The Dollhouse

by Charis Cotter

  “We’re invisible!” she whispered as we stood with our backs to the wall outside the kitchen. “I think so.”

  There was no sound from within. Lily peered around the corner of the door, then beckoned me to follow her. On tiptoe we went into the kitchen and up the stairs to the dining room. She opened the door just a little and we listened. It was very quiet. Mary must have finished the vacuuming.

  Lily put her finger to her lips. “Wait,” she said. We listened some more.

  A low, murmuring sound was coming from the living room. Like someone talking to themselves, or maybe singing.

  Lily stifled a giggle. “Mama,” she breathed at me. “She sings while she’s dusting.”

  We made our way silently through the dining room, and Lily peeked through the doorway. She gave me the all clear, and we went swiftly around the corner and up the stairs.

  “Come on, baby, light my fire,” sang Mary in the living room, her voice rising a bit.

  Trying not to giggle, we climbed nearly to the top of the stairs, but then Lily made me crouch down and we listened again. I could hear voices rising and falling softly a few rooms away.

  “It’s okay,” whispered Lily. “Your mom’s with Mrs. Bishop. I think so.”

  In a flash we were through the hall and into my room, closing the door softly behind us. I retrieved the keys from my underwear drawer, and we crept upstairs as quietly as we could. The stairs creaked a few times, but not too loudly. We made our way into the dollhouse room and shut the door.

  “There!” said Lily, a look of triumph on her face. “I told you! It’s easy to be invisible! I think so.”

  I laughed, a little uncomfortable. I remembered how it had felt to really be invisible, which wasn’t anywhere near as fun as pretending.

  Together we walked over to the dollhouse. Lily stopped dead when she saw the summerhouse on the other side.

  “Where did that come from?” she asked. She sank down to her knees and peered inside.

  “It was just here when I came up yesterday.” I sat down beside her. “It’s another thing that happened in the dollhouse world and then happened here. I dreamed I was in the summerhouse with Fizz and Bubble and—”

  “A dog?” asked Lily, picking up Sailor. “He looks just like Buttercakes. I think so.”

  “Yes, that’s their dog, Sailor.”

  Lily looked back into the summerhouse. “The dolls have dolls,” she said delightedly, putting out a finger to touch one of them. “Having a tea party. Just like I do with my dolls. And look!” she added, picking up a tiny teacup. “This is the same as my tea set, Alice! The very same! I think so.”

  “I know. I think the set you have is the one they had when they were alive— years ago, when the photograph was taken. It must have been here in the house all that time.”

  I watched for a moment as Lily inspected the tea set, picking up each little cup and saucer, the cream jug, the sugar bowl. I smiled.

  “The sister doll, Bubble, she’s a lot like you. She likes tea parties. In my dream I was in the summerhouse with them having a tea party, and then Harriet, their mother, came in, but she couldn’t see me. It was like I was invisible. Really invisible. Then we all went up to the attic, and there was a guy there, Adrian, the guy who made the dollhouse, and—”

  Lily whispered, “Alice! Were you actually invisible? Not just pretend?”

  “Yes. Well— at least, Bubble and Fizz could see me, but their mother couldn’t.”

  “What about the man? Could he see you?”

  “Adrian? Mr. Inwood? No.”

  Lily frowned. “What about the dog? Sailor? Could the dog see you?”

  “The dog? Oh—” I thought about it. “Yeah. He could.”

  Lily nodded wisely. “Dogs can see stuff. I think so. Sometimes Buttercakes looks like he’s watching fairies flying through the air. Or ghosts passing through the room. I think so.”

  “But I’m not a ghost, Lily.”

  “No. But the kids could see you. And the dog could see you. But the grown-ups couldn’t. So maybe you were…a ghost.”

  I frowned. She had a point. But since everyone could see me in this world, maybe I was only a ghost when I was in the dollhouse world. Because I didn’t belong there. That was more or less what Fizz had said to me in the summerhouse. Before she decided I was dead.

  Lily jumped up and bounded over to the dollhouse.

  “Never mind about ghosts. Let’s play with the dollhouse! Do you think the other dolls will be here? The grown-up dolls?”

  “They were yesterday,” I answered, and opened the back of the dollhouse.

  But the Harriet and Adrian dolls weren’t in the attic.

  “Wait a minute,” I said. “Last time I dreamed about the dollhouse, everyone was sleeping.”

  We circled around to the front of the dollhouse, unhooked the front wall and peered into the front bedroom.

  “Oooo,” said Lily in a whisper. “There’s someone in the bed.”

  Carefully, she reached under the canopy of the four-poster bed, which was hung with dark-blue velvet curtains, just like Mrs. Bishop’s bed. Her hand came out with the Harriet doll in it, still dressed in her slinky satin nightgown.

  “Wow,” breathed Lily. “She’s so pretty. But where’s the man doll?” she asked, looking around the bedroom.

  I frowned. “I don’t know. He doesn’t live there, so he probably went home.”

  Lily went back to the summerhouse and pulled out the Bubble and Fizz dolls.

  “Let’s put them in the sitting room,” she said. “Sitting on these fancy chairs. I think so. And let’s take their clothes off.”

  “What?” I said, as Lily began stripping the dolls.

  “It will be funny,” she said. “They will all be bare naked.” She giggled.

  “No,” I said, laughing, and I put out a hand to stop her. “Let’s just put them in different clothes. I don’t want to see everybody naked if I go back again.”

  “Do you think you will go back?”

  I shrugged. “Seems like every time I go to sleep I dream about the dollhouse.”

  “I wish I could go,” said Lily, absent-mindedly removing Harriet’s nightgown. The doll had lacy underwear underneath.

  “WOW!” said Lily. “Fancy undies.”

  “Come on, Lily, let’s find some new outfits for them.”

  “Okay,” she said.

  There was a closet in Harriet’s bedroom, and Lily started rooting through it for clothes.

  “She has the best dresses,” said Lily happily, holding up a sapphire-blue gown and an emerald-green one. “And all the shoes to match!”

  I left her to it and wandered over to the tall wardrobe on the other side of the attic room. I was curious as to what was in there.

  There were two doors and a little key in a lock. I turned it and opened them up.

  The wardrobe was filled with shelves, and the shelves were filled with shoeboxes. They all had labels neatly printed: Dishes. Linens. Doll clothes. Dolls.

  I started taking them down and opening them up.

  The one labeled Dishes had various bits of doll-sized china in it, little knives and forks, some pots and pans. The one labeled Linens had carefully folded sheets and towels and curtains, all dollhouse size.

  I opened the one labeled Extra Dolls. There was one Barbie-doll-size shape wrapped in white cotton, like an Egyptian mummy. I unwrapped it.

  My breath stopped. My heart began to hammer wildly in my chest.

  The doll had curly black hair that fell just over his ears. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. The doll’s face— the doll’s face was Dad’s face.

  Chapter Thirty

  PLAYING

  “I can’t decide,” called Lily, bringing a pile of sparkly dresses over to me. “They’re all so beautiful, Alice.”
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  “Oh…” she said as she saw what I held in my hands. “Another doll. Who’s he?”

  “Umm…” I hesitated. “He’s…he’s my dad,” I said finally.

  “Your dad? How did he get here?” said Lily, reaching over my arm and picking it up. “He’s got nice hair. I think so.”

  Lily turned him over and inspected all his clothes. Then she lay him carefully down on the rug and tilted her head to one side, staring at him.

  “Why?” she said finally. “Why do you think there’s a doll that looks just like your dad?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I think I’m going crazy, Lily. I think this is a dream. I think that bump on my head did something to my brain and—” My voice was rising.

  Lily reached out and grabbed my hand tight.

  “You’re not dreaming. I’m here.” She kept holding my hand, and I tried to slow down my breathing. The Dad doll shimmered through the tears that had gathered in my eyes. It looked so much like him, as if it was going to start to speak any minute.

  Finally Lily spoke.

  “It’s magic,” she said solemnly. “I think so. A magic dollhouse. Magic dolls.”

  Magic again. That sounded better than me losing my mind or being dead. A lot better.

  “It’s just—” I said. “It’s just— so hard to believe in magic. Real magic.”

  Lily shrugged. “I don’t think so. Magic is everywhere. You said that when you change things in the dollhouse, they change in the real house too. That’s magic.”

  I gave in. I couldn’t argue with her. “Okay, so it’s magic. A magic dollhouse.”

  A magic dollhouse. That I could go into in my dreams. Where I could do things that then happened here.

  She reached past me and picked up the Dad doll again, watching me to make sure it was okay.

  After a moment she said, “Your dad looks nice. I think so.”

  “He is nice,” I said, with a gulp. I felt like I could start bawling any second. “He’s great. I really miss him.”

  “Where is he?”

  “In California,” I said shortly. “Working. He’s always working.”

  “My dad went away too,” said Lily. “A long time ago. I think so. I don’t really remember him.”

  We sat there in silence for a while. I concentrated on not letting any tears spill out of my eyes.

  “Is your dad going to come back?” asked Lily.

  “I don’t know,” I said, giving up on the pretense and wiping away the tears. “Maybe. But just to visit. He and my mother are—” I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to say it. “They’re getting a divorce.” My voice broke halfway through saying the word divorce, and it came out in a squeak, and now I was really crying.

  After a minute or so I felt a hand gently patting my back.

  “Don’t cry, Alice,” said Lily softly. “It’ll get better. I think so. Use my hanky,” and she pushed a rumpled handkerchief into my hand.

  I wiped my eyes and blew my nose.

  Lily was looking at the Dad doll again. Suddenly her face lit up and she turned to me, grabbing my arm.

  “Oh! Oh! Oh, Alice, I have a great idea!”

  “What?” She was starting to bounce up and down with excitement.

  “What if— what if your dad came back? What if we made him come back?”

  “How would we do that?”

  She held the doll in front of me.

  “If we put your dad in the dollhouse, maybe he will come to visit you. In the real house. Like the roses. I think so.”

  “I don’t know, Lily, it’s not the same. People are different than flowers. You can’t just make someone appear out of nowhere. My dad’s in California.”

  “But it’s a magic dollhouse,” said Lily. “Magic can do anything. I think so.”

  Her face was glowing with the wonder of her brilliant idea. I didn’t want to make that look go away.

  “Yes, but Lily, the thing is, I don’t know how this works. He might not come here. He might turn up in the dollhouse world, in my dreams.”

  “But then you’d see him, right? That would be good. I think so.”

  She looked at me with her shining eyes, and I suddenly wished more than anything that I was Lily and not me. She was just so happy.

  I had no idea why there was a Dad doll or why there was a Ghost Alice doll here in this spooky, weird attic, along with the dolls of the people who must have lived in Blackwood House seventy years ago. It was all crazy. Or…magic. I liked Lily’s explanation a lot better than my own.

  I smiled back at her. “Okay, Lily, let’s do it.”

  She jumped up, radiant, clapping her hands.

  “Oh goody. We gotta find him something better to wear. I think so. Something…fancy.” She started pulling more boxes out of the wardrobe and looking through them.

  “Hey!” she said, holding up a box labeled Extra Clothes. “Maybe we’ll find something in here.” She pulled out a black suit and tie. “This might fit your dad.”

  I looked down at the doll. I wasn’t too keen on undressing my dad, even if he was just a doll. I pushed it into Lily’s hands.

  “You do it,” I said, and went over to stand by the window.

  “It’s all right, he’s got underwear on,” sang out Lily, giggling. “I like dolls with underwear. All dolls should have underwear. I think so.”

  A car was pulling up outside. The front door slammed, and then I heard voices outside. Through the trees, I could just see the edge of the driveway below. There was a blue car there, and Dr. West was leaning against it, talking to Mom.

  I couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, but Dr. West was beaming at her.

  I stood watching them for a while. Mom was beaming back and waving her hands around a bit, the way she does when she’s telling a story.

  Those two were getting way too friendly. It would be a really good time for Dad to come back. What if— what if Lily was right and the magic dollhouse could bring him here?

  “Okay,” said Lily, coming up beside me. “He looks very handsome now.”

  She handed me the doll. The suit was a little wrinkled and old-fashioned looking, but it definitely made a better impression than the jeans and T-shirt.

  “Okay,” I said, taking him from Lily. “Where should we put him?”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  DOLLHOUSE FURNITURE

  Lily frowned. Then her face cleared.

  “At the front door,” she said. “He can ring the bell, and your mother can answer it, and there he’ll be! I think so.”

  I shrugged. “Okay.” I stood the doll at the front door.

  “Let’s dress them all up now,” said Lily, pulling at my hand. “Let’s dress them up for a party. And then when you dream about the dollhouse again, you can go to a party!”

  I smiled at her. Maybe…maybe I could just play along with her. Let everything else go and just play, the way she did.

  “Oh! and maybe I could come too,” she said, her face brightening up again. “If I stay overnight, we can go together!”

  “I don’t know if it works that way, Lily…I mean, it’s my dream, and how could you get into my dream?”

  “I could, if I sleep with you in the magic bed. I saw the ghost there. I’ll see her again. I think so. Easy peasy!”

  She made it all so simple. I gave in. “Okay. Why not?”

  “We’re gonna have so much fun,” she said, then she pulled the Fizz and Bubble dolls out of the summerhouse and handed them to me. “Try some of the mother’s party dresses on them. I bet they’ll fit.”

  We dressed the dolls, Lily murmuring to herself as she wrestled the Harriet doll into a long, sparkling dress. I dressed Bubble in the sapphire-blue gown. It fit perfectly. I reached for the green one for Fizz. It would go with her red hair, but it was going to be b
ig on her.

  Lily had the Harriet doll in the dress now. It was silver, with all kinds of little silver baubles sewn on it that glinted in the light. Lily had the doll lying on its back with the dress hiked up a bit as she fitted a pair of silvery slingbacks on the doll’s little feet. Lily handed me matching shoes for my two dolls.

  “They were in the cupboard with the dresses,” she sighed happily. “Don’t you just love matching shoes?” She watched as I fitted the shoes on the dolls’ feet. “Now they’re all ready for the ball. Where should we put them?”

  “How about in the living room? That’s about the fanciest room in the house.”

  Lily sat Harriet on a sofa in the living room, spreading out her skirts around her. I placed Bubble in a chair near her.

  “I can’t wait for the party!” said Lily. “Let’s go ask your mother if I can sleep over.”

  “But we’re supposed to be swimming,” I said. “Would we be back yet?”

  “Maybe not. But soon. I think so.”

  “Well, let’s just play for a while and then go.”

  Lily decided the furniture in the living room should be moved so they could dance at the party, so we cleared a space in the section of the room closest to the front door, putting the couch and chairs back against the walls. As I placed the pale-yellow silk couch beside the two blue armchairs, I ran the tips of my fingers over the material. Soft but not quite as soft as the ones downstairs.

  “Why is the furniture the same?” I asked suddenly. “Why is all the furniture the same as in the real house?”

  Lily shrugged. “Because they made it the same.”

  I shook my head. “No. If it’s true that Adrian built the dollhouse, he made it years and years ago, in the 1920s. But the big house is still the same as the dollhouse. The same furniture. The same curtains. Why hasn’t the big house changed?”

  Lily shrugged again. “I don’t know.”

  “When did Mrs. Bishop buy this house?”

  “Last summer. I think so.”

  “And what about before that? Who lived here?”

  “Nobody. Mom worked here but nobody ever lived here. I came with her sometimes.”