"Let's sit in the living room, Jolena," Mariah suggested. "That way you can be comfortable."
"I've never been interviewed before," Jolena told her friend. "What do I do?"
"Just answer my questions," Mariah replied. "It's easy. You'll be fine."
The girls settled themselves on the couch.
Mariah had her notebook and pencil. She had already written down some questions she wanted to ask. "Let's get started," she said. "First, when did you realize you wanted to do aerials and slopestyle skiing?" she asked.
Jolena thought for a moment. "Well," she replied, "when I was in my box on the shelf in the warehouse, I noticed I was wearing ski clothes." She thought for a moment, as Mariah wrote. "I mean, I just noticed at first that I was very warmly dressed," she said. "I had on long underwear, waterproof pants, a warm jacket, heavy plastic boots, and mittens. My jacket had a hood. Then I saw that I had skis, ski poles, a ski mask and a helmet to protect my head, and I realized I was meant to be a skier."
Mariah carefully wrote as much as she could of what Jolena said. "So then you thought about doing tricks on your skis?" she asked.
"No," Jolena replied. "I just thought I was going to ski just for fun."
Mariah wrote all that down. "So what made you think of doing tricks on your skis?" she asked then.
Jolena thought back.
"Well," she said, after a moment, "I was on my way to this country, although, at the time, I didn't know exactly where I was going. I just could feel my box moving." Jolena paused and thought some more. "I remember it got very warm, and I was wishing for cooler clothes. I found out later that my box had been sent through through Florida on my way to Utah by mistake. It was May, and it was already warm there in Florida, but at the time I didn't know where I was. All I knew was that I was uncomfortable, so I tried to take my mind off of it by thinking about what I could do on skis. I didn't really know, but it was good to think about all that nice, cold snow. I tried to imagine flying down the hill, and then in my mind, I was flying through the air!"
"What happened next?" Mariah urged.
"When The Writer opened my box," Jolena said. "I found out I was in Utah and that I had three sisters. That was before you came to live with us, Mariah."
"That's right," Mariah said. "I arrived right after the family moved to Oregon."
"Well," Jolena went on, "I found out that we lived close to the Utah Olympic Park, where they have ski jumps and bobsled runs, and that the Doll Ski Team had training in the summer. The Writer told me about it and asked me if I thought I would like to take part in the training. I got signed up right away!"
"Were you excited?" Mariah asked.
"Yes," Jolena said, "very excited, but it was hard work, too. I wanted to make the most of it, because I knew we were moving at the end of the summer, so this was my only chance. I was very tired when I came back from training each day."
"How did you train without snow?" Mariah asked. She knew that Utah didn't have snow in the summer except in the very highest mountains.
"That's very interesting," Jolena said. "You see, at the Utah Olympic Park, the big ski jumps are carpeted with special grass. Not real grass, but some kind of plastic. It lets the skis glide across the grass, so it feels just like skiing on snow."
Mariah's eyes would have widened, but they don't move, so she just looked intent.
"When you get to the bottom of the ski jump, you go flying through the air," Jolena explained. "Then you land in the pool. That's why I had to wear a bathing suit."
"The pool?" Mariah asked. "There's a pool?"
"Yes," Jolena replied, "a pool at the bottom of the ski jumps. So you can do your tricks and land in the pool when you're practicing. That way you don't get hurt."
Mariah continued to write as Jolena answered. "So the pool had water in it, then, right?" Mariah asked then.
"Yes!" Jolena exclaimed. "It wouldn't have been very good empty."
"But didn't you get water in your eyes?" Mariah asked.
"That could happen," Jolena agreed, "only the dolls on the Doll Ski team who train in water have special ski masks that keep the water out. We could fill up with water and sink, so the special masks help with that, and the coaches who teach us get us out of the water quickly."
"Was that all you did?" Mariah asked. "I mean, did you just go off and train on your skis every day?"
"No," Jolena said. "I got to know the other dolls in the family. We did stuff. Read books. We sat around and talked."
"One day," Jolena went on, "I decided I should start learning to dance. One of the trainers said that dance and gymnastics were good training for aerials and slopestyle skiers, so I started learning ballet. It was good for stretching, for one thing, and it was good for balance, too," Jolena went on.
"Now," Mariah said, "you have gone to South America two summers in a row, so you can ski and practice in real snow. What's that like?"
"Oh, it's wonderful!" Jolena exclaimed. "I get to spend a couple of weeks practicing all kinds of new tricks on real snow with other members of the US Doll's Ski Team and trainers. Last year we went to Argentina (ar-jen-TEE-nah). This year we went to Chile (CHIH-leh). Both of those countries have mountains with great ski resorts, and now I'm learning to speak Spanish. We have plans to go to Australia (os-TRAYL-ya) and New Zealand (new-ZEE-land) next summer and the summer after."
"Do you always see the same dolls?" Mariah asked.
"A lot of the same dolls come each year," Jolena replied, "and we see each other at competitions, too."
"Have you won many medals?" Mariah asked then.
"Not yet," Jolena replied. "I've only been at it for a couple of years, and it takes a lot of training and practice, but I keep getting better, so I'm pleased."
"Yes," Mariah said. "That's how I am with my writing. Now tell me please what you think is the most important thing you have learned since you started skiing."
"I really like dancing," Jolena said, "but I'm happiest when I'm in the snow."
"I think," Jolena said finally "whoever put those skis in my box with me knew what they were doing. I think that the people who work in the doll factory must be very smart."
"Well, I'm sure glad they did," Mariah said. "Skiing and doing tricks on your skis sure seems to make you happy. Now," she went on, "I have one more question: The first story in The Doll's Storybook was about you, so you sort of helped get this story blog started. Tell me how that happened."
Jolena thought back. It had been a long time, but it was very important to her, so she remembered it well. She just wanted to be sure she explained it correctly. "Mandy knitted me a blue dress," she said.
"I was wearing it," Jolena continued, "and sitting in the rocking chair on the front deck, pretending to eat some cottage cheese."
"The Writer's husband had found a spider––a toy one," Jolena continued, "and put it on The Writer's laptop, for fun. It made her laugh. She put it on one of the posts for me to look at so I could pretend it was a real spider."
"Then the story hit her," Jolena said. "I think that was how she put it, but I don't think it hurt. It doesn't hurt when a story hits you."
"So," Mariah exclaimed, "the stories started because of a spider!"
"This spider didn't spin a web; it spun a story!" Mariah added.
Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
"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.
