“Every little girl
wants to be loved.” These are the seven little words that I remember the most
from her. To be quite honest, these were the last words I ever heard from her lips
as she held me close that last night we slept together. These were actually the
words that led me to find Charlotte Winterpecks fifty-two years later. My name
is Brody Esquire Teddyskins; I used to be the C.E.O of “For Marilyn With Love,”
a secret agency that sets up sad lonely children with talking toys, to bring
back some magic into their lives. The whole reason I set up this agency was to
save any other little boys and girls the tragedy of a promising life cut short
like my Marilyn. Before I started this company I was like any other teddy bear.
I had an owner. To me she was the most beautiful woman on this Earth, inside
and out. She was as sweet as honey. There was never a moment that I didn’t feel
her love for me. She was my best friend for over twenty years. I knew the real
her, the part of her no one ever saw. Not even her husbands. To the rest of the
world she was known as Marilyn Monroe, to me she will always be Norma Jeane. The
story of my journey to Charlotte all dates back to the warm early hours of
August 5th, 1962. I laid in bed talking to Marilyn as always. She
had a lot of trouble sleeping at night, and most nights she didn’t sleep even
with all those pills. It had been so long since the last time I could remember
her truly happy. That night I lay close to her as she had that look in her eyes
staring out the window at the night time sky. She had that look in her eyes
like she was no longer with us here on Earth, like she was overthinking herself
sick. “Brody, you know when I lay in bed and look at my life I see a lot of
lonely moments. The silence kills me. You know that’s why I love the audience
so much. When I turn “her” on, they love “her.” I hated when she used to talk
like that. She implied that no one loved the real her, when that was what I adored
the most. “Norma Jeane, look at me, I love you with all of my stuffed heart.
You are my best friend. I will always love you.” I feel this is what our
conversations consisted most of those last few nights. “You know what’s the
saddest thing in the world to me Brody? The fact that somewhere out there even
years from now, there will be another little girl just as helpless as I am.
Just as mistreated and unloved. I want you to promise me that you will find her
and love her. Love her like you have loved me. I just looked into her watery eyes
and told her, “But Norma Jeane, you are my owner, you are my forever. I
promised you my forever.” The tears ran down her cheeks, her soft milky white
cheeks. “Brody, just promise me, you will find that little girl that hurts just
as I do, and needs a little magic just as I have. Promise me you will find her
and give her a forever she never thought she would have.” I couldn’t break the
gaze from her eyes and all I could muster was a whisper sounding “Okay Norma
Jeane, I promise.” She just held me close and we both went to sleep that night. That
was the last conversation I ever had with my Norma Jeane. I guess she just felt
in her soul of souls that she wouldn’t make it. She died in her sleep that night.
It was the worst thing in the world to lay there and watch those strange people
come take her body. I knew that I would never have her back. Those strange
people couldn’t know I was alive. I had to lay there with that stupid smile as
my small stuffed heart broke, and I held the tears back as I heard them say “Yes,
it’s confirmed, it is Marilyn Monroe.” I wanted to do nothing but scream back “Her
name is not Marilyn! It is Norma Jeane! My Norma Jeane now make her come back
to me!” But as everyone knows she didn’t come back to me. I no longer had an
owner, a purpose. When her ex-husband Joe had to clean out her stuff I remember
watching him with fascination. He cried every time a picture appeared or he
picked up an article of clothing that would remind him of their relationship.
It broke my heart, I believe with every piece of stuffing in me that they were
meant to reconcile their relationship. I wondered at that moment what he was
going to do with me, well I got my answer. Marilyn was the only one who knew I
was alive, I could talk. So I laid perfectly still in his arms, as he picked me
up. Through his tears he told me “I’m sorry buddy but it hurts too much to keep
you.” He
put me in a box and gave me away to charity. Just like that, I lost my best
friend, my owner, and now my home. For the next twenty years I went through
various owners. All little children that would talk to me, hug me, play tea
party with me. Yet though all the new homes and new owners, I never felt what I
felt with Norma Jeane. Maybe it’s because I never got that promise out of my
head. I was always on the lookout for the next Norma Jeane. How could I have
promised her that? Maybe that added to her feeling like she wasn’t important. One
day as my last child Rachel seemed to outgrow the need for a teddy bear. I
decided one night as I laid on her closet floor, that was where she kept me
since she didn’t need me anymore, that I was not going to wait around and be
given away again like I had for the last twenty years. All of a sudden
flashbacks to my last night with Marilyn came into my head. I made her a promise
and I felt in the last twenty years I have not kept it. It was time to make it
happen. That night I snuck out Rachel’s front door and never looked back. It
was time to move on and find that little girl that needed my help. But it hit
me if it had been twenty years and I came along all these little children and
still hasn’t found that one child then there had to be so many other children
that needed help. But I couldn’t do it alone. I would have to enlist help. That
is when the idea for “For Marilyn with Love,” came to mind. I would create a
secret agency that would help many other children. So many more than I could
have helped alone. Embedded in every talking toy’s foot are the initials E.L.
No one really knows what they stand for. There have been guesses like Eternal
Love even Eternal Life. No one knows for sure, but what we do know is that when
we need help, when we need everyone to gather, we close our eyes and mentally
call on our brothers and sisters. When the initials light up all the other
talking toys initials light up too. That starts the journey back to each other.
The night my initials lit up I knew would be the start to the agency. Slowly but
surely things fell into place and for the next 31 years we did nothing but
produce smiles on children’s faces. Although so many children had grown into well-adjusted
adults with our help I still felt like a failure. I had never found the next
Norma Jeane. I searched through all the files myself before handing any of them
off to the others. But I never got that same feeling. Then like magic on August
5th 2013 I had told Norma Jeane in my mind, “I’m so sorry I failed
you. It’s been 51 years since your death and I never felt like I had another
real owner after you. I haven’t found that little girl Norma Jeane, where is
she. Should I just close up shop?” I always seemed to sit in that office and
talk to Norma Jeane even though she was no longer there. My assistant Bernard
walked in, “Mr. Teddyskins, we seem to have a problem.” “Not now Bernard, I
have a lot on my mind.” “I know sir but we seem to have an unsolvable case…” He
caught my attention in my 31 years of running this agency we never had a kicker
before. “I am at my wits end with this young lady sir; no one can seem to get
through to her. She is so deep in sadness nothing can seem to lift her out. She
acts like a recluse since she doesn’t get along with her family. She sits in her
room writing all day or reading. She lies in bed and cries at night. When any
of the other agents I’ve sent look through her writing there seem to be one
common theme she writes about…” “Well Bernard, what is it spit it out.” He
looked bewildered by the statement in the file, unable to say it. I took the
file from his hand and read the words out loud, “Every little girl wants to be
loved…” I couldn’t believe it, the exact words Norma Jeane said. Was this the
little girl I had been waiting for all these years? “I’ll take this case
personally Bernard.” He looked astonished at what he just heard come out my
mouth. “But sir, you are retired you haven’t had an owner in 31 years. We have
given her three agents and none worked.” I grabbed the file from his hand and
told him “I may have sat on the bench all these years, but this is a game
changer.” I
sat there that night reading through Charlotte Winterpecks file. She was 16
years old. Kind of old to still believe in magic. This can explain why she did
not connect with the other agents. There is a thing about us talking toys. We
will only speak with you if your heart truly opens enough to us to let us in,
so we can fill you with our magic. None of the other agents according to the
file were given that chance by Charlotte, without any of them talking its
understandable why she still felt so alone. As I kept looking the facts sounded
more and more similar. Mostly a loner, very insecure, kind of risqué for her
time and age just because she craved attention. Another hard hitting fact was
that she was so outgoing and talented as a writer, but yet somehow she would
end up feeling alone. Now the biggest coincidence in this whole case was who
her idol was, Marilyn Monroe. Well she did resemble her in many ways now didn’t
she? I could see the connection. The file had a copy of some of her work. One piece
took me by surprise. “How is it in a crowd of people centered on my presence I
still feel as lonesome as Tom Hanks in Castaway?” She was funny I could give
her that much, but the overwhelming need for love, affection, and acceptance
was all too similar to Norma Jeane. I felt a tingle in my small stuffed heart.
This was the little girl I had been waiting for all these years. This was the
next Norma Jeane. This was my last chance. My last chance at finding a home,
another real owner, my last chance to save this little girl from the lonely
moments. The silence would not kill another. The next night I called
Bernard into my office, “Look Bernard this case is special. I need you to
package me into this box and mail me to Charlotte Winterpecks.” “But sir, how
are you going to explain your appearance?” “Bernard, I have that covered, I
included a note passing myself off as a gift from a poetry contest.” He looked
worried. “Look Bernard, I started this agency with one mission statement “Every
little girl wants to be loved. Those were the last words Norma Jeane ever said
to me. I promised her I would find the next little girl like her that needed me
as much as Norma Jeane needed me. I believe with everything in me that
Charlotte Winterpecks is that little girl. I have one last chance…to give her a
forever.” “Sir it’s been 51 years since Marilyn….I mean Norma Jean’s death, don’t
you think it’s time to give up on that promise? Look at what you have built are
you really telling me you are willing to let it all go for a child you don’t know
will accept you?” I stood there expressionless, I had never thought of the possibility
of Charlotte not accepting me. “No, Bernard. It’s been 51 years and if I didn’t
give up all these years I won’t now this is the girl. Now I need you to close
up this package and leave me in the front for the mail man. This is it. She
needs me, and for the first time in 51 years I need an owner. Now
there is a manila envelope I want you to open in exactly 10 weeks. It will
entail everything you need.” Everything else in time
and space was irrelevant till I first saw Charlotte Winterpeck’s face when she
opened the box I was in. She was stunning. Long black hair, big brown eyes, the
same milky white skin. As she read the note I included she smiled and hugged
me. “You seem like a keeper, and you already have the most adorable name.” As
she held me I looked around her room and saw the large posters that filled her
walls. Two replicas of famous pieces by Van Gogh , couple classic 1980s movies
and right by her mirror there she was, a large portrait of my previous owner,
the famous Marilyn Monroe. Those first couples of weeks were hard; I can see
why none of the other agents had been able to talk to her. She was very closed
off. It seemed hopeless until one night she sat by the window looking at the
night time sky crying. Slowly and quietly I dropped myself behind her. The
movement made her jump but she embraced me anyway. “Brody, how is it I can have
all the talent in the world and still be so alone. Those crowds at school, they
adore me because that seems to be the thing to do. Everyone adores me but no
one really knows me.” A tear strolled down her face and landed on my initials,
they lit up. “Brody, I know you were a gift, but I truly think you are the only
one that has seen the real me. I just wish you could talk. I’m tired of the
silence. Sometimes the silence is too loud.” At that moment she saw my initials
light up, she stood bewildered as I came to life before her very eyes. I was
finally granted under the rules of talking toys to speak to her. She freaked
out naturally. But she did let me explain everything about the agency and why I
was there. She looked at me with fascination once I got to the part about
Marilyn. “Wait, so you mean to tell me, Marilyn knew about me 51 years ago?” “In
a sense Charlotte, yes she did. She wanted to prevent what happened to her to
happen to you. I know you feel what she did Charlotte. But I don’t want you to succumb
to it like she did.” She wiped away any pesky tears that made their way
through. “Brody, so you mean to tell me that in a way you needed to find me to
find a purpose again huh? I was your light at the end of the tunnel?” I smiled
a warm smile I hadn’t given since Norma Jean. “Charlotte, we are each other’s
lights. All those other toys that so happen to just disappear, I sent them. You
were another file in our system. You did not connect with any of them that is
why they could not talk to you, but you gave me that chance and that is why you
are here, hearing me now. I need you just as much as you need me. I feel just
as empty as you do. I made a promise to Norma Jeane. When I found that other
little girl that needed me I would give her the forever I planned on giving
Norma Jeane. Charlotte I want to give you my forever. I know you are older than
most children but your heart isn’t. That is why you were able to let me in. I
am willing to stay by your side forever, even by your children’s side. The way
Norma Jeane intended me to be.” She smiled looking at the poster of her beloved
idol and my best friend. “Brody what about the agency?” “Well my dear friend, I
covered that. I told my assistant Bernard that there was a manila envelope with
instructions on what to do after this case. You were referred to as the
unsolvable case. But if you agree to let me be your forever you are no longer
unsolvable, and neither am I. In that envelope contains instructions on who
will run the company as my successor. I am stepping down as C.E.O. I want a
real home, a real owner. I wanted you Charlotte. I told him to open it after
ten weeks and that ten week deadline is tomorrow. So if you want a forever with
me he will open it and ‘For Marilyn with Love’ will continue without me while
you and I grow old together. If not I will understand and will leave you and
continue my duties.” She stared at me in amazement. I hoped she would make the
right decision. It had been so long since I had a home, those last few weeks
felt so amazing, to be a normal bear. She looked at me and opened up her covers
of her bed inviting me in. She held me in her arms and said, “All my life I felt
so alone, like no one understood me. I love Marilyn because I felt like she
would have gotten me. But since you have been with me I have felt like you
always heard me. Like I belonged with you. You couldn’t save Marilyn but Brody
you were just in time to save me. I feel like Marilyn’s gift to me was the
forever she never had. I wouldn’t give that up for the world. For the first
time since Norma Jeane death a tear rolled out my eyes. “Then it’s settled, let
our forever begin. Let us fulfill the promise I made to Norma Jeane. I started
my journey with the words “every little girl wants to be loved” and I ended my
journey with the words “every little girl wants to be loved.”
No comments:
Post a Comment