The Doll

"Oh," she simply said "that is an ugly doll." She looked at the clothing. It was dressed in a dress with a pinafore of fading blue. The flowers on the dress were also faded but it appeared that they may have been pink flowers. "Honey," she said, "that doll is old, and maybe it has germs." She was thinking germs as she watched her daughter hug the doll to her face. "Why are the eyes yellow?" she kept asking herself.

John was not quite as negative. He watched as his daughter hugged the doll close to her. As if she read her father’s thoughts, Jessie looked up at his face. "Daddy," she said sweetly. "Please Daddy, can I keep her? You and Mom have Tina. This is my baby, and she was waiting for me to find her. She was waiting in my room. She says her name is Clare. May I please keep her?"

John looked at his wife. He could see she was clearly alarmed at the appearance of the doll, and wanted nothing more than to trash it. On the other hand, John thought about how unhappy Jessie had been lately having to share with a baby who was a surprise to them all. "Honey," he finally said, "If you want to keep the doll, then keep it."

Once they were home that night and Jessie had gone to bed with Clare sleeping next to her, he told her how important this doll was to Jessie. "Hon," he explained gently "I know you find Clare to be scary in some way."

"Please do not refer to that doll as Clare," she responded.

"Okay the doll," he replied. "Maybe that is a better way of explaining it, because it is just a doll, and it makes Jessie happy. Can’t you see that?"

"Oh I see it all too well. That thing is frightening. She latched on to it, and YES it scares me."

The next day was the move from hell. Any of us who have moved understand why it was the move from hell. ANY move is a move from hell, but that goes without saying.

Jessie in the meantime hugged and loved Clare throughout the entire experience. She treated that doll as if it were her natural child.

Two weeks into the new house, everyone settled in, Denise finally admitted to John that allowing Jessie to keep the doll may not have been a bad thing after all. She said the doll still gave her the creeps, but at least Jessie seemed to be accepting Tina more, and their situation.

A week later, Jessie woke up hearing her baby crying for her. She turned over in bed to embrace Clare.

Clare’s eyes were a bright yellow, and her face was radiating a yellow glow, which seemed to emit from those yellow buttons which were her eyes. Clare then stood up, jumped off the bed, and moved towards the hall.

Denise made her way to Tina’s room first, to check on her new daughter as she did every morning. John was just getting out of the shower when he heard his wife’s scream.

John came into the baby’s room in time to see his wife clawing at the baby’s blankets. "What is it, honey?" he asked. "Tina is gone," she screamed "replaced by this thing." John looked at the crib. Laying under the blanket was Clare. The covers were adjusted as if it were Tina there asleep. Denise suddenly gasped! "Oh." She said.