Hi! My name is Lady Bear and I’m here to tell you a story. Lots of my stuffed animal friends are in the story, too. This story is about when the circus came to our home, Rainbow City, and how my friend Cinnamon Bear got a new name.

One day, my friend Whoosh Bunny and I were flying around together. Whoosh flies by flapping his ears, and when he gets tired, he just glides. We don't really know how I fly. It must be magical. But talking stuffed animals are magical too, aren't we?

We were flying over the park, and we saw all our friends out playing soccer. We really love soccer, so we decided to land and get into the game. We swooped down to the soccer field.

Just before we landed, I yelled "Hey, can we play too?" Most everyone stopped and looked up at us, but Cinnamon Bear ignored us. He had the ball, and when he looked around he saw that Foxy Bear was wide open.

Cinnamon kicked the ball to Foxy Bear and called "FOXY! Here comes the ball. SHOOT IT!". Cinnamon was sure his team would score a goal because even the goalie on the other team was waving at us, and not watching the ball at all.

Except Foxy Bear wasn't waving at us, and he wasn't looking at the soccer ball either. It bounced right past him, and even though Cinnamon yelled louder and louder, Foxy just ignored him. Foxy was looking really hard at something way far down the road. Foxy Bear has really good eyes - he can see things far away lots better than the rest of us.

"Lady Bear! Everybody! Look, it's the CIRCUS! The Circus is coming to Rainbow City!"

I couldn't see that far away, so I zoomed off over the road to get a better look. Foxy Bear was right, it was the circus! They were marching into town in a parade! I flew back and told them, and then everyone ran to the side of the street to watch the circus parade come to town!

In the front of the parade were some big trucks with signs on them. The signs said the RingAround Brothers, Bearnum and Bearly Circus was going to be in town! We were all really excited. Everyone started talking about their favorite things at the circus, and pointing to them as they went by…

“I like the dog and pony shows” said Foxy Bear.

“I like the food! Popcorn and hot dogs and caramel corn and soda and cotton candy” That was Candy Bear, of course.

Rainbow Bear doesn’t talk much, but she pointed at the clowns on the poster.

Cinnamon Bear started talking about the girl that gets shot out of the cannon. “That’s my all-time favorite thing! I really wish I could fly like you, Lady Bear! Maybe I could get shot out of the cannon instead!”

I like all of those things, too, but I like the acrobats walking on the tight rope best. They look so funny, using that big long pole to keep their balance. And I really like the guys on the flying trapeze, too. I know that they can’t fly like I can, but sometimes it looks like they are really flying!

The signs all said that the first show would be tomorrow, so after the parade, we had to wait. That was one of the longest days ever! But finally tomorrow came, like it always does, and the circus opened up in Rainbow City. Everyone in Rainbow city went to see it. It was really neat, they had animals that we didn’t even know about, like elephants and horses and monkeys. There was music and clowns and magic tricks and popcorn and hot dogs and cotton candy.

The first act was the acrobats, which made me really happy! Everyone else thought it was kind of silly. The acrobat people need long sticks to walk on the tight rope, so why don’t they send monkeys instead? Monkeys don’t need any sticks! But I like to watch them anyway.

Then came the clowns, and then the dog and pony show. Just a little more time before the big finale, when the girl gets shot from the cannon.

We had a really good time watching the show. Then Candy Bear and Banker Bear decided to go get snacks. Candy Bear is really nice; she was going to get something for everyone. I asked for a hamburger. But when she finished taking everyone’s orders, she couldn’t find Cinnamon Bear!

Cinnamon Bear never missed food, and besides, it was almost time for his favorite act - the girl getting shot out of the cannon. We knew that Cinnamon wouldn’t want to miss that! It’s all he talked about all day. Where could he be? We figured maybe he had gone closer to the ring to see better. So we all looked for him down by the ring.

Cannon Girl walked out into the ring. She was carrying something. We couldn’t make out what it was. The Ringmaster said (in a big deep voice, that sounded almost ‘zactly like Banker Bear”) “Ladies, Gentlemen, Teddy Bears, stuffed animals and friends, here she is, the star of our show - Cannon Girl. And this evening’s show will be extra special - Cannon Girl will be carrying a passenger. Cinnamon Bear has volunteered to ride on Cannon Girl’s shoulder!”

Wow, was this ever going to be neat! We all watched as Cannon Girl bowed, then Cinnamon Bear stood on her shoulder and he bowed too. We all yelled and cheered. Cinnamon looked so proud, and we were really proud of him! It’s fun to cheer for a good friend - it was almost like cheering for ourselves!

Cannon Girl climbed into the cannon, and one of the clowns lit the fuse and we all started holding our ears. Then suddenly there was a really loud “BOOM” and Cannon Girl flew out of the cannon in a puff of smoke! And there on her shoulder was Cinnamon Bear!

Foxy Bear was staring at the flying pair really hard, “Cinnamon is taking something out of his pocket” he told us. “I wonder what it could be?”

Cannon Girl flew higher and higher. Just when she got as high as she could go, Cinnamon Bear jumped off her shoulder! Then, Cinnamon put his hands in the air over his head, and something popped out of his hands into the air above him. Four balls, attached to his hands by strings!

Then there was a “Poof” that we could all hear, even as far away as we were, and the balls blew up into big balloons - and Cinnamon stopped falling! “Look, Lady Bear! I can fly too!” he yelled to us. “These balloons are carrying me into the sky! Know what? I think I’m going to fly up and see the Rainbow up close”. There is a big waterfalls just outside Rainbow City, and when the sun is shining, there is a big rainbow, too.

Whoosh Bunny said to us, “You know, the wind is blowing Cinnamon away from the Rainbow, and even though he can float with those balloons, he can’t really fly into the wind. I’m going to fly up there and push him over to the Rainbow!”

Whoosh has really strong legs. His legs made a funny sound, “SPROINNNNG”, when jumped way up in the air. Then he started flapping his ears and away he flew, chasing Cinnamon Bear. He caught up real fast, and started pushing Cinnamon towards the waterfall and the Rainbow.

All my friends started eating the treats that Candy Bear had picked out and Banker Bear had bought for them. My hamburger was really good! We went back to watching the circus. The last event of all was a parade, when all the clowns and acrobats and animals and other performers walked into the ring and bowed.

We talked about Cinnamon finally getting his wish and flying - and how he and Whoosh the Bunny were going to go look at the Rainbow. Everyone thought it was a great story and we were all cheering for Cinnamon - except Rainbow Bear. She doesn’t say very much, but she’s really smart.

She thought really hard, and then started to looked worried. She hurried over to Foxy Bear and pointed up at the sky, towards Whoosh and Cinnamon. They were almost at the Rainbow, and they were so far away that to most of us, they were just a dot in the sky. But Foxy Bear has really good eyes, he could see them as well as if they were standing right next to us.

“Uh oh” said Foxy Bear. “I think they’re in trouble! Whoosh is sitting on Cinnamon Bear’s head. The balloons can’t keep them both up, so they are going to fall into the lake! The water is cold and they don’t like to get wet! You better go help them, Lady Bear!”

So I did. “This is a job for Lady Bear!” I shouted as I jumped into the air. “Up, into the blue!” I don’t usually say things like that but I wanted to make sure my friends knew I would help, ‘cause I didn’t want them to be scared.

I zoomed through the air and I reached my friends really fast. “What’s wrong? Why are you sitting on Cinnamon’s head, Whoosh?”

“We were getting closer to the Rainbow, when the wind changed and the wind started to push us into the waterfall. I flew around behind Cinnamon and tried to push him away, but I got too tired. So I landed on his head ‘cause I had to rest.

“But the balloons won’t hold us both up, so we started dropping. That’s good, because we fell out of the wind, and we’re not being pushed into the Waterfall anymore. But it’s bad because we’re going to land in the lake and get really cold and wet!

“I could glide away but then Cinnamon Bear would float up into the wind and get pushed right into the Waterfall!”

Cinnamon was looking really worried, too, and he said “My arms are getting really really tired, Lady Bear! I was OK till Bunny landed on my head - but if Bunny stays on my head much longer, I won’t be able to hold the balloons and I’ll fall! I’ll land right in the lake and it’s really cold! Can you help us?”

“There’s no need to fear, Lady Bear is here!” I don’t usually say that either, but I had a plan! “Don’t worry, I have a plan!” I told them. Both of my friends looked lots happier when they heard that.

“Whoosh Bunny, untie one of the balloons, then glide home…”

“3 balloons isn’t enough to keep me up, even if Whoosh glides away! I’ll fall into the cold water!” Cinnamon yelled.

“Don’t worry, that’s all part of my plan, Cinnamon Bear. I’ll swoop down under you, and you can land on my back! Then I’ll carry you home. But don’t let go of the other balloons or we’ll both get cold and wet!” Normally, Cinnamon Bear would be too heavy for me to carry, but I thought if he was still holding 3 of the balloons, he would be just light enough.

Whoosh untied one of the balloons, and then sort of hopped off of Cinnamon Bear’s head. He spread his big ears and started gliding towards the circus tent. “See you there!” he yelled, as he swooped away.

Cinnamon Bear started to look a little nervous as he started falling down toward the lake. But before he could even think about being scared, I zoomed down under him, and he landed on my back. “Hooray! You saved me, Lady Bear!” And then I guess he started having fun, because he said “Hi Ho Silver, away!” I guess he was pretending to be a cowboy.

We flew down towards the circus. We were almost there when Cinnamon Bear said “I can’t hold on any longer, Lady Bear - my arms are so tired. I just have to let go!”

We were too high to be safe! “Hold on just a little longer, Cinnamon! You have to!”

I guess being scared help make him forget how tired he was, just for a minute, because he held on a little bit longer. I flew as fast as I can. But he couldn’t hold on long enough for me to land! He let go and we started falling. Cinnamon Bear was scared, but not me - even though he was tired, he held on just long enough.

When he let go, we were right over the net where Cannon Girl landed! We fell, but we landed in the net and bounced and bounced. Know what? If Cinnamon hadn’t been so scared, he might have had fun…

Eunice Unicorn, the mayor of Rainbow City, decided to have a holiday the next day with a parade. The parade would be for me, ‘cause Eunice said I was a big hero! But I told her that Rainbow Bear and Foxy Bear are heroes too, and they should be in the parade with me. So Eunice said they could be in the parade too.

I didn’t see Whoosh or Cinnamon at all the rest of the day. Finally I went to look for them. I looked all over - I looked at Whoosh’s house and I looked at Cinnamon’s house and I looked in the park and I looked almost everywhere. Finally, I went to Rainbow Bear and asked if she could think of where I should look. She doesn’t talk much but she’s really smart.

I told her where I looked and then she sat down and thought for a long time. Finally she stood up and took my hand and pulled me outside. She pointed down the road that goes away from Rainbow City and out of Bearazona! Then she whispered in my ear ‘Better hurry!’. When Rainbow Bear talks, it’s really important, so I flew down the road as fast as I can!

I flew and flew and flew and I finally saw two little specs on the road far away!

I flew even faster and as I got closer I could see that it was Cinnamon Bear and Whoosh Bunny.

Rainbow Bear was right again! Finally I caught up with them and flew down into the road and landed right in front of them.

“What are you guys doing?” I wanted to know. “Why aren’t you back at home?” They were each carrying a bag with clothes in it, and I knew what they were doing, really - but I wanted to find out why.

“I did a really dumb thing when I thought I could fly with balloons!’ Cinnamon said. He was almost crying. “Now I’ll never be able to fly!”

“And I pulled him over towards the waterfall, and we got caught in the wind and we had to be rescued!” said Whoosh. “And I couldn’t even help!”

“Everyone knows how dumb we were and everyone is going to laugh at us!” They both said this at the same time; it would have been funny except they were both so sad. “How could we go to the parade like that?”

“Know what?” I said. “Eunice Unicorn wants you guys to be on the float with me and Rainbow Bear and Foxy Bear! So you have to come back!”

“Why?” said Cinnamon. “All I did was something stupid… and I can’t ever do it again, either…”

“And me - I couldn’t even help my friend!” cried Whoosh.

“You guys listen to me, OK?” I almost yelled at them. “Whoosh, you _did_ help save Cinnamon! When you landed on his head, you guys started falling and you fell out of the wind and that kept you from being blown into the waterfalls! And you were very brave - you could have glided away any time, but you stayed with Cinnamon until I could get there and take over.”

Whoosh’s face stopped frowning, as he thought about this. Finally, he started to smile. “You know, I think you’re right! I’m gonna go back and be in the parade!”

Cinnamon got even sadder. He sat down in the middle of the road. “What about me? Why would anyone want to see dumb me anymore?”

“Well,” I said, “it’s true that you did a dumb thing. But sometimes we all do dumb things! Heck, I’ve even done dumb things. What’s important is that you learned that it was dumb…”

Cinnamon Bear interrupted me “I already know it was dumb! When I was floating from the balloons, the wind blew me towards the waterfalls and there was no way I could get away! And then my arms got so tired I couldn’t hang on! So I know better now, but so what? I’ll never get to fly again. I might as well just go away…” and he stood up and started walking, away from Rainbow City.

“Stop! I’m not finished yet!” I yelled at him. He turned around, and it made me sad to see the tears on his face. “Listen! Rainbow Bear - you know how smart she is?” and he nodded his head. “Well, she figured out how you can fly again. She made a belt and attached the balloons to it - and then she tied a long rope around a really big rock and she attached it to the belt, too! So you can put the belt on and fly - and the rope will keep you from blowing away!”

“Really? Really really?” Cinnamon was still crying, but now there was hope on his face!

“Really, really really!” I told him. “But, you have to come back to Rainbow City.

“Know what else?” I asked him. “ ‘member how you always thought you were too little? Well, if you weren’t little, you wouldn’t be able to use the balloon belt. Everybody else is too heavy - it will only work with you!”

“Wow! It’s not so bad to be little, after all! Let’s go! I can hardly wait!!!” Cinnamon started running back to Rainbow City.

The next day there was a big parade and all of us rode on a big float and everyone cheered for all of us!

Cinnamon got his wish. He can’t fly like Whoosh or I can, but he can float with his balloon belt, and the wind can’t blow him away. He doesn’t feel bad about being little anymore, either. He even changed his name (kind of). His new name is Cinnamon, the Amazing One of a Kind Floating Bear! But he says it’s OK if we just call him Cinnamon, like before.

But you know what he wants now? We were talking yesterday and he said “You know when I was running away - and you said that even you have done dumb things? Well, I want you to tell me the story of the dumb thing you did!”

I almost wish I hadn’t said that, because I know that sooner of later I’m going to have to tell that story… But not now, I’m out of time for today.

See you later! Thanks for listening!