The Mare

Ginger

The next time we talked on the phone, she asked me why I still had a doll. I said, “Oh, she’s from when I was like, five.”

“It’s not a ‘she,’ ” said Velvet. “It’s a it. Why do you have it now?”

“I have it because my sister kept it. I didn’t even know she had it all these years. I didn’t find it until she died and Paul and I went to clean out her place. She had every doll and toy we ever had all piled up in a box.”

There was a long moment of television noise. She said, “That’s sad.” Except her voice said, That’s funny.

“Yeah, I know. I threw most of the stuff away. But I wanted to keep something that Melinda kept. My friend Kayla made the clothes for her — they’re cute, don’t you think?”

She didn’t say anything. A sarcastic feeling came through the phone. Along with television noise.