The Bear

David will never forget the day he met Theo-as much as he might want to. On a mission to right a wrong done to his sister as a child, David walks into LAO Schulz, a famous toy Mecca in the heart of New York City. What he sees that day in the stuffed-animal aisle challenges everything he understands about reality. As David turns the corner, he hears the sound of slapping. He investigates and sees a rather large stuffed bear viciously smacking a toddler around. As quickly as it starts, the attack ends. The bear regards David with cold, plastic eyes, climbs up on its shelf, and quickly settles into the lifeless pose one would expect from stuffed bears. Not only is this stuffed bear alive, David realizes, he's evil. David decides he must own this bear, and with that, their bizarre relationship begins. His name is Theo, and he's got a whopper of a story to further challenge David's belief system. Cruelly put to death as a real bear cub, Theo is given a second chance at life-as a stuffed animal. Theo is forced to become a killer as a rising star among the ranks of a secret brotherhood of gangster teddy bears. Betrayed, Theo is left to rot in the slammer. Theo and his friends conspire to escape. With the loyal Houdini by his side, the gang breathes free air again, but karma, as they say, is no friend to an ex-con.