Dolls of Hope by Shirley Parenteau Read Free Book Online

the gardener caught her arm and pulled her back. “Stop! It’s hot!”
    “Momo!” Chiyo shouted. “She’s right there!”
    “I see her.” He swung his rake forward. In the same moment, the fire flared. Flames licked over the doll, hungry and orange.
    “No!” Chiyo screamed.
    The gardener raked the burning doll from the fire. He caught the
kokeshi
into his gloved hands and closed them. When he opened his hands again, the flames were extinguished, but the doll’s head was badly charred. Only her sweet smile remained.
    “I’m sorry, miss,” the gardener said gently. “She can’t be saved. Shall I put her back in?”
    Chiyo gasped, and he added quickly, “Or I can dig a nice little grave . . . near the small shrine there. Would you like that?”
    “No.” She gasped for air enough to force words past anger and anguish. “I’m going to keep her.”
    The gardener looked troubled, but he let her take the doll from his glove.
    She cradled Momo close, uncaring that the charred head smeared ash over her uniform blouse. Now she knew why she was here at this school where everything was so different.
    “Chiyo!” Hana shouted, running across the yard. “You didn’t come to lunch. I was looking for you. Kimiko said you went to see the gardener’s fire. What . . .” Her voice trailed off as she saw the charred doll in Chiyo’s hand. “Oh, no! Oh, Chiyo! I’m so sorry!” Understanding darkened her eyes. “Hoshi.”
    Chiyo blinked hard. “I can’t accuse her. Who would believe me? All I know is that I saw her walking this way and wondered why.”
    Hana looked at the gardener. “Maybe . . . ?”
    “He didn’t see her.” Hana’s stricken expression made Chiyo touch her hand, wanting to offer comfort. “Momo was sacrificed for a reason. Now I understand why I am here at Tsuchiura Girls’ School.”
    “Why?” Hana looked as if she might not wish to hear the answer.
    Chiyo smiled, but her mouth felt wrong, as if the smile might be a grimace. “I’m here to protect the American doll that will be coming to this school.” She felt the rightness of it throughout her entire body. “I will never let Hoshi hurt a doll again.”

C hiyo couldn’t accuse the general’s daughter of burning her doll, so she brought the charred
kokeshi
to class in the morning and set it on a corner of her desk. By then, many of the girls had heard the story.
    Hoshi’s step faltered when she came into the classroom. The sweet smile on the eyeless doll looked as if it were hiding a secret. Kaito-sensei looked from Hoshi to Chiyo with her eyebrows rising.
    “My doll must have fallen into the trash, Sensei,” Chiyo explained. “I rescued her from the gardener’s burn pile.”
    It could have been that way. Janitors were careful to remove the trash from classrooms even between classes. Everything at the school was kept immaculate.
    But understanding came into the teacher’s eyes. Maybe she was remembering the cushion thrown on the floor. Maybe she had also heard of the faked step in dance class. Chiyo could see Sensei’s reasoning on her face. Kaito-sensei said nothing, but she did not order the doll removed from the desk.
    At first, the
kokeshi
faced front. When Hana passed Chiyo’s desk, she turned it to face Hoshi, as if the doll watched her with its silent, eyeless face. Chiyo met Hana’s eyes and they both hid smiles.
    Word flew like startled quail until everyone knew what had happened. Hana was not the only one who paused when passing Chiyo’s desk to turn the burned
kokeshi
more squarely toward Hoshi.
    Throughout the morning, the eyeless doll faced the general’s daughter, whether she was at the corner table sharpening her slate pencil, working on the blackboard, or at her desk in back. Hoshi said nothing, but satisfaction warmed Chiyo whenever she saw the girl look away.
    At the end of class, Kaito-sensei said quietly, “We have seen enough of the burned doll, Miss Tamura.”
    “
Hai,
Sensei.” Gently, Chiyo placed