“What did Holly say,” Veronika asked.
Emil was just finishing the letter from his friend.
“She says they’re going to Sam’s grandparent’s house for Thanksgiving,” Emil replied. “She sounds very excited. It’s a long drive, but it will be fun, because Sam reads to her in the car, and sometimes they get to watch a movie on the tablet.”
“Sam puts Holly and her wheelchair in a cloth grocery bag, along with her clothes and things,” Emil explained.
“I imagine Sam can’t take much,” Veronika said. “I think you said they have a pretty small car, and they have to put Sam’s wheelchair in, too.”
“That’s true,” Emil agreed, “but Sam’s parents got a box that goes on the roof to hold their belongings that won’t fit into the car. Holly says they got it for this trip, but now they will have it to use it every time they travel by car. They’re going back to visit Sam’s grandparents again for Spring Break.”
Emil continued to look at the letter.
“I thought everyone would be interested in this,” he said. “She said she enjoyed reading about how we watched the eclipse (ee-KLIPS), and she just found out that they will be able to see the next one. It’s during Spring Break. She wrote that it’s supposed to go right over where her grandparents live.”
“That will be fun,” Veronika told him. “We really enjoyed going out into the backyard and watching the sun disappear.”
“We had to take turns using the special glasses, except when the clouds came,” Emil remembered.
“It was really interesting to see,” Veronika put in, “especially when the sun was completely covered up by the moon, and it got almost dark. I’m glad the clouds had moved off by then. We each had a quick peek at the sun completely covered up by the moon.”
“The Writer told me I had to wait my turn to use the special glasses, even though I don’t see the same way as other dolls,” Emil added.
“Maybe it was because we have to set a good example for real children,” Veronika suggested. “I mean, our eyes are made of a sturdy acrylic plastic, and looking at the sun shouldn’t really hurt them, but real children can damage their eyes by looking right at the sun.”
Emil had to agree that what Veronika thought made sense. They also had taken the vegetable steamer out with them, so they could watch the shadow the moon made through the tiny round holes. The writer had held the steamer over a piece of light-colored material she had brought out from the shed, and the dolls watched as the little holes went from round to crescent-shaped and then almost dark, and then slowly back to round again.
He looked at the letter from Holly again. “Holly says to thank Mandy for explaining the difference between a solar (SO-ler) eclipse and a lunar (LOO-ner) eclipse.”
“Holly says she told Sam,” Emil said, “that a solar eclipse is when part or all of the sun is covered by the moon, and that solar means it has to do with the sun, like how the solar panels on the roof of the trailer make electricity from the sun.”
“And lunar is when it’s the moon,” Veronika pointed out, “because lunar is a word like solar but having to do with the moon, only we can’t make energy from the moon, I don’t think.”
“Mandy said in a way we do,” Emil countered. “It’s pretty new, but it isn’t from the moon’s light, because that’s really just the sun shining on the moon. The moon pulls the oceans like a magnet as it goes around the earth, making the tide go in and out, and there are places that make energy using the water moving back and forth and not just running downhill.”
“Now we have big dams that use the water moving downstream to make energy,” Veronika said thoughtfully. “They use the energy to make electricity, so grinding and sawing can be done anywhere.”
“Tides going in and out must make a lot of energy, too, only they change direction, instead of always going the same way,” Emil pointed out, “so I guess they had to figure out how to use the power, no matter which direction it was coming from.”
Emil looked back at Holly’s letter.
“Holly said she liked how Mandy explained that with the solar eclipse, the moon’s shadow falls someplace on the earth,” he told Veronika.
Emil continued, “and that with the lunar eclipse, the earth’s shadow falls on the moon.”
“She told Sam all about it,” Emil explained, “and showed Sam Mandy’s diagrams I sent her, so now Sam is going to try to make a project for the science fair, showing how that happens.”
“A science fair!” Veronika exclaimed. “That sounds like fun! I like the thought of a real human child entering the science fair with a project inspired by dolls!”
“You know,” Emil said then. “I was just thinking about how Holly is going to Sam’s grandparents for Thanksgiving. That made me think about Thanksgiving and being grateful for things.”
Veronika nodded. She had been thinking about that, too. She didn’t say anything, though, because she felt that Emil had more to say, the way we sometimes feel things if we pay attention.
“I’m grateful to be here,” Emil told her. “I mean, I’m glad I was made in the factory, even though they accidentally messed up my eyes and ears.”
“Maybe,” Emil went on, “maybe I’m even grateful they did that, because that’s why they sent me to the doll hospital, where I got my special glasses that let me see and hear, and if they hadn’t done that, I would never have met Holly, and we wouldn’t be writing each other.”
“Knowing Holly is like having more family,” Emil explained, “and other adventures. I mean, Holly’s life is different from mine. I enjoy my life, and I feel very lucky to be here, but it’s also interesting to hear about what other dolls––dolls who are different from me––get to do. It’s almost like getting to do those things, too.”
“I’m grateful you’re here, too,” Veronika told him, “and I’m grateful for your special glasses. Watching the eclipse was more fun because we were all doing it together!”
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
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