Title: China Doll
Author: Naeryn
Rating: PG
Distribution: This is just for you guys and a few others, and I'd like to keep it that way.
Notes: Kaie and I had a lovely conversation, overly heavy on the mush, this morning. This was the result.
China Doll
I don’t have a name. I don’t have anyone to give me one. No one wants to give me a name. A little girl wanted me once, but her mother said no, and bought her one of the pretty blond dolls instead.
You see, I am not pretty. All the pretty dolls have golden hair, in soft ringlets, and skirts in blue and pink and green. The paint on their porcelain faces is bright and crisp and new, and they’re not dusty or cracked like me.
I have dark brown hair, and all of my paint is chipped and faded. My dress is dark red, and I have a crack in my face, right under my left eye. It happened when I was being sent out here. The box I was in fell off the stack.
I’ve been here for almost a year now. None of the other dolls have been here that long, they’re here for a week or two and then some pretty little girl in a pretty little dress tugs on her mommy’s hand, and asks for one of the pretty little dolls beside me. But not me.
Well, not anymore. I’m not stored with the other dolls any more. They’re all in the big front window, looking out at all the people passing by on the streets, little girls who want dolls and press up close to the window.
I’m kept in the back of the store, with the fire engine that’s missing a wheel and the hairless rocking-horse. Nobody wants them either. They got here at the same time, but I was here first.
“Drop the price another ten percent. If she’s not gone by the end of the week, toss her. No point in wasting shelf space.”
If I could, I would cry. No one wants me; I’m ugly and even Mr. Johnson wants to throw me out with the other junk. What’s going to happen to me? There are stories, even toys who claim to have come back from the dumpster, but no one believes them. I look over at the rocking-horse. He looks back at me, sympathetic, but unable to do anything.
The lights turn off; Mr. Johnson’s toy shop is closed. I lean back against the wall, but know that trying to sleep is useless. The dim light pierces my painted blue eyes, and the crack in my face throbs painfully. I’ll be gone soon, and little girls will come in with their mommies and buy pretty blond dolls, and not notice the empty space on the back wall.
The bell above the shop door tinkles. Soon I won’t be hearing that sound anymore. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. At least I won’t have to listen to little girls asking their mommies for pretty blond dolls, and no one wanting me.
“Mommy! Can I have a dolly?” I wish I could see the little girl asking. She sounds pretty.
“Well… all right. Which one would you like?” They move into my sight. She is pretty. Her dress is a soft pink, the colour of roses, and her eyes are big and brown and her face is framed with wavy curls. I wish I could go home with her.
“Oooh, that one! That one!”
I’m confused. Is she pointing at me? I don’t think there are any other dolls back here.
“Oh, sweetie, she’s broken. Look, there’s a big crack in her face. Don’t you want one of these pretty blond ones?” She picks up one of the dolls in the window and holds it out to her daughter.
The little girl shakes her head. “I want that one!” She walks over to me and picks me up. What’s happening?
“This one needs to be bought. She’s lonely back here with no other dollies for company. It’s just one crack, Mommy. She’s really pretty otherwise.”
Her mother walks over and takes me away. I want to cry again, I’m not going to get to go home with the pretty girl after all. She carries me up to the front of the store and hands Mr. Johnson some of those bright coloured bits of paper that other women give him for other dolls. She hands me back to her daughter.
“I’m glad someone bought her. I’d hate to have had to throw her away.” Mr. Johnson is smiling, but then I can’t see him anymore.
The little girl crouches down in her rose-coloured dress and runs a finger over the crack in my face. “Hi dolly. My name is Kaie. I’m going to call you Naeryn, and I’m going to take you home with me!”
I would smile, if I could. Someone wants me.
