Jolena sent Pippa to get Emil out of bed so he could pretend to eat breakfast.
They were having breakfast early, because the boys wanted to get to the park before the other dolls, so they could practice with their skateboard have the half pipes to themselves.
Normally Billy would wake Emil if he was already up, but he was helping Jolena in the kitchen. Emil hadn't set his special alarm clock to shake him awake, because there was no school today. He was going to sleep until breakfast was ready.
Pippa quietly opened the door to the boys' bedroom and peeked in. She didn't really need to be quiet. After all, without his special glasses, he couldn't hear anything except the dolls' and animals' voices in his head if they were close enough. Pippa kept forgetting that.
Thinking of it suddenly, she had an urge to see what it was like with Emil's special glasses on, so she carefully climbed up onto the bed, so as not to shake it and wake Emil.
There were Emil's special glasses, hooked up in his charger.
Very carefully, Pippa removed the glasses from the charger and put them on.
She looked around. Everything looked strange. There were funny colors in her eyes, colors that reminded her of what she saw when she looked into a kaleidoscope (kuh-LYDE-uh-skope), only with both eyes, and they were seeing the same thing, only separately. She couldn't figure out how to make her eyes work.
She knew what a kaleidoscope was. It has colored things in it and sort of a mirror folded lengthwise, so it would copy the colored things and make a symmetrical pattern. Pippa knew something was symmetrical if all the arms from the center were balanced, the way a snowflake is balanced. She knew the pattern would change if you turned the thing on the end of the kaleidoscope. What she saw in Emil's glasses changed when she turned her head to look––or try to look––at something else.
The sounds from downstairs were strange in her ears, too. Pippa listened. It was like a burbling water fountain in her ears.
Suddenly, Emil woke up. "Who's there? Who's shaking the bed?" he asked, sitting up suddenly.
Pippa quickly but carefully put Emil's glasses back in the charger.
Then she turned to Emil. "It's Pippa," she said. "Jolena sent me to tell you breakfast is ready. Billy is helping her, so she sent me." (As you know, Emil has no trouble hearing dolls' or animals' voices, because they talk in their heads, but he needs his special glasses to hear noises, like cars honking and alarms going off.)
Emil reached for his special glasses. It seemed as if the charger were just a little bit further away than he had left it.
"Marmalade" he said in his head with a smile.
"Meow," he heard back. "It wasn't me! You told me not to get up on the table and bump your charger, so I don't."
It was puzzling, but he found his glasses and put them on, so he could get out of bed safely.
"Um," said Pippa, "I'll see you downstairs," and she slid off the bed and ran out the door.
Then she was gone.
Meanwhile, downstairs, Jolena and Billy were putting the food on the table so the four of them could pretend to eat. They had made scrambled eggs with cheese, and hash brown potatoes.
Pippa came in and got up on the chair in which Mandy had placed a box for her to stand on so she could reach the table. She picked up her spoon and quietly began to pretend to eat.
Soon Emil came in, dressed for the day and ready to pretend to have his breakfast.
The other dolls were busy. Charlotte and Mariah were going to the library to take back some books and get new ones to read. They were still in bed, because the library wasn't open until 10:00. They would eat breakfast later.
Mandy was helping Veronika straighten up the workroom, so Veronika could work on a quilt.
Emil climbed into his seat, and began to pretend to eat. Pippa was very quiet. Every once in a while, she looked at Emil. Whenever he looked at her, she looked away.
Emil started to think something was up with Pippa. She was too quiet, and she kept looking at him until he noticed.
Then she quickly looked down. Emil thought she looked...guilty.
"Is something wrong, Pippa?" Emil asked finally, looking directly at Pippa.
Pippa looked down at her plate. She didn't say anything. Her shoulders sagged.
Emil waited.
Finally, without looking up, Pippa said, "I tried on your special glasses this morning while you were still asleep."
"I know I shouldn't have touched them," Pippa said, still looking down. Then she looked up and met his eyes. "I'm sorry."
Emil laughed. "It's OK," he said. "You didn't hurt them. They work fine. I can see everything. Your hands must have been clean, because they aren't even smudged, and I can hear fine, too. I hear the big clock on the wall ticking."
"I wanted to see how everything looks to you," Pippa explained, "and I wanted to hear what everything sounds like with your special glasses," she added.
The other dolls had stopped talking and were listening to the conversation. "But Pippa," Billy said, "you won't see and hear the way Emil does with his special glasses. They were made for him, because his eyes and ears are different from ours."
"He can't see or hear properly without them," Jolena agreed, "but they just correct his vision and his hearing. They aren't made for anyone else."
Pippa cocked her head to one side, or she tried to, at least, like a dog puzzled by something.
Just then, Mandy came through on her way to empty the workroom trash. She had arrived just in time to overhear the last bit of the conversation.
Mandy realized that Pippa hadn't quite understood what the other dolls had meant. "I know what," she said, getting up on the chair next to Pippa. "Try on my glasses. See how everything looks to you." She took her glasses, which had been on her head, and handed them to Pippa.
Pippa tried them on and looked around. "Everything is blurry," she said. "How do you see with them?"
"They are just for close up," Mandy explained. "I only wear them when I read or knit, and they don't help with my hearing. My hearing is fine with no help."
Pippa put the glasses on again. She held her hands up close and looked at them. Her eyes felt funny, but she could sort of see, just not clearly. "I don't see how they would help," she told Mandy.
"That's because they weren't made for your eyes, Pippa," Mandy pointed out. "They help me, though. They are special for eyes like mine."
"Mandy's glasses wouldn't help me, either," Emil said. "They weren't made for me."
"Oh!" Pippa exclaimed. "I think I get it!" She handed Mandy's glasses back to her, and Mandy put them back on her head, because she didn't need them right now. "I think I understand," Pippa added for emphasis (EM-fass-iss) because she really meant it.
Pippa looked from Emil to Mandy and back again. "Don't you see? It's like how you can't wear my clothes, because they were made just for me. They wouldn't fit you, because I'm smaller than all of you."
The other dolls all agreed. That was a good analogy (an-AH-lo-gee). It was a good way to explain what it was like.
"Next time I wonder about something like that," Pippa said, "I'll just ask."
Now Jolena said, "Pippa, I think you're getting to be very smart."
"This would be a good time to finish your breakfast," Jolena added, gathering up her empty dishes, "before someone else decides to pretend to eat it!"
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL
"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
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