The Forgotten Doll

Loud Voices and Quiet Voices

She's going to come back. She always comes back, and at first her mind is fuzzy and she doesn't remember our names, but then she remembers and she plays with us again. Her mama put us all up in the attic in a box so I set up the teacups here. I took the chipped one like always, the one she threw the first time she had to go away. She never likes to go away but her mama cries and her daddy carries her and we all watch, very still like she taught us until she comes back. When she comes back, she dresses me up like she dressed when she was away, and she plays like the grownups and in a deep-deep voice she asks me questions like

Why do you think that you can read minds?

and then she pulls my strings to make me dance and I am her and in her own voice she says

You have two voices, loud and quiet, and the loud one asks questions and the quiet one says it's past your break time and your rent is due.

Then in her deep-deep voice she asks

Do you ever think about hurting people?

and then she sings

It's not my fault the carving knife is so shaaaarp! It's not my fault the carving knife is so shaaaarp!

And in her deep-deep voice she says

Eat the candy; it tastes like cherry and makes the thoughts go away. That's a good girl, eat it all up.

and she smashes red-hots into my face.

It's been a long time since she went away, but she's going to come back because she loves us and there's no tea where she goes, and there are grownups with loud voices and quiet voices, and we only have quiet voices, very very quiet.