Staying After

Billy and Pauly closed the front door to Billy's house. "I should call Jeffy, Pauly said. "He must be worried about me."

"You can use our phone," Billy told him, taking Pauly's jacket from him. "The one the dolls use is usually in the kitchen, on the counter next to the refrigerator."

"Thanks," said Pauly as he ran off down the hall to the kitchen. He was familiar with the house now, because he spends most of his time there when Jeffy is not at home. He likes to be home when Jeffy is, because Jeffy needs him!

"You're pretty late coming home," Mariah said when Billy came into in the living room.

Emil hadn't mentioned to Mariah that Billy would be late. He thought it was better to let Billy explain when he got home.

"Yes," Billy said as he walked himself slowly toward them. "Well, you see some of us got into trouble and had to stay after school."

Billy heaved himself and the jackets up onto the big hassock in front of the couch. Mariah just looked at Billy. She wondered what he would have done to have to stay after.

Billy could tell Mariah really wanted to know more, so he began his story. She would find out anyway.

"You see," he said, "Pauly, Parker, Jackson and I were playing soccer in the school yard during recess. Well, actually, we were just practicing. I was showing them some moves I had learned. Then everyone tried it."

"When it was Parker's turn, he accidentally kicked the ball over the fence," Billy said. "His knees don't bend, and he hit it really hard. He didn't mean to. It's just what happens when you're learning something. Your aim is off."

Mariah nodded. She knew that was true.

"Pauly and I got to the fence first," Billy explained. "We could see the ball, but we couldn't reach it!"

"So there was the ball, on the other side of the fence," Billy went on with the story. "Recess was almost over, and the ball belongs to the school. We had to get it."

"You couldn't just leave it there," Emil agreed.

"So you found a teacher," Mariah suggested, "who could watch you get it or go with you to get it."

"We tried to," Billy explained, but all of the teachers who were out there were busy helping other dolls with things."

Mariah thought she could see where this was going. She knew there was a very strict rule that you didn't leave the school yard until school was over. A human person might see you there and pick you up, thinking you didn't belong to anyone. They might take you home and keep you. They might never know they were dollnapping, because you would be where you didn't belong. They wouldn't know that you got there on your own, because many human people don't see dolls move around and do things. "You didn't go outside the school yard to get the ball!" she exclaimed. 

Billy looked a little sheepish. "We decided to risk it," he said. "We didn't want the ball to get lost, so the four of us went out of the yard and got the ball. We thought it would be safe, because we were all together."

"When we were coming back with the ball," he went on, "one of the teachers caught us. She was very upset with us. She had seen us go outside the fence."

Emil had seen this part, so he just nodded.

"I can imagine!" Mariah exclaimed. "What did she do?" (She was sure he was going to tell them.)

"She told us we all had to come to her classroom after school," Billy replied. "She said we were going to be punished for breaking the rules."

Billy remembered how the four of them had worried about what the punishment was going to be. It was hard to think about anything else for the rest of the school day.

"So she made you stay after," Mariah suggested. Now she knew as much as Emil did.

"Well," Billy said, "there was more than that. She showed us the whiteboards in her room. There are four of them. She assigned each of us one of the whiteboards. She told us we had to write, 'I will not break the rules again' until our whiteboard was filled up."

"That teacher must be very old," Mariah suggested. "I didn't think they did that anymore."

"That must have been a lot of work," Emil said.

"It was," Billy agreed, "but it was a lot harder for Pauly, because he couldn't reach very high and he writes smaller than the rest of us. He really struggled with it. I had to stand on a chair to reach the top of it, but Pauly had to pile some books on his chair and still couldn't reach very high up, so he started from the bottom."

"Then what did he do?" Mariah asked. Now she was very concerned for Pauly, because she knows he tries hard to do everything the others do, but like Pippa, he's very short.

"He did his best," Billy said, "but when the rest of us had finished, he was still only about a quarter done and was looking around in the teacher's cupboard to find more books to stand on."

"After a while, the teacher started looking at the clock on the wall," Billy said. "That made Pauly nervous, so it was harder for him to write."

Mariah glanced toward the kitchen. She was't sure if Pauly could hear or not. She wasn't sure how he would feel about being talked about when he wasn't there.

"The teacher said she had to leave," Billy continued. "She said Pauly could stop writing and we could all go home. Pauly didn't have to finish."

"So that's when you came home," Emil suggested.

"Sort of," Billy said, "but there's more. Parker and Jackson didn't like it that Pauly didn't have to finish the punishment," he told them. "They started complaining that he should have to come back the next day to finish, because they had finished theirs, and it wasn't fair to them if he got off only doing part of it."

"I wanted to punch them both," Billy admitted, "but I remembered when I had gotten into a fight at school. Veronika told me I should never hit another doll, no matter what."

Mariah remembered that. "You were defending me," she said. "Veronika is right, but I was glad you stuck up for me. We just need to find better ways to stick up for someone than fighting."

Billy was glad Mariah had appreciated his support. "I remembered that Veronika said we should try to understand why someone does something we think is wrong or unfair," he said, "so I thought about how they had finished the punishment but Pauly hadn't. I thought about how the only dolls they live with are about their size. It made me realize that they didn't really understand how hard some things are for smaller dolls like Pauly and Pippa. Sometimes they need help!"

"So instead of hitting them," Billy went on, "I explained how difficult it was for Pauly to reach the white board. They must not have noticed, because they were working hard, but it was really a lot more work for Pauly than it was for them."

"I told them," Billy continued, "that just because someone else gets a break that you didn't get doesn't take anything away from you. You should be happy for them. Besides, Pauly wasn't the one who kicked the ball over the fence!"

"What did they do?" Emil asked.

"Jackson was still upset with Pauly," Billy replied, "but Parker apologized to him. Maybe Jackson will think about it and change his mind. I hope so."

"Then," Billy continued, "when we were leaving, the teacher did something odd, I think. She has sleeping eyes. You know, the kind that close when you lie down? I don't know how she did it, but she looked at me and closed one of her eyes. It was strange!"

"She winked at you!" Mariah exclaimed. "I know what that means! It means she thought you had done something good by trying to explain to Jackson and Parker."

This surprised Billy. He had only thought about how the teacher had been upset with him for breaking a very important rule. Maybe a teacher can be angry with you about something you did wrong and then pleased with you if you do something they like.

Just then, Pauly came back into the room. "Jeffy was glad I called," he told them. "I told him what happened, the whole story. He says to stay here, and he will come to get me. He doesn't want me to walk home alone when it's this late."

"We could have walked you home," Billy told him. He wondered why Jeffy hadn't thought about that.

"I think Jeffy wanted to come get Pauly," Mariah said. "Sometimes human people have to do something about their worry once it's over. It makes them feel better."

"Jeffy is a very special boy," Pauly told them. "I'm lucky to belong to a boy who doesn't just stand me on a shelf like something to look at!"

"You're lucky for lots of things," Mariah said, glancing at Billy. "You're a very lucky doll! We all are!"

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta

Pauly: Götz Little Kidz Paul

Old teacher: Madame Alexander Madeline ~1950

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Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment.

"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.

Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook and Emil: Stories from the Doll's Storybook are available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from Barnes & Noble,  BookBaby and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to St. Jude.

Image on Mariah's yellow T-shirt used with permission, from Free To Be Kids, where human-size shirts with this image are available.

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Copyright © 2022 by Peggy Stuart