The Tangerine Bear.

 

                                              The Tangerine Bear.

This is one of those stories that tell you that no matter what you look 

like or what you believe in, it is ok to be your self. Be your self, believe in 

what you want to believe in cause no matter who you are we are all in 

this together. Your friends will stand with you, it doesn't matter if you 

have a smile or frown on your face, you are you and that is ok. So, with 

that, lets get to the story shall we:

A teddy bear on a conveyor belt in a toy factory is knocked over by 

a mouse, resulting in his mouth being sewn upside-down in a frown, 

unlike his brothers and sisters who are sewn with smiles on their faces. 

They are taken to Krolls' Department Store. The bear  becomes upset 

when all the kids eventually take all the bears except for him. Not 

knowing he looks different, he wonders why no one will buy him.

Soon, the bear is placed in the store's discount box with a blue monkey 

named Louie Blue  and a pull-string doll in a pink dress named Dolly , 

who are eventually bought. Then he is dumped into a chest full of old 

and broken junk and brought to the tiny antique shop, Winkle's 

Imporium. 

The store owner, Mr. Winkle , notices the bear and places him on his 

window display with Bird , an agoraphobic cuckoo clock, Lorelei , 

a mermaid clock, and Jack , a claustrophobic jack-in-the-box.

The bear's new friends warn him not to go near Winkle's nasty dog Virgil 

, but he wants a chair to sit on so someone may notice him. He carefully 

gets down from the display but is chased by Virgil, creating a huge mess. 

Mr. Winkle finds the bear and gives him a tiny chair to sit on back on the 

window display. As time passes, the bear and his friends realize that the 

sun has turned his body orange or "tangerine". From then on the bear is 

called "Tangie".

One day, Virgil escapes with a gang of mischievous dogs when a 

customer comes into the shop. Winkle is happy after selling Lorelei to 

the first customer to visit his store in a long time but remains worried 

about Virgil. Once Winkle goes to sleep upstairs, Tangie, Bird and Jack 

notice Virgil freezing cold in the snow. Jack and Bird refuse to help 

Tangie rescue Virgil at first, but after saving him, Virgil becomes loyal to 

his new "friends".

It's Christmas time again, and Tangie and Virgil help Bird and Jack 

decorate Winkle's window display with Christmas ornaments and lights. 

Virgil takes his friends for a wagon ride to check out River Street's other 

Christmas lights. However, once their trip is over, Jack, Virgil, and Bird 

discover that Tangie fell off the wagon on the way back to Winkle's and 

is missing. When Tangie tries to make it back to Winkles through the 

snow, he is suddenly picked up and carried back to Winkles shop by 

someone he believes is Santa Claus, ready to finally take him to a loving 

home. It is really Mr. Winkle dressed up, however, and he takes him back 

to the shop, to Tangie and the rest of the toys' disappointment.

The next day, a man who tells Winkle that he had lost his way in the 

snowstorm appears at his window. The man expresses interest in Jack 

and Tangie for their unusual qualities and offers Mr. Winkle $200 for 

them. Winkle quickly tells the man that both Jack and Tangie are not for 

sale, since they are "his only family". Tangie realizes how nice it is to be 

at "home" with his wonderful family, and learns just from that being 

different makes each of us special.