Miss Polly had a Dolly (Emma Frost #2) by Willow Rose Read Free Book Online Page B

running down to
the beach when Ms. Camilla had told her not to, so what did it matter?
    Django was playing around, and Josephine patted
his back. As she followed the nice old lady into the living room, she paused
and gasped. In there, on shelves from wall to wall, in every chair and on every
couch, were dolls. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of them. Dolls in all sizes
and all with different faces. Josephine, who had always loved dolls more than
anything in the whole wide world, shrieked with joy.
    "You like them?" the old woman asked
with a smile.
    Josephine nodded eagerly. "They're
beautiful."
    "I make them myself," the lady said.
    Josephine walked closer to one sitting on the
couch. She reached out her hand trying to touch its leg.
    "You can look but don't touch them,"
the lady said behind her. "They're very delicate. I don't want them to get
greasy and dirty. They are to be looked at, not touched, understand?"
    Josephine nodded even if she didn't understand.
Why would anyone have that many dolls and never play with them? It seemed
silly. If they were hers she would be playing with them every day. Except Ms.
Camilla would never let her. Josephine growled at the thought of going back to
the mansion. But eventually she would have to. There was no way out.
    "How do you even make them?" Josephine
asked while studying the doll in front of her. It had blonde hair just like her
and looked so lifelike. It was big, too. Almost as big as her.
    "Oh that's really difficult. Took me many
years to learn. Do you want to see where I make them?" the lady asked with
a gentle voice.
    Josephine nodded. "Yes, please. I would be
delighted to."
    "What great manners, you have. Your parents
must have raised you well," the lady remarked and started walking towards
a closed door. When she opened it a set of stairs leading down appeared.
"It's in the basement," she said and signaled for Josephine to follow
her.
    The basement was deep and it got colder the
further they walked down. Josephine was freezing because she was still wet from
being in the water and she rubbed her arms to generate some warmth. Soon a big
room opened up. It had low ceilings but the lady could still stand upright. A
big desk was leaning against the wall. The lady turned on the lamp and
Josephine spotted a lot of tools that she knew about from her books. One of
them was a scalpel. Josephine had read about doctors using them. There was also
a pair of rubber gloves, scissors, a whole box of needles, lots of string,
tweezers, then a bottle of something called Borax; she didn't know what that
was for. Next to the table were four big bags of something else Josephine
didn't recognize.
    "That's excelsior," the lady said when
she saw Josephine look at them. "I use that to fill out their
bodies."
    "And what is that?" Josephine asked
and pointed.
    "That, my dear, is a box of fake
eyes." The lady shook the box and laughed.
    Josephine thought they looked at little creepy.
All those small eyes staring at her. "So this is where you make the dolls?"
she asked and looked around in the room. A big lifelike doll was standing in
one corner looking back at her.
    "Yes it is. Do you like it here?"
    Josephine shrugged. She spotted something in the
other corner. It looked like the cages where her daddy kept his big dogs that
he used for hunting.
    "What do you use that for?" she asked.
    The old lady smiled widely. "That, my dear,
is for you."
     

Chapter 15
April 2013
    "I love you Fanoe!"
    Patrick was poking out from the car's sunroof
and stood with his arms stretched above his head, still wearing sunglasses,
while the car slowly moved from the ferry's deck onto the quay. He had been
angry with the producers for not renting a convertible for him to arrive in, so
everybody could see him, until he came up with the idea to open the sunroof of
the Toyota. A huge crowd had gathered in the parking lot where the ferry docked
and cameras were flashing as soon as he showed his face.
    "We love you too, Patrick!"