Valentines!

"I can't believe they're out of valentines!" Billy said to Emil as they climbed the steps to the house.

"Maybe they will have more before the 14th," Emil pointed out.

"That's only two days, and what if they don't?" Billy exclaimed. "Then we'd be stuck with no valentines to give out."

"Maybe we can make some," Emil suggested.

"Yes," Billy agreed. "We can't have Valentine's Day without valentines!"

"I'll see what I can find for us to use," Emil offered.

"I'll come and help," Billy agreed, "but first I need to walk Freckles before I take my coat off." 

"I promised Charlotte we would walk the dogs together," he explained.

Billy went off to find Charlotte and the dogs.

Emil started looking for paper, scissors and something to color with.

When Billy came back from his walk, he found Emil at the dining room table, already sorting through the things he had found.

"How should we start?" Emil asked Billy as Billy joined him.

"Most valentines have a picture," Billy replied, "and they have some writing on them that say something like 'Be my valentine!'"

"Sometimes they have a poem," Emil observed. "Maybe we could start there."

"I know one," Billy agreed, and he started to write. He wrote this: 

Roses are red, 

Violets are blue, 

Sugar is sweet...

Then Billy stopped. "I don't remember the last line," he said.

"Let's make something up," Emil said then, "what would come next?"

"But it can rot your teeth?" Billy asked. 

Both boys laughed. You can't tell from this photo, but they really were laughing. Their faces don't move, as you know, but they thought it was very funny, and they they could hear each other laughing, inside. Their little vinyl bodies shook with laughter. They knew they didn't really have any teeth to rot.

"It's supposed to be a valentine poem," Emil pointed out, when they were done laughing. "How about, 'But I think you're even sweeter?'"

"That's better for a valentine," Billy agreed, "but it doesn't really sound like a poem. I wish I could remember how it really goes."

"Where's Mariah?" Emil asked. "She would know how it ends."

The boys looked for Mariah. They found her talking with Pippa at the top of the stairs.

"Mariah," Billy said, "we need your help. We're trying to write something pretty for our valentines."

"Sure," she said, jumping to her feet. 

Mariah and Pippa followed Billy and Emil to the dining room. When they were all settled around the big table, Billy showed Mariah what he had written. Pippa looked over Mariah's shoulder. Well, she tried to look over Mariah's shoulder, so she could see, but she is very small.

"We don't remember the last line of the poem," Emil explained. "We tried to come up with something to end it with, but it didn't sound right."

Mariah read:

Roses are red, 

Violets are blue, 

Sugar is sweet... 

"And so are you!" She said, looking up at the boys. "That's the last line of the poem."

"That's it!" cried Billy, and he wrote out the last line.

"Now it sounds like a poem," Pippa said. "Why is that?"

"Well," Mariah began, "A poem is something written that makes you feel something or that sounds pretty. Many poems have a form to them. Often they rhyme (RIME). That's when a word ends with the same or similar sound, like blue and you, but that isn't needed to make it a poem."

"Often it has rhythm (RIH-thum)," Mariah explained. "That means there's a beat that's repeated in some other lines in the poem, but not all poems have that."

"This one repeats the same rhythm in each line," she said. Mariah tapped on the table as she recited the poem.

"Roses are red." Tap-tap-tap-tap.

"Violets are blue." Tap-tap-tap-tap. 

"Sugar is sweet." Tap-tap-tap-tap.

"And so are you." Tap-tap-tap-tap.

"The word violets actually has an extra sound in it," Mariah pointed out, "but it's one you almost don't hear, so the word only gets two beats."

The dolls all thought about that.

Then Pippa decided she had thought long enough. "Would it be OK if we help you make valentines?" she asked.

"Sure," said Billy. "It will be more fun with more of us working on them." He moved the supplies to where Pippa and Mariah could help themselves.

"Pippa is, too," Pippa said as she picked out what to use.

"Is what?" Emil asked, pausing in cutting out the heart he wanted to make.

"Sweet," she replied. "I gave the poem a new ending. 'Pippa is, too.'"

No one could argue with that.

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

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz and 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 2:00 PM Pacific Time.

Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from BookBaby and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment.

Image on Mariah's shirt used with permission with thanks, from Free To Be Kids, where human-size shirts with this image are available.


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Copyright © 2021 by Peggy Stuart

Sorry!

Veronika was reading in the living room when Jolena came home. "How did practice go, Jolena?" she asked.

Jolena brought her ski equipment into the hall and stopped.

"Practice was OK," she replied as she put skis down, "but I think I did something wrong, and it's making me feel bad."

"Come and sit next to me," Veronika suggested, patting the couch next to where she was sitting, "and tell me about it."

"I don't know how you can help," Jolena replied, "but I do think I would like to talk about it."

Jolena climbed up on the couch and sat next to Veronika. For a long time she was silent, just collecting her thoughts. She wasn't sure how to start.

Veronika waited.

Finally, Jolena gave a big sigh. "I broke the binding to one of Jason's skis," she said.

"How did that happen," Veronika asked.

"I stepped on it," Jolena said. "We were all taking our equipment off. Then I decided to take off my jacket, because it was warm in the lodge. I stood up to put my jacket on the bench. That's when I stepped on his ski. The binding broke."

"What did Jason say?" Veronika asked.

"He didn't see it happen," Jolena replied. "He had left his skis and gone off to talk to someone." 

Jolena was quiet for a while. Then she went on. "I didn't know what to do," she said, "so I didn't do anything. I just picked up my things and put them away. When Jason came back and saw that his binding was broken, he was upset."

"Did you explain what happened?" Veronika asked.

"No," Jolena replied. "I was afraid he would be mad at me. I just pretended I didn't know anything about it. I feel bad that it happened. I didn't mean to do it."

"I know you feel bad, Jolena," Veronika said then. "You feel like you damaged something that belongs to someone else, but it isn't just because you accidentally broke Jason's binding."

Jolena looked up. "What is it, then?" she asked.

Veronika explained, "You also feel bad because you caused Jason to be upset and you didn't tell him about it. That's dishonest." 

Veronika paused, so Jolena could think about it. "Then," she went on, "you couldn't apologize, because he didn't know you did it. You can't apologize without telling the person what you've done. Apologizing makes everyone feel better about what happened."

"Oh, no!" Jolena exclaimed. "Now it's too late!"

"It's never too late, Jolena," Veronika assured her, "but now you will have to confess to him. It's just harder because you didn't do it right away."

"I'll tell him tomorrow," Jolena decided. "I have some money saved. Maybe I can pay for fixing it."

Veronika clapped her hands. She thought that was a great idea. 

Jolena felt a little better now, because she had a plan. Now she knew what she needed to do. She thought it over in her head. She decided just what she would say. She decided she would say, "I'm the one who broke your ski binding! I'm sorry it happened, and I should have told you right away. I can pay for your binding to be fixed. Just let me know how much it is."

Veronika was reading with Pippa when Jolena came home the next day after ski practice.

Jolena put down her things and took her jacket off.

"Well?" Veronika asked after Jolena had taken off her jacket.

"I told him," Jolena said as she placed her hair band on the table. "I explained that I was the one who stepped on his ski and broke the binding. I told him I was sorry it happened and that I was sorry I didn't tell him right away. I told him I would be more careful from now on, and watch where I step." Jolena paused, as she climbed up onto the couch. 

Veronika encouraged Jolena to go on.

"I told Jason I thought I had enough money saved to pay to have the binding fixed," Jolena explained.

"What did Jason say?" Veronika wanted to know.

"Jason said he had been thinking about what happened," Jolena replied. "He said he realized it was really his fault. He should have put his skis up in the rack before going off and leaving them where they could be stepped on. He wasn't mad at me. He wouldn't even let me pay for the repair."

Jolena gave a big sigh. "I feel so much better!" she said.

"Not everyone will be as nice as Jason," Veronika pointed out. "Some people don't like to accept the blame for something they did wrong, so they're happy to put it on someone else, "but we always feel better when we confess what we've done if we damage something that belongs to someone else or do something that hurts them. We feel better when we admit what we did wrong and apologize. It makes us feel better because we know we did the right thing."

"At least I know it was an accident," Jolena said. 

"Yes," Veronika agreed. "Sometimes we do something on purpose that hurts someone, and then the apology is even more important."

Jolena couldn't imagine hurting another doll on purpose, but she supposed it could happen. "It must be really hard to say you're sorry," she said, "if you aren't."

"Um, Veronika," Pippa said then. "Remember your box of pins you found spilled all over the workroom floor?"

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta

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.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Our Favorite Verses: Poems 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 © 2021, 2024 by Peggy Stuart