Billy, Emil and Mariah were sitting on the daybed in the workroom, playing cards, when Charlotte walked in.
"I just got the mail," she told them. "Most of it was for The Writer and her husband, of course," she said, "but Emil, you have another letter from Holly."
Holly's letters are always interesting, so Emil opened it right away. His eyes seemed to move as he scanned the first few lines of the letter.
"She's at camp!" Emil exclaimed. "Sam is at a sleep-away summer camp, and Holly went along to keep her company. They let her watch their games."
"I hope they know how to manage Sam's wheelchair," Billy said.
Emil looked at the letter. Again his eyes seemed to move across the page. "Almost all of the kids at the summer camp use wheelchairs," he said.
"When she wrote this," Emil went on, pointing to the letter, "they had been there for four days already. They've already done a lot of things."
"Do they play basketball at camp?" Charlotte asked.
The dolls remembered that Holly and Sam both had been playing wheelchair basketball and were getting good at it.
That's a game you usually play indoors, though. In the summer, it's nice to be able to go outside to play. There are lots of other things to do outdoors.
Emil looked back at the letter. "She does mention basketball, but only to say that the human children have been playing soccer, and that it's like basketball in some ways. You have to keep the ball away from the other team and get it to go into the goal that's at the other team's end of the field."
"How do they play it, then?" Mariah wanted to know. "How is it different?"
"Holly says they use a very large ball," Emil replied. "They roll the ball on the ground."
"There's something else in the envelope," Billy said. "Maybe there's more to the letter."
Emil looked. "It's photos!" he exclaimed as he took them out of the envelope.
The dolls looked at the photos.
"This must be soccer," Mariah said, taking one of the photos.
The photo showed some children in wheelchairs and one using something that looked like a walker like babies or old people use.
"The ball looks like a soccer ball, only a lot bigger," Charlotte pointed out.
Emil looked back at the letter. "Holly says if it rains, they can play soccer indoors."
"That must be this photo, Mariah said, looking at the next photo.
"That looks like fun," said Charlotte, who was looking over her shoulder.
"Then she says that they went out in a canoe," Emil continued with the letter. "She says they let Holly go along."
"They had to wear life jackets," Emil said. "Those are vests that will keep them floating in case the boat tips over, but it didn't."
"Holly says Sam can swim," Emil explained, "but if the canoe tips over, and you get hurt, it may be harder to swim. They tied a little float to Holly, too, just in case."
"Sam can swim?" Billy asked.
Emil scanned the letter. "Here she mentions swimming," he said. They swim in a pool. Sam is very good at it, Holly says."
"What's this thing?" Charlotte asked, looking at a photo she had taken from the stack.
Emil looked at it, then back at the letter. "That must be the handcycle," he said. "She mentions that they get to ride them."
"Here's another photo with one of the handcycles," Mariah pointed out. "It looks like a child's tricycle."
"It looks like they get to play tennis," Charlotte said, looking at the next photo.
The dolls all looked, too. It showed someone in a wheelchair hitting a tennis ball with a racket.
"Holly says that Sam likes the obstacle course best," Emil said, looking at the letter. "They go out on the field in their wheelchairs and have to get over a ramp, or go through a sort of a gate, or they have to pick up things and put them into a basket to move on to the next part of the course."
"They also do crafts," Emil said. "They have time to talk to the other kids. At the end of the day, they sit around the campfire and sing songs or roast marshmallows," he added.
"That sounds like regular camp," Billy said.
All the dolls thought it sounded fun.
"But what about Holly?" Mariah asked. "Does she just sit and watch?"
"She doesn't say she does anything," Emil replied, looking again at the letter. "Other than getting to go out in the canoe, it looks like she mostly just watches."
"I think I know why she just watches," Charlotte said.
The other dolls looked at her in expectation.
"You see," Charlotte explained, "if Holly started making her own wheelchair go, and the kids saw her, that would be the end of the regular camping fun for the real children. As soon as they found out a doll could do all the things Holly does, they would only be interested in Holly. Their camping experience is supposed to be about being kids, being themselves with others who use wheelchairs, where they can be normal kids."
"Most human people don't realize that dolls can do things on their own. It's sort of one of our trade secrets," Mariah agreed.
"I see what you mean," Emil said, "Holly wouldn't like to take that experience away from the kids. Summer camp should be about them, not about a doll who can make her own wheelchair go."
"It would be fun to go to a doll summer camp, though," Billy said. His friends all agreed. Emil was sure Holly would agree, too.
"You know," Billy said, "Holly could have sent the photos and her letter in an email. She would have saved some money.
"Yes," Emil agreed, "but Holly likes to write letters. You see, writing is something she can do by herself with no help, so it's more fun!"
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
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
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