2 on a long forgotten street in a house with no door
full of dark and musty corners lay a dirty battered doll 3 How many years she’d been there no one could tell Spiders had covered her with cobwebs and dust lay like a blanket over her keeping her warm Mice crept across the floor and sometimes scuttled over her body plucking her hair for their nests Beetles nibbled her fingers and toes while the winter wind blew dead leaves and empty food packets through the door But the doll lay still and uncomplaining oblivious to everything Until one night
4 when a star exploded and sent its powerful fragments showering through the atmosphere One tiny spark fell through a hole in the roof and landed on the doll’s forehead It sank through the fragile plastic she had been one of the first to be made in that marvelous new material and deep within the empty eye sockets old memo ries flickered into life
The doll awoke What a sleep So many dreams how refreshing She jumped up and spun around light as the stardust she now was 5 The house was dark Where was everybody Where was her little girl The doll wanted to share the dreams she’d had of flowers and picnics and tea parties with her The rooms smelled cold and damp and lonely The furniture was gone The wallpaper hung in strips off the walls How long had she slept The doll went upstairs The bedrooms were empty No beds no curtains no toys What had happened The doll flitted from room to room In Lucy’s room there was still the old wardrobe with its heavy mirror The doll approached slowly a suspicion had been growing in her The wardrobe was bare and there was not a sign that a little girl had once used it No party dresses hats shoes or pink hair ribbons
