Short Stories by Hope/The Doll/The Doll Chapter 2

The rain was coming down like stair rods, whatever they are. It’s something your Mummy says when it rains real hard. You are strapped in your seat in the back of her little car and she is driving dead slow, peering out of the windows at the houses. Suddenly she stops, backs up a bit and turns into someone’s drive.

The last few weeks have been really strange, with people you don’t know visiting the little flat where you live – no lived, ‘cos you have packed everything into boxes and the back of the car and you are going to live in a new house. Mummy sits for ages with the wipers swishing back and forth, looking through the rain at the house in front of you. “I don’t think this rain’s going to stop anytime soon. I think we’ll have to make a dash for it,” she says. She screws herself around and reaches between the seats to undo the buckle on your seat, and you scramble through to the front. She takes your hand and practically yanks you out into the cold and wet, but it’s only a moment before you are both sheltering under the porch. She has a key in her hand, so you are soon inside a gloomy hall.

There’s a lot of brown. Brown paper on the walls and brown stuff on the floor. It’s not a lot better in the kitchen where the floor and all the cupboard doors are brown, but it’s a lot better when Mummy finds some switches and makes the lights work. Eventually, she goes out to the car and comes back with a box of stuff from our old kitchen. The kettle boils and she makes tea for herself and hot chocolate for you.

“I haven’t been in this house since I was a little girl,” she says, warming her hands on her mug. “It doesn’t seem to have changed much, although we didn’t have central heating then.”

“Are we going to live here now,” you ask.

“I thought I’d explained,” she says. “Aunty Jean lived here, but she’s, err, passed on and for some reason she left me, us, this house and some money. Quite a lot of money.”

“Where’s she gone?”

“Well, Heaven I suppose, although she never believed in all that. The thing is, that instead of paying loads of rent, we have this house and I won’t have to go to work for a while at least. I know it all looks dark and gloomy now, but we can get some paint and some new furniture and make it just how we want.” She finishes her tea and stands up. “Come on, let’s explore and you can choose your bedroom.

On the ground floor, apart from the kitchen, there is a sitting room, just as brown and dusty as the rest, an ancient toilet with a chain to make it flush and a dining room with loads of books on shelves. The stairs turn three times on the way up and then there’s another brown passage. “Aunty Jean liked brown, didn’t she,” you say. Mummy laughs and leads you through to a big bedroom. This isn’t so brown. There are some white wardrobes and a big bed with a bright yellow cover.

There are three other bedrooms, as well as a pink (urghh) bathroom. One bedroom is full of junk, but the other one is a surprise. No brown anywhere. The wardrobes are white with pictures of flowers on the doors and the walls are a pretty pale-yellow colour. There is a single bed with a quilt covered in pictures of animals, and there is a big doll with long dark hair tied back in a tail. She’s wearing a frilly dress and sitting in a high chair. She’s nearly as big as you and you think she’s a little bit scary. “No question which room is yours then,” Mummy says with a little giggle.

By the time you get back downstairs, the rain has eased off, so Mummy dashes back and forth fetching all the things we packed in the car. “There’s enough to keep us going overnight and Uncle Bob’s bringing the rest in his van tomorrow,” she says as she bustles around opening windows “to air the room”, and making beds. Dinner is pizza, delivered by a boy on a motorbike and then it’s bedtime. Mummy made your bed up with clean sheets from the old flat, but she left the pretty quilt on. The doll has her own crib and she looks less scary, lying down with her eyes shut. “She’s called Stevie,” Mummy says as she tucks you in. When she’s gone, you slip a hand down the front of your PJs to stroke your winkle, but it’s been a long day and you soon fall asleep.

When you wake up in the morning, the first thing you notice is that the sun is shining through a gap in the curtains and the window is in the wrong place. Eventually, your brain wakes up and you remember the new house and your new bedroom. Then you realise that you aren’t alone. Lying next to you is the doll, what’s her name? Frankie? No Stevie, that’s it. How did she get in bed with you? You get up and put the doll back in her chair, surprised at how heavy she is. She’s soft and squishy too, not all hard and stiff like Arabella, the doll you had when you were a baby. Then you head for the pink (urgh) bathroom for a wee. After washing your hands in cold water, you hear noises downstairs and head down in search of breakfast.

The boxes from your old home are in the hall. It seemed a lot when you packed it, but now it doesn’t look much. Uncle Bob is in the kitchen drinking coffee and munching a bacon sandwich. When he sees you, he holds his arms out and you run over and climb onto his lap. “About time you got up lazybones,” he says. “Some of us have done a day’s work already. You snuggle close, smelling his special smell and you know he’s happy to see you because feel his willy getting bigger under your bottom. You like Uncle Bob. He's not very big, but he's very strong. His van has "MAN WITH A VAN" on the side because he does all kinds of moving jobs.

After breakfast, they want you out of the way while they unpack stuff, so you go back to your bedroom. Uncle Bob brings your two boxes. One with clothes in and one with toys and books, so you set to work unpacking, while Stevie watches from her chair. You have lots of stuffed animals. A bear called Yogi, a rabbit called Hoppy, a tiger called Tigger and a few others that you never got around to naming. You line them all up on a shelf and then move them to a higher shelf so you can put your books there instead. “What do you think Stevie,” you ask when it all looks tidy. She doesn’t answer but somehow you get a sense that she approves. She doesn't seem nearly so scary now.

Mummy comes in, hangs your dresses in the wardrobe and puts other stuff folded neatly in drawers. “I think some of your old clothes would fit Stevie,” she says, looking over at her. “They’re in a box somewhere. I’ll dig them out for you.” The rest of the day passes. Mummy opens some of the boxes and says the rest can wait until the decorators have been. Uncle Bob gets the TV working, so you can all eat dinner in the sitting room while watching Emmerdale. Uncle Bob is actually Mummy’s uncle, so he’s really a Great Uncle but he says it makes him feel old when you call him that. He is Aunty Jean’s brother. He’s supposed to be sleeping on the couch, but you hear him sneak up and get in bed with Mummy. You don’t blame him ‘cause that couch is pretty lumpy.

The next morning, Mummy wakes you up by opening the curtains and the window. “It’s a lovely sunny day she says and we are going shopping for furniture.” Stevie is in your bed again, although you know for certain that you left her in her chair on the other side of the room. You don’t say anything about it though. Mummy gives you a new dress, some socks and clean knickers, but she says not to put the dress on until after breakfast so you don’t mess it up. Uncle Bob gives you a big hug when he sees you in just socks and knickers. You sit on his lap while Mummy gets your breakfast and, as usual, his willy swells up underneath you and you wriggle about until he pushes you off.

• Chapter 3