Several years ago, when there were only six dolls in "The Doll's Storybook," Jolena came into the workroom, where the dolls like to hang out.
"We have a problem!" she cried.All the dolls looked up from what they were doing.
"What is it?" Mandy asked.
"The Writer has to stay in bed for a few days," Jolena said. "She's sick!"
"Human people get sick sometimes," Veronika said. "Don't worry. I'm sure she will be well soon."
"Yes, I know, and it isn't serious, but the story!" Jolena exclaimed. "How can she write this week's story with all the housework that has to come first?"
"I could write it if I were good enough," sighed Mariah.
"I could take the photos," added Billy, "unless I have to be in them." Then he had a thought. "Oh, wait! I can use the phone camera. I can set up the tripod for the photo, set the timer on the phone, then run and get in the photo!"
"Why don't we think about the housework first?" suggested Charlotte. "Then we can see how much help is needed with the story."
"Yes, we can help with the housework," said Veronika. "In fact, we can even do the housework if we work together."
The dolls made a list of everything that needed doing while The Writer was sick. They started with the things most important to their human family members. Mariah can write quickly, so she wrote the list, while everyone suggested what to put on it.
Here's what the list looked like.
Cooking
Making tea
Feeding the dogs
Washing dishes
Laundry
Groceries
Making the beds
Dusting
Vacuuming
Cleaning the bathrooms
Taking out the trash
Then the dolls worked together to assign each of the jobs to a pair of dolls. They would work in pairs, because they are small, and it's easier to do things if they work together.
Jolena was put in charge of the cooking, including making the tea and buying the groceries. Billy agreed to help. He would be her assistant. He had helped her before. When they were done with the food, they could do as much of the dusting and vacuuming as they had time for.
Charlotte and Mandy agreed to do the laundry and clean the bathrooms. Mariah and Veronika teamed up to put the clean sheets on the beds and take all the trash out to the street for pickup. Then they would help anyone who hadn't finished. They went off in pairs to do their jobs.
Jolena and Billy went to the kitchen. They checked the pantry and then the refrigerator to see what foods were running low. Billy held the door so it wouldn't close while Jolena was in there, because it's very dangerous to be inside a refrigerator and not be able to get out, even if you're made of vinyl!
Billy helped Jolena pull out some things from the pantry that she thought would be good together. She looked at her recipes on the tablet to find something she could make with what she had found in the pantry and in the refrigerator. She decided on a stew with black-eyed peas with potatoes and cabbage.
While she was doing that, Billy put down some fresh dog food and water for the real dogs that lived in the house.
Next Jolena and Billy made a grocery list. They wrote down all the food the family needed from the store to get them through the next few days. None of the dolls could drive, so Billy found a grocery delivery service online, and Jolena called to order the food they needed. The person at the other end of the phone call wanted a credit card, so they went to ask The Writer if it was OK to use her credit card. It was. They climbed into The Writer's purse to find it. Billy held the flashlight while Jolena looked through The Writer's wallet.
After the groceries were ordered and paid for, Jolena made tea to take to The Writer. She put the teapot, a cup and saucer, a spoon, a little pitcher of milk and a little plate of cookies on a tray. Jolena explained to Billy that The Writer doesn't need sugar in her tea, because she is already sweet enough.
Jolena and Billy carried the tray together carefully up to the bedroom. They worked together to get the tray up the stairs without spilling anything.
Then Jolena started some bread in the bread machine. She checked it after just a few minutes to make sure the dough wasn't too dry or too wet, while she could still add water or flour.
The dough looked good, so Jolena and Billy carefully cut up the vegetables and put them into the slow cooker with some black-eyed peas, water, some spices and a can of tomatoes. It would cook for several hours. Then they had time to do something else until it was time to bake the bread in the oven and then finish fixing supper.
While Jolena and Billy were working on the food, Mandy changed into some casual clothes, and she and Charlotte worked together to start the laundry. They put clothes, sheets and towels into the washing machine with some detergent. Then they turned it on.
While the clothes were washing, Mandy and Charlotte got ready to clean the bathrooms. First they put on their wellies.
They would need these boots when they cleaned the toilet. They are small, so it's easier if they work together.
While they worked, Mandy and Charlotte listened for the buzzer that told them the washer was done. When they heard it, they went back to the laundry room and put the wet clothes into the dryer.
Meanwhile, Mariah and Veronika had been working together to put clean sheets on the beds. The Writer had moved to a chair in the bedroom, so they could work. Getting the old sheets off the bed was easy, but putting the clean ones on took more effort. Mariah got on one side to pull the sheets and blankets up and tuck them in.
Veronika helped from the other side.
It took a long time, because they are very small, and the beds are very big, but they could do it, because they worked together.
Meanwhile, Billy and Jolena did the dusting. Mandy had explained to them that they should do the dusting before they ran the vacuum, because when you dust, most of the dust falls down onto the floor, where the vacuum can pick it up. You start at the top and work your way down. Some of the things on the shelves had to be picked up to be dusted.
"This would go much faster," Billy suggested, "if we didn't have so many little things to dust. Then I could even do it by myself."
"That may be true," agreed Jolena, "but what if we needed one of these little things for a story? Like this rock that I'm dusting, maybe, for a story about geology. That's the study of the earth. It includes learning about rocks."
While Billy thought that over, the two dolls worked together to do the vacuuming. The vacuum is heavy, but Billy and Jolena are very strong when they work together, and they are close to the floor, so they can see tiny things that need to be picked up.
When Mariah and Veronika had finished with the beds, they collected all the trash from the house and put it into the bigger wastebasket that was in the kitchen.
They put a new trash bag into the kitchen wastebasket. Then they took the kitchen trash bag out to the big trash can outdoors. Then they moved the big trash can to the street, because it would be picked up tomorrow. It's very big and heavy, so they had to push hard. They could do it because they are stronger together.
Then they took a turn helping with the vacuuming, because there is a lot of floor to clean.
Jolena and Billy finished the bread by putting the dough into a pan and baking it in the oven. They had to be very careful around the stove, because it can be very hot. They didn't want their vinyl to melt. The bread turned out nicely and no one was hurt.
When it was time for supper, Jolena and Billy put a dish with the stew onto a tray to take upstairs to The Writer.
After they delivered supper, Jolena and Billy found the other dolls waiting for them on the stairs.
"She's feeling better!" Billy exclaimed.
"Yes," agreed Jolena. "Spending the day in bed was just what she needed."
"The Writer said to tell everyone thank you very much," said Billy. "Not only did we take care of the housework, but we also helped write this week's story!"
"It's going to be all about what we did today," Jolena added.
Just then, the dryer buzzer went off. "Bzzzzzzz!" it said. Mandy and Charlotte jumped up and brought the clean, dry laundry into the workroom, where Veronika and Mariah helped them fold it. They told Billy and Jolena to go sit down and rest, because they still had the dishwasher to load in a little while.
Billy and Jolena did sit down to rest, but they knew they could load the dishwasher quickly, because they could work together.
"This has been fun," said Billy after he put the last dish into the dishwasher. "Let's do it again sometime!"
The other dolls agreed with Billy. It was fun to work together to do things that none of them could do alone.
The dolls watch The Writer and her husband all the time, so they knew what needed to be done and how to do it. Since that first time, they have had other chances to help out. It makes them feel good to know they are helping.
Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
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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.
Our latest book is available from BookBaby and other booksellers: Billy: Stories from The Doll’s Storybook. The Stories included are Talking About Boys, Changes, Shhhhh!, Staying After, and Money in a Jar.
Royalties go to an organization that provides pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don’t get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to our designated charity. Other booksellers pay much less, because the vendor gets a cut. The Writer’s author’s page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you, or ask your library to get our books 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.
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