Glynnis (Empire of Oz series, #1)

Glynnis by Ellie Bernard - Chapter Eight

        Once she and Jon-Jon finished eating Allis Mawkree's baked oatmeal for breakfast, Glynnis found a small portion of her usual curiosity return, and she asked,

        "What's a Poppet Menagerie?"

        Jon-Jon scrambled off his chair, ran down the hallway, and opened the door corresponding to his own, had he been in the Flanders apartment.

        "Come and see," smiled Allis, pushing her chair away from the kitchen table, leaving behind the breakfast mess.

        Glynnis traipsed after them, the short distance from the kitchen to the second bedroom, and found herself facing yet another scene, oddly wonderful, in that nothing from Oz could have prepared her for it.  Stacks of fabric, piles of yarn, bags of buttons, and bolts of trims, all organized by color, graced old metal shelves, floor to ceiling.  In the center of the room, a massive black sewing machine reigned supreme, and under the window, a giant wicker basket holding several completed figures.

        "I make dolls," Allis declared simply.  "Or rather, I create 'a humanity more perfect and safer'," she smiled.  "And don't we need it!" she pressed, "Jon-Jon's got the right idea!" she laughed, crossing to where he sat, plopped in the middle of the basket, king of this safer humanity.

        "Can I help you?" Glynnis exclaimed, feeling a surprising kinship-like bubble swell inside her, a desperate yearning to create something better than burnt porn.

        For the next few days, after the Flanders returned, Glynnis and Jon-Jon could be found at Allis Mawkree's, stuffing doll legs, looping doll hair, stitching doll clothes, and embroidering doll faces, all day long.  They occasionally took breaks to visit the roof's Sukkah and water the poppies, which were growing beautifully.

        Glynnis also learned many new recipes - Frog-eye Salad, Carmelized Onion Dip, and Garlic Monkey Bread, to name a few - when she helped Allis cook during their shared mealtimes, for in short, neither she nor Jon-Jon spent any time at the Flanders, save when they were sleeping.

        The Flanders did not seem to mind in the least their son being raised by an old doll-making neighbor and a witch from Oz.  Glynnis couldn't help feel slightly disconcerted however, since Jon-Jon's parents made no mention of the fact their son was sleeping through the night.

        After all, she gently fumed in silence; they were pretty amazed when he started talking.

        Not that Glynnis taught Jon-Jon how to sleep in order to impress his parents.  Rather, he just needed to learn, both for himself and those he lived with.  And Glynnis continued to find the Flanders, and their lifestyle, a bit strange - every morning they started the day with a steaming mug of black juice - Cough E - virtually no conversation, the husband leaving with his hair dripping wet onto his shirt collar and tie, the wife in form-fitting clothes, revealing her oddly hairless legs -  when they returned home late at night, they spent nearly three hours at the kitchen table, rearranging stacks of paper and eating meals requiring only boiling water.

        Glynnis could see how their apartment came to be so filthy, as neither one of them cleaned up after themselves; she began sleeping on the floor of Jon-Jon's room in order to keep it free from their swift encroaching mess.

        Not until the morning of September 10th was there any change in the Flanders routine.  Glynnis, curled up in the corner of Jon-Jon's room, nesting in the bedding of Allis Mawkree, was awakened by Mrs. Flanders pressing her toe into Glynnis' shoulderblade.

        "My husband and I will be working from home today, and possibly the next, we have a project due," she spoke aloud, causing Glynnis to jump and Jon-Jon to awaken.