In an antique stop off Beach Street
lived two porcelain dolls, the sisters Christina and Adele. They sat in the
window overlooking the street, watching as little girls pointed and stared,
asking their mothers to purchase them. But always, the mothers shook their
heads and pushed the girls along. And so for years, the sister dolls stared out
the windows at little girls and mothers, in an old antique stop off Beach
Street.
The night however, was a different
story.
“Christina, wake up,” Adele whispered as
the candles were extinguished and the shop door closed. “The old man’s gone. It’s
time for some fun.”
Christina blinked and turned to her
sister, a smile forming on her face.
“Will today be the day you approach the
wooden soldiers?” she asked slyly. Adele blushed, as much as a porcelain doll
could.
“That’s not what I meant,” she said
angrily. “I meant we should go visit the bears again.”
“I don’t know if they’ll let us play
with their children again,” Christina said. “Not after what happened last time.”
“Doesn’t hurt to try. Let’s go!” Before
Christina could protest, Adele was already climbing down the shelves in the
window to the shop floor.
“Wait for me!” Adele scrambled after her
sister and followed her to the counter, where a cottage stood behind protective
glass. There were two large porcelain bears, looking on as their three cubs
danced and played with each other. Upon seeing the sisters however, they came
forward in defense.
“Not again sisters,” the mother bear
said, grabbing one of her cubs and placing him behind her. “You nearly broke
our children last time with your mischievousness.”
“But they didn’t break,” Adele replied. “Anyways,
that slide’s been sold. We just wanted to play with them right here. You can
watch us if you want.”
“I think that might be all right,” the
father bear said, looking towards the mother bear. She shook her head.
“No, I can’t risk it,” she said. “You’ll
have to find some other figurines to play with and get into trouble.”
“Please mom?” one of the cubs asked,
rising up on her hind legs. “I like playing with Adele and Christina.”
“My word is final,” her mother replied.
Looking upset, the bears turned to their father.
“Listen to your mother children,” he
said. Adele and Christina walked away amidst protests from the bear
cubs.
“Told you they wouldn’t let us play with
them,” Christina said.
“Shut it,” Adele answered looking cross.
“Do you think anyone else will want to play, or will those bears spread rumors
about us?”
“Well there is that dog that came in a
few days ago,” Christina replied. “We could see what he’s up to.”
“I suppose, though I prefer cats.” The
sisters giggled and made their way towards another counter. Before they had
reached it however, a strange noise made them stop.
“What was that?” Christina asked,
sounding frightened.
“It came from the door,” Adele said,
pointing towards the shop entrance. “Do you think the old man has come back?”
“If it was him, he would have come in
already,” Christina said. The noise came again, a creaking sound and the door
shuddered.
“Hide!” Adele grabbed her sister and
they ducked behind a broom that was hidden in a corner. With a bang, the door
burst open. A man stood there, and it wasn’t anyone the sisters recognized. He
was dressed in black and carried a large sack. He walked into the shop and
looked around. Spotting one of the counters, he walked towards it and stooped
down. The sisters saw a grin spread on his face. He reached forward and smashed the glass. They winced at the noise.
“He’s taking the bears!” Adele whispered
as the man began to place the bears gingerly into his sack. “We have to stop
him!”
“Adele, don’t!” Christina reached to
grab her sister’s arm, pulling her back. “The humans can’t know about us!”
“I don’t care, he’s taking our friends!”
Adele wrenched herself free and ran towards the counter, climbing up to the
top. Christina followed her, making sure the man wasn’t looking in their
direction. As she climbed to the top of the counter, she gasped as Adele leaped onto the man’s arm and climbed up.
“What the hell?” The man looked down at
the porcelain doll scaling his arm, then cried out as it grabbed his nose.
“Put them back!” Adele cried, squeezing
the man’s nose as hard as she could. “Put back the bears! They’re our friends!”
“Get off me!” The man reached up and
yanked Adele away. The doll struggled in his grasp. The man stared at the doll
for a moment, then lifted her up and threw her towards the ground.
“Adele!” Christina watched in horror as
her sister plummeted to the ground. With a loud smash, she broke into a hundred
pieces. Christina broke into sobs, falling to her knees. The noise caught the
attention of the thief, who walked towards the other porcelain doll.
“Huh,” he said. “There was two of them.
Too bad. I could have made a lot of money.” Shrugging, he grabbed the sobbing
doll and hurled her towards the ground to join her sister. Looking up, he
spotted the register and headed towards it.
The next morning, the old man who owned
the shop walked in to see the carnage the thief had caused the night before. He
walked towards the empty register and felt a crunch beneath his foot. Looking
down, he saw the smashed porcelain and immediately looked towards the window
where there was a gap in figurines. Sighing, he got the broom and dustpan and
began to sweep the pieces up, knowing the sisters were broken beyond repair.
There is an antique store off Beach
Street, where two porcelain dolls once lived. Girls pass by the shop and sigh
with disappointment, telling their mothers that the dolls must have been sold.
Time passes by, and still the shopkeeper has not filled the space where the
sisters once stood.
