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"Well," he asked her, unable to stand the suspense any longer. "What do you think is wrong with me? Why doesn't anyone want to buy me?"
"It must be your name," Rita answered.
"My name!" exclaimed Wolstencroft. "Why, what's wrong with my name?"
"Oh, there's nothing wrong with your name," Rita replied. "Wolstencroft is a wonderful name, but it's too long for some people to say. Not everyone can pronounce it properly."
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"Wolstencroft," the teacher would call out. "Will you recite the alphabet for us today?"
And he would name all the letters from A to Z. All 26 of them. He was a very smart bear.
On Easter Sunday, very early just after the store had opened, a Mommy and Daddy bought Roger and Ronnie for their twin boys.
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"They look nice," Rita said. She was happy that her brothers had found a good home but felt sad, too, because she was beginning to miss them already.
At the front of the store a table had been set up with chocolate Easter eggs. And as it was now Easter Sunday, they had been marked down to half price.
After everyone had gone home for the day, Wolstencroft picked the nicest egg he could find and gave it to Rita, to cheer her up.
They shared the egg, sucking on the sweet creamy chocolate and making sure it didn't get onto their clothes.
Then they started to talk about the name Wolstencroft again.
"I wouldn't want to change it," Wolstencroft declared. " I mean it's me. I've had it all my life.
"But if it's stopping you from getting a home," Rita insisted. "You may have to."
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She hopped over to the book department and returned with a book called What to Name Baby.
Then she began reading out the names she thought might suit Wolstencroft.
"What about Adrian?" she suggested. "It's a lovely name, very dignified."
But Wolstencroft shook his head.
"Well, what do you think of Bernard? It actually means brave as a bear."
But Wolstencroft was not impressed.
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So Rita left the B's and began flipping through the pages of the book, reading out a name for each letter of the alphabet starting with C.
But finally, just before the dawn rose in the eastern sky, Rita had convinced him that Woolly was the best choice.
"You're right," Wolstencroft said as he closed his eyes and prepared to sleep. "It's nice to be dignified, but not to be stuffy."
And so it was that Wolstencroft became known as Woolly for short.
