While the Cat's Away

"I'm home!" Mandy cried out as she closed the front door.

All the other dolls rushed to meet her. Mariah was first, because she was in the upstairs hall when she heard Mandy's voice.

Jolena was second, because she found a fast way down the stairs.

"The delivery man let me out of the box on the porch," Mandy told them. "The ride home in a box wasn't as interesting as the flight to Ireland on a real plane."
Mandy gave each of the other dolls a hug, because she knew they like hugs.

Then she greeted Marmalade, who had heard her voice, too. "I missed you, Marmalade," Mandy told her cat.

The dogs, Pierre and Freckles, were happy to see Mandy.

Of course, Mandy knew Brownie would be happy to see her, too.

Even Cleo would be glad Mandy was home.

"The Writer and her husband will be home in another week," Mandy told the other dolls.

"We're alone!" Billy exclaimed! "What should we do?
"We could do some things we never do when The Writer is here," Emil said with a smile.

"Let's fill the tub with water and use it for a swimming pool!" Jolena suggested.

"We will get to wear our swim goggles," Mariah said.

"We could try on some of The Writer's clothes," Veronika said. "That's always fun."

"Remember when The Writer was out of the house," Jolena asked, "and we found her credit cards in her purse?"

 "We bought a lot of things online," Charlotte said.

"The Writer wasn't very happy with us," Veronika pointed out. "She told us that if we needed something, we should ask, and she would buy it if it was OK for us to have it."

"Anyway," Mandy pointed out, "She has her credit cards with her this time."

"Why don't we have a tea party!" Mariah exclaimed. "We could invite the bears."

"All of that sounds like fun," Veronika said, "but I have a better idea."
All of the dolls wanted to know what Veronika's idea was.
"Let's clean the house again!" Veronika exclaimed. "That was so much fun when we did it before, and won't it be a nice surprise when The Writer gets home!"

The dolls thought about that. 
It would be fun to swim in the bathtub.

It would be fun to try on The Writer's clothes.

It would be fun to buy things online if they had The Writer's credit card.

It would be fun to have a tea party and invite the bears.

The most fun, though, would be to see The Writer's face when she walked in and saw her clean house.

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

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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Copyright © 2020, 2025 by Peggy Stuart 

What's Behind the Door?

"What are you doing up there, Pippa?" Mariah called up from where she was standing by the bathroom door.

Pippa peeked over the edge of the counter. "I'm checking out what's in the cabinets here," she said.

"How did you get up there?" Mariah called up to her.

"Right here," Pippa said, pointing to the drawers in the lower cabinet. "I used the drawers and their handles to climb up. It was easy."

Mariah looked at how Pippa had climbed up. "You little monkey!" she exclaimed. "I don't know if I can get up there from here."

Mariah is not very big, but she's bigger than Pippa. She had to pull out each drawer a bit to climb on.

"It turns out," Pippa said, when Mariah had reached the top of the counter, "I'm pretty good at climbing."

"I thought you must have sprouted wings," Mariah said. "Now, tell me, what are you doing in the cabinets?"

"Well," Pippa began, "I remembered how Emil said that sometimes you look in the drawers and cabinets when the old people are away. I thought this cabinet on the wall looked interesting."

Mariah looked up where Pippa was pointing. "That's the medicine cabinet," she said.

"Well," Pippa said again, "I decided to check out what's in it. I found lots of interesting bottles and things." 

Pippa pointed to an assortment of bottles on the countertop. "I found all this!" she explained.

Mariah looked at all the things Pippa had pulled out of the cabinet. "You know," she said, "these things are mostly medicines."

"Yes!" Pippa agreed. "They're interesting! Smell this!" Pippa took the cap off of a bottle of blue liquid. "This stuff smells yummy!"

Mariah took a sniff of what was in the bottle. "Yes," she said. "It does smell yummy, but we have to be very careful with these things."

"I know!" Pippa said. "They don't belong to us! I'm going to put them all back." She put the cap back on the bottle.

"It isn't just that," Mariah said. "We shouldn't mess with things that don't belong to us, but some of these things could make a child very sick. Children should not take things from the medicine cabinet, and especially they shouldn't eat or drink any of it. Not only that, but this stuff is mouthwash. People rinse their mouths with it after they brush their teeth, and then they spit it out. You're not supposed to drink it!"

"I didn't think about eating or drinking any of it," Pippa said. "Not even to pretend to!"

"Well," agreed Mariah, as the two dolls sat down on the edge of the counter, "we're dolls, so pretending to eat medicines wouldn't hurt us, except just make us pretend to be sick, but we have to set a good example for the children who read our stories."

"Why do they have these things," Pippa wanted to know, "if they can make them sick?"

"It all depends on what it's for," Mariah said, as Pippa picked up one of the bottles,"but grownup humans know to read the labels. If it says to take two every four hours, for a headache or a tummy ache, that's what they do. If it says not to take it if you're taking some other kind of medicine, they don't."

"Many children know how to read directions," Pippa said, holding out the bottle. "They would know how many pills to take," she added, as Mariah took the bottle from her.

"That's true," agreed Mariah, "but human children have smaller bodies than human grownups. What is safe for a grownup to take might not be safe for a child. Besides, small children might have trouble reading this. The print is very tiny!"

"Children have smaller bodies, like mine?" Pippa asked.

"Not that small," Mariah said. "Even human babies are bigger than you are, Pippa."

Just then, both dolls heard something. 

"It's the garage door!" Mariah exclaimed. "The Writer and her husband are back!"

"What do we do?" whispered Pippa.

"Let's just hurry and put everything back where it was," Mariah said.

The dolls worked quickly. Pippa climbed up to where she could reach the medicine cabinet. Mariah handed the bottles up to her, and she put each one away. 

Then they climbed down and closed the drawers, just as they heard the door to the house open. 

They ran to The Writer's workroom and got back to their places on the windowsill, where they had been when the old people left to go out.

After she put away her hat and coat, The Writer went upstairs and into the bathroom to comb her hair. "Sweetie?" she called to her husband. "Did you take my mouthwash out and leave it on the counter?" 

She was sure she had put it away before they left. Hmmmm....sometimes it seemed as if they weren't alone in the house, she thought, as she put the mouthwash away where it belonged. They often found things out of place when they had been out or when they got up in the morning.

The Writer went to the workroom to check on the dolls. Everyone was right where she had left them, but Mariah and Pippa seemed to be looking at the ceiling.

"I wonder what they think about all day," she said to herself as she slowly closed the door to the workroom.

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

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 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.

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

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/19832501/?claim=j3fj3mbb8kt">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Copyright © 2020, 2023 by Peggy Stuart