Karen's Doll Hospital

  The author gratefully acknowledges

  Stephanie Calmenson

  for her help

  with this book.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1 The Doll School

  2 Grown-up Work

  3 The Bad News

  4 The Accident

  5 The Doll Hospital

  6 May Day

  7 Mr. Kelly

  8 The Toy Man

  9 Natalie’s Maypole

  10 The Good-as-New Doll

  11 Karen’s Doll Hospital

  12 The First Patient

  13 Pudding

  14 Pudding’s Problem Hair

  15 Where Is Pudding?

  16 The Good News

  17 The Surprise

  18 The Lost Maypole

  19 The Maypole Dance

  20 The Doll Wizard

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  The Doll School

  “Oh, you beautiful doll! You great, big beautiful doll!”

  I was singing a song to my very best baby doll, Hyacynthia. When I was little Daddy used to sing that song to me. But I am not little anymore.

  I am Karen Brewer. I am seven years old and in second grade. I have blonde hair and blue eyes. I wear pink glasses all the time, except when I am reading. When I am reading I wear blue glasses. And when I am sleeping, I do not wear any glasses at all.

  I could not remember any more of the song, so I started over again from the beginning. “Oh, you beautiful doll! You great, big …”

  “Pssst, Karen,” whispered Nancy. “We know Hyacynthia is our most beautiful baby doll. But I think you are hurting the other dolls’ feelings.”

  “I think Nancy is right,” said Hannie.

  Nancy, Hannie, and I were playing in Nancy’s room. Nancy Dawes and Hannie Papadakis are my two best friends. We call ourselves the Three Musketeers.

  “I know what. We can sing the song to everyone,” I said. I started singing, “Oh, you beautiful dolls! You great, big beautiful dolls!”

  Hannie and Nancy started singing, too. We sang the song three times. Very loudly. While we were singing, I was looking around the room.

  Everywhere I turned, there were dolls, dolls, and more dolls! We had decided that very morning to bring all our dolls to Nancy’s house for a party.

  We had old dolls with tangled hair and smudgy faces. We had two rag dolls each. That made six rag dolls. (I am very good at math.) And we had about twenty Barbie dolls.

  Our Doll Sisters were sitting together in the corner. The Doll Sisters are special. They are triplets. My Doll Sister is Terry. Hannie has Kerry. And Nancy has Merry. We earned the money to buy them all by ourselves.

  And in a place of honor on Nancy’s bed, there was Hyacynthia. My grandma and grandpa brought her back for me all the way from London, England. Hyacynthia is just perfect. She is the princess of dolls. I have to be gigundoly careful with her.

  “You know what?” said Nancy. “I think we have enough dolls here to start a boarding school. It could be like the school in The Secret Language.” (That is one of our favorite books.)

  “Cool!” said Hannie. “I bet our dolls would love that.”

  I knew my dolls would love going to school. Especially Terry. I was a little worried about Hyacynthia. But boarding school was an opportunity too good to miss.

  “It’s a way cool idea!” I cried. I turned to Hyacynthia and said, “You will get to spend a little more time here at Nancy’s house. And that will be fun, right?”

  I could see from the look on Hyacynthia’s face that she liked the idea just fine. Anyway, Nancy and I have joint custody of Hyacynthia. She spends part of the time at my house and part at Nancy’s.

  I think Hyacynthia likes it that way. Having two houses can be fun. That is something I know all about.

  Grown-up Work

  I will tell you why I know so much about living in two houses. That is because I have lived in two houses for a long time — the little house and the big house.

  It wasn’t always that way. I used to live only in the big house in Stoneybrook, Connecticut, with Mommy and Daddy and Andrew. (Andrew is my little brother. He is four going on five.) But then Mommy and Daddy started having troubles. Not with Andrew and me. But with each other. They were fighting a lot. Their troubles got so bad, they decided to get a divorce.

  Daddy stayed in the big house. That is the house he grew up in. Mommy, Andrew, and I moved to a little house not too far away.

  Mommy and Daddy each got married again to other people. Mommy married Seth Engle. That makes him my stepfather. He came to live at the little house. So now there are Mommy, Seth, Andrew, me, Rocky (Seth’s cat), Midgie (Seth’s dog), and Emily Junior (my pet rat).

  Daddy married Elizabeth Thomas. That makes her my stepmother. She was married once before and had four kids. So here are the people who live at the big house: Daddy, Elizabeth, David Michael (he’s seven, like me), Sam and Charlie (they’re so grown-up, they’re in high school), and Kristy. (She’s thirteen and pretty grownup, too. She is also the best big stepsister ever!)

  There is one more kid at the big house. That’s Emily Michelle. Daddy and Elizabeth adopted her from a faraway country called Vietnam. She is two and a half and really cute. (I named my pet rat after her.)

  And there is one more grown-up. That’s Nannie. She is Elizabeth’s mother. She helps take care of everyone at the big house, especially Emily Michelle.

  There are lots of pets at the big house, too. There is Boo-Boo (Daddy’s cranky old cat), Shannon (David Michael’s big, goofy puppy), Crystal Light the Second (my goldfish), and Goldfishie (Andrew’s you-know-whatie).

  Andrew and I live at the little house most of the time. But we live at the big house at least every other weekend and on some holidays, plus two weeks in the summer.

  I will tell you something. Living at two houses is not always easy. One thing that helps is having two of lots of different things. That way Andrew and I do not have to carry so much back and forth. For instance, I have two stuffed cats — Moosie at the big house, and Goosie at the little house. I have two pairs of sneakers. I have two bicycles. I even have two pieces of Tickly, my special blanket. That is because I used to leave Tickly behind at one house or the other, and then I would get upset. Finally, I tore Tickly in two so I could have a piece at each house.

  And you already know that I have two best friends. Nancy lives next door to Mommy’s house. Hannie lives across the street and one house over from Daddy’s.

  I have special names for Andrew and me. Since we have two of so many things, I call us Karen Two-Two and Andrew Two-Two. I got the idea from a book my teacher, Ms. Colman, read to us. It was called Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang.

  Hmm. I wonder if calling us Two-Twos is babyish. No. I don’t think so. But if it is, I hope someone will tell me. I do not want to be babyish. I want to be grown-up, like Sam and Charlie and Kristy. You should see the homework they get. It is grown-up work. That’s what I want. Grown-up work, just like theirs. No more baby work for me!

  The Bad News

  “Attention, all dolls!” I called. “Use your indoor voices, please. It is much too noisy.”

  Grown-ups are always telling me to use my indoor voice. So that was rule number one at the Three Musketeers Boarding School.

  Running a boarding school was gigundoly hard work. It took a lot of time. (I asked Mommy if I could move into Nancy’s house, but she said no. Boo.)

  On Saturday, our dolls were having a pretend food fight. “Girls, stop throwing food!” cried Nancy. “Oh, look. You hit Hyacynthia. There is chocolate pudding all over her beautiful blue dress.”

  �
�I do not think the girls in The Secret Language behaved so badly,” said Hannie with a sigh. “I wonder what we are doing wrong.”

  “Well, they had that mean old house-mother. And we do not want to be mean. We want to be nice. Just like Ms. Colman,” I said.

  I looked at Terry, my very own Doll Sister. She did not look happy. I think she was upset because she could not sleep in a room with her sisters, Merry and Kerry.

  “There are only two beds in each room,” I explained. “If you are still unhappy next week we will let you have a turn with one of your sisters. But your roommate, Jasmine, is very nice. Try your best to get along.”

  I wanted to be grown-up and fair. But I knew I would not be happy either if Nancy and Hannie shared a room and I was left out.

  “Recess!” called Hannie. “Who wants to play statues?”

  All the dolls wanted to play. Nancy, Hannie, and I were the sculptors. We put our dolls in beautiful poses. Then we were supposed to pick a winner. But we couldn’t.

  “Everyone wins!” I said.

  “I will get Mommy’s camera,” said Nancy. “We should take pictures for the Three Musketeers Boarding School yearbook.”

  Nancy ran out of the room. When she came back, she said, “Karen, your mommy called. She asked you to come home. She wants you to run errands with her.”

  “Do you think you will be okay without me?” I asked. “I will only be gone a little while.”

  “We’ll be fine,” said Hannie. “But come back soon. The girls need you for their math lesson this afternoon.”

  “Okay!” I called. “See you later!” I gave Hyacynthia a special smile before I left. I hoped the other dolls did not see.

  I was sorry to leave Nancy’s house. But I knew the dolls would be fine. They were in very good hands.

  Mommy took Andrew and me to the mall for new sneakers. We each got two pairs. That is because we are Two-Twos.

  When we got back to the house, the phone was ringing and ringing. Mommy answered it. “It’s for you, Karen. It’s Nancy,” she said.

  “Hi!” I said into the phone. “What’s up?”

  “Could you come over right away?” said Nancy. “We have some bad news.”

  The Accident

  I did not run to Nancy’s house. I flew. Nancy was waiting downstairs for me. She was holding the door open. I raced inside and up the stairs.

  The bad news was laid out right on Nancy’s dresser. It was my dear, beautiful baby doll, Hyacynthia. One of her china legs had been smashed to pieces. And her poor face. Hyacynthia used to have two smooth, rosy cheeks. Now one cheek was chipped. And it was not rosy anymore.

  I went to the dresser and cradled my baby doll in my arms.

  “There, there, Hyacynthia,” I whispered softly. I turned to Nancy and Hannie. “What happened?” I asked.

  “Well, after you left we decided to let the dolls have free play,” said Nancy. “Hyacynthia wanted to go on a swing.”

  “So we made one for her out of an old baby blanket,” said Hannie. “I put her in the swing really carefully.”

  “You did not!” hissed Nancy. “You let go too fast! You dropped her!”

  “No, I didn’t!” shouted Hannie. “You started swinging too fast. You dropped her!”

  “I did not!” cried Nancy.

  “You did too!” cried Hannie.

  “Did not!” said Nancy.

  “Did too!” said Hannie.

  “Stop yelling,” I said. “You are upsetting Hyacynthia.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Nancy. “I’m sorry Hyacynthia got hurt.

  “We never meant to hurt her,” said Hannie.

  “I know you would not hurt her on purpose,” I said. “I know you both love her a lot.”

  “I’ll help you pay to fix her,” said Hannie.

  “Me, too,” said Nancy.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  All of a sudden, I started to worry. When I got Hyacynthia, Mommy and Seth made me promise I would be extra careful with her. That is because she’s such an expensive doll.

  I knew Mommy and Seth would be unhappy. But I had to tell them what had happened. I decided to get it over with right away.

  “Maybe it is time for my dolls to leave school,” I said. “Um, I think summer vacation is here.”

  I felt a couple of tears roll down my cheek. I hoped Hannie and Nancy did not see me. They felt bad enough already.

  I gathered my dolls together.

  “Here. You can put them in this,” said Nancy. She gave me a pillowcase.

  I put all my dolls inside. Except for Hyacynthia. I wrapped her up carefully in the baby blanket.

  Another tear rolled down my cheek. This time Hannie and Nancy saw it.

  “We really are sorry, Karen,” they said.

  I nodded to let them know I wasn’t mad. I really wasn’t. I was sad. And worried. And confused. I turned and left the room. By the time I got downstairs, Nancy and Hannie were arguing again.

  “You should have held on to Hyacynthia,” said Nancy.

  “You should not have started swinging her so fast,” said Hannie. “It’s your fault she broke.”

  “It is not!” said Nancy.

  “Is too!” said Hannie.

  “Is not!” said Nancy.

  They were still arguing when I closed the door behind me.

  The Doll Hospital

  I slipped into my house and tiptoed up the stairs.

  “Karen? Is that you?” called Mommy from the kitchen. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay,” I called back. But Hyacynthia is not, I thought.

  I put my dolls down on my bed. I decided to tell Goosie what had happened first. For practice.

  “Hyacynthia has been in a terrible accident,” I told Goosie. “She needs a lot of loving.”

  Goosie gave Hyacynthia a kiss and a hug. I could tell that Hyacynthia felt a whole lot better.

  I covered her up again in the baby blanket. I did not want Mommy and Seth to see what had happened. Not right away. I wanted to break the news to them slowly.

  “Let’s go, Hyacynthia,” I said. “I hope they will not be too, too mad at me.”

  Mommy and Seth were sitting in the kitchen. They were drinking coffee.

  “Hi, Karen,” said Seth. “Do you want to talk to us about something? You look upset.”

  “I have bad news,” I said bravely. “Hyacynthia has been in an accident. I am really sorry. I know I promised to be careful with her. But … but …”

  I uncovered Hyacynthia so they could see what had happened.

  Mommy and Seth looked at each other. It was not an angry look. It was a sad look.

  “I am sorry your doll is hurt, honey,” Mommy said.

  “These things happen,” said Seth. He gently stroked Hyacynthia’s head.

  “It wasn’t my fault,” I explained. “Nancy and Hannie were just playing with her. They always try to be careful. This really was an accident.”

  “Let’s see how badly she is hurt,” said Seth. He took Hyacynthia from my arms.

  “Hmm. Her face is chipped. And the bottom half of her right leg is gone,” said Seth.

  I felt my eyes filling up again.

  “I am sure Hyacynthia can be repaired,” said Mommy.

  Seth got the Yellow Pages from the closet. He started flipping through the book.

  “Here we go. Here is a place called Mr. Kelly’s Toy Repair. It is right here in Stoneybrook,” he said.

  “I don’t remember seeing a toy repair shop downtown,” said Mommy.

  “It isn’t downtown. In fact, it is not near any stores at all. It is on Reade Street. I don’t even know where that is,” said Seth.

  “Let’s call and find out about it,” said Mommy.

  Seth called the number that was listed in the book.

  “We have a doll here that needs mending,” he said. He described Hyacynthia’s injuries. (Poor Hyacynthia!)

  “Do you think you can fix her?” asked Seth. “We could bring her over r
ight away.”

  I jumped up from my chair. I wanted to leave that very minute. Then I heard Seth say, “Oh, you’re closing now. Well, Monday will be fine then. Thank you.” He hung up the phone.

  “Monday? We have to wait until Monday?” I asked. “Did he sound nice? Can he fix Hyacynthia?”

  “Mr. Kelly sounded like a very nice, elderly man,” said Seth. “He thinks he can fix Hyacynthia. He said to bring her in on Monday.”

  “Okay, but I want to go, too,” I said. Hyacynthia would be scared without me.”

  “I will take you there after school,” said Mommy.

  I cradled Hyacynthia in my arms. “You are going to the doll hospital on Monday. So do not worry. You’ll be okay. I just know it.”

  May Day

  “Guess what?” I said. “Hyacynthia has to go to the hospital. I am taking her there later.”

  It was Monday morning. I was at school. I was talking to my two best friends. But Hannie and Nancy were not talking much.

  “Is it the same hospital I went to?” asked Nancy. (Nancy went to the hospital once to have her appendix taken out.)

  “No. She is going to the doll hospital,” I replied. “Her doctor is Mr. Kelly. He will try to fix her.”

  “I hope he can do it,” said Hannie. “She would not be going to the hospital at all if certain people had not swung her so fast.”

  “You mean if certain people had not let go of her so fast,” said Nancy.

  Uh-oh. Hannie and Nancy were fighting again. I was glad when Ms. Colman came into the room.

  “See you later,” I said.

  I hurried to my desk in the front row. I used to sit in the back with Hannie and Nancy. Then I got glasses and Ms. Colman moved me up front so I could see better. Now I sit next to Natalie Springer and Ricky Torres. (Ricky is my pretend husband. We got married on the playground one day.) Natalie and Ricky wear glasses, too. So does Ms. Colman.

  After attendance, Ms. Colman said, “I have a new assignment for you. I think you will find it interesting.”

  I sat up tall. I love new assignments! One time our assignment was to make clay animals. Then we went to the zoo and saw our animals on display in the visitor’s room.