Mrs. Shepherds Dolls - A Christmas Story (4 page)

Brenda decided to go and see for herself how
Ruth was doing. Amy and Jen wanted to go too.

Eunice was just coming out of the house and
had her back to them as they walked up to the porch. She had just
finished locking the door when she turned around and saw them.

“What now?” Eunice asked.

“We came to see Mrs. Shepherd, we’d like to
see for ourselves how she’s doing.” Brenda answered.

“She doesn’t want to see you or anyone else
in this town. I just wish you would all leave me alone.” Eunice
huffed.

“Could we at least go in and say hello? We
won’t stay long, I promise.” Amy asked.

“Look, I haven’t eaten yet today and I’m
starving, I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!” Eunice said
exasperated.

“Why would you want to eat a relative?” Jen
asked with a smirk.

Eunice eyes blazed at this affront.

“Mrs. Sheaffer, please ask your daughter to
keep a civil tongue in her mouth.”

Amy was trying to stifle a laugh, but both
girls burst into uncontrollable laughter.

“Girls, please.” Brenda said trying to keep a
straight face herself.

“What’s all this?” Taylor asked coming up the
walkway.

“We’re trying to see Ruth.” Brenda replied to
Taylor. “ However, Eunice has decided that no one is allowed to see
her.

“We’ll see about that, give me the key
Eunice; now!” Taylor yelled.

“No, no one is allowed inside the house.”
Eunice crossed her arms and stood firmly in front of the door.

“Fine, we’ll kick it in.” Brenda replied.

“Good idea, come on girls, let’s kick the
door down!” Taylor yelled.

“Wait! No wait! Okay fine, I’ll unlock it,
but you can’t stay long.” Eunice relented.

She reluctantly unlocked the door and let
them inside.

Inside the house was dark and musty. No one
had dusted or cleaned for several weeks. It smelled of stale food
and was not the sweet bright house Brenda had first seen.

“What’s happened in here?” Brenda asked.

“Don’t bother asking.” Taylor said. “Eunice
is not known for her cleanliness.”

“How dare you barge in here and berate me.
I’ve had my hands full taking care of that old lady, I mean, my
aunt.” Eunice recovered herself.

“Ruth? Ruthie?” Taylor yelled out and marched
towards her room downstairs.

“She’s not there, that’s my room.” Eunice
stopped him.

“Where is she Eunice?” Taylor looked at her
with contempt.

“Come with me.” She said and started towards
the stairs.

“She’s not supposed to be up there Eunice. We
talked about that.” Taylor hissed.

“What could I do? She insisted.” Eunice
replied.

When they reached the top of the stairs,
Taylor pushed Eunice aside and tried the bedroom doorknob. It was
locked.

“Give me the key!” He said incensed.

“She doesn’t want to be disturbed.” Eunice
said and backed away from Taylor.

Taylor held out his hand and narrowed his
eyes at her.

She gulped, then took the key out of her coat
pocket and handed it to him.

He unlocked the door and walked inside along
with Brenda and the girls.

At first the room was so dark you couldn’t
see a thing.

“Oh it’s so dark and cold in here.” Brenda
said looking for a light switch.

“Eunice? Eunice is that you? Please, I need
to use the bathroom.” Came a small raspy voice.

“Oh of course aunty.” Eunice rushed over to
her bed and helped her with her walker.

As soon as she had Ruth up and headed to the
bathroom, Brenda took over.

“Girls, help me find some clean dry sheets,
hurry.”

Ruth hadn’t even noticed that anyone else was
in the room.

The girls rushed out of the bedroom and found
a linen closet in the hallway.

Taylor was so upset; he left the room and
waited outside, tears running down his cheeks.

Brenda and the girls quickly changed Ruth’s
bed sheets and fluffed her pillow.

When Ruth reappeared with her walker, she
looked exhausted and slowly made her way back to her bed. Eunice
was right behind her helping her and appearing concerned.

“Who’s here?” Ruth asked trying to make out
faces in the room.

“I’m here Ruth, so are my daughters Amy and
Jen.” Brenda replied.

“Oh Brenda? I’m so glad you came to see me.
It seems so long since I last saw you. Where have you been?” Ruth
asked in a feeble voice.

“Well Ruth, Eunice thought it would be better
for you to rest and not see any visitors for a while.” Brenda said
narrowing her eyes at Eunice.

“Taylor is here too.” Brenda added.

“Taylor, Taylor where are you?” Ruth
asked.

“Right here Ruthie girl.” Taylor said coming
back into the room and wiping tears from his eyes.

Eunice stepped back into the shadows of the
room, hoping she’d be ignored.

“This is a wonderful surprise.” Ruth said
with a very hoarse voice. “Eunice, please get me a drink of
water?”

“Now aunty, you know what happens if you
drink too much water?” Eunice said.

“Get her a drink of water!” Taylor
yelled.

Eunice hurried into the bathroom and came
back with a glass of water.

While Ruth was talking to Brenda and Taylor,
Amy was having a good look around the room. She noticed across from
Ruth’s bed, a dumbwaiter.

“Look.” She whispered to Jen. “That must be
how Eunice gets food up to her.”

The girls walked over to the dumbwaiter and
pressed the button for the door to slide up.

When they did, there were platefuls of
uneaten food and a small mouse sat enjoying himself.

Both girls screamed and the adults turned
around.

“Close that!” Eunice screamed at them. “Mind
your own business and get out of my house!”

“This isn’t your house.” Taylor started. “And
if this is the way you do your duty to your aunt, I’m going to have
you arrested and bring in a nurse.”

“This is abuse.” Brenda said walking over to
the dumbwaiter and closing the door.

“Is it my fault that she can’t get to her
food?” Eunice asked defending herself.

“Yes.” All three answered.

“I’ll get her some food mom, if there’s any
downstairs in the kitchen.” Jen offered.

“I’ll help.” Amy said, giving Eunice an angry
glance.

“What day is it?” Ruth asked.

“It’s December 22, Ruth, only three days
before Christmas.” Brenda replied fluffing her pillows.

“Oh, are all my decorations up? Is my
Christmas tree up and are all the lights lit outside?” She
asked.

“Oh yes, it’s just beautiful Ruthie, like it
always is this time of year.” Taylor smiled and took her hand.

“Oh I must see.” Ruth said trying to get
up.

“Well, I’ll tell you what. We’ll come back
tomorrow and I’ll carry you down so you can see your beautiful
lights.” Taylor assured her.

“Oh, that’s wonderful. Isn’t that wonderful
Eunice?” Ruth asked her niece.

“Oh, ah, yes. Just perfect.” Eunice
groused.

“Now, you get some rest and we’ll all help
Eunice take care of you.” Brenda assured her.

******

As soon as they were downstairs, Taylor still
holding the key to Ruth’s room confronted Eunice.

“You are more than contemptible. What kind of
a niece are you to leave that poor woman in soiled sheets and not
give her food or water?”

“Mom?” Amy and Jen said coming from the doll
room.

“What?” Brenda said trying to keep her
temper.

“You need to come and see this.”

Taylor and Brenda followed the girls down the
hallway to the doll room.

First of all, it was a mess. Second, most of
the dolls were gone.

“Where are the dolls?” Brenda yelled.

“Keep your voice down woman!” Eunice came
running down the hallway.

“I had to sell them to pay bills, keep food
in the house and just live. So, don’t give me any trouble about
those silly old dolls. Good grief, she’s too old to hang on to
those things.”

“This will kill her.” Brenda said.

“Yes, it will.” Taylor said solemnly.

He gripped Eunice’s arm and dragged her down
the hallway back into the living room.

“Where are they?” He asked in a deadly
voice.

“They’re gone, for good and you’re hurting
me!” She groaned.

“Once again, where are they?” He said,
twisting her arm.

“I sold them, all of them, they’re gone and
they’re not coming back. Now, let go of me!”

“It’s no use.” Brenda said coming down the
hallway. “You can’t reason with a selfish, evil person like
her.”

“Get out!” Eunice cried.

“No, you get out.” Taylor said. “Pack your
bags and leave. Meantime, I’m going to call your parents and find
out what’s going on.”

“NO! Please don’t call them. They won’t take
me back, they hate me.” Eunice cried.

“Why?” Brenda asked walking towards her.

“I…I borrowed some of their money and well,
they kicked me out.” Eunice said sobbing.

“So…that’s what you are doing here. You took
Ruth’s money too, didn’t you? And then when that ran out, you sold
her precious dolls.” Brenda surmised.

“You people are all crazy, worried about that
old woman and her stupid dolls, well, I’ve had enough. I’m
leaving.” Eunice said backing into the kitchen, she turned and
hurried towards a large sugar bowl on the Hoosier.

“Hold it!” Taylor said marching over to the
Hoosier.

“What’s in the sugar bowl Eunice?”

“Nothing.” She said like a cornered rat.

Taylor pushed her aside and reached into the
sugar bowl. He brought out a roll full of cash with a rubber band
around it.

“Doll money, right?” He asked while holding
it up above her head.

“Give it to me!” She screamed reaching for
it.

“What on earth is going on?” Brenda asked
coming into the kitchen.

“Doll money.” He said showing Brenda.

“No, it’s my money, it’s all my money, now
give it back!” Eunice thundered.

“We need to put it back into Ruth’s bank
account.” Brenda said.

“I’ll do that in the morning.” Taylor
offered.

Eunice was all of a sudden calm. She turned
and walked out of the kitchen.

The girls had taken the time to go into
Eunice’s room and pack her bags.

“You’re all packed and ready to leave.” The
girls smiled.

“You little brats, who told you to pack my
things? How do I know you didn’t steal something?” Eunice berated
them.

“Um, well, because we’re not you, we don’t
steal.” Jen answered her.

Eunice left in a huff and warned them that
they hadn’t heard the last from her.

******

After Eunice left, Taylor, Brenda and the
girls started to clean up Ruth’s house.

“Oh we’ve got so much to do before tomorrow.”
Brenda said.

“We need some help.” Taylor smiled and picked
up Ruth’s telephone.

Within an hour, most of the men from the
firehouse were wiring the front porch with Christmas lights. Brenda
and the girls found Ruth’s decorations and were happily bringing
Christmas into Ruth’s house. Jen took the kitchen and started to
decorate the Hoosier’s with garland and lights. Ruth’s neighbors
wanted in on the fun of decorating too. They brought huge plastic
snowmen along with Santa and his reindeer for the front lawn. Big
candy canes were placed on either side of the walkway that led up
to the porch. Next came the Christmas tree, some firemen went to
the tree lot and bought a live tree for Ruth’s living room.

“Okay, lights?” Brenda asked.

“There’s a box full of lights in the
basement, I think.” Taylor yelled from outside.

The girls, now joined by most of the high
school, were singing Christmas songs and over decorating
everything. When some of the girls hurried down the hallway to the
doll room, they were shocked to see the empty room.

Amy and Jen explained what had happened and
the kids were ready to go out and find Eunice and string her up
along with the lights.

“Well, she can have my dolls.” A little girl
offered.

“Yeah, she can have my dolls too.” Misty
said.

“She can have my poppy.” Amy also
offered.

“Wow, that’s a stupid name.” Jenny said.

“I don’t think it’s so stupid.” Heather said
and then whispered to Amy that she had one too.

“All right, it’s all settled, we’re going to
fill those shelves up with our dolls.” Jen said.

When they looked at Jen quizzically, Jen
simply said, “Yes, I still have some myself, want to make something
of it?”

“I think that’s pretty cool.” A boy with
tousled blond hair said to Jen, who smiled at her.

“Hey Mike, where’d you come from?” Some of
the girls asked.

“I heard about poor Mrs. Shepherd, and I’m
here to help. So, who needs help?” He asked.

“I could use some help getting the lights to
come on in the kitchen.” Jen said.

“Hey, that’s cool with me, let’s go.” Mike
and Jen started off towards the kitchen leaving the two girls who
had abandoned Jen on her first day of school to sigh over Mike.

“What on earth? Where have you girls been all
day?” Bob asked Brenda as he sidestepped ladders and lights coming
into Ruth’s house.

Brenda explained everything to Bob and he was
truly taken aback at what had happened to that sweet lady.

“Shouldn’t someone go up and look in on her?”
Bob asked.

“Taylor keeps going up every half hour to
check on her. We took her a sandwich and some milk not long ago.
Tomorrow, Taylor is going to take the money Eunice stole and put it
back in Ruth’s account.” Brenda said.

“So, where is this Eunice right now.” Bob
asked.

“Oh, we kicked her out. She left bag and
baggage a few hours ago.”

“Oh really?” Bob said with a questioning look
on his face.

“What’s up?” Brenda asked.