It's amazing how quickly things can change. Two months ago I was sitting in my box at the store, waiting for someone to buy me, and now I'm a big sister. And no, it had nothing to do with Treesa's 'meddling', as some of the other dolls call it. Actually, Treesa was more surprised than anybody. But I'm getting ahead of myself. It's always best to start at the beginning, so here goes.
The day Treesa took me out of my box was probably one of the craziest days of my life. The best way to describe the welcoming process would be 'organized chaos'. Word spread quickly through the collection that there was a new doll in the house and groups of dolls kept coming over to meet me and introduce themselves. As soon as one group left, another would show up to take their place. I barely had time to catch my breath. Not only that, but I ended up hearing and answering a lot of the same questions over and over again. What was my name? What doll line was I from? What did I think of Treesa?
And everyone seemed to have at least one piece of advice, some of it contradictory. For example, several dolls told me that Treesa has a tendency to meddle. Joy's advice was to pick my battles but to otherwise go with the flow. Halle basically told me to take matters into my own hands and to ALWAYS speak up for myself. By the end of the day my head was spinning. I was so grateful to go to sleep that night.
The next day the 'welcoming committee' seemed to have thinned out, much to my relief. I found out later it's customary to give new dolls a little peace and quiet on their second day in the house, to give them time to adjust. The other dolls would say hello when they passed by, but none of them tried to drag me into a lengthy conversation. They were also very understanding if I couldn't remember their names, which happened a lot.
I enjoyed the peace and quiet for a while. But by the time afternoon rolled around I was starting to get a little bored and lonely. I decided to walk around the room a little, hoping to find some company, or at least a distraction. I knew from the other dolls that Treesa knew we were alive, so there was no danger of me giving anything away if I wasn't where she'd left me when she got back to the room. It was a weekend, so I really wasn't sure if Treesa was even in the house or not.
As I started my walk around Treesa's bedroom, I turned my head to look out the window. The sky was clear and the sun was shining, and I stopped for a moment to admire the view. Suddenly, a little boy doll raced across the floor towards the window. He stopped when he saw me. "Excuse me," he said politely, "Did you see a baby reindeer over here?"
I looked at him, surprised. A baby reindeer was probably the last thing I expected to see roaming around Treesa's bedroom. "No, I haven't," I said. That's when we both heard a soft snorting sound. It seemed to be coming from behind a stack of books that were left piled under the window. The little boy doll raced over and peeked the stack. "I FOUND YOU!" he shouted. Then he walked back over to me, followed by a plastic animal that did look like it could be a baby reindeer.
"Thank you for helping," the little boy doll said to me. I smiled. I couldn't help it. It was impossible not to be charmed by this little fellow, with his adorable, freckled face and his wonderful manners.
"You're welcome," I said. The little boy doll seemed to be studying me. His eyes were looking up, focused intently on my face. Though he was a little larger than one-sixth scale, I was still taller than him. "You're pretty," he said at last. "What's your name?"
"Elsa," I said. The little boy doll smiled. "My name's Christian," he said, "and this is Sven." Just then Treesa rushed into the room. She headed over to the window, and started rummaging through the stack of books. I guessed she was looking for something. Then she noticed the three of us standing by the window, two dolls and a plastic reindeer. "Christian," she said, "you're not bothering Elsa, are you? She's new here."
"He's no bother," I said quickly. I didn't want Christian to get in trouble. I also wanted to reassure him that he hadn't done anything wrong. Treesa looked a little surprised at first, but then her expression changed and she said, "It's nice to see you're making friends already Elsa. Watch out though, Christian will steal your heart if you let him." Then Treesa picked up the book she'd come in for and headed for the door.
After Treesa left, Christian smiled up at me. "You're really nice," he said. "Do you want to play hide and seek with me and Sven? It's Sven's turn to seek." Christian looked so hopeful that I didn't see how I could say no. "All right," I said with a laugh. Christian cheered and said, "I'll show you a great hiding place." Then he ran off, and I followed close behind him.
I'll admit, I didn't expect to have so much fun playing hide and seek. But it was impossible not to get caught up in Christian's enthusiasm. After a few rounds of hiding and seeking I was acting more like a kid myself than an adult. I had a number of the other dolls ask me curiously what I was doing, but after I sheepishly explained that I was playing hide and seek with Christian and Sven they just smiled a little and nodded. I got the feeling I wasn't the only doll who'd been won over by Christian and his reindeer friend.
The next day I was taking a stroll when I met up with Christian and Sven again. They were playing with a Barbie-sized frisbee, and they asked me to join them. "The other kids don't play with us much," Christian explained. "They're all smaller than me, and I think they're scared of Sven." The look on Christian's face broke my heart, and I agreed right away to stay and play frisbee. We talked as we tossed the frisbee back and forth.
"How long have you and Sven been friends?" I asked. Christian smiled. "Since always," he said. "We came in the same box. There was me and Sven and Annie and Elsie and Olaf." Christian's smile faded and he said, "We had lots of fun, 'til the humans cleaned the room up. They threw lots of stuff in a big, brown box. Elsie was hiding under the bed 'cause our human lost her dress, and Annie was with her 'cause they're sisters. Me and Sven and Olaf got put in the box. So did Elsie's dress, so now she can never come out."
Christian sniffled. His expression tugged at my heartstrings. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," I said. Christian didn't say anything, but Sven must have known that something was wrong because he came over and nudged Christian with his nose. Christian patted Sven lightly. It was easy to see how close the two of them were.
Christian and Sven
Christian still looked unhappy though, and I tried to think of something to say that would help. "You know," I said gently, "before Treesa bought me I didn't have any friends. I was all alone in my box, and I was really lonely. But I'm not lonely anymore." Then I smiled at Christian and said , "How could I be lonely when I have friends like you and Sven?" This seemed to cheer Christian up, and we got back to the frisbee game.
(Stay tuned for Chapter 2.)
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