Chapter 1 (exerpt)

I’m here to clean up a bit on the superstition surrounding what I do for a living. My profession isn’t like any others, and you probably haven’t heard of it. But millions are part of the workforce.

Our job entails protecting and comforting. We never are paid. Then, after a few years, we are either reassigned, or are thrown away. Chances are, you have had some like me work for you at one time for another. We are not allowed to go out into the field with anything less than perfect on our record. You would be surprised at how many of us pass the exams perfectly.

Who are we, now?

We’ve been around for centuries, but we got our name fairly recently. And due to industrial advances, there are more kinds of us than ever. Our title derives from a term coined by an American president: Theodore Roosevelt.

You call us Teddy Bears. But we call ourselves Keepers. It rings better, I guess.

Now, I can sense your angst at being drawn into such a childish chronicle, and honestly, I do not blame you. If you are reading this, chances are you have outgrown your Keeper and have either thrown it away or given it to someone else. And our type is not constrained to simple bears anymore, thanks to the afore-mentioned advance in industrial capacity. The workers who make us don’t know of this side of us. Nobody does, except any who have read this.