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 Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:17 pm
At least he thought that they could. Not when they are very little, of course. He couldn’t say his name when he was a tiny baby bear. But after he had started going to school he knew it very well
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:22 pm
On Easter Sunday, very early just after the store had opened, a Mommy and Daddy bought Roger and Ronnie for their twin boys.
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:26 pm
"They look nice," Rita said. She was happy that her brothers had found a good home but felt sad, too, because she was beginning to miss them already.
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:28 pm
At the front of the store a table had been set up with chocolate Easter eggs. And as it was now Easter Sunday, they had been marked down to half price.
After everyone had gone home for the day, Wolstencroft picked the nicest egg he could find and gave it to Rita, to cheer her up.
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:31 pm
They shared the egg, making sure it didn’t get onto their clothes.
Then they started to talk about the name Wolstencroft again.
"I wouldn’t want to change it," Wolstencroft declared. " I mean it’s me. I’ve had it all my life.
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:33 pm
"But if it’s stopping you from getting a home," Rita insisted. "You may have to." She hopped over to the book department and returned with a book called What to Name Baby.
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:37 pm
Then she began reading out the names she thought might suit Wolstencroft.
"What about Adrian?" she suggested. "It’s a lovely name, very dignified."
But Wolstencroft shook his head.
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:38 pm
"Well, what do you think of Bernard? It actually means brave as a bear."
But Wolstencroft was not impressed. So Rita left the B's and began flipping through the pages of the book, reading out a name for each letter of the alphabet starting with C.
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:40 pm
"Clive, David, Edwin, Francis, Graham, Howard, Ivan, Jeremy, Keith, Leonard, Miles, Nathan, Oliver, Percy, Quentin, Rodney, Selwyn, Timothy, Ulysses, Vincent, Winston." 
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:44 pm
And here she stopped because the names beginning with X, Y and Z: Xavier, Yves and Zachary, were too difficult for her to pronounce. If she could not pronounce them then surely a child could not. There was no sense in taking a name that was even harder to say than the one he already had
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:45 pm
But Wolstencroft didn’t like any of the names she suggested. At least not for himself. "They’re all fine names," he said, popping a piece of chocolate into his mouth then dabbing his mouth with a napkin. "But, they’re just not me."
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:49 pm
Rita stayed lost in thought for a very long time, tapping her cheek with her finger. And it wasn’t until the big clock behind the pharmacy counter struck ten that she finally spoke.
"I think I have the answer," she said. "You could have a name that’s easy to say and keep your name at the same time."
Wolstencroft looked puzzled. "That doesn’t make sense," he replied.
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:06 pm
"Oh, but it does," Rita insisted. "You only have to shorten the name you have." Wolstencroft began to look interested. "You mean I would still be Wolstencroft, but I’d have a shorter, easier to pronounce name for those who preferred it." "That’s right," she cried excitedly. "And you have such a long name that there are several choices." And she began ticking them off on her fingers.
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:07 pm
"Woolly, Wolsten, Sten or Croft. Which one do you like best?"
Wolstencroft thought very carefully, mulling over each name in his mind. "I like Croft," he decided at last. It’s very dignified.
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:09 pm
Rita looked disappointed. "I like Woolly best," she said. "It’s so cuddly and friendly. And you are woolly, you have a lovely thick coat."
Wolstencroft looked uncertain.
"You would still be Wolstencroft," Rita reminded him. "And that’s a very dignified name indeed. Woolly would be a nice contrast."
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