Old Lady Abigail's Doll Museum

Chapter 2
Arrival

Chapter Description: Stacy and Deedee arrive at the museum and wonder what awaits them inside.

The woman then made a note of exit 204 and signaled to change lanes and merged into the far right lane after a short distance and got on the off ramp for exit 205. The sun shone through the glass of her windshield of her Ford Focus, but the mighty visor kept it from sabotaging her vision. That’s one thing she was grateful for this entire trip so far was the beautiful June weather as Summer had just begun a couple of days ago and was already, to her at least, full of promise and new beginnings.

Following the signs , she was directed about 5 or so miles after a single right turn off the main road from the off ramp to a rather large mansion sized home that looked like an oversized little girl’s dollhouse and had a huge hand crafted pink and lacy sign in the front, proclaiming it to be Old Lady Abigail’s Doll Museum as if you couldn’t tell from the looks of the place, and listed underneath were the signs for the major credit cards and the words “Gift Shop and Café” so at the very least she felt like she could kill two birds with one stone, being hunger and a present for her little girl, while entertaining themselves before hand. She also noted that the hours were pretty liberal for a museum kind of in the outskirts of such a small town, being open until 7 PM and happily checking her watch to see that it was only 2:15.

The woman found a place to park in the small modest blacktopped parking lot to the right of the house and parked the car and exclaimed to the little girl that they were there. Deedee jumped up and down, ecstatic to see the pretty dollies inside the museum and at the prospect of being reward by her Mommy for good behavior. Mommy and child got out of the car and proceeded to what looked like the main entrance and as they walked in they were greeted by the friendly jingle of door bells that clanged when the door was pushed open.

A wooden front counter all painted up in pink and covered with lace along the edges adorned the small main lobby of the museum as the two walked in, and a “Hello!” was heard from behind the counter, though no one could apparently be seen.

“I’ll be right with you in just a moment!” said a voice from the unseen source.

“Ok, we will be right here waiting.” replied the mother and child.

Standing up from being crouched behind the front desk, was a kind looking elderly woman who seemed to scream “Grandma” when she gazed upon Deedee and the woman accompanying her, whom she assumed to be the child’s mother. The two of them looked adorable to her, seeing a little girl in a pink jumpsuit with a kitty cat on the chest and looking padded in the seat of the jumpsuit, but reserved her judgment until later. The mother seemed to exude a slightly exhausted appearance that was betrayed even more so by a crinkled white shirt and dusty denim capris and sandals.

“Forgive me for being busy,” the old woman apologized, “we haven’t had any patrons for a couple hours, so I was straightening things. You two look like you could use a stroll through our museum for some much need R&R yes?”

“Heh!” The mother laughed. “That is an understatement, but yes, we do.”

“Well good news is little girls are on the house and everyone else is only $5. I do think you’ll get your money’s worth. Plus we have a gift shop and café at the exit, and you are more than welcome to a discount on your purchase for visiting the museum. Call it a ‘Granny’ discount from me to you.”

“Oh well thank you so much ! You don’t have to!”

“Oh no problem dearie. I insist.”

“Well thank you so much again! Miss?”

“Oh hun, you don’t need to be so formal! The name’s Abigail, and consider it a favor from me to you.”

“Well, regardless Abigail, I am grateful. I am Stacy, and this is my little girl Dierdre, but you can call her Deedee for short. She is the sweetest 4 year old in the world!”

“Mommy! That’s embarrassing! Stop!”

“Oh, she sure is precious Stacy! I want to thank you two so much for stopping by! I’ll see you two over in the gift shop and café later, as I still have some cleaning to do in here. Go right through this floppy plastic and you’ll see the first part of the museum. It’s only a couple of rooms, but you’ll be amazed by what you see!”

“The house looks really big from outside Abigail, I take it the rest is all yours? Sorry to be nosy…..”

“No dearie, not nosy at all. Yes, this is a lovely big old Victorian house that my grandfather built for my grandmother years ago, sometime in the 1800’s, but I can tell you more about that later. I’d like to see you got your money’s worth first.”

“Ok Abigail, that sounds great. Are you ready Deedee?”

“I’m ready Mommy!”

“Ok let’s go baby!”

“Have fun you two!”