The sister story - part 1

"Bringt der Himmel heut' nur Tränen oder helles Sonnenlicht 

(...)
Der Regenbogen zeigt einen Weg, der uns in fremde Welten führt
Und du gehst Hand in Hand mit mir
Denn nur Sonnenschein und Regen bau'n die Brücke zu Dir"
 

Literally: Brings the sky only tears today or bright sunshine?(...)The rainbow shows a way that leads to foreign worlds/and you go hand in hand with me/for only sunshine and rain build the bridge to you

Kiki: Today we are sharing a very special story. But first, some technical information: parts of the story are memories from long ago and were written in a word doc when my sister and I first came here. The idea was that my sister writes using green and I write using blue as the font color and the two storyes, well, actually the same story form two different points of view flow right next to each other in two columns, Dollys part on the right, my part on the left. This didn't work for this blog, although it took a lot of time to arrange the text like that. So we decided to put it up in sections, keeping the colors. After all they were even memories when they were written. But here is a pic how it looked as a doc :

the original storybook

Dolly: But first we have to tell how this came up. Right. One morning, on my way down from the shelf I heart someone sobbing. And of course I had to find out who it was. It didn' take long to do so. The younger of the Frozen Holiday sisters, Anna, aka Margaret was crying inconsolably and her sister was trying to comfort her.

 Meritre just told them that they were not to stay together, Elsa (she is Lizzy for us but her new owner is likely to give her a new name) was to travel to a friend of hers far, far away.

I was as much struck as Valancy, who turned up right next to me, followed by Kiki. I assured her that I was very sorry for her and felt her sorrow.
"Much you know." I had to forgive her those bitter words. Losing a sister is very though.
"Well, I actually do know it. In fact, I lost a sister myself."
"Impossible! You have Victoria!"she sobbed.
"Yes, now she has me." Kiki stepped in. "But did you know how we started off?"
"Weren't you from the same set like we?"
We both shook our heads.
"You weren't?" uttered Valancy in surprise.
"No" Kiki said.
"But you are from a set for sure" Margaret pointed at me.
"Yes, I am. That was the problem. But let's start at the very beginning"

Remember, blue is Kiki, green is Dolly

I wasn’t one of the dolls who spent their time in a store and learnt almost everything about their movie. As far as I can remember I spent my days in a warehouse. It wasn’t really exciting, sometimes it was rather scary because it was dark and we heard strange sounds. I’m saying „we” because there were other dolls there, too. Mainly girls with pretty dresses but there were some male dolls, too and some of the girls wore more practical, everyday outfits. We talked a lot since we had nothing else to do. Some girls were taken away and new girls were brought. I mostly talked to other Elsa dolls since they were close enough to hear my voice. One of them was taken away but later she came back. The order was cancelled she said but we other Elsas just stared at her we didn’t understand a word. „It means they didn’t want me after all” She sounded really sad. I impulsively answered „I’m sure someone will want to own you quite soon.” „It’s very kind of you to say that. But I have no reason to complain. I saw so much I learned so many new things that all in all, I’m thankful for this experience.”

I started my life as part of a dollset, consisting of me and another really, really, pretty doll. Big blue eyes, long braided lightblond hair, soft, smiling, pink lips and a magnificent gown decorated with flowers. And, what was much more important, she was really kind and sweet. At first we only exchanged polite nothings. I was afraid of her and of what this beauty will think of me if she finds out… about my legs. Well, I was kind of ashamed of them since they were – green. Usually they are the same color as the rest of the dolls body. But mine were green and I didn’t really understand, why. But I was sure it was just me who had those in my opinion ugly green legs. Since our storeroom wasn1t the best lit place I had every hope of passing unnoticed. A long skirt helped a lot as well. But I wore simple black flats while the Annas who shared their boxes with no one, had boots. The other girl in the box of course had beautiful high heels, which were graceful and elegant just like their owner. I must admit I was a bit jealous. She seemed to notice that I was somehow uncomfortable since she started to talk to me in the most friendly way. „I hope we will be released soon” she said. „That flower in my hair is quite itchy and I would love to move it a bit” I didn’t really understand and just blinked. „And of course it would be much more interesting to walk around a little and chat with others than being stuck in a box don’t you think?” „Y-y-yees, S-s-s-suu - ure” I stammered. Was that beautiful hair ornament really that uncomfortable? Maybe it’s not that bad to have simpler clothes? She smiled and continued talking to me. And I slowly changed my mind, I didn’t wish any longer to be alone in my box, on the contrary, I thought myself lucky. I wasn’t lonely like most of the other dolls. Lilly – that’s what she asked me to call her, although she knew perfectly well that she was an Elsa doll and I was an Anna doll – was just perfect: kind and smart and pretty. I have no idea where she picked up her knowledge but she seemed to have information about everything: ranking from the fears and hopes I had to the smallest details of the new and old Disney movies. A few weeks passed before I dared to ask her. She smiled but so sadly! I suddenly wished that I had hold my tongue. She of course knew what I was thinking. „No, no, there is nothing wrong with your question, it’s quite natural and to tell the truth I expected you to ask sooner.” „How did yyyou…?” I couldn’t finish the sentence but that wasn’t necessary. „It was practically written on your face. I shall tell you my secret. I know you have been wondering how I know all these things. Well I started earlier as a regular Snow Queen Elsa doll. I was among the very first Elsa dolls that went out in the world.” she started „but quite soon I had to return. You know I was a broken doll and nobody wanted a broken doll.” She sounded sad. „But you are all right now” I said, half asking, half stating. „Yes, thankfully my legs could be replaced, everything is fine now and besides I collected lots of useful experience.” she smiled. „You… you got your legs replaced? Is this possible?” She nodded cautiously. Possibly she already had an idea why this was important to me. „I would like to have my legs replaced, too! What do I have to do?” She tilted her head to one side. „Why would you want that? Do they hurt? Or you detected a crack?” I blushed. „Oh, no, just… they are not like I want them to be.” „You want klick knees?” she asked „They are the other kind of legs dolls get.” she added when she saw my expression „Nnnno, just…” I didn’t know, what to say. I didn’t want her to know about my green legs. I hated them. I was called Frog and Frogleg because of them. Lilly did not understand it then or I thought so. But she already knew. „Is it… because they are painted green?” I was startled. „How… how do you know?” „I’ve seen pictures and heard them calling you Frogleg.” I swallowed. „You… knew all this time… and you don’t think me…” I was searching for a word negative enough to express how scared I was of being laughed at, being hated and poked fun at. „I don’t think you anything. You are my sister and my best friend.” „But they are so… ugly. Why are they green in the first place? The other Annas have normal legs.” She had the answer, like always. „They are supposed to represent the green tights that are worn with this outfit.” „Bad idea.” „Well, it’s not like it is unhealthy or anything like that. In fact I think they are a very pretty shade of green that goes perfectly with your red hair.” She kept talking to me in this encouraging way until we left the warehouse. The trip was long and dull and dark so I went to sleep. When I woke up it wasn’t dark anymore but my sister was gone. I also discovered that I wasn’t in the box anymore. But where was Lilly? I had to find her. But right after I got up and started to look around she turned up. “Looks like we landed at a really nice place,” she said. And it seemed she was right. We had lots of freedom and wandered about a lot. There was another Disney box lying around but that one wasn’t opened. I was a little sorry for whoever was inside but very soon forgot about it altogether. There was so much to discover!

We of course wanted to know what she saw out there and asked her to tell. She didn’t need much asking, she was eager to talk about her adventures. She got to watch her movie, Frozen, and we spent hours discussing the movie character Elsa. We also learned that Elsa had a sister in the movie and how wonderful it is to have a sister. From that point many Elsas started to dream of a dollsister. (Well, as we are dolls, we can only adopt each other as sisters and this is often done, especially if the original characters are siblings, too – like in Annas and Elsas case.) A few of them were doubtful but I was one of the girls who wished for a sister and best friend. Wandering Elsa – that’s the nickname we gave the returned Elsa doll – also told us about other Disney movies. She didn’t get to see the whole movies but that didn’t bother us at all. Storytelling was a great way to pass time as we couldn’t do much, imprisoned in our boxes as we were. Wandering Elsa left us after a few days, but there were some other random princesses who were returned and accidentally or just because of carelessness landed among the Elsa dolls. A Belle, a Mulan and a lady with long blond curls were all our guests for a few days. But you shouldn’t think that the group of Elsas didn’t change! Almost every day one or two of them were taken by those big mysterious being who came into our room. I soon learned that these are so called humans and these special humans we saw were the ones who sent us dolls on their way to our new homes. Adults are said to be more careful with dolls but kids almost never leave one in the box what adult collectors often do. I didn’t really care if my human is going to be an adult or a kid I just wanted a loving home which is essential for a happy long doll life. I must admit I got curiouser and curiouser after hearing so much about the outside world from other dolls. I couldn’t wait leaving this boring place. Well, it became quite boring, since I longed to see the world and find my sister. I believed that every Elsa and every Anna had their perfect sister somewhere in the world and it’s up to them to find that sister. Uh a quite unreal thought. But who knows? I was still lost in my dreamworld when I was finally chosen to leave. I was glad since the newer Elsas had a bit different hairstyles and called mine messy. But what could I do about it? I was still trapped in my box. And it got worse. I landed in a bigger box and in complete darkness for I don’t know how long. But all long journeys end and mine ended, too. The big box was opened and I was looking at a human. She had a kind face and I decided that I liked her. But she didn’t seem to like me since she didn’t remove the rest of the packaging. Will I have to… return to the warehouse? This was the first time I started to ask myself that question. A few days later another box with both sisters appeared. This is another sign, I thought, that I will have to return. Lucky you, I thought, you at least have each other and most likely a nice home. She deboxed of course the other two. I saw them wandering around when no human could see them. But one day the Elsa disappeared and later I was put in again in a box next to something wrapped in this funny thing with bubble like things. Yes, yes it’s called bubble wrap or something like that. I was swallowed by darkness once more. I expected this to be my journey back to the others and wasn’t really looking forward to it. My first trip wasn’t a pleasure but this one was even worse. Sometimes I thought I heard someone softly crying and sniffing.

When humans came we went back and spent most of the time we couldn’t use for exploring for sleeping. And one afternoon when I woke up, my sister was not there. I wasn’t much alarmed as this had happened before. I wondered around a bit in the room, looking for her. I couldn’t find her. I called out but no answer came. Then I started to get alarmed. Where did she go? The door was closed she couldn’t possibly have left it. I started to look for her in every nook and every corner of the room. Everywhere. And I finally found her. But she wasn’t herself anymore. Her face, somehow, disappeared. Well, I could see where her eyes were supposed to be but it was all fleshcoloured, like the rest of her face. No eyebrows and her lips were also colorless. I was horrified. What happened to my dear sister Elsa? Having a sister is great. But the more this sister is loved the more painful it is to lose her forever.

The next thing I remember I was redressed and my flats were taken off and I got the winter boots I’ve always wanted, the winter boots the other Anna dolls I saw had but I couldn’t care less. I simply felt… broken on the inside.

I was wrapped up and packed away into a dark box again. Sad and lonely, I simply could not hold my tears back. There must have been someone else in this shipping box since she kept talking to me. The trip was long and unpleasant and her chit-chat made it even worse but it finally ended.