Regency
Legacy Name: Regency.

Once upon a time...

“But mom,” Jimmy whined, holding his stuff toy to his chest. “It’s show and tell. I want to show Reggie off to my friends!”

Regency wasn’t entirely happy about being renamed “Reggie” in place of his more regal name, but he knew it was because Jimmy was young and “Regency” was a bit complex for him. They hadn’t known each other long, but he did like being held again. Hugged again. Like now, as Jimmy squeezed the stuffed animal to his chest as if to prove to his mother how much the toy was loved.

Angie, Jimmy’s mother, was moved by her son, and she didn’t want to put up a fight, but there was still a warning in the back of her mind. Jimmy had a habit of losing his things: leaving them in his cubby, or on the playground. More than once he had traded one toy for another. Regency was new to Jimmy, a gift for his 6th birthday two months back. But he wasn’t new to Angie, and losing him would break her heart. Regency had been her best friend as a young child. Made by her own grandmother with love, he had protected her from the monsters in the closet. He had been her shoulder to cry on when she was put in time out, or when some boy at school pulled her hair. The buttons holding his legs to his body had been replaced or resewn at least twice, and the once-colorful cotton fabric had become faded and worn from the years of love. Only now was he Jimmy’s, when Angie felt her son might take care of her former friend, who had been collecting dust on her dresser.

“Please, please, please, pleaassssse!” Jimmy continued. “Reggie will love class and they’ll love him!”

Angie had replacements in her closet for some of the other toys that Jimmy owned, and at least twice she had been forced to replace a friend who had been left behind in a hotel on vacation. But he’d been younger then. If she were going to trust him with Regency’s heart, she had to trust him with his body too.

“Okay,” she relented, “on one condition.”

Jimmy frowned. “What’s that?”

“Regency, Reggie, is family. You don’t leave family behind when you come in from recess, and you don’t trade him away. Not for anything.”

“Of course not, mom,” Jimmy said, smiling at the easy instructions. “He’s my best friend!”

Credits: Profile by: Ringo - Pet Art by: roar
Story by: Gossamer
Background textures from freepik