Mrs. Shepherds Dolls - A Christmas Story (2 page)

A large photo of Ruth’s husband took center
place on the mantel as photos of other family members gathered on
either side of him.

The walls were adorned with pictures of her
family, her mother, father and sisters. She painted the ornate
frames pale colors to match the surroundings. She even included
little mementos of her family in the pictures. A small lace scarf
in the corner of her mother’s portrait, a tiny picture of her
sisters’ favorite dog in her portrait, an old much used pipe in the
corner of the frame of her father’s portrait. All was well thought
out and given a great deal of attention.

Her kitchen was equally thought out with a
red and white porcelain table and chair set, a pale green cupboard
against the wall with beautiful antique dishes displayed on the
white shelves. A green Hoosier sat against the other wall with
yellow ware and mixing bowls from her childhood. The kitchen floor
was a black and white squared marble that looked as if you could
eat off of it.

“Mrs. Shepherd, I feel as if I’ve stepped
into Shirley Temple’s doll house. And that’s a compliment.” Brenda
said.

“First of all, please call me Ruth, I feel
you are a definite kindred spirit my dear. And I am so honored that
you think my home is akin to a dollhouse. That’s just the effect
I’ve always had in mind.”

“Now, come see the dolls.” Mrs. Shepherd led
the way down a pretty hallway, a continuation of the pink and white
wallpaper of the living room completed the effect, however; on the
walls of the hallway were pictures of movie stars from the
1930’s.

Carole Lombard, Norma Shearer, Clark Gable
and Vivien Leigh were among the celebrities of Ruth’s small
gallery.

Brenda had to stifle a laugh as she walked
past the celebrated stars on Ruth’s walls.

“Clark Gable?” Brenda asked as they walked
toward a large white door.

“Oh yes, he was my favorite, later on it was
Gary Cooper and not long after that Robert Redford took his place.
I just don’t have room for everyone, so I just kept them up.” Ruth
replied.

They came to the large white door and Ruth
dramatically swished it open.

Before them was a gallery of dolls most of
which Brenda had never seen the likes before.

The room was extremely large with three rows
of white shelving continuing all around it.

“Hello my lovely ones.” Ruth said with a
sparkle in her eyes. “This is my new friend, her name is Brenda and
I always want you to make her feel welcome.”

Brenda looked at the dolls with acute joy and
admiration. She felt as if she’d wandered into an Alice in
Wonderland book.

Here in this room were dolls that took on
wonderful expressions and beautiful dress styles of lace, silk,
satins and an array of bountiful flowered hats.

Their faces were full of bright smiles and
lavish hairstyles.

“Oh, their hair.” Brenda exclaimed.

“I know, I only wish I had as much hair.”
Ruth laughed.

Some of the dolls were standing, some were
sitting, some held flowers, and others carried parasols. Brenda
couldn’t even count the many dolls that surrounded the room.

The dolls were made of porcelain; vinyl,
cloth, bisque and some were quite old with wax over composition.
Ruth knew her dolls and continued around the room pointing at this
one and that one. Glass eyes, plastic eyes, paper weight sleepy
eyes and painted on eyes. But they all looked like they just came
off the assembly line. They smelled new and looked new. There were
tiny dolls that fit in the palm of your hand, and very tall dolls
that looked as if they could run around the room like real
children.

“Ruth how is it that these dolls look so new?
I know some of them must be very old?” Brenda asked.

“Well my dear, I guess it’s just that they
all mean so much to me. I’ve taken good care of them all of these
years. Like this baby by-lo doll, the only baby doll that was
cuddled in a small basinet, she was my mother’s; she’s just like
new because I’ve always taken good care of her. There is a
wonderful very thin kind of oil that you can rub them with so that
they don’t crack.” Ruth smiled and leaned down to adjust the dolls
bonnet.

“I suppose you have names for all of them?”
Brenda asked.

“Oh yes of course.” Ruth quickly went around
the room and called off the names of every doll on the shelves.

“Remarkable.” Brenda said.

“No, not so much. As I said, they’re my
children.” Ruth smiled.

******

After visiting Ruth's house and seeing the
wonderful way she decorated it, Brenda was inspired. She stopped
off at a cute craft store on her way home and bought some autumn
silk flowers.

She looked for a vase under her sink and
placed the vase and the flowers on the kitchen table. Amy came
cheerfully in and asked what she was doing. Brenda told Amy about
Mrs. Shepherd’s wonderful house and that it had inspired her to
start decorating the house for autumn. She was all set to start the
arrangement when Jen came flouncing in the kitchen door. She threw
her books down on the table; and said she hated school

“I’m not going back!” Jen shouted.

“Whoa…what was that?” Her mom said turning
and approaching her oldest daughter.

“Have a bad day?” Amy smiled.

“Shut up you little jerk.” Jen said narrowing
her eyes at Amy.

“Hey, calm down, what’s the problem?” Her mom
asked.

“They’re all jerks, all of them. They acted
so friendly and then they acted like complete jerks when I said
‘hi’ to them this morning. They ignored me. I had to walk to school
by myself while they walked in front of me laughing and looking
back at me every once in a while.” Jen sobbed.

“
It will get better honey, I promise.
There are kids like that in all schools. I don’t know why, I don’t
understand why some kids are so nice and some are just so mean.
But, I do know it will get better and you’ll meet someone who makes
it all right.” Brenda said putting her arm around her.

“
Yeah Jen, I really dreaded getting on
the bus, this girl acted so nice to me and even said I could sit
with her, then she left me in the dirt and I had no place to sit
until this nice kid let me sit with her. I even ate lunch with her
and her friends. Mom’s right, it’ll get better.”

"I don't want to talk about it...or them!"
Jen shouted and ran up the stairs to her room.

"You know why they're giving her a hard time,
don't you mom?" Amy asked.

"No, but I'm sure you do." Brenda said
straightening a flower in the vase.

"It's because she's so darn pretty, that's
why. They're jealous of her, they're afraid all the boys will start
to notice her instead of them."

“That’s my cue.” Brenda said and started
after Jen.

“Okay, what’s up?” Brenda asked as she walked
into Jen’s room.

“I hate them all mom, they’re all phonies.”
Jen said reproachfully.

“So, what happened?” Brenda asked sitting
down on the bed.

“Those stupid girls I met, they were so nice
to me when we were reading the magazines, then they acted like
they’d never seen me before when I tried to catch up with them this
morning.” Jen pouted.

“So, What happened?” Amy asked as she came
into Jen’s room.

“Get out of here!” Jen shouted to her
sister.

“Gees, I only asked.” Amy said and turned to
leave.

“Wait a second Amy, look Jen, she only
asked.” Brenda said motioning for Amy to come back into the
room.

“Okay, I’m sorry. I had a really bad day.”
Jen huffed. “How was yours?”

“Oh it was all right. I met a few nice kids.
The bus ride was terrible; no one would let me sit with them, then
the bus driver yelled at me. Finally a girl said I could sit with
her.” Amy wanted to say how great her day went, but she didn’t want
Jen to feel bad.

“See mom? We just don’t belong in this town.
I want to go home.” Jen moaned.

“Sorry kids, but, we are home.” Brenda said.
She patted Jen on the head and hugged Amy and went back down
stairs.

She listened to her two girls chattering
upstairs as she went about arranging the floral display. Brenda
liked nothing more than to create and redecorate. She always had
ideas for new ways to re-arrange furniture or replace pictures on a
wall.

Her husband Bob never knew what to expect
when he came home from work, but he was always good natured about
it and let her have her way in almost everything.

“What’s going on?” He asked as he came
through the living room door.

“Not much.” Brenda said finding a place to
put the flowers she’d arranged.

“Whoa, you’ve been busy.” He said noticing
the fall flower display. “You just have a knack honey.”

“Yeah, well, I wish I had a knack for making
things right for the girls. They both had a struggle getting
through their first day. Amy finally sorted it out with a new
friend, but Jen is still struggling and missing her friends back
home. I’m just not sure how to handle it.”

“Oh they’ll both be fine. It’s always tough
the first few days. Hey, it was
my
first day too. I had to
smile so much today meeting all the new colleagues; that my cheeks
hurt.” Bob said rubbing his cheeks and frowning, making Brenda
smile.

During the next few weeks things got so much
better for the girls. Jen made a good friend and she joined the
choir at school.

Amy and Misty became best friends and shared
everything. Misty introduced Amy to Mrs. Shepherd and whenever
Brenda visited, she took Amy and Misty with her. They each had a
favorite doll they went to whenever they entered the doll room.
Brenda and Ruth always shared a cup of tea and talked like old
friends. It was one of Brenda’s favorite times of the day. Ruth’s
home was the most good feeling home Brenda had ever been to.

Ruth was invited to spend Thanksgiving with
the Sheaffers. She insisted on bringing her husband’s favorite
dish, scalloped oysters. She happily helped Brenda in the kitchen
and enjoyed spending time with the Sheaffers.

Brenda took Ruth home and Ruth could not have
thanked Brenda enough for inviting her for Thanksgiving and letting
her help, which she hadn’t done for years.

One Saturday as Brenda was getting ready to
visit Ruth, Jen asked if she could come along.

Trying not to make a big deal out of it,
Brenda said, “Sure.”

Jen was quiet on the drive to Ruth’s
house.

“So, what’s up? What’s this new interest in
Mrs. Shepherd’s house?” Brenda asked.

“Nothing, I was just bored and wanted to see
this place that Misty and Amy keep talking about.” Jen
answered.

“Good.” Brenda said and turned into Ruth’s
driveway.

Ruth was extremely happy to see Jen come for
a visit. She, like Brenda didn’t want to make a big fuss over this
visit, but she hoped Jen would be glad she came.

“Well, it’s so good to see you Jen. How are
you?” Ruth asked.

“Fine.” Jen shrugged, while strolling into
the living room.

She took her time looking around Ruth’s warm
and cozy room. She had a fire going in the fireplace and the whole
house smelled of cookies.

Brenda and Ruth brought a tray of hot
chocolate and cookies and placed it on the coffee table in front of
Jen.

“Really? Hot chocolate and cookies?” Jen
groused.

“Jen!” Brenda started to admonish her for
being so rude.

“Oh honey, I’m sorry, did you want something
a little more adult? Like maybe a cup of coffee?” Ruth asked
seriously.

“What? Oh no, hot chocolate is just fine.”
Jen said shocked and a little embarrassed.

Brenda had to hold back a laugh. Ruth always
seemed to know just the right thing to say, even to a truculent
teenager.

“Well honey, what do you think?” Brenda
asked.

“It’s a really cool house Mrs. Shepherd, now
what about this doll room I keep hearing my sister and mom talk
about?” Jen asked while sipping the hot chocolate.

“You are more than welcome to come take a
look.” Ruth smiled.

The three of them got up and Ruth led the way
down the hallway to the doll room.

When she opened the door, Jen couldn’t
believe the row after row of dolls. Brenda found an adorable
rocking horse and Ruth found the perfect doll to sit on it. Jen
took her time walking up and down the rows of dolls until she
stopped short in front of a doll that had the most human face she’d
ever seen on a doll.

“What’s her name?” Jen asked.

“Oh, that’s Megan.” Megan had long blond
human hair, blue glass eyes and a mischievous smile.

“She’s got a real smile, not a fake smile.”
Jen said touching her hair.

“Yes, she does.” Ruth said walking over to
Jen.

“And she’s so big. How tall is she?”

“Oh my goodness, Megan is about 36 inches
tall.” Ruth replied.

“Wow, this is a really cool room.” Jen said
continuing to look around.

“Well, yes it is, I keep it at an even
temperature all year round.”

“No, I meant, it’s a really neat place.” Jen
laughed.

The next doll to catch her eye was an
adorable smiling little girl with a circus hat and gold beaded
shorts with a matching jacket. She was a sitting doll; she sat
cross-legged holding a teddy bear wearing a clown suit.

“Oh, she’s adorable!” Jen said. “I love her
smile too.”

“That’s Phrynie.” She’s my little circus
girl.

“Well, I can see why Amy and Misty love to
come and visit you. This is a really neat place.” Jen said.

All three women laughed and went back into
the living room to finish their cookies and warm chocolate.

On the way home, Jen chatted about the visit
and told Brenda that just about everybody in her school at one time
or another had been to Mrs. Shepherds house.

“I know I’m too old for dolls mom, but I
really like that Megan doll.” Jen said quietly.