Ella sat nervously at the Build-a-Bear workshop on 34th street. She checked her watch a few times to make sure that she was on time. In fact, she was fifteen minutes early, a true rarity for Ella, as both Maher and Papple could attest to.

     A few minutes later the door opened and a small figure came in, eyes wide with amazement, looking nervously about the big store full of expensive looking stuffed toys in every size and shape.

     Ella jumped up when she saw Eshal, who she recognized immediately from the photos the E-Mentor program had provided. However, what she didn’t realize was that she wasn’t the only one staring intently at Eshal as well.
    
     In fact, the other set of eyes belonged to a toy that was sitting in between a Dr. Bear and a Tennis Player Bear themed stuffed toys. It was a raggedy bright yellow pineapple that looked nothing like any of the other toys in the store, professing no occupation or interest whatsoever, save for the declaration of “I heart Maui” emblazoned across his stomach.

     “Hello, you must be Eshal!” Ella said nervously, stubbing her toe as she got up to greet the young girl and the older woman who was holding her hand. “And you must be Padma, Eshal’s mother.” After a few minutes of warm pleasantries were exchanged, Padma left Eshal with Ella and the two girls sat down at one of the workshop tables.

     The whole time, the little pineapple’s heart had been thumping out of his chest. Could this really be happening? Papple paced back and forth, back and forth, brows furrowed. And finally, because he couldn’t help himself any longer, Papple jumped from the shelf and scrambled over to Ella and Eshal with surprising agility.

     “Ella!” he yelled, then stating the obvious, he added, “It Papple.” He could barely contain his excitement.

     Ella looked down in shock and disbelief. “Papple? Oh my goodness. What are you doing here?” she asked, unable to comprehend the situation unfolding in front of her.

     “You go on subway. Papple follow. Papple follow you everyday make sure Ella okay,” he said, blushing a little during his rapid-fire and confession. “Papple hide but today me no can hide.” He hopped from one mandarin orange foot to another in excitement.   

     “What? I don’t get it. Did you follow me here on the subway? All by yourself?”

     “Yes, yes,” he replied. “But this no important  . . .”

      Before Papple could explain what had made him so excited, Eshal let out a squeal of delight. “Round yellow friend!” she exclaimed, as she bent down to scoop him into her arms.

     Papple jumped right in and nuzzled his face into hers, the smell of vanilla exploding in the air. The combination of the vanilla with the rosemary-lavender created the most amazing scent in the whole entire world to Papple.

     “Papple, you know Eshal?” Ella asked, mouth agape.

     “Oh, Ella,” Eshal said. “He’s my hero!”

     And with that Eshal spilled the whole story of the horrible man on the subway, the random times their paths had crossed, and just exactly how she and Papple had come to know each other.

     The afternoon passed in a sunny daze, and the three bonded immediately--it felt like they had known each other for years. Eshal, normally a shy and reserved child, was bubbly and radiated with joy the entire time.

     “Well, Eshal,” Ella said. “I brought you here because I was going to tell you how important stuffed toys have been to me my whole life, but I guess I don’t need to any anymore!”

     “Me is one of them,” Papple added, just in case the detail was not clear. Everyone giggled.

     “Anyhow, I was thinking that we could all build a stuffed toy together so you can have your very own!”

     Eshal was left wordless, she had never had a stuffed toy of her own, much less one of those new, machine learning ones! Her parents were both extremely hardworking and caring people, but the thought of spending what little money they had on something extravagant was unfathomable to them when they could spend the money on food or give it to family members less fortunate than themselves.

     Eshal looked down at the tablecloth in the Build-a-Bear workshop, nervously pulling at the thread. “For me?” she asked, in a quiet whisper. “But it’s too much!”

     “No, no!” Ella insisted. “It’s going to be fun.”

     Sensing her hesitation, Papple waddled across the table and grabbed onto Eshal’s hand. “We do together. Papple need more friends. Is important!”

     Breaking out into a smile, the three of them spent the rest of the afternoon deciding on what sort of bear Eshal should have. Ella suggested a doctor bear, as she remembered that Eshal very much wanted to be a doctor or a nurse when she grew up. Papple suggested a chef bear, as he very much liked the accessories the bear came with and figured that they would be able to share recipes and make things for Eshal and Ella together.

     Eshal took each suggestion with due consideration, and browsed through the store at least one hundred times. At the end of the day, she ultimately decided on a toy that had caught her interest from the beginning.

      “May I have this one instead,” Eshal asked hesitantly, pulling from behind her back a blue colored bear.

     It wasn’t until Ella brought the bear up to the counter that she realized the significance of the toy and the reason for Papple’s sudden blushing when Eshal had proposed her choice. When the cashier rang up the toy, the receipt was marked “Hawaiian Bear.”