Alice and Her Doll

Chapter 2

*****

"So, Alice. What do you want for your birthday?" Alice's mom, Megan, asked Alice.

"Well, I want.....um, *gasp*!" Alice suddenly started to get excited. "A DOLL!!! I want a pretty doll with curly hair and pretty eyes and a sparkly dress!"

The excitement in Alice's eyes was evident as she went on and on about this doll she wanted.

When she was finally finished, Alice's dad, Raymond, said: "You don't want a stuffed animal? Like, a pony or a cute kitty?"

Alice folded her arms and furrowed her brow as she shook her head vigorously.

"Okay, honey. That was all. You can go back to your room now," Megan told Alice, bending down to her level and speaking to her with happy and energetic eyes.

But behind those eyes was tiredness; exhaustion. This tiredness and exhaustion shown when, as Alice ran off to her room, Megan turned around to face Raymond.

"Is that going to be enough? I mean, we've spoiled her in the past with stuffed animals, clothes, piggy banks, books, and now she just wants a doll?" Megan groaned as she used hand motions to emphasize these words.

"I think so. She's growing up a small bit and I think it's time she should stop taking things for granted. Or at least to prevent the habit,"

They were both talking softly in the upstairs hallway, occasionally glancing at Alice and her smiling face as she tossed her stuffed toys up in the air and let them hit her on their way down.

"Well, I guess I should start looking for a doll, but we're kind of low on cash this month, with our help, or rather donation, with Tom's injury and such."

"Yeah, my nephew sure is something. First, Tom breaks his wrist, then his ankle, and now he's fractured his tailbone? Jeez, this kid needs a bodyguard," Ray said as he and Megan both laughed quietly.

"Okay, well, I'm going to make some tea and watch some TV," Megan said.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but, I'm finally going to clean the attic, " Raymond said as he and Megan started to walk downstairs. "I know you've been wanting me to, and I thought, well, I need to stop putting it off and just clean the darn thing. Besides, I haven't been up there in ages and maybe I'll find something to sell on eBay for, you know, some extra dough."

"Be careful and good luck; you don't know what goes on up there," Megan called out from the kitchen.

*****

"Ben! Stop!" Carrie shouted as her best guy friend, Ben, swung her too high in the sky.

Secretly, Carrie didn't want him to stop; she was having a lot of fun.

Carrie, Ben, and Carrie's best friend, Fiona, were at their local neighborhood park.

"Ahh," Fiona said. "Isn't Christmas break just amazing? I mean, I can't believe we get three freakin' weeks off!"

"Awesome, right?" Ben replied. He pushed the squealing, grinning Carrie Fraser higher into the pale blue sky.

"I love the park......Hey, Carrie! How're you doing over there on the swings?" Fiona called out to her best friend.

"Fine......and.......dandy!" Carrie managed to say.

Carrie, Ben, and Fiona all went to the same school, Eastbrook High. They were all fifteen. They had been best friends since third grade, when they were all put in the same class.

"Okay, okay," Carrie said, breathlessly, as she slowed to a stop. "Please......stop.....torturing....me,"

"Ha ha!" Ben's melodic deep voice traveled through the thin, crisp air as he laughed up a storm.

He had been laughing for quite some time when he noticed that Carrie and Fiona were gone.

Suddenly, something hard, cold, and wet hit Ben's head. Carrie, he thought. Ben looked around him, seeing nothing but small children at play, then he spotted a wall of snow and two girls giggling behind it. He saw Carrie's plain brown hair and Fiona's frizzy, curly blonde hair behind the snow fort as they ducked down.

Ben gathered up as much snow as he could hold in his arms and BAM! He tossed in on top of them, covering them like a blanket.

Ben stopped his laughing and his face whitened as he realized that these two girls were not Carrie and Fiona.

"I, um.....I'm really sorry. I thought you two were someone else. Here, let me help you," Ben said. He brushed the snow off of the two girls.

"Sorry again!" Ben shouted as they ran away, crying.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He quickly turned around.

There was Fiona and Carrie, both bent over at the waist, laughing so hard it was silent. Fiona gasped for air as she and Carrie fell to the ground, crying tears of amusement.

"Yeah, yeah. Ha ha. You had your laugh. I'm hungry. Let's go eat," Ben muttered. The snow crunched under his feet as he walked started to walk away.

"*gasp* Hey, man. Don't sweat it," Fiona said as she caught up to Ben. "Carrie got her revenge on you."

"Yeah, thanks for swinging me so high I almost got sick....." Carrie trailed off.

"We're even," Ben said. They walked off towards town, discussing where they would eat.

*****