Posted by the Cub Preporter: I just want to brief all you Stotts City news fans about a typical summer day here at the old bear shop. Pictured above is the heart of the business district in Stotts City. Valet parking is always available. There are many things you can do in Stotts City. In fact to paraphrase Morgan Freeman's (did you hear he was in a wreck in Mississippi, I hope he comes through okay) character Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding from the movie "The Shawshank Redemption."
"In Stotts City you can either git busy living or you can git busy buying a bear or gitting the mail, or gitting drunk or git busy dying." Because when you're in Stotts City you can visit Donna's Bar or the Stearnsy Bear Shop or the United States Post Office(not pictured, you'll have to take my word on it) or the Lakin Funeral Parlor. It's around the corner from the bar. Very handy. It's not really a parlor per say. They work on the dead folks in Pierce City and then haul them in. So it's more like a chapel. So if you are in need of any of these services please stop by. We're always open. Just don't look for a grocery store.
Here is a picture of some new folks enjoying their stay in Stotts City while they wait for new homes. "Hollander" (on the left) and "Capt'n Stotts of Lawrence County" (He's a Good American Stearnsy Bears) enjoy the cooling shade of the Stotts City Bandstand. It's where office workers would go to take their lunch if there were any offices in Stotts City.
It's funny how things work out here around the bear shop. We had no idea that Capt'n Stotts was going to show up. I'm sure all the smart people have a plan not just for today but for the future. That's why they are the successes they are and we spend our days making Teddy bears. It's daily proof to me that God has a sense of humor.
Anyhoo, we had run an ad in the Lawrence County Record, the outstanding local weekly paper, looking for vintage furs. Remind me not to do that again. We found out lots of people have furs in their closets and each is quite valuable to them. I mean, we can't afford to pay what Grandma paid. So like most of my ideas, I find this didn't work out like I envisioned. Probably that darned lack of planning. But one day a local couple showed up and they had a fur that had seen a lot of American History. I had my doubts but Vicky could see through what looked bad to the heart of the coat and she knew there was something special there. So we gave the elderly couple a check for $40.00. This made us feel good because we also helped out the local economy. They took that check right in to the bar next door. What happened to the money after is unknown to us.
Each fur coat is different. It depends on the type of fur, how they have stored, how good a quality they were to start with. So the fur kind of has the final say about what kind of bear we can make. So with this fur we began to cut away the bad stuff. There are always what we would call nicks and bruises in older furs but to us that is just character. But this mink had been stored in a barrel in a shed for no telling how long. That's an improper fur storage technique. But as we began to trim, the fur that was left got better and better. You could see how beautiful the mink was. It had a really cool pattern effect in the grain. It's hard to see in the pictures. We cut most of the coat away but what was left was perfect. Then we started in with our own little bit of practical magic. So that is how Capt'n Stotts showed up. The Capt'n is around 22" tall standing up which is what he does when the flag passes by. The mink had a little twist which showed up in his face. We thought it gave him kind of a quizzical Stotts City look. You know like, "What just happened." Capt'n Stotts prefers not to go most places without his vintage American Flag. Capt'n always says ,"better safe than sorry, if you're not carrying a flag, how could anyone tell that you really are a Good American Bear."
So to close off our tour of Stotts City we leave you with the phrase that all us hicks around here like to say, "I thought I could make it." Wait, check that, that's what Charlie Estes said after a truck hit his car while he was trying to cross the highway. What I meant to say was "Only in America but mostly only in Stotts City."
http://www.stearnsybears.com/
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