Voodootown

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Camo

Camo heard Strap coming down the hall before she could jump down from under the bed.  She groaned.  The lecture was going to be a bad one.

She had been watching as her human Hehet had screamed about the clothes that her mother had purchased.  The new skirt had been too long, the shirt the wrong color, the shoes the wrong style, the jacket made by the wrong designer.  Camo had done everything she could to calm her human during the tantrum, but over the last few years, Hehet had become almost impossible to sway.

As the bedroom door swung open, Camo thought about hiding.  She could blend in with the room and Hehet's mother's doll would never see her.  But she knew it was a bad idea.  Strap would only wait.  She'd stay in the room all night until their humans woke and would wait the next night.  It would only make it worse.

Camo looked down at her own hand, made sure the cloth hadn't changed to match the pattern of the carpet inches below; she sometimes blended in without thinking of it.  Her cloth skin was still gray, the fabric dotted with dirt and old stains that also covered her plain gray shirt and pants.  Since she spent most of her time matching whatever background she was near, she rarely took time to wash herself.  And she saw the way that Hehet did her makeup for hours at a time.  That was enough primping for both of them.

"That's it," Strap said.  The doll was backlit by the light in the hall, but Camo could still see her face.  The stitches of her mouth were tight, drawn down at the corners.  "That spoiled, rotten, rude little brat of a human of yours is going to stop.  Tonight."

"I...I know," Camo said.  She started to shrug, to nod in agreement, but gave up both.  Hehet had been on an emotional rampage lately and there had been many lectures like this.  She knew it was best to just stand there and let Strap vent.

In front of her, Strap stood still.  "I don't know what you've been doing, but it isn't enough.  We're changing this tonight."

Camo waited for more.  She didn't know what else she could do.  Everything Hehet did seemed to be a grab for more attention.  Camo tried to calm her human, tried to show her that it was best to stand back and blend in at times, but Hehet only acted out more.

"Did you see her mother crying?  Again?"

The question was rhetorical, Camo knew.  She stood and waited.

"What do you think is going to happen when Hehet's father comes home?" Strap asked.

That was a question that Camo had wondered about.  Hehet's father was often gone for weeks, months at a time.  Camo had no idea what he really did for work, only that he was a contractor for the government.  She knew that Hehet thought her father was some kind of spy, but Camo thought he was a translator, since he spoke five languages.  What she knew for sure was that the more he was away, the worse Hehet treated her mother.

"I'm trying," Camo said.

"Not hard enough.  Tonight.  That's it," Strap said.

Strap had said "tonight" three times since opening the door.  Camo knew it wasn't good if the other doll was being so specific.

"Challenge," Strap said.

"What?" Camo asked.  "Challenge me?  I agree with you!"  She had been doing everything she could think of to rein in Hehet's behavior, both at home and at school.  She liked to think she had made some difference, but couldn't tell because Hehet's behavior and clothing choices were still more rebellious than she wanted to think about.  "What good will that do?"

Strap settled her hands onto her cloth hips.  She wore shorts and a tank top.  Camo knew the other doll's power and how the scanty clothing helped with it.  "Whatever you've been doing hasn't worked.  I think that means it's time to be a bit more direct."

Camo had no idea what the other doll was talking about.  "How is a challenge more direct?  I already agree that she needs to tone herself down."

"And when I rip you up, then she'll have a few weeks of feeling awful to help her do that," Strap said.

That was something Camo hadn't thought of.  Any damage done to her would get passed on to Hehet.  It would probably be diminished to pain and soreness, but a lasting injury to her could turn into something serious for her human.  But she also knew that it probably wouldn't provoke much long-term change in Hehet's attitude.  If Hehet ended up bedridden, she'd only have more free time to turn sullen and spiteful.  Camo wouldn't be able to stop it.

She shook her head.  She didn't want to confront Strap, not in any way, but this wasn't the right answer.  "No.  That's not right.  That's not fair."

"She spent her last chance a long time ago.  Nothing else left to do."

"What about her mother?"  Camo paused before going on.  She didn't like pushing the issue, knew that it could easily backfire and make things worse.  "Maybe you could get her to be a little more strict?  Start grounding Hehet?  Some other parentish discipline?"  Camo knew that being grounded would make Hehet miserable and that she'd be miserable by association, but it was a better solution than both of them getting hurt.

She saw Strap's body tense.  "You want to start in on how I'm handling my human?"

Camo took a step back, saw her cloth skin start to mimic the background.  She stopped that.  "No, no.  I'm just saying she might need some direction from the human side of things too.  What about her father?"

Strap shook her head.  "I saw Digger last week.  He said her father won't be back for at least a month."  The doll took a step toward Camo.  "And she's your responsibility, not anyone else's.  You've been challenged.  Let's go."  When Strap was in range, she reached out and Camo felt the hand bond to her arm.  That was Strap's talent, she could latch onto anything that she touched.

Though Strap began to pull at her, Camo didn't move.  She still felt the shock of being challenged, but then remembered what had happened the night before.  "We can't go.  The curfew.  Remember?"

That stopped Strap.  The doll looked at the floor a moment, crinkled her stitched lip as if biting it.  Camo could tell that Strap hadn't thought through what she was suggesting.  She knew that most dolls didn't think things through, and neither did most humans, especially Hehet.  But Camo did.  She worked every night to keep a little calm in her and Hehet's life, and that took a lot of thinking and planning.  She was glad that the curfew put into effect by the captain of the gatekeepers had prevented Strap from continuing with this rash decision.

Strap looked up.  "Backyard.  Come on."  She pulled Camo out the door.