Eyes of Glass

Part 5

The doll house maker

“I don’t care who you are, You can’t force me to sell my dollhouse.”

“You misunderstand me, Karen,” Mrs. Johnson replies calmly. “I never said that you had to sell your dollhouse. All I want is to pay you fair market value for your services. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Fine, but why do you insist on paying me in cash? Why can’t you use PayPal?”

“Because I prefer dealing directly with customers,” Mrs. Johnson explains. “Besides, you wouldn’t want to risk damaging your reputation by accepting payments from strangers, would you?”

“I suppose not,” I reply.

“Good. Now, let’s talk aboutthe dollhouse itself. First of all, what size is it?”

“Three feet tall,” I answer with confident.

“Excellent, and what materials did you use?”

“Wood and cloth, mostly,”..

“Wood and cloth?” Mrs. Johnson repeats. “What kind of wood? Pine? Oak? Cedar?”

“Pine,”

“Very good, but what type of construction technique did you use most?”

“ Straightforward Carpentry,”

“Straightforward?” Mrs. Johnson repeats. “Are you certain that you used proper methods?”

“Yes,” I reply.

“Then why do you look so guilty?” Mrs. Johnson demands.

“Because I’m afraid of heights,”

“Height issues aside,” Mrs. Johnson continues, “what kind of tools did you use to build the dollhouse?”

“Power drills and hammers...”

“Really? You didn’t use a jigsaw?”

“No, I don’t believe in using power tools.”

“Interesting philosophy,” Mrs. Johnson says that with a dry look on her face.

“And how long did it take you to construct the dollhouse?”

“About two months I guess.”

“Two months?” Mrs. Johnson scoffs.

“That sounds awfully slow for a professional builder. Are you sure you weren’t slacking off?”

“Of course I wasn’t, I worked hard every day.”

“Hmm...Finally, tell me about your design process. Did you sketch out the layout of the dollhouse beforehand?”