“Pauly’s coming over,” Pippa said excitedly, “and he has a surprise!”
Mandy and Veronika, who were reading in the living room, had heard Pippa talking on the phone with Pauly and had figured out from Pippa’s end of the conversation that it was something momentous (mo-MEN-tus). That meant that Pippa would remember the moment forever, and maybe they would, too.
Pauly's visit would mean a snack and a cup of pretend tea, Veronika knew, so she went into the kitchen to get things ready.
The girls didn’t have to wait long. Soon Pauly was at the door. Pippa went to open the door.
But Pauly wasn’t alone! He had a strange boy doll with him.
“This is Nico,” Pauly told Pippa, as she closed the door behind Pauly and the other boy doll.
“Nico just came to live with Jeffy’s friend Frankie,” Pauly explained. “I told him all about my friends who all live together with an old lady and her husband. He wanted to come and meet you.”
“Hi, Nico,” Pippa said. “It’s nice to meet you.” She shook his hand politely, because he stuck it out at her.
Veronika appeared in the hallway. “Everyone come in and sit down,” she said. “I put some little donuts and pretend tea out for us. We can get acquainted, but we will need another cup for Nico.”
With that, Veronika was gone to fetch the extra cup.
After the dolls were seated on the couch and each one had some pretend tea and a little donut, Mandy asked Nico how he was liking living with Frankie.
“It’s really nice being out of my box,” Nico said, “but I really think I’m very lucky to be living with such a nice boy, and one who has a friend with another doll I can be friends with.”
“I wonder,” Veronika said, “if the fact that Frankie has a friend with a doll might have made him want to have a doll, too.”
All of the dolls had to think about that. They knew that friends often get their interests from each other. They knew that many boys thought that dolls were only for little girls. (Silly idea! They knew that grown human men and women had dolls or puppets and sometimes even used them for plays and movies.) It could be, though, that Nico had come to live with Frankie because of Pauly. You could almost hear the thinking going on.
After the dolls finished thinking and then pretending to drink their pretend tea and eat their tiny donuts, Pauly suggested they go find Billy and Emil, so the boys could meet his new friend.
“They’re out in the backyard,” Veronika told them.
Pauly and his new friend left to go find Billy and Emil, but Pippa stayed behind, which seemed odd. Usually she was excited to join Pauly when he went to play with the other boys.
Mandy thought Pippa looked a little sad. “What’s the matter, Pippa? Don’t you want to go outside with Pauly and Nico?”
“Nico seems nice,” Pippa said, “but I really liked having Pauly as my own special friend.”
“Just because a doll has a new friend,” Mandy pointed out, “doesn’t mean that he won’t still want to play with his other friends.”
“Yes,” Veronika agreed. “Dolls can have lots of special friends. Besides, you and Pauly can do lots of things that Nico won’t be able to do.”
“I don’t know if you noticed,” Veronika went on, “but Nico doesn’t have elbow and knee joints. He had a hard time climbing up on the couch and had to sit funny. He couldn't get his hand to his mouth, so he had to pretend to drink and eat when no one was looking.”
“You and Pauly,” Mandy said, “may have to find things to do that Nico can also do, so you can include him. You and Pauly will need to work together to do that.”
“It must be hard for Nico to climb trees,” Pippa said thoughtfully.
“He will probably need help getting up the stairs,” she added.
Just then, the dolls heard Charlotte begin to practice playing her violin. She was warming up with a simple song.
Mandy and Pippa thought it sounded familiar. They tried to place it.
Veronika could tell from their faces they were trying to remember how the song went. “It’s a song about friends,” she told them. “Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver but the other gold! That means that dolls who have been your friends for a longer time are special, but new friends are nice, too.”
Pippa decided she was going to have to think about that for a long time. She was going to have to get to know Nico better and remember that she was still Pauly’s special friend.
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
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Copyright © 2023, 2024 by Peggy Stuart
Lovely story. Nico is cute.
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