The Doll's Storybook

Stories about dolls who live in our world. Although these stories are suitable for children, they should check with their parents before reading and always be careful online. Readers are invited to donate to a charity supporting pediatric cancer treatment and research. Images shown are taken by the author or from a free image website with attribution and appreciation. The author has no connection with Götz Puppenmanufaktur, but gives them credit for the amazing dolls they produce.

Showing posts with label hearing. Show all posts

Friday, May 9, 2025

Shhhhh!

"Hey," said Billy from the doorway. "The Writer sent me in to ask everyone to talk a little more quietly."

Charlotte put down her violin. "Are we making too much noise?" she asked.

"No," said Billy, as he climbed up on the table next to Charlotte, "and she specifically said to tell you to keep playing. Music doesn't disturb her, unless someone sings along. It's the words that distract her."

"She and I," Billy went on proudly, "are working on the cover for the new book. She says she needs to concentrate, because the software is very complicated. Talking distracts her brain, so she can't think."

"I'm not really talking," said Pam, who was sitting on the floor with a book. "I'm reading, and I would like it a little quieter, too. I have to say the words out loud, or they don't make any sense with all the other words I'm hearing!"

"The Writer can hear us talk?" asked Pauly. He was incredulous. He couldn't believe it could be true. He knew many children can hear their dolls talk, although he wasn't sure that Jeffy, the child he lived with, could hear him. He hadn't been living with Jeffy long, so maybe it takes a while, but he didn't think actual grownup humans ever heard dolls talking.

Billy laughed, as he rubbed behind Pierre's ears. "She says that sometimes she wishes she didn't hear us, but then she thinks about the stories. She couldn't write them if we didn't talk to her."

"And if she didn't see us doing things," Mandy put in, as she checked the fit of the sweater she was making for Pippa.

"We definitely do things," Veronika agreed. She was at the sewing machine, working on a quilt for The Writer's husband.

"We're always busy," Jolena agreed.

"You're even busier than the rest of us," Mariah told her.

The two girls were sitting at the work table. Jolena was looking up recipes for what to cook for supper, while Mariah worked on a poem she was writing. "If you're not cooking something," Mariah pointed out, "you're off at dance lessons or ski instruction, or flying through the air on your skis." She punctuated this last statement with a wave of her hand.

"Jolena even supervises us when we wash the dishes!" Emil put in. He was brushing Marmalade to help Mandy, so she could get finished with Pippa's sweater.

"I've never seen the rest of you with nothing to do," Jolena pointed out.

"We're supposed to be quiet for a while, though," Emil said. "Shhhh!" he added, more to himself than to anyone else.

That reminded the other dolls that they needed to talk more softly.

They looked at each other and said, "Shhhhh!" They said it more to themselves than to each other.

Billy climbed down from the table and paused in the doorway. "I'll get back to helping," he said softly. Then he left the room.

"Let's pretend we're at the library when we talk," Pippa suggested softly, as she slipped off the new sweater. Pippa knows it's important to be quiet at the library, because some people like to read there, and loud talking can be distracting.

So they did. When they had to talk, they did it very quietly.

Veronika didn't worry that the sound of the sewing machine would bother The Writer. If music without words didn't bother her, the whirring sound the machine makes wouldn't bother her, either.

Mandy didn't worry that the sound of her knitting needles would bother The Writer. They just make a soft clicking sound as she works.

It was quiet enough that Pam was able to read without having to say the words out loud, so she didn't have to worry that her reading would disturb The Writer.

Pippa and Pauly didn't worry that using their crayons to color would disturb The Writer. Crayons on paper make hardly any sound at all! Coloring with crayons isn't like talking out loud.

Mariah didn't worry that the sound of her pencil, or even the sound of the eraser, on the paper would distract The Writer as she wrote her poem.

Jolena didn't worry that the sound of turning the pages in the cookbook would interfere with The Writer's concentration.

Emil didn't worry that The Writer would be disturbed by the sound of the brush going through Marmalade's fur or the purring sound Marmalade made when he was being brushed.

Sometimes Marmalade talked to Emil, but The Writer wouldn't hear that, even if Marmalade used his loudest voice. Emil was the only one who could hear the animals talk.

The other dolls could hear Marmalade purr. They could hear him say "meow," but they couldn't hear him talk about watching the birds in the tree outside or how much he liked to smell and even pretend to eat catnip.

The dolls continued with what they were doing before but remembering now to talk to each other with hushed tones, while Charlotte practiced playing her violin.

When Billy got downstairs, he found out that The Writer had gotten into more trouble with the cover of the book while he was upstairs. Billy needed to get her out of that trouble…and he did.

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

Pauly: Götz Little Kidz Paul

Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

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, Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook and More Classic Tales Untold: Stories 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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Friday, September 20, 2024

Emil's Big Problem

Emil woke when his alarm started to shake the bed. He knew it was time to get up. He felt for his glasses, which he had left in the charger the night before. Uh-oh! The charger was empty!

"Now what?" he thought. He couldn't hear without his glasses, because his special hearing aids were in them, and he couldn't see enough to get out of bed without them, either.

Emil knew no one would have taken his glasses. There was no one in the house who would do something mean. He thought and thought about what might have happened. Something must have knocked them out of the charger and onto the floor. "Marmalade!" he thought suddenly.

Cats walk around on tables sometimes. They are careful about where they step, but maybe Marmalade shook the table jumping on or off. They must be on the floor. Emil was afraid to get out of bed when he couldn't see.
"Billy!" Emil called to Billy with his mind. "Billy, I have a problem."
Billy shares the room with Emil. "I'm here, Emil," Billy said. Emil felt a hand on his leg and the mattress move a little bit.

"My special glasses are not in the charger," Emil told Billy. "I think they might have fallen onto the floor."
"I'll look," Billy said, and Emil felt the mattress move again as Billy got down on the floor.

Billy didn't see anything right under the table, but when he looked under the bed, there were Emil's glasses. "Here they are," he said, pulling them out.

Then Billy reached up and put the glasses into Emil's hands.

Emil put his glasses on. Then his face fell. "Oh, no!" he said. "I can't hear anything. I guess the hearing aids didn't charge enough."

"What should we do?" Billy asked.
Emil thought. "Well," he said, "I could put the glasses back into the charger and leave them, but then I won't be able to hear or see. That will take several hours."

Billy nodded. That made sense. "Can you use your glasses the way they are?" he asked. "You could try charging them again tonight, but at least you would be able to see until time for bed again."

Emil thought. That sounded like a good plan. Well, not good, really, but the better choice. "Will you help me today, Billy?" He asked. "There are some things I won't be able to do without hearing," he said.
"I'll help," Billy agreed. "I'm sure the girls will help, too. You just need to tell us what you need to have help with."

"Thanks," Emil said. "I'm glad we can hear each other's voices in our heads. Mandy told me she thinks people used to be able to hear each other in their heads the way we do, but they started being able to make their lips and tongues move, and started to have voice boxes to make sound, so they started talking, and then they forgot how to listen to each other."

"Many people who can't hear have to use sign language to talk," Emil said. "They make different motions with their hands rather than to say words. I can't do that very well, because my wrists don't bend and my fingers don't move much."

"Yes, we all have that problem," Billy pointed out.

It was going to be a long day!

Billy held on to Emil when they walked to school and back, so he could move Emil to the side when a bicycle came by. He would say, "Bicycle" to Emil each time that happened. He stayed next to him on the playground, to get Emil out of the way if there was anything dangerous for someone who couldn't hear.

Emil could hear the teacher's voice in his head, because the teacher is a doll, too, but when the class watched a video, he couldn't hear it. The teacher adjusted the TV so there were words across the bottom of the screen that told what was being said. The teacher put a chair for Emil up at the front of the class, so he could see the words clearly.

After school, it was Emil's turn to help with the laundry. Charlotte offered to do it for him, because he couldn't hear the dryer buzzer go off, but he said it was his job and asked her to let him know when she heard it. "I want to be treated just like everyone else," Emil told her.

All day long, Emil couldn't hear any sounds. There was no music for Emil, no matter how close to the speakers he got. He could feel the music through the chair he was standing on, but it wasn't the same.

He didn't notice when an airplane flew over the house. He didn't hear the train whistle blow. He didn't hear Pierre and Freckles barking at people walking their dogs, although he could hear them talking about it in their heads.
"There's that Mrs. Jones with Fritzi," Pierre said.

At the end of the day, Emil found Marmalade. He asked the cat to please not walk on the table next to the bed at night, and Marmalade agreed.

Emil plugged in his glasses.

Then he went to sleep.

When his shaking mattress woke Emil up the next morning, he reached for his glasses.

They were in the charger! He put them on.

Then Emil waited a moment. He listened. Yes! He could hear the train on the tracks a mile away. He heard the furnace come on in the house. He heard the microwave beep in the kitchen. He heard the toilet flush in the bathroom. He heard the shower running. Then he heard a small crash and a little scream that puzzled him.

Then he heard Veronika's voice in his head, "That's OK," she said. "I'll pick them up."

"Veronika's hairpins!" Emil thought to himself.
Then he thought about how lucky he was that his special glasses could help him see and hear, so he knew what was going on in the house. He lay back on the pillows and smiled to himself.

It was good to feel like a normal kid again.

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
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL