When Barbie Takes Over

2- Pretend Dates

“How ‘bout I play with you instead? I could be Ken and you can be Barbie,” I suggested.

“Okay!” Alice said rather loudly. A huge smile stretched out across her face and she started bouncing in her seat again.

“But you have to get changed first, and finish your breakfast,” I said sternly.

“Can’t I play like this?” she whined. I looked down at her Tweety Bird pyjamas.  She gave me the cutest face ever and I was tempted to say yes.

“Go get changed cutie.” She went to stand up so I stopped her again. “Finish your cereal first before it goes soggy!”

“You’re bossy,” she said.

“Do you like soggy cereal?” I asked.

Alice shook her head. I smiled. “Then eat before its mush.”

Alice sighed, but she ate up quickly. When she went upstairs to get changed, I started the coffee for my parents because I knew they would be cranky when they wake up.

“Bridget! Bridget, Bridget!” Alice called quickly as she came back into the kitchen. Since she was wearing socks she slid across the tile landing perfectly in front of me. Whenever I attempted that I fell.

“Ready to play?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she said like I was stupid. “Come on!” She grabbed my hand and started tugging me towards the stairs. I allowed her to pull me up to her room.

Garrett once said Alice’s room looked like unicorns had exploded in there. At the time I thought it was a stupid analogy, but then I realized how right he was.

Alice’s walls were a pale pink. But there were pillows of all colours all around the room. She didn’t like ruling out just one colour. Her Barbie dollhouse was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. It was came up to about my waist and was twice that long.

The little rooms in the house were tall enough for a Barbie to stand in and hold a bunch of the pink Barbie furniture.

There were some bedrooms and a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, and a bathroom. There was also a garage attached to the side of the house with a garden going around the whole thing.

This dollhouse was Alice’s life. That’s why Mom and Dad had long since given up trying to get her to clean it up. Whenever she did, it just came out again for Maddy and Alice to play with.

Barbie’s of all types and more clothing than I even owned was laid scattered around the room. Most of the Barbie’s were full sized, but there were several kids and even about half a dozen guys and a couple little boys.

I couldn’t tell any of the Barbie’s apart even though some of them were blonde, some were redheads, some were brunettes and some had black hair. A lot of them were even Asian or black or looked like they were a mix of something.

But Alice knew their names. Alice knew all of their names. And there were about forty different ones. And not all of them were Alice’s. Some were Maddy’s that she had forgotten to take home whenever she had brought them over.

Barbie and Ken were Alice’s two favourites though. If she was going over to Maddy’s those were the two she brought. The others were played with too, but not as much.

Maddy’s favourites were Sam and Alex. Those were the two she brought over every day. Those were the only two she never left here.

“How about I be this one?” I asked picking up one that I thought vaguely resembled some actor. I just couldn’t place which one while looking at the manufactured perfect plastic face.