Playing at a Distance

Billy thought Jolena looked sad. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Jolena looked up. "Hi, Billy," she said quietly. She is always glad to see him, but she didn't sound like it today. Billy thought, though, that it must have something to do with whatever was bothering her, not with him. He waited.

"I just found out that my friend Elizabeth is moving away," Jolena said finally. "She is on the Doll Ski Team with me, so I will see her again when we have a competition, but we won't be able to play together anymore."

"That is really sad," Billy agreed. "I'm lucky. Emil is my best friend, and he will never move away, or if he does, I'll go with him, because he's also my brother."

"It's nice to have brothers and sisters who stay with us," Jolena agreed. "I would hate to have to move away from all of you!"
"Do you at least have Elizabeth's phone number or email address?" Billy wanted to know.

"Yes," Jolena said. "I have both of those. I know I can write to her and even talk with her on the phone, but we can't play together."

"Yes, you can!" Billy exclaimed. "I mean, you can't wrestle with her or have a pillow fight with her, but you can play lots of other things with her."

Jolena looked up. "How is that possible?" she asked.
"You can have online play dates," Billy said. "You can use one of the special apps, like FaceTime or Skype," he added, pointing to where The Writer's laptop was.

"Please, Billy, tell me how it works!" Jolena exclaimed.

"It's easy," Billy replied. "You call or email Elizabeth to set up a time to get together. Tell her which app you're using and make sure she knows how to use it," he explained.

"Then when the time comes, you call her using the app. It will connect to her app when she answers," he added. "Then you can play. If The Writer will let you use the iPad, you can set it up anywhere. You will see and hear her, and she will hear and see you!"

"That's a great idea!" Jolena exclaimed, looking much happier. "Now, what kinds of things could we play?"
"You're a good dancer," Billy said. "You could dance for her."
"Elizabeth is a good dancer, too," Jolena said. "We could dance for each other!"

"Great idea! Cards would be difficult," Billy went on. "You would both need a deck of cards with all the cards in the same order. I don't see how that could be done." He thought for a moment. "How about hangman?"
"I love that idea," Jolena said. "It would be easy to do. All we need is for each of us to have paper and pencil."

Jolena thought for a bit. "We have some Mad Libs," she said. "I could email her the link to the Mad Libs you can print, and we could take turns writing the words and reading the story!"

Jolena sent her friend Elizabeth an email, explaining what she wanted to do. They agreed on a time.
Jolena asked the Writer if she could use the iPad and promised to be very careful with it. Then Billy showed Jolena how to call Elizabeth using one of the apps he talked about. When he saw that she knew how to do it, and they had Elizabeth on the other end, he went to do boy things.

Jolena and Elizabeth visit online often now. One time Jolena taught Elizabeth how to make a quiche (KEESH), which is sort of an egg and cheese pie.

Then they cooked breaded fish in a pan.

They read a book together. The book was called "Little Women," which was the only book they both had, but it's a good book, and they enjoyed it. They took turns reading the chapters. After they finished each chapter, they talked about the story and wondered about what would happen next.

They played with the bear house that Jolena's family had. That was more difficult, because Elizabeth couldn't hold the bears or the furniture, but she told Jolena what she wanted to do with the bears and the furniture. They made up stories about what the bears were doing.

Sometimes they just talked. Elizabeth talked about her new school and new friends she was making. They talked about the school they used to go to together and the friends they both knew there. They talked about ski practice and the next competition, when they would see each other again in person.

Elizabeth's brother, Zachary, sometimes liked to say hello. He had things to talk about, too. He wanted to know about the friends he left behind.

They found out that they could do a lot of the same things they liked to do together when they could be in the same room.

They planned times when they could get together and play a couple of times a week. They were looking forward to when they could see each other for real, but they could still have fun together.
"Next time I see you for ski practice," Jolena said one day, "Let's have a pillow fight!"
Both girls giggled.

Can you think of any other games you could play online with a friend you can't be with? (Be sure you get your parents' permission to play with friends online.)

Cast--
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Elizabeth: Götz Happy Kidz Marie
Zachary: Zachary Jr. of Wisconsin

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, St. Baldrick's Foundation or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
"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.

Printable Mad Libs can be found here.
Find out how to play Hangman here.

Many thanks to Daphne and Zachary, who are real children. They helped The Writer brainstorm and develop this story, as well as helping Elizabeth and Zachary Jr. appear on the iPad screen.

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Copyright © 2020 by Peggy Stuart