Qantas the Koala

This is me with my favorite stuffed animal, Qantas the Koala. He was named after the Australian airline. Their commercials used to feature a man with a koala bear. For whatever reason, I fell in love with koala bears. So Granny bought me one. I loved the damned thing so much (it went EVERYWHERE with me - or so I am told) that it literally fell apart. Then my mom bought me a replacement bear. But I didn't have the heart to get rid of old Qantas for the New and Improved Qantas so I kept them both.

The story behind this original Qantas, though, as narrated to me by my mother, follows the picture.




"Mom and I went to Super Value to pick up groceries for Easter dinner, which I would be preparing this year. It was Mom's first year in Fairview Manor. You would have been about three at this time. And, of course, she insisted on carrying you around the grocery store instead of placing you in the cart. She was trying to quiet you down since we had been over at Eckstein's and you saw a huge stuffed Koala bear. Of course, you wanted it, but it was too expensive. I think it was $15. So you threw a tantrum. Mom cradled you in her arms and sang you a song.
Myrtle was still adjusting to living in Fair View and relying on us for things. After all, her teacher's retirement wasn't extravagant and her rent at Fairview consumed most it. Still she was fiercely independent. She refused any help your father and I offered.
So I told Mom that I was going to cook a ham for Easter. She selected the largest one. Then, and I remember this clearly, she slung you over her shoulder, used all of her 98 pounds to lift the ham with her right arm and set it in the cart, all the while shooing me and my attempts to help her away with her left arm.
As I was picking up a few last things, I lost sight of you and Mom. When I turned toward the cash register, I saw her haggling with the poor young girl at the check out counter. It seems that Mom was trying to pay for the ham before I got to the check out. She knew full well I would not let her, especially with her fixed income. But the cashier didn't know what to charge her since the price tag was on the ham, which was in the cart, which I was pushing toward the check out.
Mom told me that she was paying for the ham.
Naturally, I refused.
We must have argued over who was going to pay for that ham for five minutes as the poor check out girl added up our bill and the Nelson boy bagged the groceries.
You should have seen Mom. Of course, I paid for the ham and she was absolutely livid. If it wasn't for you, I'm sure she would have stormed out and walked all the way back to her apartment.
Well, Easter Sunday came and I called and called and called, but Mom wouldn't answer. I sent your father over to her apartment while I cooked dinner, but she wouldn't come to the locked and bolted door.
That was the first Easter dinner without Mom.
Of course, she found a way to get us back. I don't know how she did it, because the stores were closed that day, but when Kevin went to let Trixie out the back porch, he yelled for us to come and see what was sitting on the steps.
There sat your koala bear. That bear is still in the attic somewhere."