The Boys Cook Dinner

"When did Mandy say Jolena was coming home?" Emil asked Billy as the boys stared at the empty kitchen.

No one was cutting vegetables at the sink. No yummy smells were drifting through the air. No beeps or buzzes or whirring sounds came from the appliances sitting on the countertops.

"I think it was Monday," Billy replied, "but I'm pretty sure she won't feel like cooking for a couple of days. She was pretty tired when she came home from last year's Doll Ski Team practice in South America."

Billy knew that Emil was missing Jolena––he missed Jolena, too––but they also missed her cooking. The dolls hadn't hadn't pretended to eat a really good, home-cooked meal since she had left, and they were missing it. All the dolls could cook, but no one could cook like Jolena! She often organized the other dolls so each one had a job to do. She would show them how to do their jobs correctly. Billy could remember Jolena in the kitchen, teaching and encouraging the other dolls, and would be very happy when she was home again.

"Well, it's our turn to cook," said Emil, turning to look at the refrigerator, which was the first place to start when trying to decide what to have for dinner. "What should we fix?"

"We need to be sure what we fix is good for us," Billy said. "We need something from each of the different food groups."

"Let's fix an extra food, too," Emil said, thinking about cookies or pudding.

"Let's see what's in the refrigerator," Billy said. The boys knew some easy dishes they could cook all by themselves. All they needed to do was see if what they needed was on hand.

There were lettuce, mushrooms, sprouts and other things for salad in the refrigerator. They found some frozen vegetables and cooked chicken in the freezer. There were some bottles and jars of sauces in the pantry. There is always rice. That suggested to them one of the easy things they knew how to fix. If they cooked some rice, heated up the vegetables and chicken with a sauce, made a salad and gave each doll a glass of milk, it would make a meal that would give them some of each of the kinds of foods they needed to be healthy.

After they decided what to cook, the boys got to work. First they helped each other tie cloth napkins around their waists to keep spills off of their clothes.

Then the boys washed the bottoms of their shoes and their hands before getting up on the countertop. (They know real children should not sit or stand on the countertops, but for some things the dolls have to because they are so small.)

Now they were ready to cook. They put water and rice into the big rice cooker.

Emil plugged in the rice cooker. He made sure his hands were dry. He was careful not to get his fingers too close to the electrical outlet, because he didn't want to get a shock.

Billy turned the rice cooker on and set it for the kind of rice they were using. Then the boys mixed the frozen vegetables and cooked chicken with a sauce from a bottle. 

They put it next to the microwave to cook later when the rice was done.

They made a salad with some lettuce, some sprouts and the other vegetables they had cut up.

They baked some cookies from some of Jolena's cookie dough that was in the freezer. They made sure that they had enough for each doll to have one cookie to pretend to eat. Usually that would be seven, but Jolena wasn't going to be eating one, so they baked only six cookies.

They put the vegetables and chicken into the microwave and set it for the time they knew it would take.

While the vegetables and chicken were heating up, they cleaned up after themselves. The other dolls would put their own plates into the dishwasher after they all pretended to eat. The boys could put a few things into the dishwasher now, but they had to wash some things by hand.

Then they washed the countertops, because they had been standing on them. Billy was just closing the dishwasher door when Charlotte came into the kitchen.

"How is it going?" Charlotte asked.

"We're all done now," Billy replied, "except for putting it on the table."

Charlotte looked around. "Where's Emil?" she asked.

Billy looked around, too. He was surprised not to see Emil standing next to him. "I don't know," he said. "He was just here. We were putting some things into the dishwasher."

Charlotte and Billy heard a thumping sound coming from the dishwasher.

When they opened it, there was Emil! 

"Oh, I'm sorry, Emil!" Billy cried. "I must have closed the door without looking to see if you were out!"

"It's OK, Billy," Emil said, as he climbed down. "I'm just glad you didn't turn it on! The dishes need washing, but I don't, and the water might have ruined my special glasses and my hearing aids!"

"Boys," Charlotte said, "please be careful. You should pull the tray out to load the dishes. Climbing inside could be very dangerous."

"Yes," Billy agreed, "I see that now, and I should have looked inside before closing the door!"

"Well," Charlotte said, "It's a good thing we were right here to let you out. You could have been stuck inside there for hours! The doors to dishwashers and refrigerators are hard to open from the inside. The people who make the appliances don't expect dolls to be in there and need to get out."

"I won't do that again!" Emil promised. Just then the rice cooker and the microwave both beeped. It was time to put everything on the table

.
"Let's call the others!" Emil said. "We can pretend to eat!"

Cast--
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia


Photo of cookies by Isabelle Acheson on Unsplash.
This story appears in the book Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook.

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

"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.

Do you like our stories? Some of them are available in print:

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

Coming soon: Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the Book Baby Bookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the vendor gets a cut. My author's page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you. Find my books at Barbara's Bookstore as well, or ask your library to get them for you.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/19832501/?claim=j3fj3mbb8kt">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Copyright © 2020, 2025 by Peggy Stuart

The Perils of Pauly and Pippa

"Careful, Pauly," Pippa cried! "Don't touch that!"

Pauly jumped back from the electrical outlet he had been investigating.

"Why not?" he asked. Pippa had sounded so anxious!

"You can get a very bad shock," Pippa replied. "I'm not sure, but I think maybe it could even melt your fingers! Then you would have to go to the doll hospital and get that part of your arm replaced. That might take a long time, if they don't have lots of right-hand-and-arm parts in stock in our size!"

Pauly looked at his hand and his arm. He thought about all the things he needed it for.

"How do you know?" Pauly wanted to know. "I mean, how did you find out the electrical outlet is dangerous."

"Well," Pippa began, "I made a lot of mistakes when I first got here, and the other dolls helped me to learn these things, like when I investigated the medicine cabinet. Mariah found me doing it and said I shouldn't."

"What's wrong with checking out the medicine cabinet?" Pauly asked.

Pippa wanted to roll her eyes, but her eyes don't roll. She really wanted to roll them, though, so she rolled her whole head around instead.

Then she realized that she had been lucky to come into a home with other dolls who knew stuff. Pauly only had Jeffy's bear, and maybe bears didn't need to know all the things dolls need to know. "Mariah told me," she explained, "that stuff like some medicines and mouthwash and cough medicine may smell good, but they can make real children sick if they swallow them. If we pretend to swallow one of them, our readers might think it's OK. It's very important to set a good example. I can see why a real human child might think that mouthwash was good to drink, but it isn't. You're supposed to spit it out. Mariah explained that."

"Then," Pippa went on, "when the Emil and Billy were checking the house for dangerous things because The Writer was going to look after her neighbor's child so her neighbor could go to work, they talked about needing to put stoppers in all the electrical outlets all over the house."

"Come with me," Pippa told Pauly then. "I'll show you all of the things I know are dangerous for children. Some things are dangerous for us, too, like that electrical outlet."

Pippa led Pauly into the kitchen. She opened the oven door, so the two dolls could look inside. "This," Pippa said, "is a stove. It can get very, very hot inside when it's being used. Never open it and touch anything inside when it's on. It can melt your vinyl! Human people and dolls who cook use something called potholders to take things out, but just stay away from it until someone teaches you."

"It can get hot up on top, too," Pippa explained, "because they cook stuff on top sometimes. They have things up there called burners, and I know why they call them that! If you burn your hand, it can melt!"

Pauly thought about that. So many things can melt your vinyl.

Pippa opened the dishwasher and showed Pauly the inside. "Never climb into the dishwasher," she said. "Someone could come along and close it. They could turn it on. It washes everything inside with lots of water. I can't imagine what you would look like after you came out," she added.

Pippa led Pauly to the refrigerator. She looked around until she found what she was looking for. 

She pulled out a container, opened the lid and showed Pauly what was inside. It was grey and fuzzy. "Never," Pippa said, "ever pretend to eat something that looks like this. It's spoiled and could make you pretend to be sick."

It looked like greenish gray velvet, sort of pretty, but it didn't smell pretty.

The dolls put the container back into the refrigerator, because Pippa knew it was part of an experiment Mandy was working on, so she shouldn't throw it out.

"So," Pauly said, "if it could make me pretend to be sick, it could make a real child like Jeffy sick for real!"

"You catch on fast!" Pippa exclaimed. She was beginning to realize that Pauly was actually pretty smart. He just didn't know much yet, but he would learn.

Pippa led Pauly over to one of the cabinets. She opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a plastic bag and showed it to him. "This is a plastic bag," she said. "Never, ever, put one of these over your head. You won't be able to pretend to breathe." 

Then she thought for a moment. "Well, we dolls don't really have to breathe. The Writer used a bag one time when it was raining and she was taking Mandy out with her. She did it to keep her from getting wet, but she told our readers that real children should not put a plastic bag over their heads. Real human children need to breathe air, and air doesn't go through plastic. (Mandy just pretended to hold her breath. It's easy for a doll.)"

"We don't want to set a bad example for real human children," Pauly said thoughtfully, and Pippa agreed. 

"Let's go on to the next thing," Pippa said as Pauly followed her into the bathroom, where she opened the cabinet under the sink. "These are cleaning supplies," she said. "You can use them if you're pretending to clean the house, but you have to be very, very careful with them. You need to wait until someone shows you how."

"What can they do to a real human child?" Pauly asked.

"They can damage their eyes," Pippa replied, "or make them very sick if they try to drink some of them."

"Come with me," Pippa said then. They walked down the hall to the front door, and Pippa opened it. "Let's go outside," she said.

When they were outside, they climbed up onto the wicker seat on the front porch. Pippa pointed up to the rail. "You can get a good view from up on that rail," she said, "but don't go up there."

Pauly looked at Pippa. He knew she would explain.

"You could fall down to the ground, and maybe your head would come off and roll away," Pippa explained. "Maybe they wouldn't be able to find it in the bushes. Then where would you be?"

"How do you know?" Pauly inquired. 

"Don't ask!" was all Pippa would say. "Let's go to the street."

"Streets are very dangerous," Pippa said, "especially for dolls and other small creatures. We're hard to see, so if someone is driving a car, they don't know to stop. You have to be very careful and look both ways before you start to cross the street. Look left, then right, then left again."

"What if your ball goes out into the street, though?" Pauly asked.

"Let the ball go!" Pippa replied emphatically. "Always look both ways before you go to get it, and if a car is coming, wait! It's better if the ball gets squished than that you do!"

The dolls went back into the house. "That's a lot of dangerous things to remember," Pauly mused, as they closed the front door. 

"I'll have to be thinking all day long about so many things to stay safe and to set a good example for Jeffy," Pauly added.

"It isn't so bad," Pippa assured him. Soon you'll get where you know what's dangerous and what isn't. You won't have to think about it so much. I'll tell you what," Pippa told him, "Go sit on the couch, and I'll get us some cookies." 

That sounded good to Pauly. He went into the living room and climbed up onto the couch.

In just a few minutes, Pippa climbed up beside Pauly with a plate of cookies. "Help yourself," Pippa said, offering him the cookies.

"What kind of cookies are they?" Pauly asked, as he took one. (He knew there were lots of different kinds of cookies.)

"I don't know," Pippa replied. "They must be really good, though. The Writer and her husband buy a lot of them," she said. "They keep them in a dish on the floor, so they're easy for dolls to get to."

"The dogs love them," Pippa added. "They eat them all the time."

Cast--

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta

Pauly: Götz Little Kidz Paul

Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia

Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

Photo of mold from this post in Wired, cropped.

Special note: The first story in "The Doll's Storybook" appeared on June 22, 2018. Since then, there has been a new story every week. You can find all the stories, in order, here.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment.

"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.

Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook and Emil: Stories from the Doll's Storybook are available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from Barnes & Noble,  BookBaby and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to St. Jude.

Image on Mariah's yellow T-shirt used with permission, from Free To Be Kids, where human-size shirts with this image are available.

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/19832501/?claim=j3fj3mbb8kt">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Copyright © 2022 by Peggy Stuart