Stupid Dolls and Stupid Doors

Mama pulled to a stop in front of a big, tall building. It didn't look like any house that I had seen before. I wondered if Aunt Clara was rich. I thought that if Aunt Clara was rich I might not mind staying with her for a while after all. Maybe she would feel sorry for me and adopt me. I thought about how wonderful it would be to be an only child. I wouldn't have to share my toys or eat meals that I didn't like. I decided that I should be on my best behavior then Aunt Clara was bound to notice what a good little boy I was and want me for her own.

I ran around to the back of the car to help Mama with the bags. Mama took her big bag and I took the toy bag. Mama seemed a little surprised that I wanted to help but she didn't say anything. Tom kept tugging on my shirt and saying that he wanted to get one of his toys out of the bag but I ignored him. I had to be really good if I wanted Aunt Clara to adopt me.

Mama pulled open the door that went into the big building. I was surprised when we walked into a long hallway with lots of doors that all looked the same. There was a stairway right next to where we come in. I figured maybe this was where Aunt Clara's servants slept. After all, everyone knows that rich people have servants.

Mama said that we needed to go up the stairway.

"But I don't want to go up." Tom said.

"When we get to the top, we'll be able to eat." Mama said.

"Why can't we eat down here?" Tom asked.

"There ain't any food down here." Mama replied.

"I'm hungry, Mama." Abby added.

"I know, baby. I'm hungry too. We'll eat soon."

"Can you carry me like you carry Sarah?" asked Abby

"You're four now," Mama said, "You're too big to carry."

"Am I too big to carry, Mama?" asked Tom.

"Yes. You're older than Abby. So you're too big to carry too."

"I'm tired. How many more steps do we have to climb?" asked Abby.

"Not many more," said Mama "Do you see that landing right there? That is the landing that we stop climbing at."

"Then will we eat?" asked Tom.

"Yes." said Mama.

When we got to the landing Mama had pointed to, she told us all to follow her and be quite. I looked around and realized that we were in another hallway that had lots of doors in it.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" I asked.

"Yes. I'm sure this is the right place." She answered.

"But why are there so many doors?" I asked.

"Because this is an apartment building. Aunt Clara lives in an apartment." She replied.

"You mean a different person lives behind each of these doors?" I asked.

"Yes." said Mama. "Here we are."

Mama stopped in front of one of the doors and she knocked on it. I looked up and down the hallway.

"There don't seem to be a lot of space between the doors." I said. Maybe Aunt Clara wasn't rich after all.

"Most apartments are about the size of the downstairs of our house." Mama replied knocking on the door again.

"When are we going to eat?" asked Tom.

"Soon." said Mama.

"But that's what you said along time ago." whined Tom.

"Oh, shut up Tom. I'm tired of you always whining." I said.

"Mama, my dolly's eating," said Abby "She's having ice cream and cake 'cause it's her birthday."

"It can't be her birthday today. She just had a birthday last week." I said.

"It can to be her birthday. It can be her birthday everyday cause she's my dolly not yours, Jr."

"She's just a stupid doll anyway. I don't care if she has a birthday." I said.

"I wish it was my birthday," said Tom "I want ice cream and cake and lots of presents."

"My dolly ain't stupid. You're the one that's stupid Jr.," said Abby.

"I ain't the one carrying around a dumb old doll." I said back.

Abby started crying. "Mama, Jr just called dolly stupid. He hurt dolly's feelings."

"Jr, say you're sorry to dolly." Mama said without really looking at me.

"No." I said.

"Jr, dolly is very important to Abby and you hurt her feelings. Say you're sorry." Mama said looking right at me.

"No. I ain't gonna say 'I'm sorry' to a stupid doll. I don't care about her feelings. Nobody cares about my feelings. Maybe I don't want to be in this stupid old hall. Maybe I wanted to stay home with Daddy. But nobody cares about me."

"I want Daddy." Abby cried.

"Me too. I want to go home," cried Tom.

"No. We ain't going home and that's final," said Mama and with that she turned and headed back towards the stairway.

"Where we going?" asked Tom as he and Abby ran to catch up with her.

"We're going to find Aunt Clara." Mama replied.

"But what about eating?" said Tom?

"We'll eat later," said Mama.

"But I don't want to eat later." said Tom.

By this time they had reached the stairs, Mama turned back and saw that I hadn't moved.

"Jr, come on." She said down the hallway.

"No!" I said. "I'm not going anywhere else with you."

"Lonny James Douglass Jr, you get your little butt over here now. I have had it up to here with your stubbornness. And if you don't get a move on, I'm going to come back there, put you over my shoulder and carry you down these steps myself. If you make me do that, I promise you when we get to the bottom you ain't gonna be all in one piece!"

From the look on Mama's face, I could tell she wasn't kidding. She doesn't talk like that unless she is about to grab you up and start swatting. I thought that the best thing for me to do was to do as she said.

The trip down the stairs was a lot quieter then the trip up. The only sounds were Abby's sniffles and Tom dragging his feet. Sarah stayed snuggled up to Mama's
side with her eyes drooping like old curtains. Mama kept looking back to make sure that everyone was following her and we were. We followed her straight back to our car and all of us were hoping that Mama would turn the car towards home.