Barry the Bedardvark
Name: Barry
Species: Bedardvark
Skills: Sniffing out deals, generally quiet until he finds something worth shouting about
Family: Beatrice (mother), Bertrum (Father), Brenda (wife), Betty and Buddy (children/twins)
Biography: As a baby bedardvark, Barry had dreams of moving out of the desert and away from living his life as a nocturnal animal. As many know, if aardvarks (and by extension bedardvarks) are good at anything, it’s digging and shoveling. So, after a lot of convincing, Barry and his family decided they’d take their digging and shoveling talents to Maine, to create a snow shoveling empire!
After years and years of work, Barry and his parents, Beatrice and Bertrum, established themselves as the premier shoveling experts in Maine, moving more snow than anyone in the state had ever seen. Being so successful in the winter months, Barry and his parents were about to spend the summer however they wanted to. While Barry’s parents would travel to exciting new places, Barry found himself feeling like he was missing out.
Barry began to wonder if he’d be left without another bedardvark of his very own until one day he ran into Brenda. The moment he saw Brenda, he shrieked with joy and, hearing the excited shriek of another bedardvark, Brenda turned around. It was love at first sight.
Barry and Brenda were very happy together and Brenda was a natural fit for shoveling during snowy winters. Knowing the importance of keeping the unique bedardvark line going, Barry and Brenda had two baby bedardvarks of their own, Betty and Buddy.
As the family grew, so did the business. Maine winters got snowier and snowier, and the bedardvarks worked harder and harder every winter, still moving snow faster than any Mainer had ever seen. As Barry’s parents got older, Betty and Buddy started shoveling, learning from their parents.
Snow shoveling is a tricky business, though. After many winters moving snow, Beatrice, hurt her back and needs a wheelchair to get around most days. Bertrum fell on the ice a few too many times and needed a rollator for some extra support. And as you’d imagine, two little bedardvarks in the snow all the time become prone to colds and sometimes even the flu. Although Betty and Buddy are usually good kids, they don’t much like taking their vitamins OR medicine when they’re sick.
It was around this time that Barry discovered a very special skill he had. While regular aardvarks use their great sense of smell to find food and sense danger, bedardvarks are a little different. Barry’s sense of smell led him to great deals. He would go from place to place, sniffing for everything he needed, but he could never quite find it. But, because Barry was a determined bedardvark, he kept sniffing and sniffing for the best deal he could find.
One day he smelled a great deal and tracked it, all the way to Bedard Pharmacy & Medical Supplies. He wandered in slowly but was soon overwhelmed by all of the fantastic options there were. Barry shrieked with joy almost as loud as when he had met Brenda. Customers in the store, unaccustomed to bedardvark shrieks, perked up and noticed the funny creature, paws full of medicine and supplies, excited to finally find everything he needed in one place.
Bedardvarks are, by nature, creatures that love to share, and Barry wanted to do nothing more than tell everyone about the great service AND options he got at Bedard. Barry shouted from the rooftops. He told his family. He told his friends (both human and bedardvark), and now he wants to share with everyone.