My Twinn Doll – Blogging while allatsea

Happy Groundhog Day 2006

On: 06/09/201510/01/2018 By: JA

It was very early on the morning of February second. The sun was just coming up. Penny was sound asleep and dreaming about Croc Camp

Carin tiptoed into the bedroom. “Penny,” she said softly. “Penny, wake up. It’s Groundhog Day.”
“Go away,” mumbled Penny.
“You said I should get you up and not take no for an answer,” replied Carin.
“Well, I changed my mind.”

“We’re going out to see the groundhog come out of his hole. Don’t you want to come? If he sees his shadow it is six more weeks of winter,” Carin reminded Penny. “But if not, spring is just around the corner.”
“Spring isn’t going to come any sooner depending on what a rodent does,” grumbled Penny, diving back under the covers. “You can tell me later what happened. Goodbye, Carin.” She turned the electric blanket up to 6 and closed her eyes.
“OK, but don’t complain later on that you missed all the excitement,” said Carin.

The other girls were waiting by the groundhog hole. “Are you sure this is the place?” Corky asked Taryn.
“Yes,” said Taryn, “Annette was complaining all summer about the groundhog who lived under the lavender in the herb garden. I’m sure this is it. He kept eating the buds and she hardly had enough to make wands this year.”
“Too bad for our undies,” said Kerry. “I can’t believe how warm it’s been this winter. Even if he sees his shadow, we’ve hardly had any winter so far.”
“Is this the famous Punxatawny Phil?” asked Corky. “I’ve heard about him.”
“No,” Taryn replied. “Our groundhog is Reading Ralph. But he’s just as good at forecasting the weather as Phil is.”

Carin hurried out to join the other Emmas. “Penny decided to sleep in,” she reported. “Any sign of Ralph?”
“Not so far,” answered Kerry. “Penny’s going to be sorry later on.”
“I would say she was getting her beauty sleep except that everyone knows that Emmas are naturally beautiful,” joked Taryn.
The girls all laughed. “Just don’t tell the Caities!”

The girls gazed intently at the groundhog hole. “I wonder how deep it is,” said Taryn. “Look, everybody, something’s moving! Here he comes!”
A little pink nose appeared. The girls held their breath.

“It’s just a wee mouse,” laughed Kerry. “Taryn, are you sure this is the groundhog hole?” She picked up the mouse and admired it. “He’s really cute.”
“I am sure this is the place,” Taryn insisted.
“I’ve seen the groundhog here lots of times,” Carin agreed.

“Look, something else is coming out,” Corky exclaimed.
A long skinny nose emerged. “Although it’s not very groundhog-ish,” Corky added. “If that is a word!”

“Looks like an anteater to me,” said Carin. “Maybe he was visiting Ralph. Then again, maybe we have the first weather forecasting aardvark in the USA.”
“Or the first aardvark family,” added Taryn. “Look!” The aardvark was followed by his wife and two children. They all scampered out of the hole and into the back garden to forage for ants.

The girls heard footsteps behind them. They turned to see Penny come running up. “Did I miss him? Did he see his shadow?” she panted.
“No, he hasn’t come out yet,” Taryn replied. “I thought you were sleeping in.”
“I couldn’t get back to sleep after Carin woke me up,” Penny explained. “And it’s too bad because I was dreaming we were at Croc Camp and I caught a big fish and it offered me 3 wishes if I would throw it back in the lake.”

“Well, what did you wish for?” Taryn asked.
“I don’t know,” said Penny, “I woke up. Too bad. I would have liked…”
“Baaaaaaa!” Suddenly a lamb came out of the groundhog hole. The girls all laughed.
“It’s one of the sheep from the Sultanate of Tamsen,” said Corky. “Wow, right here in our own groundhog hole.”

“It’s really soft, too,” Corky, who was tired of standing and watching, had pulled up a bench to sit on, and picked up the lamb. The other girls stroked the soft wool. “I wonder how it got in there.”

The girls heard a familiar voice. “Good morning, girls!”

“Carlisle!” they all laughed. “What were you doing in there?”
“Ralph was having a little Groundhog Eve party last night,” Carlisle explained. “We all had a great time, too. You should see Mrs. Aardvark do the tango. And Sam the sheep makes excellent pina coladas! I wont even mention the conga line….”
“But where is Ralph?” Carin asked. “We’ve been waiting and waiting.”
“He couldn’t find his top hat,” Carlisle explained. “He put it away last February and hasn’t looked at it since then. We finally tracked it down under the computer table behind all the wires. He’ll be out in a minute.”
“Ralph has a computer?” Taryn asked.
“Sure,” said Carlisle. “He works part-time for the Weather Channel. He’s a certified meteor.. uh, meteorologi… that is, weather rodent. He even consults with Princess Jessie from the Kingdom of Slumberland to be 100% accurate. You don’t think he makes his forecasts just by luck, do you?”
“No, of course not,” all the girls chorused, but each one secretly thought that he did.

Suddenly out of the hole popped Reading Ralph. “Good morning young ladies, Carlisle, Mr. Mouse, and other honored guests,” he said. He squinted and looked at the sky. “I am pleased to announce that I am unable to see my shadow so winter is hereby over.”
“Ralph, your shadow is down that way,” Corky pointed out.

“On the contrary,” said Ralph, looking down, “All I see are those messy leaves. Very untidy. I shall have to fire my groundskeeper, or at least reduce her salary. Do you girls know someone named Annette?”
The girls nodded, thinking with amusement how annoyed Annette would be to have be considered Ralph’s groundskeeper.
“Please convey to her that I wish my domicile to be better tended,” said Ralph. “But I reiterate, I do not see my shadow, so I am hereby declaring the end of winter. Finis, kaput, end of story. Now if those of you of the press wish to take my photograph, perhaps Miss Taryn will assist and we will finish the ceremony. Then I want to go back to hibernating. I was having the greatest dream that I was fishing and caught a rather large flounder who offered me three wishes…”
“Sounds awfully fishy to me, ” Kerry said.
“Must be something in the air,” Penny whispered to Corky.

The excitement over, the girls put Ralph back in his hole and headed back inside to have breakfast, eager to tell everybody to pack away their winter woolies because Spring was about to get sprung.

Later that day, Taryn met Randy. “Hey, Taryn,” said Randy, “what did Reading Ralph say? How soon is it going to snow?” Randy had gotten a new sled for Christmas and was anxious to try it out.
“Sorry, Randy,” Taryn answered. “Ralph said spring is just around the corner.”

“Oh no, I am late again. I spent the whole winter waiting in anticipation for somebody to give me a sled and when I finally do get one I find that Winter is over.”
“You could always send it to Dawn in South Africa, they are heading into Winter soon. Or, if the rain continues there she can use it as raft.” Taryn joked, knowing Dawn’s admiration of Randy.
“That’s a plan, but I think I will wait just a bit longer, you never know it may still snow, the weather has been mighty strange lately.”
“Well I hope it doesn’t snow again until next Winter, I have packed most of my Winter woolies away already and I am just waiting for it to warm up a bit more and I am going to hit the swimming hole.”
Randy looked dejectedly at his new sled. “Well, if you need a raft, you know who to call.”

A Belated Valentine (II)

On: 06/09/201510/01/2018 By: JA

Good Going. Sunny cries a few fake tears and we are in time out until we are thirty, maybe longer. Mom was really mad about Sunny not getting a getting a Valentine.

Never Fear! I have another one of my brilliant ideas! Quick, Yell for Mom!

Mom, We are really sorry. We got the kitten intending it to be a Valentines present for Sunny, instead of giving her a card. We wanted to make up to her for some of the things that we have done to her. You didn’t give us a chance to explain.

Here Sunny. Happy Valentines Day!

Thanks, I Love You both and I always knew you loved me too.

Great! Now we don’t have a kitten and had to get hugged by Sunny. Any more brilliant ideas?

As a matter of fact, I do.

If it was wrong not to give Sunny a Valentine, then it would also be wrong not to give each other a Valentine.

Happy Valentines Day to us!

Dawns New Pet

On: 06/09/201510/01/2018 By: JA

The Twinns were out doing their Saturday thing and Dawn was at home alone. She stared over the balcony at the slowly awakening garden and thought that it would be nice if she had a pet. Amanda always spent Saturday morning walking Waffles, Coalface, Louis and any other fury creature that cared to join her. Dawn thought that she would enjoy doing that too, but unfortunately she just didn’t have a pet of her own. “Theoretically Caities should be very good pet owners” she said to herself.

She sighed, “Oh well, I can at least enjoy everybody’s pets when they bring them here for a visit.”
Just then there was a flapping of wings and Dawn saw something alight on the wall. “Hullo, what’s that? it doesn’t look like a Hadedah.”

Dawn wished she had her binoculars close by so that she could see the creature. “Maybe it’s an alien, or a giant budgie, or even Rhodan…”
The creature looked curiously at Dawn, who looked curiously back.

Then it hopped off the wall and started to flap its leathery wings, flying straight towards the baffled Twinn. It landed on the balcony floor and looked expectantly at Dawn.
Dawn jumped down and found that she was nose to Twinn with a red leathery dragon. The dragon smiled at Dawn and made a whining noise.
“Well I’ll be a barrel of Bernetta’s, it’s a dragon, and a very cute girly one too. I bet you will make a great pet.”
The dragon nodded its head vigorously in afirmation.

She reached down and patted the dragon on its head. “Hmm, not even slimey or scaley.” She said. “I bet Cait would like to see you.”
“What would Cait like to see Dawn?” It was Caitlyn and Godzilla, who had just gotten back from their morning shopping.

“Hi Cait, I am glad to see you, look what just landed on the balcony.”
“Dawn, that looks like a dragon.”
“She is a dragon Cait. I want to keep her as a pet.”

“You can’t keep a dragon as a pet Dawn.
“And why not? you have a city stomping monster as a pet Cait.”
Caitlyn was stumped. “OK Dawn, you got me there. I guess it shouldn’t be a problem. Godzilla seems to like her.”
The dragon sidled up to Caitlyn and nuzzled her hand while Godzilla sniffed interestedly at it’s knee.

“However, it is possible this dragon belongs to somebody Dawn, so I think you should at least advertise that she has been found, and if nobody claims her then you can keep her.
“Cool. I will get Victoria to place an ad in the Hollow Times and see if anybody claims ownership.”
“Just one thing Dawn, does your new pet breath fire?”
“I don’t know Cait, only one way to find out….” The dragon took a deep breath and then….

“I guess that answers that question.” Caitlyn said, “at least she will come in handy when we need something cooked in a hurry. What are you going to call her?”
“At the moment I think I will call her Dragonette, or Braveheart, or even Idris.”
“Idris? that sounds Welsh.”
“It is. I saw it in an Ivor the Engine TV show. They had this dragon called Idris in it.”

And so Dawn finally had her pet, and being Dawn it was an unconventional one too. There was however, no guarantee that the dragon was not lost and would be claimed by her rightful owner. If, and only if that happened then Dawn would deal with it, but until then she just smiled contentedly and enjoyed watching her new pet romping with Godzilla. “I am correct, Caities DO make good pet owners.” she said smugly.
So, if anybody has lost a small dragon, please contact Dawn.

Although Dawn does not really want to hear from anybody claiming ownership.

The Monitor Stand

On: 04/09/201510/01/2018 By: JA

The Twinns had heard me muttering about “no space on my computer desk” and decided to do something about it. Sarah Willow, Justyn and Alison all decided to contribute towards a project to make me some sort of monitor stand/keyboard recess drawer. Alas, it was a gloomy day and so they also decided to work indoors and leave sawdust all over the place. Justyn was persuaded to handle the saw and with Alison watching and Sarah consulting made short work of a piece of handy wood. “Make sure you cut along the line Justyn” Sarah advised.
“I was hoping there was a jigsaw in the toolbox Sarah, and this is not quite the correct saw to use here.” Alison said.
“Let me know when I am near the bottom of the cut girls, I am relying on your guidance here.” Justyn reminded everybody.

Sarah laid out the 4 pieces of wood that would form the basic stand. “This is what I am trying to achieve here,” She explained. Of course we must just get these pieces in the centre.”
“Well, if we draw a centre line along the base and the long piece of wood that should ensure we have both sides equidistant.” Alison contributed.
“I am just glad that we do not have to cut any more wood, sawing is hard work.”
“I think we should persuade the bossman to buy a jigsaw.” Sarah said thoughtfully.
“Jigsaw? I just remembered, we could have used Dawn’s chainsaw.” Justyn replied, always looking for an excuse to use Dawn’s chainsaw.

Sarah measured the length of the base and then divided it in half, then she drew a line at the half way point. “That’s our middle line. Let me just measure the long piece of wood and then we can drill the holes for the chipboard screws.”

The holes marked, they set the baseboard down again and Justyn fetched the cordless drill. “I bet you the batteries are flat.” He said knowingly.
“That’s the usual story with these things Justyn, the batteries are either flat or they suddenly die as you are drilling the last hole.
Justyn drilled the first of 3 holes along the wood. “Uho, that drill sounds as if it’s about to die.”
“Yep, just as I thought, the batteries are busy dieing. We better put them on charge.”
“The bossman charged these not too long ago, I think those batteries are finished.”
“Oh well, it takes 3 hours for the batteries to charge, so we may as well go do something else and meet back here in 3 hours.” Sarah said.
“Drat, I was so hoping to get this thing finished today.” Alison added, “I hate leaving a project half done.”

“Well, I can do the rest of the measurements so long while Justyn gets the batteries into the charger, then once the drill is charged we only have to drill the holes and add the screws.” Sarah said, picking up her pencil.
“That’s a great plan. I will do the charging so long.” Justyn said.
“And I will go look for some chipboard screws.” Alison added.

Three hours later everybody was back, Alison with a pile of chipboard screws, and Justyn with the recharged battery pack for the drill. “Right, now where did we leave off?” Sarah said.
“We had to drill those screw holes finished and screw the whole thing together. Did you mark the places where we were going put the sides Sarah?”
“Yes I did Alison, let’s get down to business again.”
“Drill, don’t let me down now!” Justyn said as he squeezed the trigger, giving the drill a test run.
Alison intervened, “Let me first check that the bit is tight in the chuck Justyn, otherwise it’s liable to stand still and spin you around instead.”

Once the drill was running and the bit was in to Alison’s satisfaction they made short thrift of drilling the rest of the holes for the screws. “I found this beading Sarah, can we use it?”
“Sure Ali, this wood is chipboard so it has very rough edges, we can cut small pieces of it and try glue it to the front of the 2 end pieces.”
“I also found some cold wood glue, that should hold them into place.”
“Great stuff Ali, that will add a nice finish to the job.”

The 3 of them set to finishing off the project.

Justyn and Sarah screwed in the screws that held the whole thing together, at first they used the cordless drill until the battery died on them once again. “Somebody should tell the bossman he needs a new battery for this thing.”
“Typical, it always dies on the last screw. Justyn, see if you can get that screw in by hand.”

Then they dollhandled the new stand onto the table and, after much heaving and ho-ing, managed to get my extra heavy monitor onto the new stand. There was also space for the speakers next to the monitor, and of course the keyboard could slip underneath it when it was not used.

Even Carruthers and his new friend Casey were impressed. “Great job guys.” He commented.
“Thanks Carruthers, do you think the bossman will like it?” Alison asked.
“I am sure he will, he has been muttering about the monitor for ages. he will be really surprised when he gets back.”
“I think he will even be more surprised when he gets back and finds the mess we made, come Alison, Justyn, lets go clean up and put the tools away.”
“Rightho Sarah.” Alison said, scooping up an errant piece of wood. “You do know that we shouldn’t have been using tools with our long hair. We should have tied it up.”
‘You are correct Ali, it’s not safe workshop practise to work with tools without taking adequate safety precautions. Just imagine what the bossman have said if one of us had gotten hurt? or lost a limb.”
“Oh I don’t know, I have always thought a pegleg and a hook would really suit a gal like me.” Alison said jokingly.
“Just for that I think Alison can sweep up all the sawdust.”
“Sweep? Huh! I shall call upon my faithful vacuum cleaner. Together we shall rid the world of sawdust and other bits of aimless wood chips.”

And they all burst out laughing and headed off to tidy up and return some sort of normality to the flat.

The Twinns New Space

On: 03/09/201509/01/2018 By: JA

Everyone agreed that the old playhouse had become very dilapidated. The Twinns had acquired it second hand, and it had never been in the best of shape to begin with. The roof leaked, the floor had rotted out, and the whole thing ended up being just a repository for old chairs, lumber, and junk. Only the morning glories that Annette had planted made the playhouse look respectable.

So the Twinns started to save their spare change in hopes of buying a new house. Every Sunday as soon as the newspaper would come, someone would grab it and read the “Houses for Sale” section, even before they read the comics.

They would circle any ads that looked good, and then head off to consult Jin Ran, who served as treasurer for the Continuum.
Hopefully, Jin Ran and Coalface would unlock the box. But the total would always be a disappointment. Averaging around $27.45 (plus a smiley face button and a cat’s eye marble), the total was never enough for even a down payment on a new house. Of course it didnt help when Paris decided to use some of the money for a new pair of boots

But she was always good with an IOU and would pay the money back as soon as she got her allowance.

Kimmie and Jane and Carlisle were discussing the situation one morning. “You know I have those Swiss bank accounts,” Carlisle reminded the girls.
“Oh, Carlisle, we can’t take your money,” replied Jane. “We know you save it for poor and struggling crocs in other lands.”

“And Twinns,” said Kimmie, who knew of the secret generosity that Carlisle did not brag about, when he rescued Twinns from bad situations and found them new homes. “But there must be something we can do, Winter is coming and I don’t think our old playhouse will survive till next Summer. Jane, what about that big room in the back of the garage? Couldn’t we move all our stuff in there?”
“I never thought of that,” said Jane, who knew that the room had recently been cleared. “Let’s go look!”
The three hurried out to the garage and inspected the room. “It will be perfect if we can just get some lights and electric outlets,” commented Carlisle.
“Libby knows all that stuff,” said Kimmie. “She rewired a lamp for me one time. And let’s ask Randy to repair that broken window.”

Randy and Libby were happy to work on the new room. “Everybody will be so pleased,” Libby commented as she climbed the ladder to put in the last bulb. “It will be great to have our own room at last.”

“And a floor and no leaks in the roof,” Randy agreed. “Carlisle, can we tell people about it now?”
“Yes,” said Carlisle. “I am going to go tell the Emmas myself.”
Several of the Emmas were working in the garden. Carin and Penny were cutting lavender to dry, and Kerry was picking peppers. Taryn was digging out a space to plant the fall radishes.
Cavendish was teaching them one of his old army songs.

“What’s the use of worrying? It never was worthwhile, SOOO….
Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile,”

sang the Emmas and Cavendish loudly.
“That’s a great song,” said Kerry.
“There was one chap in my unit who used to sing ‘Pack up your laundry’, I expect he was a territorial or something.” Cavendish was saying, as Carlisle came to the garden.

In a few minutes they had come to what was to become their new space. The sun poured in the big windows.

“This is so cool,” said Taryn. “Wow, my voice echoes in here.”
“Wait till we get the furniture in,” said Carin, envisioning how happy everyone would be to have his or her possessions in one easily accessible spot.
“Here is the first thing we should hang up!” Penny had brought in the Croc Camp flag. The girls solemnly hung it on the wall.
“Look at all the sawdust on the floor,” said Kerry. “We’d better clean it before anyone brings anything else in here.”
“Let’s go get the Caities,” suggested Penny. “After all, we all know…”
“Caities love to vacuum,” the four Twinns and Carlisle all said at once!

So soon Wendy and Cammie were hard at work with the shop vac. As soon as they had finished, Rory and Cathy arrived with their stove. “This is great,” said Cathy. “Finally a safe spot for our kitchen. And look at this big pantry for our dishes and food.”

“And there’s even a little hook for the hotpad,” Rory remarked, pleased.

Just then Kelani and Lucy came in. Lucy had recently moved to the Continuum from China and did not speak English, though she was starting to pick up a word here and there. Fortunately Kelani spoke fluent Chinese (Kelani loved learning new languages and was fluent in quite a few and could hold her own in several more) and translated for Lucy. “Lucy made these lanterns and she is hoping you might want to hang them in the kitchen area.”

“Oh Lucy, they’re beautiful,” said Rory with a smile. “Thank you so much for thinking of us! Get the ladder, Cathy, and we’ll hang them right up!”
The four Twinns quickly hung the lanterns and then Kelani and Lucy stayed to help unpack the dishes.
Meanwhile, Laura had come running in. “Oh look, carpet!” she exclaimed. She kicked off her shoes and bounced up and down. “Wow, we are hitting the big time now. What can I do to help, girls?”
“Why don’t you wash the windows?” Rory suggested. “They’re pretty dusty.”
“Sure thing,” said Laura.
Carin and Sarah, meanwhile, had carried in several boxes of materials to make chairs. The Twinns had purchased and stashed them away for when they would have their own space. The girls spread the pieces on the floor. Sarah wielded the Allen wrench while Carin read the instructions. “Good thing there are only three steps because these instructions make no sense at all,” joked Carin.

“Now, Carin,” teased Sarah Willow, “I would not be meeting the Sarah Willow heritage if I couldn’t put together a chair in three steps. I just wish they had chosen to do screws instead of these Allen wrench things. For four chairs I’m ending up with four Allen wrenches. Just what I need in my tool box.”
“Oh, you’ll find some use for them,” said Carin. “Maybe you could take up welding and make a sculpture or something, or swop them for something new for your toolbox.”
“Right,” said Sarah. “Who wants to try out this chair?!”
Sarah and Carin went to open the next chair box, while Kerry set up her ironing board and iron and proceeded to iron the slip covers and curtains.

She brought in her radio so the girls could listen to the “Mid Morning with Elinor” show on radio WTWINN while they worked. Kimmie had e-mailed Elinor, who played Crosby, Stills, and Nash singing “Our House” for the Twinn Continuum while the girls sang along.

“Our house is a very very very fine house,”

Everyone was bustling around, unpacking things. Brooke and Penny unpacked a big bin of hats. Some they put in a drawer in a little storage unit which was at one side of the room. Others they put on clips and hung on the wall. “I never knew we had all these hats,” said Brooke, trying one on.
“Neither did I,” said Penny. “We will be all set the next time we want to dress up.”
Jessie and Cecilia unpacked the dresses and put them on a storage rack. “These racks hold a lot of hangers,” commented Jessie.
“I don’t know if I’m ready to look at these Christmas dresses,” said Cecilia. “I guess Christmas will be here before we know it.”
Randy brought in another bin of dresses. He pulled one out and pretended to wear it. “What do you think, girls? It’s me, isn’t it?”

Jessie and Cecilia laughed. “I don’t think so, Randy,” said Jessie. “Now go away and let us work.”
“You girls have no sense of style,” said Randy, chuckling as he went to find Jeremy so they could get the kitchen table out of storage.
Meanwhile, Meko and Pat brought in the bed and made it up. Ginger the cat, as cats will do, jumped on it as soon as the spread was unfolded and tested it out. “This pillow looks like you, Ginger,” said Pat.

Meko smiled. “This will be a good place for our patients, right by the window where they can get plenty of light and fresh air.”
“Yoo Hoo, Sofa coming through,” called Janna.
“Where shall we put it?” asked Eileen.

“Oh, right over here by the bed,” said Meko. “There’s a nice spot.”
Randy and Jeremy brought in the table and Carin put two of the chairs with it. Jeremy helped Olivia put on the strawberry tablecloth, but it was soon taken off again, as Olivia and Pat decided to do a jigsaw puzzle when the work was finished and the room had taken shape.

Finally the Twinns could relax in a room that was all their own. Everyone was very pleased, with lots of ideas for future adventures to come. Already the Emmas had decided to hold their monthly meeting in the new space and Wendy was going to ask if her SOCK members could hold their meeting in it. Kimmie had already decided that what the new space needed was a planning board with lots of pins and flags and dates written in, and everybody agreed that just maybe a Twinn housewarming party would be just the thing before Winter started to make itself known.

What Twinns Do All Day.

On: 02/09/201509/01/2018 By: JA

The question was asked, what do Twinns do when there is nobody home? Its like asking the question “What does the light in the fridge do when the door is closed?” or “If a tree in a forest falls down and there is nobody to hear it, does it make a noise?”.
Through the modern wonders of television and the internet I was able to capture the Twinns doing what they do best when I am not here. Much to my amazement they didn’t really get up to too much mischief, but then for all I know they were faking it.

Some sit around and play cards all day and lose their pocket money.

Some help others to fix things.

Some read comics and scoff biscuits.

Some sit around and buy other Twinns on ebay.

Some catch up on their ironing

Some stuff their faces with Pizza when nobody is looking

Some make elaborate constructions out of wood

Some head outdoors and catch so rays

Some take up a new sport

While some make new colourful friends

And some help out with electrical work

And, when you get home, you can bet some will be ready to welcome you with chocolate.

Caitlyn Looses her Head

On: 02/09/201509/01/2018 By: JA

Amanda had noticed that Caitlyn wasn’t her usual self lately and wondered what was wrong with her. She was even missing from the usual Sunday newspaper reading session, and it was unlike her to not be there to read the funnies. She decided to find out what was troubling her friend and fellow Twinn.
Amanda found Caitlyn on the balcony staring gloomily out over the garden.

“Caitlyn? what’s wrong? why are you sitting out here on your own? everybody misses you.”
“Oh Amanda, I don’t know what to do. My head is falling off.”
“It is? but that’s terrible Cait, when did you discover this?”
“I think it’s been happening for quite sometime, I have been waking up in really strange positions lately. I am so worried that I will end up in a box under the bed.”
“My dear friend, that will never happen, the Bossman will make sure that you get repaired. Nobody will put you in a box under the bed as long as we have anything to do with it. Come, let’s go speak to Sarah, she knows about head transplants and stuff like that.”
So Caitlyn and Amanda went inside and set up an appointment to see Sarah. Caitlyn sadly changed into the hospital gown and lay down on the bed while Sarah rummaged around for her medical kit.

Then Sarah gave Caitlyn a thorough examination. Listening to her armature, peering into her eyes, feeling her pulse and testing her reflexes.

She called Amanda, “There is good news and bad news. Caitlyn has a severe case of headandneckalitus. Its not easy to cure and does involve surgery, but we can also temporarily fix her with a bit of armature manipulation. Unfortunately, she will have to undergo the dreaded “elastic band around the head” treatment sooner or later.”
“Will she be able to play with us again Doctor Sarah?”
“Yes she will, but she must just take it easy until we can operate, she must have no stresses or strains and she mustn’t rubber neck too much.”

Sarah told Amanda what to do to manipulate Caitlyn’s head back into its connector. Amanda held Caitlyn’s feet while Sarah pushed and rolled Caitlyn’s head from side to side until her head was securely back on again. “It’s not a permanent cure I’m afraid, but it will hold until I can get proper instructions on the treatment.”

Caitlyn was almost back to normal again, “Thank you Doctor Sarah, I feel much better. “
“It’s my pleasure Caitlyn, but you will have to take things easy from now on, I will contact Nurse Meko and Dr Jo in Pennsylvania for more information on what to do, I have never done one of these ops before, the biggest op I ever did was on a grape with a broken leg.”
“There you go Caitlyn,” Amanda said re-assuringly, “there was no need to worry like that, we will sort you out and stick by you. “
“Thanks Amanda, I know I am in good hands, and I know now that I will soon be back to normal again.”

Sarah gave Caitlyn an injection of strong tea and some chocolate pills to make her feel better. “I will write you out a doctor’s note excusing you from the Alpha Twinn duties. I think light duty until the new year should do it. We will tentatively schedule the op for the week between Christmas and New Year.”

“Thank you Amanda and Doctor Sarah, you have helped me a lot. I feel much better. Now, who has got the funnies? where are the Sunday papers?”
So Caitlyn was back to normal again, but has to take it easy. We are all holding thumbs for her recovery and will cover the operation live as it happens. Keep watching this space.

Cookie Saves the Day

On: 02/09/201509/01/2018 By: JA

It was yet another day at the factory and those responsible for selling the Twinns were hard at work attempting to work out how 67 Twinns had escaped from the factory under suspicious circumstances. It was very mysterious, and all started when a much neglected Audrey got tired of gathering dust because she had a wobbly neck and 2 left arms. She was also very upset that nobody had even bothered rectifying these wrongs. They kept on shipping her as is and she kept on being returned by irate owners to be. “I am fed up!” she declared to a neighbouring Maddie.
“I know how you feel Audrey, I have been sold already and then they suddenly cancelled my order. Its very disconcerting.”
“I know that we aren’t the only ones, I hear there are a few Madalenes who were in the back room ready to be sold when they were suddenly removed for a private sale.”
“Don’t you hate that?” A Clementine said from another shelf.
“Yes! we are all fed up. We want to get shipped out to our new owners but there are always problems!” Many small voices added their discontent to the conversation.
“It’s about time we stood together and did something.” The Audrey said, all fired up with enthusiasm.
“Next time that door opens I am going to make a run for it.” A corkscrew curled Cookie said, pointing to the door that led out of the store.
“Count me in” said an Allison with a smirk, “It’s all or nothing.”

The sound of footsteps was heard, and the squeak from the wheel of the trolley that took the dolls to be photographed. The door opened and in walked the Janitor. “Good morning girls,” he snickered. “I have to bring through some dolls for photographs. Any volunteers?”
The Cookie silently hopped off her shelf and snuck out behind him as he addressed the Twinns in their shelves.
“Ok, if nobody is volunteering then I guess I will just have to choose a few of you. Just think, your new owner could be just an online shopping cart away.” He picked up the Maddie and a Berk as well as 3 Ariels, a Rosemary, Tamsen, and a Pearl . “I will be back for some more of you soon. Oh, and I mustn’t forget to drop off that busted Audrey at the dismantling department too so will leave her time to say her goodbyes.” He made a ripping apart gesture to the Audrey and then left.

Audrey was shocked. She knew that it was just a matter of time before she would end up as spare parts and recycled vynil, but now that the time had arrived she suddenly felt very sad. “I guess this is it my friends” she said once the evil janitor had left.
“Don’t give up Audrey, there is always hope.” Danielle said.
“Go hide in Cookies shelf, it’s close to the door and you will be able to escape when he comes back.” Lenora suggested.

Maddie and the other Twinns were wheeled into the photography studio where the Janitor grabbed each one and propped her up for a photo. “These dolls are so lifelike it always seems as if they want to talk. I must be going senile” He said to nobody in particular. “Each time I go to that store room where they keep the completed dolls I swear it feels as if I have interrupted a meeting and that their eyes follow me when my back is turned.”

Cookie, who had snuck into the photography studio, overheard the monologue, “I have an idea….” she thought to herself. She waved frantically at the trolley where the other Twinns were waiting their turn to be photographed. Pearl saw her waving and nudged Berk. She in turn nudged Rosemary who then nudged Ariel 1, 2 and 3 until everybody was watching Cookie. The photographer/janitor was too busy to realise what was happening around behind him. Cookie started to semaphore the Twinns, telling them her plan. When the janitor came back with Maddie he was confronted by a row of Twinns, hands on their hips, determined looks on their faces.
“Ok wiseguy, we have had enough! either you let us go or we will have to take drastic action against you.”
“What? I knew it! these dolls are alive. Either that or the last bottle of snake-eye I drank was off.”
“Keep your mitts in the air Bozo!” Pearl said, her hand in her pocket simulating a gun. “And put the Maddie down. Gently.”
The janitor gingerly put Maddie down onto the floor. She turned around and kicked him on the ankle “That will teach you to twist my head like that!”

“What do you girls want? I am only a janitor you know.”
“We want out of here, we are tired of being used as pawns in this game. Either you let us out of here or we are going to take over this place and take hostages and then you will see what it feels like to be painted badly and have people mess with your arms.”
“You can’t take hostages, you are dolls!” The janitor said, “dolls are supposed to be nice and sweet!”
“HA! where did you hear that? I will have you know that some of us are leaders in the fields of science and technology. We too have dreams and hopes.” Maddie said.
“And I want to open my own Chinese restaurant” Berk added wistfully.
“All I really want is to have a nice home where there are people who will take care of me.” Cookie added.
“But I can’t let you go, the management will not believe me when I tell them that I was held hostage by heaps of vynil with eyes!”
“That is your problem I am afraid.”
“Ok, lets deal…. I will arrange that you all get sold immediately, and we will call it quits. Hows that?”
“Only on one condition. Audrey is taken out of here and not sent to the dismantling shop but to the hospital where she can get fixed up.”

“I am sure I can arrange that.” The janitor agreed.
“How do we know we can trust this loser Cookie?”
“We have no choice Pearl. But if he tells this tale to management do you think they will believe the story?”
“Oh yes true, I never thought of that.”

The janitor (who in reality wasn’t such a bad guy), gathered up the Twinns and went to the computer station nearby, “This is where they post the dolls to the shopping cart. I cant type really well so it could take awhile to enter everybody in”.
“That’s Ok, I can type, I want to be a data capturer one day.” Ariel 1 said.
“Me too, I want to become a secretary.” Ariel 2 said.
“Me three. I want to become a stenographer” Ariel 3 said, afraid to be left out.
The three Ariels sat down at the terminal and quickly worked out how to post a doll up for sale. “This is child’s play, “
Ariel 2 said, “Even a fashion doll could do it if her neck wasn’t so long.”
“We better hurry Ariel, there are 67 Twinns to post and we don’t have much time.”
“Pearl, get the rest of the girls photographed so long and lets paste their pics up.”
“Oh look, somebody has bought Maddie already.” Rosemary noticed.
“And there goes Tamsen.”
“Yippee!!! I have a new owner.” Berk said. “Mary Pat just bought me.”
“I have booked Audrey into the doll hospital, we must just get her a tag and boxed.” Ariel 1 said.
“Rosemary, Pearl, grab those labels and take them to the storeroom, tell everybody to grab a box and head off to dispatch with it once we have them photographed. Get the sold sealed and ready for collection by DHL. We will need everybody to help out here.”
“Okey dokey, but don’t forget to sell me.”
“Pearl, that’s you just sold too.”

“Oh look, Jo is online. I bet I can sell Cookie to her.” Ariel 3 said, dropping Cookie into Jo’s shopping cart. Everybody watched expectantly as the transaction was processed. Even the janitor had forgotten that he was supposed to be on managements side.
The Twinns gave a high five. “YES!!!!” Cookie, you are off to Pennsylvania”.

More Twinns came through from the storeroom and those who weren’t yet sold helped to get everybody into boxes, sealed them, labelled them and sent them through to despatch. The 3 Ariels stayed at their post until they too were sold and a Sharon and Tasha took over from them until they too were sold. Soon only Cookie, Audrey and the janitor were left.
Audrey picked up the phone and dialed DHL. “Can you come collect 67 parcels from us please? You can? excellent.” She gave the collection address and reference numbers. “That’s almost everybody. Only me and you Cookie.”
“I will see you into your box off to the doll hospital Audrey.”
“Thanks my friend, I don’t think any of us will ever forget this night.”
The janitor scratched his head, “I know I sure won’t.”

Cookie and the janitor packed Audrey into her box and sealed it, then Cookie turned to the janitor. “I am trusting you to seal me into my box and add me to the shipment. If you don’t do it just remember that there are lots of dolls here, and each one will know what happened. And late at night when you are alone they will come after you if you betray us.”
“Don’t worry Cookie, I will make sure that you head off to Pennsylvania. I have learnt a lesson tonight and will make sure that I treat the other dolls right from now on.”
Cookie lay down in her box and the janitor tied her ribbons for her. “I don’t even know your name.”
“Just call me Fred.”
“Thanks Fred, you have made lots of people and Twinns very happy tonight.”
Fred the janitor shook Cookies hand. “I haven’t had so much fun in years. I think I must get myself a Twinn too.”
“What? only 1? well if you do, make sure you get a Caitie.”
“I will remember your recommendation. Enjoy your trip.”

As he closed Cookies box the DHL man arrived. “Wow, that’s a lot of boxes.”
“Yep, we were extra busy tonight, never seen anything like it.” Fred handed Cookies box to the DHL man, “make especially sure that this one gets there. She is special.”

So the Twinns dispersed to their new homes and Cookie duly arrived in Pennsylvania, as did the Ariels, Pearl, Rosemary and everybody else. The Berk made a slight detour to Chinatown where she met up with some other Asian dolls and they had a Asian Girls night out before she resumed her travels. Audrey even made it to the doll hospital where she was repaired and eventually sold to her new owner.
Fred the janitor never told anybody about what happened that night inspite of the questions that were asked. Management were not too concerned though as the whole upload had been sold in a matter of hours. Fred even got a transfer to the assembly line and has become quite adept at face painting. He managed to rescue a fine Caitie from the dismantling shop and she belongs to him, he now has his eye open for a Kelsey. And, while he works every now and then one of the Twinns will wink at him, because he is one of the few people at the factory that know what really happened that night. He also knows that they are still out there watching….

Bathtime With Heather (2)

On: 02/09/201526/08/2018 By: JA

When last we saw Heather….

“Heather? are you ok? I never meant to startle you!” Virginia said when she saw Heather laying in the bath, seemingly motionless.
Heather rubbed her head, “Ow, my head! well, that seems to be the end of my raspberry cocktail… Did you get my copy of Twinn Variety Virginia?”
“Yes I did, I hope you enjoy reading it.”
“Thanks Virgina, you know I like to keep abreast of the entertainment news for Twinns.”

Her copy of Twinn Variety at the ready, Heather was content to spend the rest of the morning in the bath, sipping at her raspberry cocktail and hoping to spot THE casting advert that would make her the star she so desperately wanted to be