An old story but still relevant. Thanks to my AF who translated the biggest part of it.

I get used to the situation that our family is making every two years a big travel. Then my stephfather has saved enough money to go to his homecountry: Indonesia. There we spend the summer holidays.

When the time arives everybody is happy exept for one member of the family. My smallest brother, Jeetje 9 y.o., turns pale when the time reach us to go abroad. This is not because he is getting homesick or having troubles with a flight in an aeroplane. Nothing of that all. It is because he experienced a big problem during our last stay in Indonesia. This problem was too hard to handle for him and it worked out so enormous that my parents did make some arrangements to forcome worse. That is why everybody is forbidden to speak about the day of departure or to speak about the time we are moving to Indonesia. Nobody is allowed to know any travel-specifications. There is good reason to it. If Jeetje is aware that a trip is aproaching him, then big problems would arise.

What happened?

Like I told before, we make every two years a big trip. Weeks before our leaving my mother is used to collect ordinary stuff like underwear, handkerchiefs, towells, socks and so on. In that period suitcases are all around us, many times before we are leaving. Also Jeetje knows that he is supposed to collect his stuff and to put it into mom’s suitcase. And there remains always one particular place for his little friend. Bunkie is his name and the friendship between him and his friend is unbreakable. However, not in daytime. Then Jeetje is playing somewhere outside and doesn’t think a lot about his friend who is patiently waiting for him in his room. No, Bunkie is a special friend during nighttime. My bro and his friend are spending the night together. Let me tell you, Bunkie is a teddybear.

When I go to the toilet in the hall I can hear my little brother mumble to his toyfriend. Then they have long stories to tell and the bear knows everything about my brother. I don’t know what they have to discuss together but one thing is for sure: they like each other. Only one remark: Jeetje is too shy to tell other people about his relationship with his teddybear. Love is a weakness and nobody of his age likes to tell anybody else that he is in love with his teddybear.

During the previous trip to Indonesia it went wrong. When the aeroplane did leave Amsterdam Schiphol we didn’t realise that Bunkie was still at home. Simply forgotten. Imagine: one small teddybear, home alone, while his partner was traveling somewhere into the big wide world. Jeetje thought that his teddybear was sleeping in the suitcase of his parents but that was a big mistake.

In the meantime we arrived in Jakarta and we had an overwhelming reunion with our family. Then the night came and whispered out softly the name of my smallest brother: “Jeetje it is bedtime. Come to bed”. Mom spread out the pyjama on his bed and tried to find the teddybear but he wasn’t there. A sad face appears and when Jeetje realised that his teddybear was left in the Netherlands he cried out his eyes. Bunkie must be still at home, lonesome waiting in a dark house. Jeetje started to cry much louder and in such an emotional way that everybody started to cry. He was desparate and asked for a taxi to collect his friend from home. He was mad with my parents and during the holiday nobody could really comfort him. Nice trips to touristical parts of Indonesia or riding horseback on the Artayasha place couldn’t make him happy. The little man had only time to think about his unforgettable teddybear. A friend so far away.

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Many complicated question came up in his head:

· how was Bunkie?

· did he still live when they return home?

· could the bear find something to eat?

The first part was solved in a quick manner. Ma contacted her parents and they collected Bunkie from home. They placed the bear on the couch so that they could watch him every minute a day. So the bear wasn’t alone anymore. That was a big solution for Jeetje, but still my little brother was very lonesome during the nights. All members of the family brought another teddybear to my brother. But it didn’t really help. At the final day of our holiday there were about twentyfive bears sleeping in his bed. He was not friendly to them and threw them in an angry mood on the floor when the time arrives that he had to sleep. It was in his mind that making friendship with another teddybear then his own was betrayel. My little brother had sworn to have only one friend and that friend was Bunkie. He promised to give his loyalty only to his own teddybear. No other bear could replace the bear he loved so much.

A holliday came to his end and we were ready for sailing homewards. You hardly could see it but my little brother was nervous. Not because of travelling all the way back, but because he had missed his teddybear so badly. The moment our vehicle stopped in our street he jumped out and ran to the front of our home. He was not really patient to wait for his father and he grabbed away the keys from his fathers hands and opened the door. He went straight to his room. Later we heard him crying while he was hugging the bear. It was a very touchy reunion and my brother made excuses to the bear and kissed his friend not one time but twentythousands times. Rumours go that also the bear started to cry, but that are only rumours.

Since that very moment he is having troubles when he is having a slightly idea that we are going to make a big travel. Then he is in complete panic and starts running to his room to watch if his little bear is still there. He repeats this ritual almost every second a day. And when he have to go to school he likes to be convinced that the door of his room is locked. After playing outside, he comes home and the first thing he’ll have to do is to make an inspection if the bear is still there. Jeetje and Bunkie are two friends and friends don’t leave each other. Their friendship is everlasting.

This time my parents decided to make no announcements about the traveldate and time. But in someway, somehow, he felt that a journey was close. Maybe because he noticed a suitcase standing somewhere on a different place. Or maybe because of another sorting out of the towells. Nobody knows.

And then the time of the holidays came again. The trip to Indonesia started. All the time Jeetje holds his teddybear in his hands. There was no shame anymore for his partner and showed the bear to everyone. In the aeroplane they allowed Jeetje and Bunkie to see the cockpit and all the stewards were very found of him. But during the flight he didn’t sleep a single moment. He stayed watching. Sometimes I felt his head on my shoulder when he was dreaming away but a few minutes later he opened up his eyes again . Everything was alright to him at the moment he felt his teddybear close to him.

We arrived in Jakarta for another holiday. The reunion was nice and the temperature was around 30 degrees. We didn’t need any alternative stuff to become brown.

Bunkie was sitting on a chair near the swimmingpool that belongs to our house. The bear was wearing sunspecs and was watching us playing in the water. Jeetje told us that the bear has been promoted to swimmingguard and Bunkie was getting a salary for his good work: 5 candy’s a day. My brother organised a box to put the candy’s in but the next day the candy’s were gone. Jeetje explained that the bear did eat them.

But I have serious doubts

Jatagan 20-07-2002

Jatagan