Old Lady Abigail's Doll Museum

Chapter 3
Exploration

Chapter Description: Stacy and Deedee explore the inside of Abigail's museum.

So Stacy and Deedee headed off into the museum to see what was on display, and no sooner than going through the thick and heavy plastic flapped doorway, than were they in a recreated room of a giant human sized dollhouse, which looked to be a entry way from a backdoor and into a kitchen, complete with antique clothes hanging from the walls, jackets and shirts, and old boots and leather shoes on the floor. A couple of hand tools on a small shelf by the plastic floppy door which was the only thing that looked out of place in here other than the way Stacy and Deedee were dressed.

Even in this room with its musty feel and smell, there were several display cases full of antique looking and newer looking dolls of all types and sizes. One case had a few fabric dolls, like Raggedy Anne’s and Andy’s with different outfits, as well as more traditional patchwork dolls. Another case was porcelain dolls that all looked older than Abigail herself, but were kept in pristine condition and clothes that were colorful and immaculate.

Stacy was a bit spooked by older looking dolls because of the opening and closing eyes, but these appeared to have nonfunctional eyes and they didn’t look like they were moving when she passed them either, which was good. These two display cases ran either length of the walls they were adjacent too and had several dolls in each. At the end of both walls, there was a old antique door that could be opened.

“Wow Mommy! These dollies are pretty!” Deedee exclaimed.

“They sure are, aren’t they baby? Mommy used to have one of those patchwork dolls like that when she was your age, before her Barbie. Once I got Barbie, I felt more like a big girl and I said goodbye to my old dolly. I think Grandma might have her in a closet or the attic somewhere and Mommy might be able to get it for you sometime. Would you like that?”

“Yes Mommy! I’d love it!”

“Ok baby. We’ll look for it next time we are there, but for now, let’s see the rest of this neat place! What do ya think?”

“Yeah Mommy! Let’s go!”

“Ok, lead the way baby!”

Deedee laughed and relished the rare opportunity to be in charge of something, and loved it when her Mommy let her be a big girl. It wasn’t often enough, so she made sure to take full advantage when it was so. Deedee laughed and marched like a drill sergeant leading his troops in a training drill at boot camp.

“One two three four! One two three four!” she said giggling all the way to the antique door and pushing on it, but it wouldn’t open and the door knob was just out of reach of her short arms and hands. Mommy happily grabbed and turned the handle and also giggled and marched under the guidance of the adorable little girl as they moved into the next room, which was much larger than the previous one.

This new room was done up like a child’s playroom but was a little bit more modern than the previous room. This room had a typical modern ceiling fan that was spinning and 3 lights that were turned on brightly. The furniture was appropriate for the house and had huge lion feet with “claws” and was planted firmly on the hardwood floor of the house which appeared to be original, but was in very good shape considering the age of the house. The furniture was all stained a deep brown and looked like toy boxes full of antique toys, but looked like they were for decoration only. Atop of these toy boxes were flat surfaces and open music boxes with ballerinas that were very intricately designed and so well painted, they almost looked like real miniature sized dancing people with springs attached to their feet. Stacy was mindful not to touch the displays but she leaned in as close as she could to them and they seemed to be alive, though they were stationary.

Next to the toy boxes were more displays but these were open to the air and on them hung leather wrapped wooden dolls that had leather of all sorts of different colors giving the dolls an awkward but pleasant appearance and there were about 20 dolls on each stand. There were one of each color in no particular order on a stand, and they seemed to have moveable and poseable arms and legs and intrigued Stacy to know end. In fact the bright colors really seemed to draw her in, and despite the fact she was 33 years old, it was almost as if she were tempted to take a couple off of the shelf and play with them and play with Deedee, but she was snapped out of her reverie, when Deedee tapped her on the leg to show her something.

“Look Mommy! It’s a big dolly!” Deedee shouted, pointing to a large oversized doll sitting on the floor next to one of the toy boxes.

“So it is baby! It’s bigger than you too! You like it don’t you?”

“Yes Mommy! I love it!”

“Well I’ll have to see if Abigail has any like it for sale! That ok?”

“Yes Mommy! I can wait!”

“Good girl! Ok baby! Let’s see the rest of the museum!”

“Ok Mommy!”

The two of them went through the doorway and into what looked like a little girl’s room, complete with a Victorian bed, dresser, and rocking horse. There was also a dressing table, and a stool in front of it, and on both the dresser and dressing table were sets of Russian Matryoshka dolls, that stacked in sets of 5 and 5 respectively. They, like all the rest of the toys and dolls in the museum, were very well cared for and in amazing condition. Neither person found much interest in this room, but that was not the case walking into the next and final room.

As Deedee and Stacy entered the final room, which was a big and bright yellow and pink front room which was also unusually modern and also had a ceiling fan and lights, there were many shelves in this room lining the walls with dolls from every era of time since toys were made in recent history. There was a display case of Barbie dolls, showcasing collector’s dolls and a couple of original first runs, there were original Troll dolls with the fuzzy colored hair, there were Polly Pockets and Skipper, and Sailor Moon dolls. There were also some very very old antique dolls like Stacy and Deedee first saw when initially entering the museum.

Stacy could see the time had passed as they had been in the museum and the sun was already low in the sky and started the soft glow of the beginnings of evening and sundown and she looked at her watch and saw that it now said 6:15. Had she and Deedee really spent 4 hours in the museum when it didn’t seem like such a long time? Stacy let Deedee marvel at the dolls a little longer and then told Deedee that they had to go if they wanted to get something to eat and a present at the gift shop before it closed. Deedee said ok and they exited the room and followed the hall into the gift shop.