During a much-needed vacation to beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Cricket and I spent an entire day at Pier 21, the wonderfully historic Museum of Immigration located on the waterfront. After nearly eight hours on our feet, we still wanted to stroll down to Pier 12, a more commercial/industrial area of the harbour.
This is when we first saw Ellie, disheveled and propped up against the side of a rusty container that had recently arrived from Shandong, China. As Cricket took this photo, I rushed toward her with every intent of calling her my own. Before I reached her, a burly stevedore grabbed Ellie and stuffed her into a box and threw the box into the back of an eighteen- wheeler.
I begged him to sell me the teddy bear, but he could not…would not. It was not his job. In fact, he said he could lose his job if he did such a thing. The stevedore did tell me that the shipment of boxes was destined for cities in Northern Ontario, Canada.
Months passed. Every time I found myself in North Bay, Timmins or Sudbury, I rummaged through the Walmarts and Thrift stores looking for Ellie. One day, in a Salvation Army thrift store in Sudbury, Ontario Canada…
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