Made In Germany

Stage Performer

"I'm sorry Bill, but I can't get this string tied!" Orchid called out pathetically, sighing deeply.

"It's okay, let me try." His cold, jointed fingers quickly looped the elastic string through the hooks and back to the main line. "It's not perfect, but hopefully it'll hold." just as he finished the sentence, the string untied and his arm fell onto the bed with a plunk.

"It didn't work." Tom observed. His eyes rolling in his porcelain head.

"Thanks, mister Obvious." Bill retorted tiredly. His head hung lowly on his perfectly proportioned shoulders.

"Is it me, or are we getting taller?" Tom asked Bill as he stood next to Orchid's measurement wall. "We were seventy and a half centimeters and now I'm almost seventy-five." His voice trailed off as he kept his back taut with the wall's edge and remeasured himself nearly four times.

"I'm not sure." Bill said looking at his left arm that lay on Orchid's silky black comforter.

"You do look a little taller." Orchid thought out loud. She went to grab Bill, but there was a knock at the door.

"Kitty, it's Mama, I need to talk to you." She stated cautiously.

Orchid, in a panic, placed a pillow over Bill, she didn't want anyone- especially her mother, to know that his arm had been detatched. She'd never be allowed to touch them. "Okay." She answered back.

As Elaine entered the lilac room, she held the house phone in her hand like a shield. "Maddie-Claire's mother just called, Maddie joke woke up at the hospital." Orchid's stomach dropped, "She said you pushed her down the stairs in the studio-"

"I did not!" Orchid interjected, "Her slipper came untied and she fell! I only saw her when I went to pick up Tom." Her voice died as she came to an end of her argument.

"Look, sweetheart, I know you and Maddie aren't the best of friends, but that's no excuse to push someone down the stairs, and lie to me on top of that." Elaine's voice was stern and angry.

"She broke Bill first!" Orchid cried out in a panic, not realizing that she just dug their graves.

Elaine's face softened, "What do you mean? How did she break him?"

Orchid removed the pillow that was on top of Bill, revealing his dismembered arm and frayed strings.

"Orchid, what did you do to him? You've ruined him." Elaine stepped closer to examine the doll, he was half naked, only his black denim jeans were on and his arm was several inches off to the side. "Perhaps we should wait until you're older to have them." Her voice faded off into thought. Secretly, her spirit lifted that she could use an excuse.

"Mommy don't, I need them!" She grabbed for Bill, but Elaine blocked her furious arms.

"No, I'm taking them until you're older, then when you've proven to me that you can handle the responsibility, you can have them back." She grabbed the dark doll and his lighter counter-part. "And don't go looking for them or I'll keep them for longer." Elaine left, turning on her heel, leaving Orchid alone in room, crying.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered, hoping they could hear her pleas for forgiveness.

A month passed, but the lonliness of not having Bill or Tom with her only grew stronger; more intense with each day. She became more absorbed in her dance, becoming more zombie-like. However, it seemed as though she had digressed by several years. Her form was wrong, her balance thrown and her center of gravity was just wrong.

"Orchid, if you don't concentrate I'm going to have to pull your solo and the group dance!" Madame Zoe threatened, back to her usual bitterness.

"Sorry Madame Zoe." Orchid apologized in a mousy voice, too unencouraged to make a noise above a loud murmur.