The Dollhouse

By Angie Bromeland
Nina was toiling over her dollhouse. She had felt so spoiled when her grandfather gave the house to her. Even though shingles needed to be glued on, and the soiled wallpaper was peeling off the walls, and the staircase needed to be rejoined together, Nina loved the dollhouse. Two pieces of jet black hair curled like coils over her forehead. She blew them away and stuck on the last shingle. Then Nina turned to her pile of craft paper. She beamed. One of these patterned pages would make the perfect wallpaper for the dollhouse. She wasn’t sure if she liked the bubblegum pink paper with red cherries, or periwinkle blue paper with grapevines better. Finally, Nina decided on blue. She carefully measured and cut and pasted the paper onto the dollhouse’s dining room wall. She sat back, proudly admiring her work.

After lunch, Nina gathered magazines and catalogs. She cut out pictures of sparkling lights and expensive sofas to add to the little house. She made a refrigerator out of cardboard, and put tiny pictures of food inside.

Nina was working so hard that she didn’t even hear her grandfather enter the room. She jumped when he said, “I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed.”

“Did I save the dollhouse, Papa? Just like you asked me to?” Nina asked, happy that her grandfather was there to see her hard work.

“Oh, yes, indeed. Indeed you did,” her grandfather said with a twinkle in his eye. He hugged Nina tightly. Suddenly, Nina’s entire family was in her room. Her twin brothers, Kalix and Kaze, and her big sister, Zina, were crowding around the dollhouse.

“It’s so cute!” Zina said.

“Look at the stove!” Kaze said.

“Can we play?” Kalix asked shyly.

Nina grinned. “Yeah, let’s all play together,” she said. All her hard work had paid off.