January 2011
Poor Dora, they had been telling her she should go to the doctor, losing all that weight wasn't good but she'd insisted she was alright. Suddenly she was in hospital and having an emergency operation. Kate visited her every day, they had been neighbours for years, Kate looked after the two cats and kept an eye on the house when Dora was off on one of her many holidays. Dora had never talked much about her family, her brother, who lived in Scotland had died years ago. Dora rarely saw his two adopted children. But after a while in the hospital she had mentioned them. Kate said perhaps she should contact them, but Dora said not to. They never bothered with her and she didn't like them. As soon as she got out of hospital she would make a will and leave most of her money to the Cats Protection and the rest to various friends.
Things were going well, for Dora. They said she could go home at the weekend. She hadn't had time to dress properly when the ambulance arrived to take her to the hospital so Kate gathered up some suitable clothes and took them with her on her next visit. She was surprised to find Dora was in intensive care, the operation had been a success but she had succumbed to the hospital disease. That was the last time she saw Dora. She drove home in a daze, how could this have happened so quickly? She collected the keys and went to feed the cats, the door key wouldn't work, suddenly the door opened and there stood the niece.
'I've changed the locks.' she said.
Kate was mortified, did this woman think she was going to steal things? 'I came to feed the cats.'
'You can if you like, but I'm having them put down. I don't like cats.'
'NO.' Kate was shocked.
'What else can I do?'
'Dora would be heartbroken.'
'It's all arranged.'
Before she could stop herself Kate blurted out.
'I'll have them.'
'Alright, come in a collect the dishes and food.'
Dora's house was always cluttered. The two cats and about thirty teddy bears were the two loves of her life. The bears had sat around in little chairs, on special cushions taking up every spare space. There was no sign of the bears. The niece had taken the home for safety; some of them, she said are worth about fifty to a hundred pounds. She had been searching for the will, and was relieved to hear there wasn't one. She had also been throwing out anything she didn't want. In a box waiting to go to the tip Kate noticed a small tatty bear, she stroked his head, Dora had loved him, he’d been her favourite.
'You can have it if you like.'
'Oh thanks, something to remember her by.'
He certainly did look a bit scruffy, his fur was thin in places, one arm was loose and he had only one eye. Kate took him home, 'Poor little one eyed bear' she said as she sat him on her bookcase. It was several months later when a friend called round and noticed the bear.
'You did realise it's a Steiff?'
'No.'
'I saw one exactly like it on the Antiques Roadshow, it went for over six thousand pounds.'