I went with Wendy to DDE today to keep her from being followed home by a doll.
And it didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to.
Allow me to explain.
There are lots of great reasons to visit DDE, but this time, I had a very specific purpose in my visit.
I came to talk to HER. She's some kind of Volks doll, which makes her important or something. Wendy got all enchanted with her, and was talking about maybe bringing her home.
No. Just no. I had stated "no more dolls" and I meant it.
I thought.
The Volks lady turned out to be very nice, and wasn't interested in going home to the Wylde Kingdom anyway. She said she was waiting for someone else.
Awesome.
Mission accomplished.
So I wandered around the store a bit while Wendy was working.
And at one point, I thought for sure I heard my sister's voice. Juno,
my awesome, green haired sister, who had been missing (with all the rest of the pixies in the Wylde Kingdom) for months!
I started calling her name just as loud as I could, but I didn't hear her reply.
So I kept walking and calling her. "JUNO!!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!?! JUNO!!!!!"
And then, a doll from up on the shelf "shush"-ed me. Seriously! She said in a harsh whisper "Shhh. You're going to draw attention! Stop that!"
I came up closer to her, and she asked me very quietly "Are you a runaway too?"
"A runaway?" I asked.
"Did someone tell you to come hide here?" she asked again, wording her question slowly and deliberately, as if I were perhaps a bit slow in the head and misunderstanding her.
"To be honest," I replied, "I'm seeking. I'm looking for..."
"Oh," she said quickly. "Then I don't know anything. Sorry."
"Wait a minute!"
"Please, I'm looking for my sister. Her name is Juno. She's about my height, and she's got bright, green hair and..."
"Why are you looking for Juno?" she asked.
"Because she's my sister, she's been missing for months, and I miss her more than I can tell you." I replied. It was the most honest answer I had, and I hoped she could hear the sincerity in my voice.
"Very well," she quietly said, and I thought I could hear almost a sigh in her voice.
She stood up slowly. Every movement was jerky and looked as if it hurt her as she hung her sales tag on her stand. Watching her was almost painful, I couldn't imagine how it felt to BE her.
She looked at me with a hard eye, and said "Do you promise that you're not here to sell Juno?"
"What?!" I replied. "I want to find Juno and bring her home because I miss her and she'll be safe there and never, ever sold, EVER."
"Cross my heart and hope to die," I did solemnly swear.
"Follow me," she said.
It was slow going. She held on to the wire rack the whole way, and I thought she might fall without its support.
"Are you okay?" I asked, genuinely concerned.
"I am, thank you" she said, and I almost thought I saw barely, maybe, just the hint of a small smile. But I might have imagined it. "I'm sorry I'm slowing us down. But we're almost there."
I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything at all. And then she pointed me to the little dollhouse on loan from
Norm's Dollhouse
"They live in there."
"They?"
"Juno and the other runaways" she said. "They moved into the house months ago. That's where you'll find them. Good luck."
And before I could say "thank you" she had started her slow shuffle back to her doll stand.
I thought about just calling out to Juno again, but I didn't want to make the poor, wretched doll shuffle all the way back just to "shush" me again. So I wandered up to the house and...
... and I'll tell you the rest in a couple of days. I'm still sorting it out myself.
You'll see.
- Miri
EDIT: Part two is here, if you want to know the rest of the story. -
Trip to DDE - Part 2
