Moriarty was a gift from a friend who knew I collected Teddy bears. She bought him at a market, and graciously thought of me. He has a Steiff tag in his ear, and so she logically thought he was a Steiff, but he is not. He is of good quality though, and I appreciated her thoughtfulness. Anyone could be fooled.
Moriarty was born in South London, but his family moved to Hay-On-Wye, a small market town in Wales, when he was just a young cub. His parents operated a bookstore there, one of many in the town. The shop specialized in children's literature, so Moriarty met lots of young lads and lassies while restocking new inventory. Once a week, there was storyteller hour, and he would join the group, and sometimes fall fast asleep in a child's arms.
On the weekends, Moriarty would visit other bookstores in town, blending in with the tourists who were bused in. He was always nattily dressed with his bright blue ribbon around his neck. His favorite bookstore was Murder and Mayhem on Lion Street. He would climb up the bookcases to reach the highest shelves and would lose his sense of time. One day while browsing the different titles, he thought he was being watched, but then quickly shook off the feeling. He supposed he read too many mystery novels. Later he fell asleep, as was his habit, on a nice comfy chair near the rear of the store. When he woke up, he felt a throbbing on the left side of his head. Someone had put a Steiff button and tag in his ear! He tried to remove it, shaking his head and pulling with all his might, but it just would not come off. In the following weeks, he consulted with experts in bear repair, but no one wanted to take the risk of doing such delicate surgery. He still doesn't know who put the flag in his ear, or why they did such a thing, but he is finally at peace with its presence. It is just another one of those mysteries.
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