A letter to old friends: a Rescuers fan fiction
Disclaimer: I don't own The Rescuers. It belongs to the Walt Disney company.
"I got an hour till it's time for him to pick me up. What do you think I should do Teddy?" Penny Stacy asked her childhood toy who sat on a shelf in her apartment bedroom as she giggled, slightly remembering how she thought it was alive during her time at Morningside Orphanage and during her captivity in Devil's Bayou.
Despite being eighteen and studying to work as a rescue worker in community college, she loved her teddy bear and couldn't stand to be away from him. Even her adoptive parents knew how attached Penny was towards the bear as they allowed her to bring it with her to college on the condition that she wouldn't bring him everywhere and that she would leave him on a shelf in her apartment.
Penny picked up her bear off the shelf and looked at him. Teddy was old now as he was missing an eye, had stitches all over him due to countless rips and tears that her adoptive mother (and Penny herself once she became a teenager) had sewn, and a bit of glitter on his back from when Penny wanted to dress him up like a fairy back when she was eight.
Penny turned to her left and saw a piece of paper on her desk. She must've forgotten about it after she had put her college textbooks away when she had finished her schoolwork earlier in the day.
Still holding her teddy bear, she played with one of her long braids as Penny walked towards her desk and sat Teddy beside the paper before sitting down herself. She stared at the paper for a moment, wondering what to do as it dawned on her that she hadn't seen or heard from Bernard and Bianca since her seventh birthday when they had greeted her when her adoptive parents weren't looking.
She wasn't sure if she should write to the two mice about what had happened to her life after being rescued by them. Then again, Penny had wondered about Bernard and Bianca's lives as well.
Sighing gently, she randomly grabbed a pencil from a tin can of pencils that she'd kept on her desk mainly for schoolwork as she began to write.
"Dear Bernard and Bianca, how are you? How are your jobs at the Rescue Aid Society?" Penny spoke as she wrote the letter, turning her head cautiously to make sure no one was knocking on her door. Breathing a sigh of relief, she continued. "It's eleven years since I've last seen you, so I wanted to check up on you two. My life has changed since you've rescued me from Medusa and Mr. Snoops, however, it wasn't easy. I got teased in elementary and part of middle school for believing in you, being called 'Mouse girl' and other names. Luckily, my mom and dad had put a end to it after I had come home one day in tears. Speaking of Mom and Dad, they're doing great. I wish you could've seen them when you greeted me on my seventh birthday because they were loving parents and still are even though Mom's been strict with me lately due to her wanting what's best of me which is mainly my college education. You two inspired me to be a rescue worker for children with all types of issues including the missing ones. Hope things are well and keep your faith as it makes things turn out right. Love, Penny. Ps. Bernard, if I see a train, I'll be sure to ride it."
As she put her pencil down, she heard knocking on her door. Getting up from her chair, Penny walked towards the door and opened it.
"G'day Penny," a deep Australian voice greeted as Penny had let him inside her apartment bedroom.
"Hello Cody. Isn't a bit early for you to be here?" Penny asked as she hated broken promises ever since she was six.
"Well, the mates and I were getting restless." A small smile appeared on Cody's face as Penny laughed. "What's so funny?"
"It's that you're more patient with animals than humans," she answered, covering her mouth to control her laughing.
"That may be true but I am patient with you little shelia." Cody walked towards Penny's desk and lifted up the letter she had written. "Bernard and Bianca. They were the best little mates I had ever known."
"You knew them?"
"I sure did! When I was eight, I was kidnapped by a poacher who wanted to use me to find a rare golden eagle. He even tried to toss me over Crocodile Falls as bait! Of course, no one believed me when I told them about Bernard and Bianca rescuing me. Even me dear old mom had to send me to therapy. And it worked! Until today that is."
Penny looked at the young Australian man with a sympathetic look in her eyes. "Gee, Cody I'm so sorry. I didn't realize you went through that. I just dealt with teasing from schoolmates."
"That's alright Penny. I'm fine." he lifted the paper off Penny's desk and gave to her. "Let's go outside and mail it before someone sees us."
Penny quickly waved goodbye to her teddy bear as she and Cody went outside to mail the letter and enjoy their evening in Central Park.
...
"Come on Bob! Let's go see what's outside!" Nine year old Eva Newhart tugged on her younger brother's green sweater roughly, making him fall from his stool chair.
"Couldn't we just stay here sis?" Seven year old Bob Newhart complained as he wasn't one for adventures unlike his sister.
Eva sighed as she straighten her dress. "You're just being a faridy cat! Now let's go!"
"Just be lucky Mom and Dad aren't here to stop you Eva," Bob grumbled, wishing that his famous parents weren't so busy being the head chairmice at the Rescue Aid Society headquarters to even notice what his sister was doing to him.
Eva ignored him as they made their way on the front streets of their home. Walking carefully, the young mice spotted an envelope on the ground. Bob opened it up as Eva looked on in curiosity.
"Looks like it's for Mom and Dad." Bob muttered, reading carefully. "And it's from someone named Penny."
"Didn't Mom and Dad talk about a little girl named Penny once?" Eva asked as her brother nodded.
"But that was twelve years ago! Mom and Dad say that a child usually forgets about them after four years," Bob pointed out, skeptical about Penny.
"Penny didn't and the letter is proof that she hadn't."
"I guess you're right Eva. Let's get out of here before I get the creeps."
Eva laughed, much to her brother's dismay. "You're turning into Dad more and more each day little brother. Keep that up and you'll be terrified of the number thirteen soon enough."
"I will not!" Bob argued as he and his sister walked back to their home, carrying Penny's letter with them.
Author's Note: I was watching The Rescuers the other night and wondered if Penny would still remember Bernard and Bianca as an adult by writing a letter and this story was born. Cody was added randomly even though I've only seen the sequel twice. And Bernard and Bianca's children were named after the actors that played them. Happy reading!