Billy tried very hard to slam the door when he came into the house. He was upset. He leaned against the door, trying to gather his patience.
The boys went in and sat down in the living room. None of them looked too happy.
"I'll get us some cookies," Veronika told them as she slid off the couch.
"It's going to ruin everything," Billy complained. "They could at least have asked us if it was OK with us."
"Maybe it won't be so bad," Emil suggested. "I mean, school has been pretty good so far. The dolls who run the school seem to know what they're doing."
"It just won't be the same!" Billy exclaimed.
Veronika put the cookies on the couch in front of the boys, who each took one.
"I'm pretending this cookie tastes yummy," Pauly said. "Having something yummy often makes Jeffy feel better." (Jeffy is the human child Pauly lives with.)
"Why don't you tell me what's going on," Veronika suggested.
"They're going to let other kinds of dolls into the school next year," Emil explained.
"What do you mean by 'other kinds,' Emil?" Veronika asked. "Other than what? Help me understand."
"Dolls without elbow and knee joints," Emil replied, gesturing to his own knees, which Pauly suddenly found very interesting. He hadn't thought too much about his joints before. They were just there, a part of him and his friends.
"And with sleeping eyes!" Billy exclaimed. "They're going to let dolls with eyes that close come to our school."
"How do you know?" Veronika asked the boys.
"They told us at the playground," Emil explained. "Jacky and his friends were there, and they told us."
"Jacky and his friends would have heard it from someone," Veronika pointed out. "They don't run the school. Before we get upset about something, it's good to check and see if it's really true and, if it is, what the details are."
"The Writer got a letter from the school yesterday," Veronika continued. "It might have something to do with this. She said I should read it. It's in the pile of mail on the table, but I haven't read it yet. Let's have a look at it."
Veronika got up and went to the table, where there was a little pile of letters and catalogs. The boys reluctantly left the cookies and followed her. The dolls climbed up into the chairs at the table.
Veronika looked through the mail. "Here it is," she said, pulling out an envelope. "This is it! Let's see what it says."
Veronika took out the letter and began to read it to herself. The boys tried to look at it and read it, too, but Veronika reads very fast, and she was done before they got through the first paragraph.
"Well," she said, "it's true. They say that they have decided to open the school up to all dolls from 14-20" in height. That includes all of us, of course, but there are a lot of other dolls that will now be able to come and learn. Isn't that a good thing?"
"But the classes will be full of them!" Billy exclaimed.
"The letter says," Veronika pointed out, "that over the summer the school is building new classrooms and hiring new doll teachers, so they can keep class size the same as before."
"Will the new dolls be in our classes?" Emil asked.
Veronika looked back at the letter. "According to the letter, they will. It looks like they think all the dolls will benefit from learning from each other, as well as from the teachers."
Billy put his head down on the table. "That's awful!" he complained.
Veronika looked at him and waited.
"Dolls without knee joints," Billy pointed out when he saw that Veronika expected him to explain, "will have to sit with their legs sticking out from under the desk. We will have to watch where we step when we walk by." He climbed up on the table, so he could demonstrate how these dolls had to sit.
"I can do that," Pauly pointed out. "I mean, of course I can sit the same way as dolls with no knee joints, but I mean, I can watch where I walk and climb over any legs that are lying around on the floor."
"Dolls without knee joints and elbow joints," Billy went on, not willing to be distracted, "they have trouble doing things like picking up something off the floor. They fall down a lot, and, well, then they have trouble getting up again without help." He lay down on the table to demonstrate what he was talking about, as if the others had never seen a doll lacking knee joints lying on the floor.
"And if they fall on their backs," Emil pointed out, "their eyes close, and then they can't see." He tried to demonstrate on Billy, but, of course, Billy's eyes don't close, even with Emil's help.
"Sometimes they just go to sleep," Pauly put in. He had seen this happen. "When their eyes close, they sometimes just go to sleep."
The other dolls could remember seeing this, too. They agreed, it could be a problem.
Veronika suddenly had a thought. "Are you saying," she asked the boys, "that they shouldn't be allowed to go to our school just because they can't do many of the things the four of us can do?"
The boys looked at Veronika while they thought about that. They thought about dolls who couldn't bend their elbows or knees, sitting or standing or lying down at home, while dolls like Billy and Emil got to go to school and learn things.
Emil and Billy looked at each other while they thought about all the things their elbow and knee joints let them do.
"You know," Veronika said sort of dreamily, "I've always been a little jealous of dolls without elbow and knee joints."
The boys looked back at Veronika. They were surprised.
"Their arms and legs are so lovely," she explained. "We have these odd-looking joints that don't look anything like the joints that real human children have."
"I'm glad for the joints, though," Veronika went on, "because they let me do the things I like to do, but if I wanted to look more like a real human child, maybe I would be very happy to be like them."
"I guess we're all different," Emil said. Then he thought for a moment. "I guess I can watch where I step when I walk by them," he added finally.
"I guess," Billy said slowly, seeing a new side of the situation, "that if they fall down, I can help them get up again."
"And I can hold their eyes open for them if they fall on their backs," Pauly exclaimed, wanting to join in, "so they can stay awake."
"I suppose new dolls could be fun to get to know," Billy conceded.
"Sometimes," Emil pointed out, "dolls who are unable to do what other dolls do turn out to have some special ability they wouldn't have had otherwise. That could be interesting."
Billy knew Emil was thinking about himself, and how he was able to communicate with animals, even though––and maybe because––he was made wrong in the factory and couldn't see or hear properly without his special glasses.
Pauly just looked from one to the other. "Cool!" he exclaimed.
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.
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Copyright © 2022 by Peggy Stuart
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