As we were stopped at a light one rainy day, I happened to glance into the gutter to see a soggy brown mass that looked oddly like fur. Just a dead animal, I though. Or perhaps a piece of litter thrown by the careless motorist. Let it be - it looks awful dirty. As I looked back to the light, the thought struck me (knocking my glasses off) that maybe that was some little kid's lost stuffed animal. I owed it to the poor kid to investigate. I scooped it out of the gutter, and dropped it on the floor of the van. The light changed, and I left.
It was after I got home that I gave it a closer look. Sure enough, it was a raggedy old brown stuffed bear. Part of its leg was coming off, and it was missing an eye. The situation looked pretty grim (or grizzly - yuk yuk). Just for the fun of it though, I slipped it in the dirty clothes headed for the white magic dishwasher.
The bear that came out of the washer was a completly different animal. It was brightly coloured, with patches of pink and blue and yellow. He had faded a bit, but you could see that he had been a mighty fine lookin teddy in his day. I recognized that I had been wrong to judge this bear by the dirt that had clung to him, and by the gutter he was cast down in. All he needed was a helping hand, and a little help of the cleansing washing maching, and he could be made clean.
So, the bear who once lay in the gutter, now sleeps on the pillow next to my head every night. And that is the story of my little bear.