Dollhouse
7/6/02 – 7/19/05
The dollhouse stood on a table in the corner of the playroom. It had been ignored for quite some time. The house was typical of those found on toy store shelves. It was two stories and made of metal. There were four rooms on each floor. The top floor housed three bedrooms and a bathroom. The bottom floor contained the living room, dining room, kitchen, and family room. The entire back of the house was open for easy access to the furnishings within. Also in keeping with the times, the furniture was a heavy plastic in primarily pink and blue.
There were no doorways connecting one room to another unless they were simply painted on the walls. There were no staircases leading from one floor to the other either. All movement between rooms occurred through the back of the house when, perhaps, a caring child decided to rearrange a given room.
The front of the house depicted lovely windows with painted flower boxes and a front door that did not open. The roof supported a plastic brick chimney that came off with relative ease. All in all, the house was attractive but left little room for imagination.
Ashley had received the dollhouse as a gift from her parents on her fifth birthday. For the first couple of weeks, she had hours of pleasure unwrapping furniture from their individual plastic bags and setting up each room to perfection. Once done, though, the house received attention only when Ashley’s friends came to visit.
Ashley’s birthday was here once again and she knew her grandparents had a surprise for her. Ashley was impatient for her grandparents to arrive. They were expected for dinner and a birthday party afterward.
Relatives began to arrive late in the afternoon. Dinner was scheduled for five o’clock. Ashley’s grandparents arrived shortly before they sat down to eat. Ashley barely knew what she ate. She knew that desert would be a birthday cake and then she could open her gifts. And, she received some wonderful gifts, but she did not know what her surprise was going to be.
“Grandpa?” started Ashley tentatively.
“Yes, Ashley?” replied grandpa.
“Do you have something for me?” Ashley knew she was being impolite in asking, but she had to know.
“Do I?’ grandpa teased, “well, let me see…” With that, he handed Ashley two bumpy packages that he pulled from his pocket. Both were wrapped in white tissue paper secured by pink and blue ribbons. They were six inches long. Ashley barely remembered to say “thank you” before she ripped open the first package. Grandpa helped Ashley remove the blue ribbon with his pocketknife. Ashley unrolled the tissue paper to find a wooden figure of a little boy. He looked to be about 8 years old. The name of “Tim” was carved into the bottom of the figurine.
“Oh, grandpa, this is beautiful,” exclaimed Ashley.
Grandpa then helped Ashley with the pink ribbon. Nestled within this tissue paper was a figure of a little girl about 10 years. Her name was engraved as “Amy.”
“Grandpa, they’re both very pretty, but I don’t understand.” Ashley looked at her grandfather quizzically.
“Ashley,” started grandpa, “I made these two people for your dollhouse. They will be your playmates on the days that you are alone. Do you like them, Ashley?”
“I love them, Grandpa. I will take good care of them,” responded Ashley.
“Good. I also have some other projects that I am working on for you. How about some wood furniture for that dollhouse? Would you like that, Ashley?” grandpa was warming to his subject.
“Really, grandpa? That would be great! But, there’s not too much room left.” Ashley explained soberly.
“Don’t be silly, Ashley. We’ll just take out that plastic stuff when we put in the wood. We’ll box it up in case you ever want it again. Besides, I’m eventually going to build you a new dollhouse, too. It’ll be wood with windows and doors that actually open. And, of course, I’ll have to make parents for Tim and what’s her name, there.”
Ashley said, “Amy, now you’re being silly Grandpa!”
Ashley went to bed that night dreaming of her new dollhouse.
Meanwhile, in the dollhouse, Tim and Amy were settling in.
Amy came around first. She found it difficult to move at first because of the hardness of the wood from which she was made. Silently, she cursed her creator for not using a more pliable substance. She worked her elbows and wrists and felt movement. Soon, she was able to move her arms freely. Her legs were more difficult. Amy manipulated her ankle and knee of one leg and found herself falling sideways. She landed heavily and uttered an “ouch!”
“Amy? Where are you?” This came from Tim who was in the next room.
“I’m here, Tim,” yelled Amy. “I’ll be there in a minute.” She was desperately trying to get her legs to move properly.
“Amy? I can’t move!” Tim was almost crying.
“I know, Tim. Just keep trying, but be careful. I fell over. I will be there just as soon as I can.” Amy was on her knees now and trying to stand up. She used her name pedestal for leverage. Soon, she stood on unsteady feet. Her first attempts at walking were wooden, of course, but she eventually felt her joints loosen up.
“Okay, Tim! Talk to me so that I can find you.”
“I’m scared, Amy. It is so dark!” cried Tim.
“I know, honey, but Ashley won’t let anything happen to us.” Amy used her most confident voice to reassure her brother.
Tim’s relief was immediate. “Oh good! Amy, Who is Ashley?”
Amy threw up her arms in frustration. Sometimes boys were so dumb!
Amy realized that Tim was in the next room over and there were no doors into the room. However, if she got rea1 close to the wall and held on tight, she could peek around the wall and avoid falling out of the house. She was tentative with this since she was still rather stiff. She called to Tim. “Tim, come over here.”
“Amy! Where are we?” Tim asked. He made the mistake of looking down and shrank back into the shadows of the room. Amy tried to coax him back to the edge so they could talk. This took some doing.
“We’re in a house owned by Ashley. This is our house I think. Ashley’s grandfather gave us to her and she promised to take care of us. We don’t have much time, though, we have to be back in our places when Ashley wakes up in the morning. Otherwise, there could be trouble.” Amy was in a hurry to explain things. It had taken too long to loosen up.
Daybreak arrived sooner than expected. Amy and Tim had to remember where they were when they woke up and place their pedestals accordingly. They were just climbing onto the pedestals when Ashley bounded into the room. Amy was startled and fell over sideways.
Ashley peered into the dollhouse and found her new acquisitions. The girl, “Amy” had fallen over. She grabbed both figures and made her way to breakfast. By now, of course, both Amy and Tim were back to their wooden states. Amy carried them around in her pocket all day. That night, she put both figures in the dining room of the dollhouse and went to bed.
After the house was quiet, Amy and Tim began the process of loosening up once again. This time, though, it was much easier and both were mobile in a matter of minutes. Amy was the first to speak, “Tim, did you get bumped around enough today?”
Tim’s reply was indignant, “Sheez, I’m hurting in places I didn’t know I had.”
Since they were on the first floor this time, Amy and Tim were able to explore the whole first floor of the dollhouse and the surrounding “yard.” They had to be careful to stay in the yard since there was a long drop a few inches from the edge of the house. Neither of them wanted to experience that drop. They’d had enough bumps and scrapes for one day.
Amy was trying to keep track of time, but the only clock available to them was the one painted on the kitchen wall in the house. Obviously, it wasn’t working. They’d just have to be careful to get back to their places before Ashley got up. She was in no hurry to do anything since she was also suffering some soreness at the hands of the six-year old. Both figures were back in their assigned places within plenty of time.
Ashley did not come to the dollhouse that day or the next. Amy and Tim remained wooden both nights.
The next morning, however, Ashley hurried into the playroom and grabbed her figures again. “Come on, Amy and Tim, Grandpa’s coming today. We have to be presentable.” Ashley was speaking to herself, of course. She only saw Amy and Tim as wooden figures. She stuffed both of them into her pocket so that when her grandfather asked about them, she could show them off.
Ashley’s grandparent’s arrived midmorning and spent the day visiting. Grandpa did, indeed, ask after Amy and Tim. Ashley dutifully pulled them out of her pocket and presented them to her grandfather. “Why are they in your pocket, Ashley? They should be in their house.” Grandpa was curious.
Ashley quickly replied, “I brought them out to visit with you!”
Grandpa then presented Ashley with another tissue-wrapped package. There were no ribbons this time so Ashley wasted no time in ripping the package open. Inside, she found a wooden couch. It was carved with such detail that it looked real. Ashley thanked her grandfather and ran to the playroom to put the couch in its place in the dollhouse’s living room. The pink plastic couch that was in there was tossed into a heap of toys in the corner.
That night, Amy and Tim began to stir as if from a long sleep. They were both in the living room this time. Tim was very curious why he felt so sluggish. Amy noticed a small piece of her dress was missing. While they worked their ways loose from their pedestals, the talked. “It is strange,” said Amy, “we only seem to get to play on the days that Ashley plays with us.”
“Yeah, but does she have to be so rough with us?” asked Tim. “Just look at your dress.”
“Don’t worry about that right now, “ Amy was more concerned with how things were working out for them. If they only got to play when Ashley paid attention to them, they could be in trouble. Every time they returned to their original states, they lost some of their flexibility. There had to be something they could do to let people know they existed. Amy had an idea. It wasn’t much, but there was only so much that a 10-year old could do.
Whenever Ashley paid attention to them, Amy would work that night. The attention came without notice and only lasted for short periods of time, but it was enough for Amy to make her mark.
Ashley lost interest in the dollhouse quickly. Once summer came, she spent her days outside with her friends. Even on rainy days, she and her friends were discovering books and letters. Now they could write all kinds of words. The dollhouse was largely ignored. Amy and Tim never came to life again. They had been ignored for too long and collected too much dust that the magic just disappeared.
It wasn’t until Ashley’s grandfather presented her with a new wooden dollhouse on her seventh birthday that Ashley renewed her interest in the figurines. The metal dollhouse was cleared of all its plastic furniture and the house dismantled. It was only then that Ashley’s mother noticed that all of the furniture had markings on it. It said simply, “Amy was here.”
The dollhouse stood on a table in the corner of the playroom. It had been ignored for quite some time. The house was typical of those found on toy store shelves. It was two stories and made of metal. There were four rooms on each floor. The top floor housed three bedrooms and a bathroom. The bottom floor contained the living room, dining room, kitchen, and family room. The entire back of the house was open for easy access to the furnishings within. Also in keeping with the times, the furniture was a heavy plastic in primarily pink and blue.
There were no doorways connecting one room to another unless they were simply painted on the walls. There were no staircases leading from one floor to the other either. All movement between rooms occurred through the back of the house when, perhaps, a caring child decided to rearrange a given room.
The front of the house depicted lovely windows with painted flower boxes and a front door that did not open. The roof supported a plastic brick chimney that came off with relative ease. All in all, the house was attractive but left little room for imagination.
Ashley had received the dollhouse as a gift from her parents on her fifth birthday. For the first couple of weeks, she had hours of pleasure unwrapping furniture from their individual plastic bags and setting up each room to perfection. Once done, though, the house received attention only when Ashley’s friends came to visit.
Ashley’s birthday was here once again and she knew her grandparents had a surprise for her. Ashley was impatient for her grandparents to arrive. They were expected for dinner and a birthday party afterward.
Relatives began to arrive late in the afternoon. Dinner was scheduled for five o’clock. Ashley’s grandparents arrived shortly before they sat down to eat. Ashley barely knew what she ate. She knew that desert would be a birthday cake and then she could open her gifts. And, she received some wonderful gifts, but she did not know what her surprise was going to be.
“Grandpa?” started Ashley tentatively.
“Yes, Ashley?” replied grandpa.
“Do you have something for me?” Ashley knew she was being impolite in asking, but she had to know.
“Do I?’ grandpa teased, “well, let me see…” With that, he handed Ashley two bumpy packages that he pulled from his pocket. Both were wrapped in white tissue paper secured by pink and blue ribbons. They were six inches long. Ashley barely remembered to say “thank you” before she ripped open the first package. Grandpa helped Ashley remove the blue ribbon with his pocketknife. Ashley unrolled the tissue paper to find a wooden figure of a little boy. He looked to be about 8 years old. The name of “Tim” was carved into the bottom of the figurine.
“Oh, grandpa, this is beautiful,” exclaimed Ashley.
Grandpa then helped Ashley with the pink ribbon. Nestled within this tissue paper was a figure of a little girl about 10 years. Her name was engraved as “Amy.”
“Grandpa, they’re both very pretty, but I don’t understand.” Ashley looked at her grandfather quizzically.
“Ashley,” started grandpa, “I made these two people for your dollhouse. They will be your playmates on the days that you are alone. Do you like them, Ashley?”
“I love them, Grandpa. I will take good care of them,” responded Ashley.
“Good. I also have some other projects that I am working on for you. How about some wood furniture for that dollhouse? Would you like that, Ashley?” grandpa was warming to his subject.
“Really, grandpa? That would be great! But, there’s not too much room left.” Ashley explained soberly.
“Don’t be silly, Ashley. We’ll just take out that plastic stuff when we put in the wood. We’ll box it up in case you ever want it again. Besides, I’m eventually going to build you a new dollhouse, too. It’ll be wood with windows and doors that actually open. And, of course, I’ll have to make parents for Tim and what’s her name, there.”
Ashley said, “Amy, now you’re being silly Grandpa!”
Ashley went to bed that night dreaming of her new dollhouse.
Meanwhile, in the dollhouse, Tim and Amy were settling in.
Amy came around first. She found it difficult to move at first because of the hardness of the wood from which she was made. Silently, she cursed her creator for not using a more pliable substance. She worked her elbows and wrists and felt movement. Soon, she was able to move her arms freely. Her legs were more difficult. Amy manipulated her ankle and knee of one leg and found herself falling sideways. She landed heavily and uttered an “ouch!”
“Amy? Where are you?” This came from Tim who was in the next room.
“I’m here, Tim,” yelled Amy. “I’ll be there in a minute.” She was desperately trying to get her legs to move properly.
“Amy? I can’t move!” Tim was almost crying.
“I know, Tim. Just keep trying, but be careful. I fell over. I will be there just as soon as I can.” Amy was on her knees now and trying to stand up. She used her name pedestal for leverage. Soon, she stood on unsteady feet. Her first attempts at walking were wooden, of course, but she eventually felt her joints loosen up.
“Okay, Tim! Talk to me so that I can find you.”
“I’m scared, Amy. It is so dark!” cried Tim.
“I know, honey, but Ashley won’t let anything happen to us.” Amy used her most confident voice to reassure her brother.
Tim’s relief was immediate. “Oh good! Amy, Who is Ashley?”
Amy threw up her arms in frustration. Sometimes boys were so dumb!
Amy realized that Tim was in the next room over and there were no doors into the room. However, if she got rea1 close to the wall and held on tight, she could peek around the wall and avoid falling out of the house. She was tentative with this since she was still rather stiff. She called to Tim. “Tim, come over here.”
“Amy! Where are we?” Tim asked. He made the mistake of looking down and shrank back into the shadows of the room. Amy tried to coax him back to the edge so they could talk. This took some doing.
“We’re in a house owned by Ashley. This is our house I think. Ashley’s grandfather gave us to her and she promised to take care of us. We don’t have much time, though, we have to be back in our places when Ashley wakes up in the morning. Otherwise, there could be trouble.” Amy was in a hurry to explain things. It had taken too long to loosen up.
Daybreak arrived sooner than expected. Amy and Tim had to remember where they were when they woke up and place their pedestals accordingly. They were just climbing onto the pedestals when Ashley bounded into the room. Amy was startled and fell over sideways.
Ashley peered into the dollhouse and found her new acquisitions. The girl, “Amy” had fallen over. She grabbed both figures and made her way to breakfast. By now, of course, both Amy and Tim were back to their wooden states. Amy carried them around in her pocket all day. That night, she put both figures in the dining room of the dollhouse and went to bed.
After the house was quiet, Amy and Tim began the process of loosening up once again. This time, though, it was much easier and both were mobile in a matter of minutes. Amy was the first to speak, “Tim, did you get bumped around enough today?”
Tim’s reply was indignant, “Sheez, I’m hurting in places I didn’t know I had.”
Since they were on the first floor this time, Amy and Tim were able to explore the whole first floor of the dollhouse and the surrounding “yard.” They had to be careful to stay in the yard since there was a long drop a few inches from the edge of the house. Neither of them wanted to experience that drop. They’d had enough bumps and scrapes for one day.
Amy was trying to keep track of time, but the only clock available to them was the one painted on the kitchen wall in the house. Obviously, it wasn’t working. They’d just have to be careful to get back to their places before Ashley got up. She was in no hurry to do anything since she was also suffering some soreness at the hands of the six-year old. Both figures were back in their assigned places within plenty of time.
Ashley did not come to the dollhouse that day or the next. Amy and Tim remained wooden both nights.
The next morning, however, Ashley hurried into the playroom and grabbed her figures again. “Come on, Amy and Tim, Grandpa’s coming today. We have to be presentable.” Ashley was speaking to herself, of course. She only saw Amy and Tim as wooden figures. She stuffed both of them into her pocket so that when her grandfather asked about them, she could show them off.
Ashley’s grandparent’s arrived midmorning and spent the day visiting. Grandpa did, indeed, ask after Amy and Tim. Ashley dutifully pulled them out of her pocket and presented them to her grandfather. “Why are they in your pocket, Ashley? They should be in their house.” Grandpa was curious.
Ashley quickly replied, “I brought them out to visit with you!”
Grandpa then presented Ashley with another tissue-wrapped package. There were no ribbons this time so Ashley wasted no time in ripping the package open. Inside, she found a wooden couch. It was carved with such detail that it looked real. Ashley thanked her grandfather and ran to the playroom to put the couch in its place in the dollhouse’s living room. The pink plastic couch that was in there was tossed into a heap of toys in the corner.
That night, Amy and Tim began to stir as if from a long sleep. They were both in the living room this time. Tim was very curious why he felt so sluggish. Amy noticed a small piece of her dress was missing. While they worked their ways loose from their pedestals, the talked. “It is strange,” said Amy, “we only seem to get to play on the days that Ashley plays with us.”
“Yeah, but does she have to be so rough with us?” asked Tim. “Just look at your dress.”
“Don’t worry about that right now, “ Amy was more concerned with how things were working out for them. If they only got to play when Ashley paid attention to them, they could be in trouble. Every time they returned to their original states, they lost some of their flexibility. There had to be something they could do to let people know they existed. Amy had an idea. It wasn’t much, but there was only so much that a 10-year old could do.
Whenever Ashley paid attention to them, Amy would work that night. The attention came without notice and only lasted for short periods of time, but it was enough for Amy to make her mark.
Ashley lost interest in the dollhouse quickly. Once summer came, she spent her days outside with her friends. Even on rainy days, she and her friends were discovering books and letters. Now they could write all kinds of words. The dollhouse was largely ignored. Amy and Tim never came to life again. They had been ignored for too long and collected too much dust that the magic just disappeared.
It wasn’t until Ashley’s grandfather presented her with a new wooden dollhouse on her seventh birthday that Ashley renewed her interest in the figurines. The metal dollhouse was cleared of all its plastic furniture and the house dismantled. It was only then that Ashley’s mother noticed that all of the furniture had markings on it. It said simply, “Amy was here.”
posted by Vickie at 9:22 PM
2 Comments:
Love the ending you decided on. One nit:
However, if she got read close to the wall
Thanks, I fixed the mistake. I'm absolutely horrible about proofreading my own stuff.
I'm glad you liked the ending. I call it a compromise. Any other ending would have taken more work that I was prepared to give. I actually inserting a sentence in red in this that said "Amy needs to do something here..." I went on to write the rest of it and went back to tell what Amy did.
Actually, the way it worked out, Amy simply worked. The ending told us what she worked at.
Thanks for reading this. I know it was long.
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