Pups and Patients

"Is Mandy pretending to be sick?" asked Pippa from the doorway.

Charlotte turned to look at her. "She isn't pretending to be sick for real," she said. "She's pretending to be pretending to be sick so we can practice."

"Come in," said Mandy. "You can watch, if you like."

Pippa came into the room and stood where she could watch what was going on. Charlotte and Billy had their dogs with them. The dogs were both wearing their leashes, which was unusual when they were indoors. Both dolls were holding on to the leashes.

Charlotte and Billy put the dogs up on the bed with Mandy. "What's your dog's name?" Mandy asked Charlotte.

"His name is Pierre," Charlotte replied. (She said it like "pee-AIR," but Pippa knew that, and so did Mandy.)

"What's your dog's name?" Mandy asked Billy.

"Her name is Freckles," Billy replied.

Pippa was pretty sure Mandy knew the names of both dogs, but they were rehearsing something, so maybe it was a play.

Mandy kept petting the dogs. "Thank you for bringing your dogs to visit me," she said finally. "I think I need to rest now," she said.

"We will visit you again next week, if you like" Billy said, and Charlotte nodded her head, showing she agreed. Both dolls removed their dogs from Mandy's bed.

"Are you rehearsing a play?" Pippa asked.

"No," Mandy replied. "Billy and Charlotte, and their dogs, have just passed their tests to be pet-therapy (THAYR-ah-pee) teams. They're practicing, so that when they go to the doll hospital to give pet therapy to the patients, they will remember what to do."

"Therapy?" Pippa wondered. "What is therapy?"

"Well," Mandy began, "therapy is something we do to make someone feel better. Pet therapy is a special kind of therapy. Doll doctors have discovered that petting a dog or a cat, or visiting with another kind of tame animal often makes damaged dolls feel better."

"We're going to the doll hospital in a few days," Charlotte said. "We're going to give pet therapy to the dolls who are being repaired."

"Yes," Billy agreed. "We just finished our training and passed our tests, so we will know what to do."

Pippa looked at the two dogs. "Did Pierre and Freckles need to go to training, too?" she asked.

"Not in the same way," Charlotte explained. "They need to be able to do simple commands, like sit and stay, but they already knew how to do that."

"We get tested as a team," Charlotte explained. "We have to show that our dogs can follow our commands and that we know what our dogs need," she added, as she showed the other dolls how Pierre will sit and stay and come.

"They have to enjoy attention, too," Billy added, "but we're the ones who had to be trained."

"Dogs look to their people or their dolls for guidance," Mandy explained. "That's why Charlotte and Billy need to know what to do, but the dogs just need to know how to behave in new places. They have to be able to stay calm if something unusual happens. Not all dogs can do that."

"If we do well with the patients at the doll hospital," Charlotte told her, "we can take the dogs to the school."

"What for?" Pippa asked. "Will the dogs go to school with you every day? Do they need to learn how to read and write?"

"No," Billy replied. "We will take them to help other dolls learn to read."

"Freckles and Pierre can read?" Pippa asked. She tried very hard to make her eyes get big, but they just wouldn't, because they don't move.

"No," Charlotte said. "They don't have to read, just listen. Some dolls feel uncomfortable reading aloud to other dolls. Maybe they are afraid of making a mistake, but dogs like to listen to us when we talk. They never tell you that you read something the wrong way."

"Reading to a dog gives the doll confidence," Billy added.

Pippa thought about that for a few seconds. Then she asked, "May I borrow Pierre and Freckles for a little while?" 

The dolls were through practicing for their visit to the doll hospital, so they agreed, and Freckles and Pierre went off with Pippa. "You're going to give me reading therapy," she said to them.

Freckles and Pierre wondered if the story Pippa was going to read to them would be about dogs.

The story was not about dogs, but Pierre and Freckles didn't complain. There were some strange animals in it.

Pierre and Freckles never told Pippa when she pronounced a word the wrong way. They just listened.

Cast--
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta

Thanks to Therapy Animals of Utah for information about helping real people feel better with our pets.

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 2:00 PM Pacific Time.

Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from Barnes & Noble,  BookBaby and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment.

Image on Mariah's shirt used with permission with thanks, from Free To Be Kids, where human-size shirts with this image are available.

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Copyright © 2021 by Peggy Stuart

Ripples

"So, what do you do at a slumber party?" Pippa asked when the dolls had settled around the fire.

"I think," Jolena told her, "we're supposed to stay up past our bedtime and talk about hair and clothes and boys. Is that right, Veronika?" she asked, looking at the older doll.

"Bo-ring!" declared Billy and Emil in unison. The only way they cared about clothes and hair was that those things made them look like real boys, and boys were to play with, not talk about.

"Why would you talk about those things," Pippa asked, "if they're boring?"

"Most slumber parties don't include actual boys," Mariah explained, "unless it's boys having a sleepover."

"We could talk about other things, " Jolena suggested. She wanted Billy and Emil to feel included.

"I have an idea," Veronika put in. "Let's each tell about something nice that happened this week." 

"Who would like to go first?" she asked, when she saw that all the other dolls were in agreement.

"I have something," Charlotte exclaimed. "Something my teacher told me today made me feel very good."

"Tell us what it was," Mariah urged. Charlotte usually tells her everything, but she hadn't mentioned anything special that happened today.

"Well," Charlotte began, "two days ago, Susan––that's a girl in my class––needed to go to the library and return a book that was due, but her brother needed help learning his spelling words. She didn't know how she could get both things done before it was time for her to pretend to eat supper, so I said I would take the book back to the library for her. I had to go to the library anyway. She gave me the book and thanked me. Then she went home to help her brother study."

"I took the book back," Charlotte said, "and then I forgot all about it. Today, my teacher took me aside and told me how that one thing caused a lot of other things to happen."

"I know Susan's brother, Jackson," Billy said. "He's in my class. He got all his spelling words right on the test we had yesterday!"

"That's right," Charlotte agreed. "My teacher told me about it. She said he was so happy and proud that he stayed after school and cleaned off the white boards for his teacher. Then he helped tidy up the classroom, and when his teacher was ready to leave, he carried some boxes to her car for her."

"The next thing that happened," Charlotte went on, "was that because Jackson had helped her after school, his teacher was able to leave the school fifteen minutes earlier than usual."

"When she got home," Charlotte continued, "Jackson's teacher discovered that her neighbor was having trouble getting her car to start. The battery was dead. The neighbor was ready to take the bus, because she was going to be late for work. The teacher had some kind of gizmo that could use the teacher's car to start the neighbor's."

"Jumper cables," Emil put in. "It's a set of wires with metal clips on the ends. You put two of the clips on one battery and two on the other, and then you can use the good battery to start the car."

"Yes," Charlotte agreed. "I had forgotten. The teacher had jumper cables. They were able to get the neighbor's car started. The neighbor wouldn't have taken her car if Jackson's teacher hadn't been home in time to help start it! She would have taken the bus, and her car would have been at home."

"Well," Charlotte continued the story, "the neighbor works at the doll hospital. When she got to work, she found out that a doll had just arrived who needed help. This doll had fallen into the street. A human boy on a bicycle had accidentally ridden over her arm, and her arm was not only squashed, but pulled off entirely."

"The people who work in the doll hospital," Charlotte went on, "were going to have to order a new arm for the doll, because they didn't have the right kind in stock, and the arm could not be repaired. It was going to take two weeks."

The dolls all thought about having to sit around with only one arm for two weeks! What can you do with only one arm? But what did this have to do with the story. The dolls waited.

"Fortunately," Charlotte explained, "Jackson's teacher's neighbor who works in the doll hospital, had a box of doll parts (don't ask) in her car." 

"She ran out to the car and got it," Charlotte continued. "They went through the doll parts and found an arm that was just the right kind and size. Now who do you think the doll who needed repair was?" Charlotte asked. 

No one had any idea. It seemed as if it was someone Charlotte knew, but they all knew lots of dolls.

"It was Milly!" Charlotte exclaimed. "Milly, who plays the cello (CHEH-loh) in the school orchestra."

"Jello?" asked Pippa. She was trying to think of what that might sound like.

"No," Charlotte said. "You can't make music with Jello. It's a cello. It looks just like my violin, only bigger, and it stands on the floor instead of being tucked under your chin. It has a deeper voice than a violin."

Pippa had to think about that. She didn't know a thing could have a voice. The wondered if cellos could talk to each other in their heads the way dolls do.

"Well," Charlotte went on, "as you know, we were having our big concert today. Even if the teacher's neighbor had brought her car to the doll hospital today, Milly would have had to wait to get her new arm. Milly is the only doll who plays the cello, so we could not have played some of the pieces without her! "

"It's impossible to play the cello with one arm!" Mandy exclaimed.

Charlotte nodded. "You can't play a violin with just one arm, either," she pointed out.

"We would have had to postpone the concert," Charlotte explained, "and Harry's family is moving away this weekend. He would have missed out."

"My teacher," Charlotte said finally, "wanted me to know that Milly was able to play in the concert all because I took the book back to the library for Susan."

The dolls all had to think about how one thing led to another. It took a lot of doll-brain activity to imagine it. They followed each step in their heads, backwards from the concert to the library.

"It was nice your teacher found all this out," Veronika pointed out. "Usually when we do something good for someone we only see what happens right then, while we're watching. Maybe it makes the person smile, or they say thank you, but every good thing we do is like when you touch water. Ripples leave that spot and move away. Finally they disappear. You never find out what happens to them." 

"That one thing we do often leads to another," Veronika said, "and that leads to another. We may never see it, but every time we do something good for someone, it goes out into the world. Sometimes it keeps doing good forever."

All the dolls thought about Charlotte's story. When it was their turn, they wanted to have something good to tell everyone. Charlotte's story would be hard to beat, but maybe that was OK. It was nice to think about.

"The concert was lovely to listen to," said Emil, who knew what it was like not to be able to hear music. "Everyone did a good job. I'm glad Milly got to play!"

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
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL

Photo of ripples in water by Yoann Boyer on Unsplash

Doll parts photo by Random Institute on Unsplash

Jumper cables photo by Daniel @ bestjumpstarterreview.com on Unsplash

Photo of cello being played by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

Photos from Unsplash edited to fit the story.

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Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

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. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

"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, Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook are available from BookBaby and other booksellers worldwide, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 

Author's page on Amazon. 

Royalties (net proceeds) 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 charity (specific information available upon request). Autographed copies of all three books are available from the author. (Multiple books to the same address have a discount on shipping.) To inquire, email thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

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Copyright © 2021, 2024 by Peggy Stuart