The Doll People

Before Tiffany leaves, Annabelle suggests that they aim for a SELMP meeting every night—this way, she reasons, they might actually manage to meet twice a week despite any complications that arise. Tiffany comes back two nights later. When Annabelle asks whether she ran into The Captain, Tiffany says no. She also expresses a belief that the cat is not as dangerous as the Doll family believes, claiming that she met a doll at the doll factory who said it is possible to train cats not to bother dolls. They agree that trying to train The Captain will have to wait until after they have searched for Auntie Sarah. Tiffany does not want to read more of the journal: She wants to begin searching immediately. Annabelle points out that the journal might give them a clue about where to look, and they agree to read one page each time they meet. They decide that they will search the downstairs part of the house on the following evening. When Annabelle brings it up to her parents later, Mama is against the idea. Uncle Doll, however, says that he thinks they should allow Annabelle to try. Mama agrees that she can go, but for only two hours.

On the next night, Annabelle is shocked to see Tiffany slipping quietly into Kate’s room while Grandma Katherine is reading Kate a story. She cannot believe the risk Tiffany is taking. After Grandma Katherine leaves the room and Kate falls asleep, Tiffany makes it to the dollhouse. Annabelle tells her that she is not sure she will be allowed to go out because her parents have seen The Captain lurking nearby. Uncle Doll, however, tells Mama and Papa that he is “not going to let this happen again” (119), and Annabelle is allowed to leave with Tiffany. The two girls head for the stairs. Fifteen minutes later, they are finally downstairs. They search the living room and then head back to the stairs. Annabelle had forgotten that getting back up the stairs would take longer than going down, so she is late returning to the dollhouse. Mama and Papa are waiting for her, angry and concerned.

Annabelle tries to explain why she is late, but Mama and Papa say that she has been irresponsible, and they are not sure they can allow her to go out searching again. Annabelle asks what really happened to Sarah. She accuses them of keeping the truth from her, but Mama assures her that they really do not know. They admit that they argued with one another about what to do when Sarah disappeared. Uncle Doll wanted to try to find Sarah, but the others argued that it would be too dangerous. Now, Uncle Doll believes that it is time to set aside their fears and search. Mama points out that roaming around the house is a violation of Doll Code, but Uncle Doll argues that this cannot be true because Sarah was able to leave the dollhouse and come back several times. Annabelle says that Sarah may be missing for a reason besides the Doll Code—that she might just be stuck somewhere. She asks again whether they would look for her if she were missing, and Uncle Doll mocks them, suggesting that they would just stay in the dollhouse talking about being worried and taking no meaningful action. He announces that he is moving out of the dollhouse.

Annabelle is upset. She thinks that the argument is her fault, but Uncle Doll assures her that she is “the only one of all of [them] with true integrity” (129). Uncle Doll gathers a few possessions and takes himself to the Barbie camper that sits on the floor of Kate’s room. Annabelle follows. She asks him to come home, but he says that he needs time to think. He says that he will come back to the dollhouse whenever the Palmers are around, but at night and when they are out of the house, he will stay in the camper, at least until he and her parents can resolve their disagreement. Annabelle spends the rest of the evening and much of the next reading Sarah’s journal.

At their next SELMP meeting, Annabelle describes to Tiffany what she has learned from reading the journal. Sarah started the journal in early 1955. At first, she just wrote about the ordinary goings-on of their household. After a while, though, Sarah started writing about exploring the house. She also wrote a lot about nature—especially spiders. There is a lot of information about spiders in the journal that Annabelle thinks could not have been gathered through observation alone. She wonders if Sarah found a magazine or book about spiders or perhaps heard a radio show about them. She tells Tiffany that Sarah sometimes talked to her about spiders, but Sarah mostly told her about famous inspirational women. They look at some of the information and drawings in the journal, but Tiffany complains that it is boring and unhelpful. She suggests that they skip to the end of the journal because it is more likely to contain clues. They discover that the final entry talks about going into the Palmers’ attic. Annabelle wonders if this answer—that Sarah is lost in the attic—is somehow too simple. She notices that the handwriting in this final entry is not the same as the handwriting in the rest of the journal. Tiffany says that someone clearly believes Sarah is in the attic and wants them to look there, and Annabelle considers this. “All right,” she says (145).