Fire!

"Wake up!" Billy cried, shaking Emil, although he knew Emil couldn't hear him.

Emil couldn't hear him, even in his head, because he was sound asleep. He did feel Billy's hand on his shoulder, though, roughly shaking him, so he woke up. How could he not? He immediately thought about how Billy had told him that if the smoke alarm went off he would wake him. 

There must be a fire! Emil was awake and out of bed in an instant! He grabbed his special glasses from the charger and put them on. He could see that Billy was holding Freckles.

The boys went to the door of the bedroom. Billy felt the door to see if it was hot, just as he had been taught to do. 

It was cool, so he opened it. If it had been hot, that would have meant there was fire on the other side, and they would have had to climb out the window!

The boys went down the stairs as quickly as they could. They knew they were supposed to stay close to the floor if there was smoke, because the smoke goes up, but they are already close to the floor because they are very small.

They went out the front door and found the girls in front of the big tree, their planned meeting place in case of fire. The girls had Pierre and Marmalade with them, and Veronika was sitting and holding Cleo in her bowl. Emil knew Brownie was in her stall in the backyard, because the nights were still warm. She was far from the house, so she would be safe.

The dolls all looked at the house. "I don't see any smoke," said Billy.

"I don't smell any smoke," said Charlotte.

"No," said Veronika, "and I don't see any fire, either."

"I don't hear any sirens," said Mandy. "Our human people should have called the fire department." The dolls all looked toward the street and listened.

Charlotte was getting concerned. "Did our people hear the alarm?" She asked. "They are old people, and they take out their hearing aids when they sleep. Maybe they didn't hear it."

The dolls love the old couple they live with, and they didn't want them hurt or injured. They also knew that life without them would be difficult. They needed the human people in their lives. They began to worry.

The dolls all stared at the house. They knew one of the rules about the smoke alarm was that you didn't go back into the house if you had to leave because of the smoke alarm. What should they do?

Just then, the front door opened and The Writer came out onto the front porch. "It's OK," she said. "It was a false alarm. It's turned off now. You can all come back in, but you did just what you were supposed to do. That was good practice." She went back into the house.

The dolls just stared at the house for a moment.

Then they all went back up the front steps to the house with their pets. Mariah helped Veronika with Cleo, because it's hard to climb the stairs holding a goldfish in a bowl.

"We just had a fire drill," Veronika said when they were all inside and seated on the stairs.

"How can a smoke alarm go off if there's no smoke," Billy wanted to know. Everyone looked at Mandy.

"What!" she exclaimed. "Why does everyone think I know the answer to every question?"

No one said a word. They just waited. Mandy gave a sigh. "Well, I do know a little about smoke alarms," she admitted.

The dolls were wide awake now and ready to listen.

"Smoke alarms," Mandy began, "have sensors that detect tiny particles in the air. I don't know which kind of smoke alarm we have, but one kind works with light and the other kind is sort of like a chemical reaction using part of atoms called electrons. If they go off with no smoke, the cause could be the same: Something gets inside that isn't smoke, like dust or an insect. It makes the smoke alarm think there's smoke in the air."

The dolls all looked up at the smoke alarm, which was quiet now. 

It was on the wall at the top of the stairs. It was very high, near the ceiling.

"Ew!" said Jolena. "She didn't like the idea of insects or dust in the house. That meant there could be dust and insects in the kitchen, where she did her cooking.

Mandy laughed. "Both of those things are just part of nature," she pointed out. We just have to try to clean them away as much as we can.

Veronika put Cleo down on the step next to her, so she could use her hands. "Since we've just had a fire drill," she said, "it's a good time to go over how to treat fire in general, and," she added as she looked over at the clock on the wall, "it's Friday morning. That means it's Emil's birthday, so we will be lighting candles tonight."

"Well, Billy said, "I know we are not supposed to play with fire. I know you're supposed to light candles with a match, or with another candle, the way Charlotte and Emil light the candles on her Menorah. I know you have to be very careful."

"I know not to touch it," Mariah said, "because you can melt your vinyl."

"You have to keep your clothes and hair away from it," Charlotte added.

"All of that is true," Veronika agreed, "and we have to be especially careful with fire outdoors, so we don't start a forest fire. We know we can only have a campfire where it is allowed and where the fire can't escape, but do you know what to do if your clothes catch on fire?

The dolls all looked at each other to see if anyone knew. 

Then they looked back at Veronika.

"Don't run. Running just makes the fire worse," Veronika told them. "Stop right where you are and get down on the ground or floor. Then roll around on the flames and it will put them out, or if you have a rug nearby, you can throw the rug over yourself."

"Why is that?" Emil asked.

Veronika wasn't sure. She looked at Mandy. All the dolls looked at Mandy. Mandy would have rolled her eyes, but her eyes don't move, so she just looked back.

"Fire needs oxygen (OX-ih-jen) from the air to burn," she explained patiently. "If you run, it just feeds it. It's like blowing on glowing embers will get a fire started again, but if you put a candle in a jar and put the lid on, the fire will go out when the candle has used up all the oxygen in the jar."

"But when Emil blows out his candles," Billy pointed out, "the fire will go out, not get bigger. Why is that?"

Mandy explained that blowing out candles blows the fire right off of the candles. "The simple answer is that fire needs oxygen to keep burning, but it also needs something to burn, like the candle wick. The wick is its fuel. That's like food for it. It can't last without fuel to burn. If you blow on the candle hard enough, you blow the fire away from its fuel, and it goes out."

The other dolls all all thought about that.

Then Mariah remembered the smoke alarm and why the dolls were all awake. "I'm glad the house isn't on fire," she said.

The dolls all agreed that was a very good thing.

"Well," Jolena put in, "I'm wide awake now. Let's go into the kitchen and I'll make us all some cocoa. Then we can sit and pretend to drink it."

They all thought that was a good idea. Dolls don't really need sleep the way children do, and pretending to drink a cup of cocoa sounded nice after all the excitement, so they all went into the kitchen.

Emil stopped as the dolls entered the kitchen. He had been worried. All the pets who lived in the house were safe, but he was worried about their horse. "I'll be right back," he told them. "I just want to check on Brownie."

Emil went out through the dog door into the dark backyard and made his way to the shed where Brownie slept. Brownie was fine, but she had been aware of all the fear and excitement taking place and was very happy to see Emil. If Emil was OK, that meant that all the dolls were OK.

The dolls finished pretending to drink their cocoa, and then they all went back to bed, because it would be hours before time to get up. They dreamt of adventures, but not about fire, because they knew they were safe. They knew what they would do if there were a fire, and it made them feel better.

Do you know how to stay safe from fire? Can you remember what the dolls learned about what to do if there is a fire?

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte and Pierre: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy and Freckles: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL

Brownie: Götz Pony Brown Beauty

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

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

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

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.

Available now from BookBaby and for presale from other booksellers: Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook. The Stories in Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Talking About Boys, Changes, Shhhhh!, Staying After and Money in a Jar.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, 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.

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Copyright © 2020, 2025, 2026 by Peggy Stuart

Rules for Success

"The game stopped being fun after Sarah changed the rules," Charlotte said, as Mariah sat down on the steps.

"I think so, too," Mariah agreed, making room for Charlotte. "Everyone knows you aren't supposed to step on a line in hopscotch." 

"That's the first thing we told Billy when we taught him to play the game last summer," Charlotte added.

"I think Sarah wanted to change the rules," continued Charlotte, "because she didn't want to have to do four over again. She knew she was going to lose if she had to wait for another turn to try again."

"It was good, though," Mariah said, "that you insisted that stepping on the lines had to be OK for everyone, if it was OK for her."

"Except then no one was having any fun anymore," Charlotte complained. "I wonder why it wasn't fun when we could step on the lines."

Both dolls thought about that for a while.

"Maybe hopscotch is fun because it isn't easy," Mariah suggested. "I mean, when you finish your turn safely, without stepping on a line or losing your balance, or having your stone land in the wrong space, you just feel good that you did it right."

"Success!" Charlotte cried suddenly.

Mariah looked a little startled and maybe confused. "Success?" she asked.

"It's success!" Charlotte explained. "It's like when I play my violin, I think. If it's an easy piece, and I only have to practice it a few times before I can play it right every time, I feel good, but if it's something harder, and I have to practice it over and over, it feels wonderful when I finally get it right."

Mariah thought about that for a bit. "I think I know what you mean," she said. "Sometimes I try to write a poem, and the words aren't quite right, or they sound OK, but it doesn't say what I want it to say. I have to erase and change the words. Then, suddenly I find the right word, and I just want to jump up and hug someone!"

"Then I wonder," Charlotte mused, "why Sarah doesn't know that."
"It's as if she is afraid to lose," Mariah pointed out.

"But it isn't winning," Charlotte said, "if you win only because you changed the rules. It isn't the same game."

Both dolls thought about that for a while.

"Do you suppose maybe Sarah has never done anything that was difficult?" Mariah suggested. "If she's afraid of losing, maybe it's because she has never failed at anything. We know losing a game isn't the end of the world. You find that out when you lose. It hurts for a while, but you get over it. You think about what you could do better next time, and you try again."

"Do you think that the human person she lives with never lets her try anything difficult?" Charlotte asked.
Mariah nodded. "Maybe when she goes home from doll school each day," she suggested, "she just has to go and stand on a shelf and look pretty."

"Aren't we lucky?" Mariah went on. "The Writer lets us run around the house when we get home. She lets us write stories and be in them."

"She lets us play music if we want," Charlotte said.

"There are rules for writing and making music," Mariah said.  "If we didn't follow the rules for those things, they wouldn't be fun at all."

"Billy gets to take pictures with the special phone camera," Charlotte said. "He had to learn how to take care of the phone and how the camera works. He had to learn how to get the photos into the computer. There are rules for that."

"We can ride Brownie whenever we like, too," Mariah pointed out. "There are rules for that. Brownie might accidentally shake you off, if you don't get on her the right way."

"Or if you don't put the saddle on the right way," Charlotte added. "Once you learn how to ride a horse, it's fun and safe!"

"The Writer lets Veronika use her sewing machine," Charlotte continued. "I know, because I've watched her do it. Veronika is very careful. She knows what she's doing. There are rules for that. She is teaching me. The machine won't work if you put the thread in wrong, and you have to be careful, so you don't sew your fingers."

Mariah nodded. "Mandy can use The Writer's knitting needles any time she wants," Mariah pointed out, "as long as she doesn't need them herself. Using knitting needles could be dangerous for Mandy if she didn't know how."
"She has to follow the knitting directions, too," Charlotte added. "If you don't do it right, what you make won't be any good."

"You might start out to knit a sock and find out you had a good start on a sweater, instead!" Mariah pointed out.

"Or you work hard on a sweater and find out you've made a sock!" Charlotte laughed.

"Yes," Charlotte agreed, "but Mandy has learned the rules well enough that she can make up her own patterns now, like Pippa's sweater."

"I remember how she used the computer to make a chart to use," Mariah said.

"That's right," Charlotte agreed. "I remember she kept switching colors, but she used the darker color for the dark squares and the lighter color for the lighter ones. It turned out great, but she almost ran out of the grey yarn!"

"Jolena gets to cook when she likes," Mariah said. "She had to learn the rules, so she wouldn't cut off a finger or melt her vinyl."

"She even is allowed to do flips in the air on her skis," Charlotte said. "That could be dangerous for a doll who doesn't know what she's doing! She had to learn all the rules for how to do that."

"Almost anything we do can be dangerous," Mariah said, "but we learn how to do things the right way, so we stay safe, like wearing helmets when we ride bicycles."

"Or like wearing a seat belt in the car," Charlotte said.

"Imagine if people didn't know how to follow the rules for driving automobiles," Charlotte continued. "It could be a mess!"

"Some rules save us time," Mariah agreed, "and help us get along with other dolls."
"I can't even imagine a world without rules," Charlotte said. "I don't always like them, but I'm glad we have rules."
"I'm glad I don't have to go stand somewhere and just look pretty," Mariah said. "That would be fun for about five minutes!"

"Or have to stay in your box!" Charlotte exclaimed. "Some people buy dolls to keep for a while and then sell. The dolls are worth more if they are never removed from their boxes."

"It keeps them safe, but it wouldn't be fun." Mariah added flatly. "Of course, before I came out of my box, I had no idea what running around indoors or outdoors was like, so I guess I didn't mind. I hadn't learned all the things we need to know about the world."
"I guess there are rules for more things than hopscotch," Charlotte decided. "Maybe we need to play games not just so we learn how to work to do something hard, and that losing isn't the end of the world, but also so we learn how to follow rules for life."

"Do you know what I think?" Mariah asked. "I think Sarah needs to get out more!"
Charlotte nodded. "And I think," she added, "Sarah needs to learn to follow the rules!"
"I think so, too," Mariah agreed. "Let's see if she will play hopscotch with us again tomorrow!"

"Maybe if we explain first why following the rules is so important," Charlotte added, "she'll understand."

"Let's read her this story first!" Mariah exclaimed. "Reading about it in a story is better than having someone explain."

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
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia


Traffic photo by Sorin Gheorghita on Unsplash.

Pippa's sweater free pattern: Pippa's Chilly Days of Fall (Not a beginner project. You will need to learn a lot of rules before you attempt it.)

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.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook and More Classic Tales Untold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are available from BookBaby and other booksellers worldwide, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 

Author's page on Amazon. 

Royalties (net proceeds) 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 charity (specific information available upon request). Autographed copies of all three books are available from the author. (Multiple books to the same address have a discount on shipping.) To inquire, email thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

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Copyright © 2020, 2024 by Peggy Stuart