A Treasure lost, A Treasure found

                 
                             
“Gracie, I’m sorry.  I am so, so sorry.  “Emily apologized, nearly in tears.  “It just slipped off the bed.  I didn‘t mean to break it.”

Devastated, ten-year-old Gracie just stood looking down at the smashed remains of the delicate china doll that lay on the floor of her bedroom.  She did not know what to say.  Emily was her best friend, however the doll had belonged to her great, great aunt Louise and it was worth a lot of money. 

Emily bent down meaning to pick up the pieces.

“No! Leave it!” Gracie snapped, finally finding her voice. “I’ll clean it up, myself.”

Emily stood up, tears running down her cheeks.

“What’s going on in here?”  Gracie’s mom asked as she opened the door.  She had been walking down the hallway pass Gracie’s door and heard Gracie snap at Emily.

“Oh Gracie, what happened to your doll?”  She asked when she saw the broken doll on the floor.  “I told you to be careful with it, that it was very fragile.”

“It’s my fault.”  Emily sobbed.  “I wanted to hold it.  I laid it on the bed and it fell off and broke.  I’m so sorry.”

Gracie’s mom walked over to Emily, put her arms around her and gave her a hug.

“I’m sure it was just an accident, honey.  I know you didn‘t do it on purpose.”  She tried to comfort her. “Gracie knows that too.  However, I think maybe I should take you home now.  Why don’t you go downstairs and wait for me, I‘ll be down in a minute.”

“Okay.”  Emily agreed, and then turned to her friend.  “Bye Gracie, I’m really, really sorry.”

Gracie just looked at her friend, wanting to say something hurtful, and then she saw the warning look her mother was giving her.

“Bye.”  She said shortly.

Emily turned away sadly and walked out the door.

Waiting until she was sure that Emily was downstairs, Gracie’s mother walked over to Gracie.

“She broke my doll, mom!” Gracie started to cry.

Her mother hugged her.

“I know honey.  I am sure she did not mean to.  It was just an accident.”

“I didn’t want to let her see it at first.”  Gracie went on to explain.  “She said that she would be really careful and then she broke it.”

Gracie sobbed into her mother’s shoulder.

“Why don’t you find a box to put it in,” Gracie’s mother suggested.  “Maybe we can find someone who can fix it.”

Gracie stepped back from her mother and sadly looked down at the doll.  She knew, deep in her heart that even if they had the head fixed, it would never be the same, but she nodded as she wiped her eyes and then went to her closet to find a box.

“I’m going to take Emily home.”  Gracie’s mom told her, as she turned to leave.  “I’ll be back in about ten minutes, and then we’ll look and see if we can’t find someone in the phone book who fixes dolls.”

“Okay.”  Gracie said as she pulls a shoebox from her closet.

Gracie slowly walked over to the broken doll.  She knelt down and sadly looked at the broken pieces of the delicate porcelain face.  She had been so excited when they had found the doll wrapped in a handmade doll quilt at the bottom of her Aunt’s old trunk.  She had begged her mother to let her have the doll and had promised that she would be careful and take good care of it. Now the head lay in four pieces and a crack ran down the middle of the face, which somehow had remained intact and attached to the body.

Gracie carefully picked up the broken pieces of china, placed them into the box and then gently picked up the doll’s almost headless body.  She tenderly smoothed the pink silk dress and ran a finger lightly along the horrible scar that now marred the delicate hand painted features.

Gently placing the doll in the box, Gracie sat it and herself on her bed and waited for her mother to return.

Twenty minutes later, her mother came up the stairs, excited.

“Gracie, honey, guess what? Emily’s mother, Kathy, knows someone who repairs dolls. She called him while I was there and he said to bring the doll over so that he could look at it to see how much damage there was.  Kathy has offered to pay to have the doll repaired, since it was Emily’s fault the doll was broken.  Wasn’t that nice of her, honey?”

“Yes, I guess.”  Gracie replied half-heartedly. 

While her mother had been gone, Gracie had had time to think about how angry she had been, how she had snapped at Emily and how Emily had cried. Emily was her best friend; they had known each other since they were three and Gracie knew that Emily would never intentionally do anything to hurt her. The doll getting broke had been an accident.

Gracie’s mom sat down on the bed next to her and put an arm around her.

“What’s wrong, honey? I thought you would be happy that we found someone to fix the doll.”

“It’s not that, Mom.  It is just, I feel bad because I yelled at Emily.  I know she didn’t break my doll on purpose, but she could have been more careful.”

“Yes, she could have,” Gracie’s mom agreed.  “And you could have left the doll in its case in the first place.  However, what could or should have been done is in the past.  There is no changing what happened.  I just hope you can forgive Emily.  She kept apologizing all the way to her house, she was so upset”

“I am still a little mad at her for not being more careful, but I can’t stay mad at Emily, she’s my best friend.” Gracie reassured her mother.

“Well, that’s good. Right now, we need to get going, “Gracie’s mom informed her, “Mr. Jensen, the gentleman who does doll repair, said that if the head wasn’t in too many pieces he could repair it, but we need to get it to him as soon as possible.  He is leaving tomorrow for a trip and he won’t have his shop open again until next week.”

                                                 

#

“Well, let’s see what we have here.”  Mr. Jensen said as he gently took the doll out of the box and placed her on his worktable.  “This is a very nice doll, it is a shame she had to get broken, but that is what happened to most of these types of dolls.  They really were not something that you played with.  These types of dolls were mostly for display.  Let us see how badly you are broken, my dear, “Mr. Jensen said to the doll as he picked her up to examine her. “Yes, I see.  Well, Gracie, it looks like I can repair your doll.  I can do one of two things, I can completely replace the head with a replica or I can glue the pieces back together and touch up the cracks with a little paint.  She will not be as perfect as she was and her value will go down considerably.  However, she will still be original.”

“I think we would like to keep her as original as possible.”  Gracie’s mom said.  “If that is okay with you, Gracie, or would you rather we have the head replaced?”

“No, that’s fine, Mom, whatever you decide is fine with me. “  Gracie assured her mother.

“Okay then, I should have her done a week from this Thursday.”  Mr. Jensen informed them.  “You can stop by any day after that to pick her up.”

                                                 

#

It had been a long week and Gracie was excited to see what kind of repairs Mr. Jensen had made to her doll as she, her mother and her best friend Emily walked in the doll repair door.  It had only taken a few minutes for the girls to get over the awkwardness between them.  Now they chatted excitedly as they walked up to the counter.

“Good morning.”  Mr. Jensen greeted them.  “Hello Emily, how is your mother?”

“She is fine, Mr. Jensen.”  Emily replied, shyly.

“That is good to hear.  Now Gracie I have someone who would like very much to see you.”  Mr. Jensen said as he disappeared into his workshop.  He reappeared a few moments later carrying Gracie’s doll.

“Here you go Gracie.”  He said as he handed her the doll.

Gracie gently cradled the doll; she could see some very fine crack marks on the head, but only if she looked closely.

“Oh, she’s perfect!”  Gracie s said hugging the doll.  “Thank you Mr. Jensen.”

“You are welcome, Gracie.” Mr. Jensen told her, and then turned to her mother.  “The funny thing about these dolls is that sometimes, especially during wars, the people who owned them would use them to hide valuables in.  Back then, who would think to look inside a child’s doll for jewelry or important papers, anyway, I found something inside Gracie’s doll when I was working on it.  I don’t know how much these are worth, but you might want to take them to a jeweler and have them appraised.”

Mr. Jensen handed Gracie’s mom a diamond and ruby ring and a small golden bracelet.




                                                 

END