The cruise ship would take her to some islands off the East Coast of the United States. They are called The Bahamas. She knew it would be nice and warm. She could swim in the ocean, so she was going to take her new bathing suit.
The day before she would leave, she took her new bathing suit out of the closet to pack.
Dolls' eyes shouldn't get water in them, so she knew she would need her swim goggles.
Veronika also knew there would be a big party on board the cruise ship, so she was taking the pretty new dress Mandy had knitted for her.
She tried it on, and she looked pretty in it.
When it was time to pack, Veronika got out her suitcase.
She started packing her clothes in it, along with everything she needed for the trip.
She was so excited, we hated to have to tell her the bad news. Someone from the cruise line had just called. The cruise was cancelled! That meant there was no cruise to The Bahamas for Veronika.
She didn't cry when we told her. She just stared at us for a moment. Then she asked, "Why?"
We explained that a big storm called a hurricane was coming. It wouldn't be safe to travel there or to be on the ocean near there. It would not be fun. Many people in The Bahamas and in Florida would have to leave their homes.
Veronika looked out the window. She felt like crying, but she did not want to get her eyes wet. She was disappointed.
When the other dolls found out, they were sad for Veronika. They were also sad for themselves. They had been looking forward to seeing the photos Veronika had promised to send them. They had been looking forward to reading Veronika's post cards. Mandy had been looking forward to seeing photos of Veronika wearing her new dress at a party on the ship.
"I know why you aren't crying, but why aren't you throwing pillows across the room?" Mariah asked Veronika. "That's what I do when I'm disappointed."
"When I'm upset, I like to kick pillows," Billy said.
"That's a good thing to do with your anger," Veronika said. "That way nothing gets hurt or broken. I'm disappointed," she added, "but I feel very lucky I'm just missing out on a fun adventure. I'm not going to be on a boat on the ocean in a hurricane. I'm not going to be lying at the bottom of the ocean knowing it won't matter if my eyes are wet, because if I get silver eye, there will be no one to see me. I don't have to leave my home and wonder if it will be there when I come back."
"What's a hurricane?" Billy wanted to know. "I know it's a big storm, but it must be special to have a special name."
All the dolls looked at Mandy.
"Yes, I know," Mandy said. "It's a Mandy question."
She found a big book in the bookcase. The other dolls helped Mandy get it down and hold it so she could open it to the page she wanted. Then they listened to Mandy as she explained.
"A hurricane starts at the equator, that's the invisible line around the middle of the earth," Mandy explained. "The air there is warmer because the equator gets more sun. Warm air rises. That makes room for colder air to come to where it's warm, but then the colder air gets warmer and rises."
"When the warm air gets up high," Mandy continued, "it cools off and comes down again. All that moving up and down makes a lot of wind. The wind starts to go in circles, and the circle starts to move away from the equator."
"This is what a big hurricane looks like from space," Mandy said. She showed them a photo like this in the book. "We're looking down on it," she told them. "That's the earth below it. You can see where there is land and where there is ocean."
"If the wind gets to be faster than 73 miles or 118 kilometers an hour or so," Mandy continued, "we call it a hurricane. We call this kind of storm a hurricane where we live, but in other parts of the world this kind of storm is called a cyclone or a typhoon. Big hurricanes can do a lot of damage if they reach the shore where people live. Our weather scientists watch them, so they can warn people. It's good they cancelled the cruise. We would not want Veronika to be in a ship on the ocean with a storm like this."
Mandy showed them a photo like this in her book. "This is a real house and car, not toys," she said. "A hurricane did this. It was good the people who lived here had left."
"I wish we didn't have hurricanes," Mariah sighed. "I feel bad that people have their homes and cars destroyed. I feel bad that Veronika had to be disappointed."
"Disappointment is part of life, Mariah," Veronika said. "I understand that. We are all disappointed sometimes. It makes the happy times more enjoyable, because we know what it's like not to be happy. It's important for us to learn what to do with our disappointment, because it will come, sometimes when we least expect it," she sighed.
"I know what you mean," Billy said. "I was disappointed at first when I found out I was the only boy, but then I found that girls can be fun, too."
(The girls were glad that Billy had said that, because they sometimes felt sorry that he was the only boy.)
"Well, I have an idea!" Mariah exclaimed. "Let's see if Jolena will bake us a cake! Let's ask Charlotte if she will play her violin for us! Let's have a Disappointment Party!"
"That's a great idea!" Mandy agreed.
"That sounds like fun," Veronika said. "I can wear my new dress!"
Jolena baked a cake and made some ice cream, too.
Charlotte got out her violin and tuned it, so she could play it at the party.
Freckles and Pierre sat under the table and waited for crumbs that might fall. They know not to beg. They just sit and wait, but they make sure the dolls know that they are there, just in case they want to let some crumbs fall. That isn't begging.
The cruise company says that they will exchange Veronika's ticket for another time, or she can have her money back. In the meantime, the dolls are having a Disappointment Party.
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
Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz or Classic Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to a charity that supports pediatric cancer, such as CURE Childhood Cancer or St. Baldrick's Foundation
"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.
Learn more about hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons here.
Hurricane photo by NASA on Unsplash.
Hurricane damage photo by John Middelkoop on Unsplash.
Mandy's book is National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our Universe by Roy A. Gallant, 1980. It has a photo of a hurricane in it but not a photo of a house and car damaged by one. We made that up. It's fiction, after all.Like our Facebook page: The Doll's Storybook
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Copyright © 2019 by Peggy Stuart
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