Read on to find out who they are!
***
Someone really ought to change the calendar, I thought. September 1st, while still technically summer, feels more like autumn than any other day of the year. The other dolls could feel it, too, that much was obvious. The humans had brought down typical fall decor from the attic to change the look of the house from cool and spacious to cozy and stylish. Wreaths made of gold and orange leaves were hung in every doorway, pumpkins were piled by the flowerpots, fairy lights were strung up on the ceiling to make up for the lack of sunlight during the day. As a fun activity for the dolls while the humans were away, She left us in charge of decorating her room to prepare for the upcoming season. Nessa with her artistic flair for most things, was in charge, which would have us finished in about an hour, had she and Vision not been attached at the hip.
They were a cute couple, no doubt about that. Certainly a contrasting one. Outgoing, optimistic Nessa, paired with the shy and calculating Vision. Wasn't there a human saying that goes "opposites attract"? Could the same go for dolls and their magnets?
My task was to make a maypole with orange, black and yellow ribbon. It looked more like Halloween than anything else, but at least the children were having fun. I enjoyed watching them run about me, chasing each other around the maypole as I held it steady. Kate was always getting tangled, Meiling wanted to spin the ribbon the fastest, and Adrina was always trying to order her brother around, while Oliver cared more about which color should be used next than anything else. Still, as messy as it was, I could tell exactly which child had played their part in its construction, and for some reason, that pleased me.
"It's done! It's done!" Meiling shouted, jumping up and down.
"Yes, it's done," I decided, tying off the end of each ribbon and propping the maypole up against the wall. "Ta-da! Great job, guys!"
"High-five?" Kate asked, because that was her new favorite thing.
"Yes, we can all get high-fives." I went down the mismatched row of children, waiting for them to make the first move and smack my hand before moving on. As soon as they had done so, they scattered like seeds in the wind, back to their respective parents, all except Kate.
"Up, Aunt Elsa?" She asked, stretching out her little arms at me.
"No, sorry, Aunt Elsa has to work still." I explained.
"Awww..." Kate pouted.
It broke my heart to break her spirit, but she was not mine. "Go run off and find Natasha, okay? She'll give you a piggy-back ride."
"Okay!" Kate replied, her momentary sadness gone as she skipped away in search of her mother.
"Remember to ask nicely, okay?" I reminded her, but the girl was already out of earshot. I watched her leave and wondered, for a second, what it would be like to be on the receiving end of that run, the one she belonged to, the one she felt the most safe with, the one whose piggy-back rides could be considered more than just fun, but bonding.
A home.
Why don't you and Steve give a child a home? Your own child? Half of me thought.
No, no, that's silly. We've barely been married a year! I could never ask him that now. Said the other half.
But what if he feels the same way? What if he also wants a child, but is too afraid to ask for the same reason?
I guess I could try. I'll bring it up at the date.
I had to ask Nessa permission to go, since I had no idea how far along we were in her decorating plan. I found her practically wound around her boyfriend, Vision, as they painted small rocks cheerful colors to use as charms around the Room She Lives In.
Nessa unraveled herself from Vision's arms long enough to reply.
"Actually, you can take a break if you like, Elsa. We're pretty much set. Aren't we, honey bunches?" She cooed.
"Almost, love muffin." Vision said in turn. Such loving words sounded completely alien coming from an android, but perfectly natural. The two of them had been together ever since the human's trip to California (or Caliofrotnia, as Olaf called it) and they were extremely comfortable with letting the world know it. I had to envy their boldness. Steve and I were close as peas in a pod, but it was difficult to express those feelings when around thirty-four dolls in the same room as you. Almost as if on cue with my thoughts, Nessa said, "You and Steve should go on a date. Take some time for yourselves! You do enough for us already."
"Yes, I agree. Dates are nice." The tongue-tied Vision added, watching Nessa until she met his gaze. Nessa noticed, grinned, and pulled his chin down to her height until their lips met in a playful kiss.
"Dates are always nice with you, honey bunches."
"That's because you make them worthwhile, love muffin."
I could tell we weren't going to get anywhere if we kept on like this. I had never been a third wheel before, but I didn't plan to become one, either.
"Okay, I'll go find Steve. Thanks!"
Speaking of love muffins, She's mother had recently baked some pumpkin muffins Steve and I just had to try. So that was what we did. I was able to pull him away from a garland he and Kristoff were working on and set a table for us in the path of sunlight by the back door. It was the place of our first date, which I will always remember as a wonderful time, despite everything that happened afterwards.
It was such a comfortable atmosphere, just the two of us alone for a chunk of time in our small world. It would have been enjoyable, and carefree, had I not been constantly thinking about how I wanted our small world to get a little bigger. Steve had no idea, I could tell. He happily took his muffin and coffee with me just like this was any other date.
I started with small talk. It would be better to ease him into the idea of kids. "Gosh, when's the last time we went on a date? A real date?"
Steve shook his head in disbelief. "I couldn't tell you. Isn't that crazy? We've got all this time and all the ways to spend it except this." He took my hand and begun rubbing his thumb across my knuckles, our engagement bracelets (well, wedding bracelets now, really) shining like blue and red glass. In his eyes my future shimmered, still there, still promising me there could be more to this relationship than husband and wife.
I wanted us to be a mother and a father.
"Steve, I have to tell you something."
"Anything." He retracted his hand and brought the muffin piece to his nose, not realizing the bomb I was about to drop on him.
"I want to raise a child with you!" I blurted, then sucked in my breath and waited for Steve's reaction. So much for easing him into it.
"No kidding!" He laughed, playing off his shock. "I assumed you did. I've seen the way you look at Carol and Meiling, and Olaf and Idina and their little ones, and..." Steve waved a hand in the air to make up for all the names in the PSA. "The rest of them. I'm not surprised, Elsa. Not at all."
"Well, would you?" I asked. "Would you want to, too?"
Steve got very quiet and very focused on his muffin. "Yes. Yes, I'm ready for that next step."
I let it go. "Oh, great, because I was so nervous you would say no, and then I'd have to deal with these feelings for the rest of my life in silence, and even though none of us don't know how long that is, I thought it might be a little better with a kid to mentor, you know, to take care of and see that they grow up good and-" my speech was interrupted with a kiss from Steve.
"Elsa, we would not be magnet mates if we did not see eye to eye."
"Most days," I agreed. I felt my nerves melting away. "So, what kind of child would you want?"
"You mean like, a boy or a girl?"
"I suppose that's a good place to start."
Steve and I both looked at each-other, giddy with anticipation, both waiting for the other to say something first.
"I don't want to disagree." I said finally.
"If we do, we'll just get two kids," Steve shrugged. "It's been done before."
"Yes, but I don't know if I'm ready for that kind of responsibility!"
"True, true," Steve said, licking his lips and coming up with a plan. "On three, okay?"
"Okay."
"One, two thr-"
"Girl!"
Our words overlapped, and we knew what that meant.
"So it's settled, then. We both want a girl."
"I guess so," I giggled. "Girls are trickier than boys, though. I'm surprised you said that, Steve."
"Funny, I thought boys were trickier. Either way, I'm up for the challenge."
"What should we do now?"
"Come with me. We can tell She about this together."
"But our muffins," I whined. "Why cut our date short so early? We were having such a nice time."
"Imagine sharing muffins with our little one." Steve told me, raising his eyebrows.
That was such a lovely picture, it was all he had to say to get me going. We went to She, personally. This was more than something that could be put on the Request Sheet. We decided to adopt a child who was a "used" doll, a doll not unlike my sister, Anna, who had come from a different home that, for whatever reason, could no longer keep her there. It wasn't meant to be a work of charity, it was meant to help them find a forever home. Steve and I described our perfect child to She, who took notes that were invisible to us, and then told us to come back within a week's time.
By that time, our child would have arrived.
And on September 9th, She called us to her side.
"Special delivery," She told us with a giddy smirk, bringing a small cardboard box into the room. I grabbed Steve's arm immediately, seeking comfort in his touch before the big moment. "It's a girl, like you asked, and found on Ebay, like Anna. I hope you like her."
"We'll more than just like her," Steve said. "We'll treat her as family."
She placed the box on the floor in front of us. It was surprisingly still, almost eerily so, and that's when I began to get worried again.
"I'll leave you two alone to introduce yourselves. No one ever forgets a first impression."
"Don't I know it," I muttered. "Do you have anything to open the box?"
"Yeah, here. Be careful with it, okay?" She handed us a boxcutter, blunt and retractable for safety purposes, and for that, I was grateful. It would be terrible to harm our child before we'd even met her.
I gave Steve the job of slicing the box, since my hands were glowing too fiercely for me to concentrate. Once he had, we pushed away the cardboard flaps together, until we could make out the doll that was inside.
And there she was, our little girl.
Tucked away behind balls of newspaper, the doll lay curled into the fetal position, both hands set in firm fists. Her thick black brows were furrowed against a dark brown face, and her wide lips were set into a stern line. She had ordered us a mini Moana doll, and that's exactly who she looked to be.
"It looks like she's sleeping," Steve whispered. "Do you think She's having a nightmare?"
"I hope not. Let's wake her carefully just to be safe."
Neither of us were sure how to do that. I was beginning to wonder if we knew how to do anything.
"Nudge her shoulder," Steve told me. "That usually does the trick."
I reached in and tapped her arm. The little doll was pushed easily onto her back, and the newfound chill of waking up had set in. The girl stirred and blinked her large black eyes until they focused on our faces, faces that probably looked very large and imposing from inside the box.
"Good morning, darling." Steve said, always the first to brave new words.
"Where am I?" The little doll asked groggily. She rolled away from the bubble wrap until the box let her go and she was standing right before us, not any taller than my forearm.
"You're in your new home," I explained, trying to mask the emotion in my voice. This was exactly the kind of child I had been wanting. "We are Steve and Elsa."
The little doll fixed us with a curious look, switching from me to Steve, and back to me again.
"What's your name, sweetie?" I asked, my voice gentle as to keep her comfortable. I knew how frightening it could be to get a new home. But the Moana doll didn't show a speck of fear anywhere.
"Thalia," she replied. "That's the name I've had since I was made," she paused and scrunched up her nose in suspicion. "Wait. I know you. You're gonna be my new mommy and daddy, aren't you?"
"Well, yes, if you want us to," Steve said, touching my arm. "Who told you that?"
"Brielle, from my old home," Thalia explained. "She said for me to call me her nanny. She said that I didn't have a mommy and daddy, but one day I might, if the humans sold me. And she told me that when the humans took me away and put me in a big dark box that I shouldn't be worried, because that meant I was going somewhere else," Thalia dropped her oar and looked around. "Is this the somewhere else?"
"Yes, this is the Room She Lives In. You'll be staying with us, and you'll have a very big family from now on." I told her.
"For how long?"
"For how long?" I repeated.
"Yeah... 'cause Brielle told me that... she told me that humans can't keep dolls forever."
We chose our next words carefully. This parenting thing was not as easy as it looked.
"Well, do you think that other dolls can keep a doll forever?" Steve asked.
Thalia rubbed her eyes. "I don't know."
"We'd like to keep you forever, if you'd let us," I added. "That's what good mommies and daddies do. Forget about the humans. As long as we're together, the rest will fall in place." The last part sounded really good, but in reality, I had pulled the phrase from a refrigerator magnet in the humans' house.
Thalia was still doubtful. "How long is forever?"
"However long you want it to be," Steve replied. "Thalia, dear, don't worry about this too much. We're happy to have you with us. Do you think you'll be happy here?"
"Do you have a bathtub?"
A bathtub? That question came right out of the blue. Dolls didn't need to take baths. Did they do that at her old home?
"Yes, there's a bathtub here. Why?"
Thalia's face lit up and she scurried past us and ducked into the box again, returning with a plastic canoe that she struggled to scrape along the carpet.
"This is my canoe... that I came with. I use it to sail inside bathtubs. But my mast broke in the box," Thalia pointed at a part where the plastic had cracked in two, splitting the sail from the rest of the canoe.
"Hm, maybe Moana can fix it? She seems to know a lot about sailing." I told Steve, not intending for Thalia to overhear. She did anyways.
"You have another Moana?"
"Yes, would you...?"
"Can I see her? Pretty please? Pretty please?" Thalia yelped, ditching her canoe and running to the door.
"Hold on, sweetie, hold on!" I called. "You don't know this house yet. Let us take you to Moana."
"I can find her!" Thalia insisted. "I'm a Moana, and Moanas are wayfinders!"
Before either of us could stop her, Thalia was using she's dresser next to the door like an obstacle course, getting higher and higher until she was able to jump up onto the doorknob, using her entire body's strength to spin it open. She tumbled to the ground, not caring how hard she fell, and ran out into the hallway.
"Thalia, slow down!"
"Thalia, be careful!"
Steve and I warned, but it was no use. Thalia was motivated, and when she was motivated, she was unstoppable. She skated down the handrail of the stairs like a slide and landed both feet on the ground on the first floor foyer. I knew Moana was outside, and the back door was on the left side of the house. Going right would led you to the garage, and well, it was all a dead end from there. Thalia didn't know this and started going right.
"Wrong way, Thalia sweetie!" I shouted from the top of the stairs. Once she ran the other direction and was out of our view, Steve turned to me.
"Independent little thing, isn't she?"
"And stubborn. Like you."
"I am not stubborn!"
"Just proved my point," I laughed. "Steve, are we way in over our heads?"
"Are you trying to say this wasn't a good idea?"
"No, no, not at all. I think it was a very good idea. But Thalia is, well, very energetic. Are we going to be able to keep with her?"
Steve shared with me a word of advice that I swear I shall never forget. He said, "I didn't say it was going to be easy. I said it was going to be worth it."
"I don't remember you telling me anything like that before." I replied. But I cherished his statement, every word.
Thalia trained herself to spend her days between two worlds. During the day, she was adventuring with Moana, and at night, Steve and I would put her to bed. It was an activity nearly every doll enjoyed, since children require so much to get them to sleep. Tea would have to be made, stories would have to be read, songs would have to be sung. The blankets had to be right at the base of her chin, the pillow had to be cradled in her arms. Our little girl was adorable at any time of the day, but at night, when she was most relaxed, she could almost treat us like the mommy and daddy we were supposed to be, with crawling into Steve's lap and letting me brush her hair. These quiet, contented moments were the ones I cherished the most. I could see why Olaf and Idina were always doting on their children. How could you not be? They were the most wonderful things on earth.
Still, life passed by without too much change. While Steve was teaching Thalia how to play air hockey in the basement, I was helping She, Nessa, and Vision finalize the rest of the fall decor.
"This maypole is adorable, Elsa," She said, hanging it from her closet door. "It's a shame you didn't have Thalia in time for her to help out."
I sighed. "Oh, trust me, decorating is the farthest thing from her mind. She can't stay still, not even for a second."
"The maypole would have been done in no time at all, then," She said with a smirk. "Anyways, I think the black ribbon you used was a good choice. It'll match all the Halloween decorations I'll probably be buying this year."
"I almost forgot about Halloween!" Nessa cried. "How could I forget about Halloween? It's like the best holiday of the entire year. Besides Christmas, and Easter, and-"
"Valentine's Day?" Vision added from atop She's bed, where he was teaching himself how to read.
"Yes, that too. I can't wait for us to spend our first Valentine's Day together, honey bunches!"
She coughed loudly. "Speaking of Halloween," She pulled an old tote into her lap. "I've got this old wig from a few Halloweens ago that I can't bear to get rid of. Can any of you tell me what to do with it?" She removed the lid and titled it so that the tote's interior was eye level with us dolls. A straight, somewhat unruly pink wig lay inside.
"What were you that year?" Nessa asked, immediately reaching in and taking the wig. "I've never heard of a Halloween costume with pink hair."
She looked embarrassed. "Cotton candy."
Nessa laughed. "As a costume?"
"Hey, don't knock it 'til you try it. I got so many compliments, it was insane," She paused. "Wait, no, that was the year after. Yeah, nobody knew who I was supposed to be. And the thing is, I spent good money on this stupid wig. I think if I brush it up again, it'll be in good condition, but..." She took the wig from Nessa's hands and tried to slide it on over her head. The band was not going to stretch any further, and she'd barely made it back over her ears. "It's practically child size. I can't throw it away, but I can't keep it the way it is. Any ideas?"
"Hmm..." Nessa thought. "Make into one of those Victorian hair wreaths. That would be a good fall decoration."
"Absolutely not!"
"I was kidding! What if you took the hair and donated it?"
"It's synthetic."
"What if you weren't going to donate the hair to a human, though?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, wouldn't a doll love to have super long pink hair? I know I would," Nessa lifted one of her braids. "But something tells me that would not work for me."
"I like your hair just the way it is, love muffin." Vision commented.
"Thanks, honey bunches. But seriously! Get another doll and give them extensions," Nessa gasped. "Ooh! Get a Rapunzel doll. She's always been my favorite Disney princess. And what Rapunzel doll wouldn't want even longer hair? They probably wouldn't care what color it is."
"Good point," She raised the wig and started combing through it with her fingers. "It's going to need a lot of work done before then."
"Plenty of time to order a Rapunzel doll offline." Nessa winked.
She groaned. "Fine, you got me. Looks like my collection will be getting even bigger this month," She looked at me suddenly. "Not that there's anything wrong with that."
"No," I agreed. "I would like a Rapunzel, too. I think she would be fun to have around."
And so it was settled. A Rapunzel Disney classics doll was to be expected in the mail within the next week, same as Thalia. And while the rest of the dolls eagerly waited for her arrival, Steve and I had our hands full with Thalia, who seemed to be getting more and more active as the days went on. The only time we could catch a break was when she was with Moana, her favorite "aunt", as it were. The times matched up perfectly to where Moana was with Thalia the moment She came to me with news about Rapunzel.
"She's here," She whispered, her voice strained with excitement as she showed me a picture of the the new doll on her phone. "We've already started talking. Last night, I went down to the kitchen and braided her regular hair in with the wig. She loves it more than anything."
"She's a good fit for us, then!" I exclaimed. "Where is she? She will probably want to see the face of another doll."
"I took her to a mirror so she could see what I'd done. It's in the library upstairs. She's been there ever since."
"Got it." I said with a nod. I knew exactly where the library was. It was the one place I could find Loki on his off days with the PSA.
The library was oddly quiet when I got there, however. No sing-song voice, no sounds of exploration, no running or dancing.
"Rapunzel?" I called out. "Are you in here? She sent me."
"Come in." A small voice replied. I turned the corner, where the bedroom met the bookshelves, and saw Rapunzel standing in front of the mirror. Yes, She had chosen correctly. This Rapunzel was exactly as I had imagined her to be. She was slow in her movements, yet not exactly careful. She had an intent, dreamy look in her eyes, and she was awash with color: vibrant, glittery purple, soft gold, pastel pink.
She caught me in the reflection of the mirror and turned around, greeting me with a dreamy smile. "Isn't this the most magnificent library?" Rapunzel asked distantly in greeting. "I wish I could read."
"It's easy. You just have to get started," I said. "I'm Elsa. Nice to meet you."
Rapunzel seemed to ignore my last statement and instead began admiring her extra-long pink and yellow braid in the mirror by the human's closet. She twirled, letting her skirt fan out and her hair follow, then paused, readjusting a ribbon here and there, and twirled again.
"Do you like my hair?"
"Of course." I said.
"I've never had pink hair before. Back at my old home, my human gave me gold thread and rhinestones to wear in my braid, and that made me feel like the most special doll in the world."
"And what happened to those?"
Rapunzel exhaled in a raspberry noise. "They got taken away from me. I'm a 2016 classic doll, and when the newer version came out and my humans found her, she got my gold thread and rhinestones."
"And then what did you do?"
"Hm? Oh. I ran away," Rapunzel said, pausing her twirls to fluff out her new plaits. She had said it so casually, like her rebelliousness didn't matter at all. "I escaped through the window when my humans were away and ran to a different house. The new people didn't know where I'd come from, so they sold me. And now I'm here," she looked in the mirror thoughtfully and held her hair, obsessed with the weight of it. "And I think I like this better."
"Well, we're glad to have you with us," I said. "But- if you don't mind me asking- weren't you afraid of breaking the Code of Dolls?"
Rapunzel's lips opened in a small "oh". "What Code?" She asked.
My small world stopped revolving. Never had I ever heard about a doll not knowing the Code. Even Olaf, naive as he could sometimes be, always had his brothers remind him to play dead when humans were around. Other than that one special case, I just assumed that dolls were made knowing that.
"You know... when dolls have to play dead around humans?"
"Oh, yes! That silly thing. No, we never followed it. My human was a collector. He had every Disney classics doll that ever entered the market, including me. And as soon as I arrived, he told me not to worry about it; the Code had already been broken. I was like what? Really? That can't be right, humans can't know... but he did. And everything was perfectly fine. Up until he took my presents away. I mean sure, they weren't mine originally. Nothing was 'owned' by anyone in that place. I inherited the thread and rhinestones from the 2015 Rapunzel doll, and it was only natural that the 2017 Rapunzel doll inherit mine when she came. But I had a full year of the most wonderful hair. I don't think humans realize how important hair is to a Rapunzel doll."
"I imagine so." I replied, not sure what else to say to that story.
"Anyways, I'm rambling. I see you have a big collection here, too."
"Oh, yes. And they were very happy to hear you were coming to live with us, especially Nessa. She's an Anna ornament, but Rapunzel is her favorite Disney princess."
Rapunzel blushed. "Really? Even when she's her own princess?"
"Well, you can still love who you are and have role models. Your movie inspired her to paint. Now she practices with Bob Ross nearly every weekend. I'm sure they would love to paint with you, too."
"Um, Elsa? I don't know how to paint. I've never done that before."
"No problem! They'll teach you," I insisted, offering my hand to lead Rapunzel into the Room She Lives In, where the other dolls were. "But first, you have plenty of dolls to meet."
"Fifty-seven of them? That's how many were in my old human's collection."
"Goodness, no, I can't imagine there being that many dolls in one house."
The corner of Rapunzel's lips twitched upwards in a small smile as I led her across the upstairs hallway. "She might get there one day, eventually." I heard her whisper before the door to the Room She Lives In opened to its latest guest.
Looking forward to our new adventures as a family,
Queen Elsa Rodgers
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