Umbrella

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Author's note: Ugh, when have I started summarizing my cheesy stories with an even cheesier hundred-buck question? I must say that while I have loved these characters since I was a kid, the idea of writing about them had never really occurred to me until recently. I was randomly going through some animated videos online when I came across an episode of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh series called "Donkey for a Day" and there's just something about the ending that I found very touching. Then I also happened to see an adorable collectible figure (see end notes for more details), which spontaneously inspired me the main idea for this story. Since for some reason, my writing invariably turns out to be rather sappy and/or downright depressing, I would say that the general feel of this fic is closer to that of the Disney films from the 90's (such as the surprisingly serious Tigger Movie) than to the much lighter and episodic first movie, though I also took inspiration from the books. I hope the characters won't seem atrociously off as a result...

Except for some little references here and there, I did not try to imitate Milne's writing style, which would inevitably have come out as an epic fail anyway. I have to apologize in advance for my absolute inability to write in (British) English. Please feel free to point out any flagrant mistakes regarding the language, the geography of the Hundred Acre Wood, the characterization or any other significant detail that I may (very possibly) have gotten wrong. Thank you for your interest in my humble writing!

Disclaimer: I don't know how I could possibly be mistaken for a literary genius, but just to make sure, here we go ('round the mulberry bush). Except for a few details of my own invention, all characters and places featured or mentioned in this story are the intellectual property of the great author A.A. Milne, and their depictions herein are mostly based on Disney's many animated adaptations of his books, Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. Therefore, I do not claim to own anything and I make the unsurprising sum of zero profit out of my writing, which is displayed here for entertainment purposes solely. Voilà!

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Chapter 1 - A Bad Day

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It had been a Bad Day. From Eeyore's perspective, very rare were the days that could be considered good, but so far, this one had been unfolding in a particularly disastrous way. Even before the late morning sunlight had a chance to awaken him gently as it usually did, his house ‒ which could be described more accurately as a simple tent made of sticks and barely large enough to contain him ‒ had been destroyed for the hundredth time, with him still inside, when out of nowhere a football had fallen in the middle of Pooh Corner and right through the precarious construction. It had not taken long until a breathless Piglet had swiftly come to retrieve it, stuttering a sheepish apology before darting back into the woods.

After a single unsuccessful attempt to reassemble the scattered sticks, which had countless times proven to be a laborious task to accomplish without hands, Eeyore had given up and opted to go for a walk instead, hoping that some distraction would prevent things from getting exponentially worse as they seemed to inevitably do on such days, or on most days as far as he was concerned. He had made it to a clearing when voices had alerted him to the presence of other animals. Out of the nearby vegetation had sprung Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, all running after the same ball that had destroyed his shelter, with Rabbit, Tigger and Roo hot on their heels. Peering through the dense foliage, Eeyore had thought that they seemed to be having a lot of fun, but he had not dared to invite himself in the middle of their game, assuming that if they had needed another player, they would have simply asked him.

Later that day, an overly excited Tigger had accidentally bounced him off the riverside, where he had been having an existential conversation with his own reflection. The current had carried him dangerously close to the great waterfall, before his friends had managed to pull him out using Christopher Robin's fishing rod. As if that last incident had not been enough, he had realized once he had been back on solid ground that his tail had not followed him out of the water.

All critters of the Hundred Acre Wood had assembled and spent the afternoon scouring the river banks in search of the lost tail, without success. Anxious to cheer up their downcast ‒ and completely drenched ‒ comrade after all his misfortunes, they had collectively tried their best to console him with promises to find him a replacement tail and they had attempted to distract him with all kinds of games, without much more success. After Eeyore's cynical remarks, which had been ignored as usual, had faded to a stoic silence, each one of his friends had then taken turns to try and convince him that the situation was not as dramatic as he made it out to be. In fact, they were still at it the moment this story actually begins.

"Oh well, it seems that you'll have to learn to live without it," Rabbit stated with a helpless shrug. "It was only a tail, after all."

"That's true," Piglet chimed in optimistically. "What really m-matters is that you're alright, Eeyore."

"Am I glad nothin' happened to you, ol' donkey boy!" exclaimed Tigger, spontaneously drawing the panicked donkey into a suffocatingly tight hug. "Phew, it really was a close one! Sorry 'bout that, by the way. I hadn't seen you there."

"It's alright. No one ever does," Eeyore croaked faintly with what little breath he had left in him.

"Don't be so pessimistic, my friend," Owl intervened. "An animal your size would be hard not to notice. As for your tail, there's no reason for mourning its loss. Such a simplistic appendage can easily be replaced with a great variety of very convenient substitutes. That reminds me of my great-uncle Waldo's youngest cousin, Roger-the-Bald, as we affectionately called him, who had to live with a duster for a tail after he was plagued with the 'flew'. That, you see, is what we call the mysterious disease which causes feathers to permanently fall off, the result of such misfortune being that one can no longer fly ‒ hence the name, you see. Now, Roger had been one of the most gracious gliders in this forest back when he had all his tail feathers..."

As Owl's grand family tail tale went on and on, the others soon began to exchange distressed glances as they found yawns increasingly hard to suppress, but they dared not interrupt him, for Christopher Robin had taught them all about the importance of always displaying good manners. However, that did not keep Winnie the Pooh from gradually growing more acutely aware of his surroundings than he was of the ongoing speech. Before long, he found his thoughts drifting away in unpredictable and mostly circular little patterns, pretty much like the erratic flight of a drowsy bee, going up with his wandering gaze to marvel at the size of the clouds that were quickly gathering over the forest, before lightly but fatally spiraling back down in the general direction of his already empty stomach. It was then that a very simple idea occurred to him. Very quietly, so as not to disturb the half-hypnotised group still listening to Owl's story, he made his way to Eeyore's side and lightly prodded his shoulder to get his attention.

"See, Eeyore, just now I was thinking, I don't have a tail either and that doesn't make me unhappy, as long as I can always have a little smackerel of honey," he pointed out helpfully. "Would it make you feel better if I shared some of mine with you?"

"Thanks for offering, Pooh, but I don't..." Eeyore began, before the bear suddenly rectified,

"Oh, bother. I'm sorry, Eeyore. I just remembered that I haven't got any honey left at home."

"How unfortunate," said Eeyore, sounding prodigiously indifferent.

"I can get you haycorns instead... i-if you would like some," suggested Piglet, whose big ears had caught his best friend's every word.

Except for his eyebrows, which looked as though they were very slowly melting so as to form a flat line above his eyes, Eeyore's features remained perfectly still. Tigger, who happened to be standing beside him, gently but firmly pushed the pink animal aside to take the spot in front of their dismal companion.

"Leave this to me, Piglet! Don't you see he ain't in the mood for eatin', are you, buddy?" he asked, turning to the other. Before Eeyore could utter a semblance of an answer, Tigger went on, gesticulating wildly as he did. "Of course, he isn't, but I know just what he needs. There's nothin' better to put a smile on a sad face than a little bouncin'!" Tigger effectively punctuated his affirmation with an energetic bounce, thus unintentionally getting the attention of a larger public than he had intended.

"I think it would be worth a try," Rabbit approved, rubbing his chin pensively. "Now if somebody could get me a trampoline... you!" he decided, randomly designating Piglet, whose face fell piteously.

Eeyore made no protest as his friends gathered around him from all sides, but had they paid attention, they would have noticed his eyes darting from left to right as though desperately scanning his surroundings for an escape, which is precisely what they were eagerly trying to localize. He was unexpectedly saved by Roo, who had briefly eluded his mother's attention and who presently came bouncing out of a nearby bush, holding a short branch garnished with a single tuft of orange leaves in his fingerless little hand.

"Look what I found, mummy!" he exclaimed merrily. "It's a new tail for Eeyore."

For the first time since everyone had joined in the positive thinking exhortation, there was a moment of silence as all voices died out, including Owl's.

"Would you like to try it on, dear?" asked Kanga, taking the branch from her son's paw and showing it to Eeyore.

"Guess it would be better than nothin'," mumbled the latter without any trace of enthusiasm, but with audible relief from the fact that the gang's previous plan which involved bouncing was suddenly falling into oblivion.

And so the tree branch was attached behind him with a piece of string that Kanga happened to be carrying in her pouch. Everyone rejoiced, except Eeyore, who remained as cheerless as ever.

"Problem solved! I say this calls for proper celebrations," declared Rabbit, as proudly as if he had been the one to find the solution.

"I think I'll just..." Eeyore began, before Tigger interrupted him by grabbing his shoulders.

"You'll see, buddy, we'll make you forget your troubles in no time at all!" exclaimed the enthusiastic feline, pulling at the donkey's front legs to make him bounce.

"I... doubt it... but nevermind... what I say," muttered Eeyore between rather painful landings on his behind.

"It's a pity that Christopher Robin had to leave so early today to meet that mysterious Damptist," deplored Winnie the Pooh. "I would have asked him if he happened to have cake and balloons for the occasion, by any chance..."

As he looked around, as though expecting a nice piece of cake to fall from a nearby tree, he spotted a breathless Piglet finally coming back from his errand, heroically struggling to push an object at least four times his size upon the very bumpy forest ground. Pooh ran up to help him, and also to inform him that the trampoline would not be needed, after all, which caused the exhausted little fellow to pass out.

While everybody else was busy cheering and discussing their ideas, Eeyore seized the occasion to distance himself from the excited group, the branch losing half of its leaves as it dragged on the ground behind him. Tigger, who still stood closest to him, was the first to notice his clumsy attempt at slipping away.

"Hey, where you goin', donkey boy? The fun's only just begun!" he said playfully.

"Sure looks like it," Eeyore observed flatly. "Wouldn't want to ruin it for you. Go ahead, enjoy yourselves."

"But Eeyore, the fun's supposed to be for you," objected Rabbit, who had joined them as soon as he had picked up on what was going on. "You can't desert your own party! That's no proper way to behave."

"Don't go, Eeyore! We haven't finished cheering you up yet," begged Roo plaintively.

Seeing the disappointed crowd closing in on him again, Eeyore took a few steps back.

"Not that I don't appreciate what you're all trying to do, but last time everyone decided to cheer me up, I nearly ended up getting killed. I'd rather be left alone for now, if you don't mind."

"There he goes again," an increasingly exasperated Rabbit grumbled under his breath.

"Why would anyone wish to be alone?" asked Pooh, scratching his head in confusion.

"We're all here for you," added Piglet warmly.

"Thanks but..." Eeyore uselessly demurred again.

"Since your replacement tail is already damaged, I can make you a new one out of wool this time. Would you like that?" Kanga offered benevolently.

"That's very kind of you, Kanga, but you don't need to do that for me. You should all get back to what you were doing while I go and sit by myself by that pond over there. Don't mind me."

"Nonsense! We're your friends, Eeyore. You've got to let us do something for you!" Rabbit insisted.

"I don't think you can."

"Eeyore!" scorned Owl from a branch just above him. "You should try to have a more positive attitude, my friend. Don't you see we're all going out of our way to improve your situation?"

"Sorry for wasting your time," Eeyore said, staring at the ground.

It went on like this for a while, until Rabbit's patience ran out entirely. "Fine!" he snapped, briskly stomping his foot on the ground. "I've had enough. If you won't make any effort to help us help you, then why don't you take your moping with you somewhere it won't victimise us all? You can go to whatever dreary place you fancy and enjoy your own miserable company if that's your idea of fun, but don't you dare come back whining that you're being ignored! I've got a thousand better ways to spend my precious time than to waste it on someone who can't appreciate it." On these words, he turned his back on the astonished group and angrily hopped down the road to his hole.

"I say," Owl said indeed, "that was not very considerate of you, Eeyore. Pushing away those who try to reach out to you... I fear that all our efforts cannot do much against your incurable apathy and the asocial tendencies you display. Now if you will excuse me, I shall leave you to your gloomy thoughts as is apparently your preference. I will be at my house, should you come to change your mind. Have a good day, my friends."

Eeyore's dull gaze followed the erudite bird as he took off, before setting itself back onto the forest ground, where it stayed glued obstinately afterwards. "I knew I'd better keep my thoughts to myself as usual," he said darkly, more to himself than to his remaining companions. "Speaking up never did me any good. Should've known better."

There was an awkward pause, which was soon broken by Tigger, who could no longer stand still. "By my stripes, all this standing and frownin's making my feet itch. Ya real sure you don't wanna give it a bounce, Eeyore ol' pal?"

"Real sure," muttered Eeyore numbly.

"Ah. Well uh, another time, then. Ta ta for now!" The hyperactive feline's iconic song about the wonderful qualities of Tiggers could be heard echoing faintly through the forest as his bouncy silhouette disappeared among distant trees.

His hasty departure seemed to inspire Pooh, who looked down at his growling belly and declared, "Please excuse my tummy for being so very rumbly. It's getting rather... insistant on reminding me that it's time for a little something to eat. I'm going to ask Rabbit if he could lend me just a tiny little jar of honey; he always has a few in store. Are you coming with me, Piglet?"

"Y-yes Pooh, I'm coming," answered the bear's nervous companion, throwing the sullen donkey a worried glance as he passed him by. "Will you be alright, Eeyore?"

"No," replied the latter without bothering to raise his downcast gaze. "Not that it matters."

Though momentarily taken aback by his blunt answer, Piglet quickly regained his composure and hurried after the ravenous bear. Soon, the only ones left were the kangaroos, who exchanged uncertain glances as they cautiously approached their miserable-looking friend.

"What's wrong, Eeyore?" Roo asked empathetically.

"Only everything," retorted the other somberly.

"Don't you like your new tail at all? I thought it would make you happy."

The child had such a disappointed expression that Eeyore made an effort to answer him with a milder tone. "Wish I could say it did, but I can't. The tail's fine, only I'm not."

"But why is that?" Roo insisted.

"Come, Roo, stop bothering Eeyore," instructed Kanga, holding her pouch open for the young kangaroo to jump in, which he did reluctantly. Before she left, she lay a gentle paw on the felled donkey's back.

"I'm so sorry about your tail, dear. I know how very attached to it you were. I do hope somebody finds it, just like last time you lost it. Don't worry, I'm sure it's just lying around somewhere down the river and you will soon get it back."

"Don't have much hope for that," was all she got for an answer.

As she lightly bounced away, Roo poked his head out to look up at her. "Mum, what makes some animals so sad?" he asked her innocently.

Surprised by his question, Kanga took a few more leaps before she answered him. "I don't know, dear. Maybe it's their heart that has been damaged."

Roo's brow furrowed in thought as he pondered the possibility. "You mean like that time when Tigger fell into the thorny bushes and broke his foot? He came out looking just as sad as Eeyore because he couldn't bounce anymore, but then you repaired him and he was all happy again! Do you think hearts can be repaired too?"

Stopping to look down at her son, Kanga smiled regretfully and her gaze drifted over to the rapidly covering sky. "Some things are more difficult to sew back together than a torn foot, darling. There are invisible stitches that only time can mend and some never disappear completely. We all have different ways of dealing with the thorns that life places our way, but for some of us, the road seems to have more of them. I'm afraid that all we can do is give our friend some space and be there for him if he ever needs us."

"But how can we know when he does if he never tells us?" Roo asked her again. Seeing his mother hesitate, he slumped back sadly inside the warm shelter of her pouch. "I wish there was a way I could give him some of my own happiness."

"Me too," said Kanga softly, reaching down to pat his head affectionately. She threw a worried glance over her shoulder, before pursuing her route on the narrow path to her tree house.

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Alone at last, Eeyore let out a deep sigh and sat down heavily on the side of the road. Next to him, a solitary thistle, bent in pretty much the same fashion that he was, caught his eye.

"Guess they're right," he told the sad-looking weed in a voice every bit as colorless as his pelt was. "Tryin' to raise my spirits ain't nothin' more than a waste of time. Never works anyway. All I ever do is ruin everyone's fun. Might as well go and find some place where I won't be such a bother. They'd probably be happier if I left, wouldn't they?"

Surprisingly, the thistle made no response. Eeyore gave a small shrug and carelessly munched the flower off its stem. Then, pulling himself back up on all four with all the grace of an elderly rhinoceros getting up in the morning, he looked down the path that the others had taken one by one, before turning to contemplate the twisted trail that lead in the opposite direction.