The Doll

Once upon a time, there was a little girl. One day, she was exploring a closet at her grandmother’s house when she discovered a little doll with no hair and no nose. What it did  have was a little dress with an apron, round eyes and a cute little smile made of light pink stitches. The little girl immediately loved this doll, but thought that it must belong to someone else because it looked so perfect.

She left the doll where it was and hurried downstairs. She didn’t want anyone to think she had been snooping, so she was a little nervous, but she loved the doll so much that she felt compelled to ask about it.

“Grandma,” she said tentatively, “Whose doll is that upstairs?”

Her grandmother looked confused. “What doll do you mean, sweetheart?”

“The doll in the closet.” Her grandmother still was unsure, so the little girl took her upstairs to show her.

“Oh that doll!” the grandmother chuckled when she saw it. “I’d forgotten about that! I made that doll a while ago, but never finished it.”

The little girl was surprised. How could anyone just forget about such a lovely little doll? And how could her grandmother have made it? And why? Was it for some other little girl, she wondered.

“Who is it for?”

“Nobody,” her grandmother said, then paused, studying the child. “Did you want it?”

Oh, yes. The little girl very much did want the doll. She could hardly believe that it was being offered to her.

“Really?” She asked. She already knew exactly what the doll should look like, from the red clown nose to the thick, straight brown hair that had to be sewn on.

“Sure,” her grandmother said. “But we’ll have to add some hair.”

The little girl’s mommy helped give the doll a makeover too. Together, they made the doll exactly the way that the little girl wanted it. While her mother sewed the strands of hair to the doll’s head, she teased the little girl.

“What will you name me?” she teased in the doll’s voice. “Please don’t call me Baldy!”

The little girl giggled. She already knew the doll’s name. She would name her Molly, after the doll on television that had inspired this doll’s nose and hair.

Years passed, but Molly always appeared on that little girl’s bed. The little girl grew into a big girl, then into a young woman. She moved away and got married. When her husband saw the doll, he surprised her.

“It’s Molly,” he said, smiling.

Eventually the day came that the young woman needed to ready a nursery for the baby girl that was on her way. At first she put Molly in the baby’s doll bag at the foot of the bed, but the baby received so many stuffed animals that there was no longer any space in the bag. The young woman thought to herself, “She’ll probably like her own dolls more.” She sighed and put Molly away.

Twice upon a time, there was a little girl. One day, she was exploring her mother’s closet. She found a lovely little doll that she simply adored.