"Give us a call," Mariah said, "to let us know how you're getting along."
"I will," Gabi replied. "It should be interesting in the yarn shop. All kinds of human people will be coming and going."
"Dolly will be joining you soon," Emil pointed out, as he opened the door for Gabi. "You can keep each other company, so you aren't lonely."
"I'm sure I'll be fine," Gabi assured him. Then she turned and waved goodbye to Mariah and Pippa, who had come to the door with her. "Got to go," she said. "Mandy and The Writer are waiting in the car for me."
"What was the tag on Gabi's dress for," Pippa wanted to know after Emil had closed the door behind Gabi.
"That tag," Mariah explained, "is the label from the yarn that Mandy used to knit the dress. Gabi is going to model the dress at the yarn shop, so people who buy one of our books from there can buy the yarn to make the dress. Then they can give both together as a gift."
The dolls climbed up on the front windowsill and looked out the window to watch The Writer's car drive off.
"Why is Mandy going?" Pippa asked.
"She's picking out yarn for a sweater for Dolly," Mariah replied. "Dolly will be going to the yarn shop, too, when her sweater is finished. She will model the sweater for customers who might want to make it. It's in our books, too."
"The bookshelf in the workroom will be empty without Gabi and Dolly," Emil said after the car had left and the dolls had climbed back down from the windowsill. He was thinking about the place where the two dolls stood and watched when they weren't helping.
"It will seem strange without them," Mariah agreed.
"Why do they want to leave us?" Pippa asked with concern in her voice.
"They want to help," Emil replied. "They want to help sell the books, since they can't play parts in the stories. Helping sell the books lets them still be part of everything we do."
"They've always been part of the stories," Pippa pointed out. "Gabi holds my clothes when I'm changing. I'll have to use a chair now."
"That's true," Mariah agreed, "Dolly helps, too, behind the scenes, with hair and other things, but we can help each other, and this job is more important right now."
"Why aren't they in the stories?" Pippa asked.
Mariah looked at Emil. Emil looked at Mariah. "Let's ask Veronika!" they both said at once.
The dolls left the bottom stair and went to find Veronika. She was in the workroom, choosing some fabrics that might work for a skirt to go with Dolly's new sweater. She would make the final selection when she saw the yarn Mandy brought home from the yarn store. Mandy had said she was going to look for green, but there are lots of different greens, and not all of them go together. Veronika looked up when the three dolls came in.
"We have a question," Mariah said. "We were wondering why Gabi and Dolly aren't in the stories."
Veronika thought for a moment. She knew the answer, but it was complicated. "Well," she said finally, "the main reason is because their manufacturers (man-you-FAK-cher-ers) didn't ever answer when The Writer wrote them to ask for permission to use them in our books."
"You see," Veronika went on, after the other dolls had settled down around her to listen, "even before the first book, The Writer made a book about my birthday. It wasn't a published book, you see, but just a book she wrote and had printed as gifts for her grandchildren."
"The Writer made several other copies, too, for gifts," Veronika continued. "Gabi and Dolly were already living with us then, and Mandy and Charlotte, and two boys named Alister and Matthias, who were with us to get clothes before going to live with The Writer's grandsons. We were all dolls from five different manufacturers: the one that made us and four others. The Writer wrote to each one asking for permission to publish the book so other human children could get copies."
"She received permission from the company that makes dolls like us," Veronika went on, "and a reply from the company that makes Matthias saying they could not give permission. None of the others wrote back. That meant that The Writer could not publish the book about my birthday, nor could she publish a book with any of the other dolls in it."
"The boys went to their new homes," Veronika continued, "but Gabi and Dolly stayed here with us. This story won't ever be in a published book unless The Writer can get permission to use Gabi," she added, "which is unlikely now, because they have stopped making dolls."
"How sad for Gabi and Dolly," said Pippa, who really enjoyed being in the stories.
"They tell us they don't mind," said Mariah, who had been quiet for a long time. "It's hard for them to do some of the things we need to do," she pointed out. "Their elbows and knees don't bend."
"Like our fingers?" Pippa asked, and the other dolls nodded.
"Gabi will be an excellent model," Veronika pointed out, "and she will feel useful if someone buys a copy of one of our books and yarn to make the dress she's modeling. Now, I need to get some more fabrics out of the fabric cabinet so we will have a good selection that might make a good skirt for Dolly!"
The other dolls decided to read while Veronika dug through the fabrics. Soon they were all comfortably reading.
Some time later, they heard a car door close. "Mandy's back!" Pippa cried. "Let's go see what kind of yarn she picked out!"
Meanwhile, in a yarn shop* in Bend, Oregon, a proud Gabi displays her simple dress in a gorgeous yarn...and is proud of the job she has.
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
Gabi: Tonner My Imagination Play Doll
"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.
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Copyright © 2022 by Peggy Stuart
I'm so glad to see Gabi and that she has a new purpose.
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