"Here's something," Billy told Emil. "We'll need to get some of those outlet plugs."
Emil wrote it down.
"Whatcha doing?" came a voice from behind them."
The boys turned to Pippa, who had just noticed they were doing something.
"Hi, Pippa," Emil said as they started down the hallway. "We're helping The Writer do a survey (SER-vay) of the house."
"A survey?" Pippa inquired. "What's a survey?" Pippa was wondering why they weren't getting ready for bed, because it was getting late.
The boys looked at each other. How do you explain what a survey is?
"Well," Billy began, "a survey is when you gather information to make a decision about something important. In this case, it's what you do when you check out a place or a situation to find out what needs to be done or fixed, or just to find out what's there."
"Yes," agreed Emil. "You make a list of your findings. Each time we find something, we add it to the list."
Billy stopped and looked up. "He could climb on that rail up there and fall," he said. "That's the upstairs. That would be a bad place to fall from!"
Emil looked at the stairs. His eyes followed the stairs from the top where Billy was pointing all the way to the bottom, where they were standing. It was a long way. "Baby gate," he said then. "We can put a baby gate right here at the bottom of the stairs," he added.
"Good idea," Billy agreed. "There's one in the garage. The Writer uses it to keep the dogs on the front porch with her when she sits out there to read or knit in the summer."
Emil wrote down "baby gate for stairs."
"Your findings?" asked Pippa. She had not lost interest in what they were doing. "What are findings?" she asked.
"In this case," Billy explained, "we're looking for safety hazards in the house. That means we're looking to see where a small child might get hurt. We write down everything we find. Those are our findings."
The boys walked into the living room and looked around. Pippa followed.
"What about the bookcases?" Emil asked. "If a child climbs up the bookcase, it could tip over."
"Yes," Billy agreed, "but this danger is already taken care of. The Writer's husband attached all the bookcases to the walls when they moved in here. That way, they won't even fall over if there is an earthquake."
"Why?" Pippa asked. "I mean, why do you need to do that? We don't have a small child. At least, we don't have a real one."
"The Writer is going to help a neighbor," Billy explained. "The neighbor's babysitter is sick and can't look after her little boy, so he's coming here while his mother is at work."
"The Writer has some time off from writing," Emil added, "and so she offered to look after the little boy until the babysitter gets well."
The boys decided that the plants should be moved. "They should be up high," Billy said, "out of reach. The pots are heavy. If they get tipped over, it could hurt him."
Emil nodded and wrote down "move plants."
"It would make a mess, too," Pippa pointed out.
The boys agreed. "Yes!" Emil said. "We don't want that!"
The dolls moved on to the dining room.
"I think we should move the bench," Billy suggested. "He might rock back on it. It could tip over. We should just have him use the chairs if he has to sit in the dining room."
Emil nodded. "Maybe," he added, "the neighbor could bring over her high chair for him, but we should move the bench. He might climb on it."
Emil wrote down "Move bench."
The boys looked around. "I think we have everything downstairs," Billy said, "and with the baby gate in place we won't have to do anything upstairs."
"May I see your list?" Pippa asked.
Emil handed her the list.
Pippa read:
Move knives to a box on the countertop
Tie doors of cabinet under sink closed (cleaning supplies)
Remove knobs from stove
Lock dog door
Put stools in garage
Put outlet plugs in all outlets
Put baby gate at bottom of stairs
Move plants
Move bench and ask neighbor to bring high chair
"Why do you say to remove the knobs from the stove?" Pippa asked.
As the dolls walked back into the kitchen, Billy said, "That's so he can't accidentally turn the stove on." Billy pointed to the knobs on the stove. "He could burn himself or turn just the gas on without having the burner light. That could make everyone sick or cause an accident. If you take off the knobs and put them up, he can't turn on the burners."
"I wouldn't have thought of that," Pippa said, looking back at the list.
"It's a good list," she said, but something is missing."
Pippa handed the list back to Emil and walked into the kitchen eating area. The boys followed.
"You forgot all the medicines and vitamins The Writer and her husband take," Pippa said, opening a cabinet.
"Pippa!" Billy exclaimed. "You're a genius! I forgot all about the medicines. Those could make the neighbor's little boy very sick!"
Emil wrote "Move medicines upstairs" on the list. Then he looked at Pippa. The boys were wondering why they didn't think of this, and Pippa knew what they were thinking.
"I've never turned the knobs on the stove," Pippa explained, "but I got into trouble once for getting into the cabinet in the bathroom where all the medicines are kept."
"You know," Emil said, "I think it's been helpful to get another opinion on our survey. Thanks, Pippa!"
Pippa stood there by the pill cabinet for a while after the boys had gone. "I wonder," she said to herself, "why they don't make human children so they know what's dangerous as soon as they come out of their box."
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.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 2:00 PM Pacific Time.
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Copyright © 2021 by Peggy Stuart
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