The Ragdoll

All Around Me

As soon as Igor left, she approached the window, with a deep feeling growing stronger inside her, step by step, until she reached it: curiosity. Grabbing two of the several metal bars that covered it with her hands, she suddenly stuck her head out of it to see how the world the Doctor welcomed her in few hours earlier looked like. She could not help, but keep her mouth wide open, amazed by everything she was able to see: there were a lot of buildings, all coming in different shapes and different shades of grey... there were also a lot of people poured into the streets, and everyone looked different from each other! And their skins and clothes too: their colors ranged from the gray to the clear blue to the light orange to the liliac  and purple. But what was that? There was something... something like a sound... it felt so good to her ears! That sweet melody spread throughout the city, flooding his streets. She was also able to see beings of all the ages talking to each other and laughing, doing every kind of thing, most of which she was not able to understand but appreciated anyway. All those things spread something she did not know... a kind of viability, something vibrant and lively...What a good feeling, to be alive! Now life just seemed as a gift to her, something unique, she was grateful for and excited to discover. She absolutely wanted to know more about the city and its citizens, therefore she was going to ask the Doctor about it as soon as she could. She heard a series of knocking on the door, claiming for her attention, making her turn in its direction.
"Sally food is ready" Igor's familiar voice announced on the other side of it.
"Thank you, I'm coming" she replied. She did not want her creator and Igor to wait for her, so she immediately came out of the window and left her room, then reaching the kitchen with her usual slow pace.
"Sally, did you find the bedroom of your own liking?" Dr. Finkelstein politely asked her.
"Of course. Thank you, Doctor." she said looking at him and waiting for his permission to join them. With a nod, he suddenly invited her to sit down at the table with them.
"My dear, is there something you are curious about?" He asked while swallowing a sip of what Sally recognized as soup from his dish.
"Actually yes, creator, there's a thing I was particularly wondering about..." she told him, shyly, while starting to stir her own sup with a strange piece of steel.
"So, tell me."
"Where do we live?"
It seemed a naive and stupid question, even to her own ears, but what could she do about it? At the end of the day, she was born that same afternoon.
"In a tower, I already told you today. You should know what a tower is... don't you?"
"Yes of course I know it but... I mean... where does the Tower is? What city is this?" She hastened to answer, while looking at him assuming a confused expression.
"Why do you care about it?"
"I was just... looking out of the window in my room and got intrigued, that's all."
She replied, starting playing with the hem of her own dress, nervously.
"I see. Anyway, it doesn't matter, it's nothing you have to think about. How about the house? Any question?"
She was a bit crestfallen for how he cut short the conversation: the view of the city and its colours bewitched her at the point she wanted badly to know more about it.
"No, thank you for asking."
She merely answered, politely but without hiding a sadder tone in her voice she was not able to conceal, but he did not seem to notice it or to care about it. The three of them finished their dinner in silence and then the Doctor dismissed them. Sally hurried to come back to her room and close the door after her: if she was not able to learn something about the Town by her creator, she would have done it on her own. The sky out of her window was darker than it was that evening before dinner, and the moonlight gave the city a different atmosphere, even better than the one she previously saw. It was quieter: except for some people, there was almost no one around and even the music had stopped. If she appreciated its daily caos, she could say without any doubt that its nocturnal pace made her fell in love.