Sam kept bumping my nose with the teacup when he made me “drink,” and it was making my nose itch.
I ignored it, the happy, quiet space in my head making it feel… unimportant.
No, better than that, actually. Ignoring it sent a little thrill rushing through me. It made me feel even more like Daddy’s doll, knowing I couldn’t do anything about the itch, or about anything else, unless someone decided to make me.
One of the Daddies who’d been watching came over with a box of Nilla Wafers, shaking out piles onto each doll’s plate, and some extra onto a paper plate in the middle.
“Thank you, Daddy!” a short Little with pretty piercings said, gazing up at the man adoringly.
“Share, Pumpkin,” the Daddy said sternly. Then he winked, ruining the effect, and the pierced Little giggled.
“Cookies!” Sam squealed, shoving one right into his mouth. “These are magical cookies,” he said, talking before he’d even swallowed it as he grinned at me. “When you eat them, you turn into a fairy. With real wings!”
“I want wings,” said a Little with a lisp, grabbing an entire handful off the plate in the middle.
“Marcus,” someone said reprovingly from the row of Daddies.
Marcus, if that was the lisping Little, ignored the voice and shoved them all in his mouth at once.
Sam broke into a fit of giggles. “But you can’t eattoomany or you’ll turn into atroll,” he said, scrunching up his face and holding up his hands next to it, like twisted talon fingers.
I felt a giggle bubbling up inside me, too. Sam was even sillier as a Little than as an adult, if that was possible. He was happy this way, which made me happy for him, and with no pressure to be silly myself—or to reply at all—it was fun to watch.
And I didn’t giggle. I kept that inside, too. Liking howthatfelt even more.
“Open wide, Ren-Ren,” Sam said, gripping my chin.
I relaxed my jaw, letting him feed me the dry Nilla Wafer.
He shut my mouth and the buttery-sweet flavor started to melt on my tongue. “You havta chew,” he said, fixing me with a parody of a stern look and sounding like a toddler.
It made me smile on the inside again.
I couldn’t chew, though. I was just a doll. Besides, the cookie was so soft that I knew it would dissolve all on its own, and eventually, it did.
“Nom nom nom,” Sam said, flattening his hands on my cheeks and pretending to chew for me.
I pushed the mushy mess against the roof of my mouth with my tongue, then swallowed it down, and Sam nodded in approval. “The magic worked! Now you’re half fairy.”
I flicked my eyes over to Daddy, and maybe there really had been some magic in the cookie, because he looked… enchanted.
The sparkly-skirted boy who’d been hovering near the table with his Daddy edged a little closer.
“You need a crown,” the pierced Little announced, looking him up and down. He was right, too. He took the one off his stuffy’s head and popped up to fit it onto the sparkly Little’s dark curls, earning a shy smile.
“Pretty princess,” the lisper lisped.
“Thank you,” said the princess, lighting up as he adjusted his crown. He turned to his Daddy. “Can I play?”
“Of course,” the man said with a loving smile.
“Want some tea?” Sam offered him a cup. “I maked it all by myself. And you can share the fairy cookies, too.”
The princess wrung his hands together for a moment, darting a glance at me. Then another one.Then, finally—
“Can I play with your dolly?” he blurted. “I saw him and wanted to come ask.”
“You havta askhim,” Sam said, jerking a thumb toward my Daddy. “This dolly belongs to Mr. G. I’m just borrowing him.”
