Waiting: Part Four(the living doll)

Madame's presence seemed to linger by the bed, her fingers on the mattress. Jonas wanted to stay awake and watch the fish, but his eyes seemed to sneak closed.

     The sun was shining hot through the big window at the end of the blue room. Jonas blinked, and rolled away from the light. The bandages on his leg tugged, and he sat up.

     “Jonas,” the pretty lady said. She stood up from the chair by the window and walked to his side. “Ya ready ta get up?” she asked.

     “Where’s my Ma?” Jonas whispered. The pretty lady scrunched up her face.

     “She ain’t here,” she said. “Family emergency.” Jonas’s stomach curled up.

     “Emergency?” he asked.

     “’S what I said,” the pretty lady said. She fed him soup again, and left before he could ask any more questions. He wasn’t sleepy this time, though he almost wanted to close his eyes and wait until his mother came back and told him nothing was wrong. He swung his legs down and walked carefully to the door. He had a shirt and soft white shorts on, and the bandages stuck out as if his legs had teeth. It hurt a little, in a good way. He opened the door and stepped into the hall. He stood with his hands on the doorway for a long time, looking at what he saw.

     There were skins all along the wall. Directly across was a tiger skin with its mouth still open in a snarl. He saw a bear, a snake, a lion mane, and even a tiny mouse pelt. He walked to the left, wondering why anyone would skin a mouse, and whether they had eaten the meat, because he would like to try mouse someday. It would surely be more interesting than chicken.

     He checked the rooms beside his, and didn’t find his Ma. Both of them were pink, so that it hurt his eyes, and the walls were soft like petals. After the three doors, counting his, there was a long hallway with no openings. Finally, when the tiger skin was almost out of sight, he found a huge door with stained glass windows on the sides. He felt as if he were entering a fancy front door, and looked for a doorbell. There wasn’t any, and he turned the knob. It swung open without noise, and he stood staring again. There were dolls, dolls on shelves, dolls on the floor, boy dolls, girl dolls, stuffed cat dolls, corn husk dolls, and one big one in particular that was walking toward him.