to have a drink of water, which was important after being upset and hippity-skipping such a great distance on three exceptionally short legs.

As the devastated bear continued to walk, she stumbled over the bump at the entrance of the cave. Her vision became distorted as thick tears filled her eyes. She wanted so much to do her pretend exercise, but nothing worked.  

She didn’t even care that her whimpering could be heard as she went to Sweet Puppy to give her the tragic news. A river of tears could have formed on the cave floor if the degree of sadness could be measured.

Bea felt an urgency to finish packing to plan the journey to their new home. She considered possibly inviting Buddy bear, Stormy, and Zoe to visit. She wasn’t sure how it would affect Zoe. 

The considerate wee bear didn’t want to start any trouble for Buddy bear. They hadn’t talked much about how Zoe and Stormy were adjusting to each other and how Zoe was situating herself in Buddy bear’s cave home.

Sometimes Bea wished for her mom, or for the early days when Scruffles and her were alone, even before Sweet Puppy.  Things were simpler then. No one was making any trips to the bridge of rainbows. It was a happier time.

Some might wonder why Bea is not mentioning her dear friend Timothy the Beaver, who carved all her furniture, her stepstooler and the cupboard with shelves she has filled with her “be good to myself’ treat. 

The golden honey which sustains her in all situations, joyful and sad is stored in the clay pots he fashioned from the clay soil around his pond known as Timothy’s Pond.

Timothy was not at the bridge of rainbows, however, unfortunately he was also not at Timothy’s Pond. As Bea was having to do, Timothy had moved on, to begin again.

Beavers mate for life, nevertheless, his first mate had left him because he didn’t work hard enough and fast enough at rebuilding the dam to their pond. Timothy had told Bea how it made his beaver mind swirl when his mate wanted him to build a dam in a spot that would never do. He knew it would keep breaking because it was right in the swiftest currents of their river. 

Timothy had a feeling of emptiness and loss since she left. He mentioned how important Bea was to him. Even though she was not a beaver, she was his best friend.