Ada Beth Croft

April 6th, 2005

Hi my name is Sandra and I'm a nesting doll. I live in Kari's house on West Road. You see nesting dolls are made of wood and painted in bright colors. My sisters, Kate, Stephanie, Shannon, and Anna can split in half and I jump in Anna and Anna jumps in Shannon and so on until all you can see is Kate the oldest and the prettiest (at least that's what she says) and since I am the smallest and plainest Kari often loses me or steps on me on accident and sometimes on purpose! Kari doesn't want to play with me a lot so I guess you can say I am a doll with a broken heart.

Windy the paper doll is my best and only friend. She encourages me and helps me every step of the way. She also lives in Kari's house and when Kari isn't around, she glides around the room corner to corner. I say someday she'll get caught gliding around the room. She says humans will never catch her.

Summer passed and school came and Kari's mom and dad went to work and the house was completely empty. I went over to Kate, my big sister, and asked her if I could play with her and Stephanie. Basketball was my favorite especially when it was low enough for me to just barely reach the bottle cap that was supposed to be the hoop.

"You can play as long as you're not on my team," Kate said.

"Well I don't want her on my team," Stephanie said.

Shannon and Anna were playing tag. "Can I join?" I asked.

"No!" shouted Anna as she ran away from Shannon who was "it" at that time.

I couldn't take it any longer; why doesn't anyone want to play with me? Is it because I'm small or ugly? I started to run away crying when Windy stopped me.

"Hey, first off I've got some good news and some bad news but before I say anything more, why are you crying?

"No one wants to play with me."

"Don't worry about it. I will play with you".

"Thanks Windy but what's the good news?"

"The good news is I didn't get caught flying in the kitchen as the humans left. The bad news is I saw another doll I've never seen before stuck behind the refrigerator!"

"I've got to tell the others," I said.

"About what? Me not getting caught or the stranger under the fridge?"

"The stranger, Windy!" A few minutes later I found Kate and the girls.

"You're on your own, kid," Kate said. "I am not going to go under a fridge to get a doll I've never seen!"

The next day Windy and I set off to the fridge when Kari and her parents were gone. Windy and I must have been walking for hours when finally we found the fridge. It was huge and smelled like a big ham sandwich. We ventured on under the fridge and found a troll doll.

"Hi," said a voice. "I was wondering if you could get me down. I've been up here for five years or was it six...."

The troll said quickly, "Please!"

"What's your name?" Windy asked looking around.

"Waterfall," she replied.

"Where are you?" I said looking around with Windy.

"Up here, jammed in between the wall and the fridge!" Waterfall yelled.

"Ooh! Ooh! I know how to get Waterfall down!" Windy screamed. "When I get stuck I wiggle around then suck in my stomach!"

About two seconds after that Waterfall plopped to the ground.

"Thanks, uhhh...."

"It's Windy, Windy Cutout," Windy said proudly.

We all got out from under the fridge and walked into Kari's room. "Hey, Waterfall, want to be our friend?" I asked.

"Sure," said Waterfall, "but won't I look suspicious hanging out with Kari's group of old dolls? You've got to stick me on the living room floor in plain sight then let Kari find me and keep me before I can play with you guys!"

Without further ado, I stuck Waterfall in the middle of the living room to be found by Kari in a couple of hours. Just like Waterfall and I had planned, a few hours later Kari comes rushing in her room with Waterfall in her hand.

"I'm going to play with you, Sandra, and that cutout tomorrow," said Kari. "You guys will have fun!" Then Kari ran out of the room.

Waterfall and Windy looked at me and started running towards me. We all hugged and I guess now you can say I'm the the doll with the restored happy heart.