Lannie Doll 5

Lannie Doll and the Rude Driver

Erin had been sleeping in a way, because since she was turned into a doll, it was difficult to tell what was real and what was a dream. Her entire life now should be fake; some kind of bizarre dream, because people certainly can't be turned into little dolls in bear costumes. Except, that's exactly what happened to Erin three days ago. She had been leaving a book store when Lannie – a woman she had known for all of ten minutes – used a magic, silver key to turn her into a toy.

Lannie then took Erin home, and sat her upon a shelf with a multicolored jester jack-in-the-box and a red coated marionette. In those three days sitting on the shelf, Erin had not moved one tiny bit without the help of Lannie or gravity. But around noon on the third day, Erin Bear woke form a dream and did something miraculous – she stood up.

It took a moment for Erin to recognize that she had even done such a wonderful thing. "Ohmigosh!" She whispered, pawed fuzzy hands shaking with excitement. She looked down at her own body, and the fuzzy black and white hoodie she wore. Erin poked herself, just to make sure she actually was filled with stuffing, a fact that she confirmed when she saw her left paw sink into her tummy. Erin pulled her arm back out and looked at her hand quizzically. It was just a simple half oval attached to her arm. It had no fingers or thumb, and it was covered in short black fur. She turned it over to see an oblong pink pad.

Curious, Erin tried to pull her paw off to see if there was a hand beneath it, but after a few seconds of uncomfortable tugging, she had to admit the pawed hand was her only hand. She looked down again, and took a particular interest in her short black boots. Like most of her it was covered in short fuzz. It seemed to not be entirely attached to her foot, as she could wiggle her leg back and forth just a bit. Erin quickly threw her left foot into the air and grabbed it with her paws, then bounced up and down trying to yank her fuzzy boot off. But it too seemed to be sewn onto her body.

"Hmmm." She hummed, scratching her head while looking around for something a doll could accomplish on her own. And then she caught sight of something across the way; a curiosity. It was a mirror that had been placed over the fireplace mantle across the way. In the mirror, Erin Bear could see the jack-in-the-box leaping from her colorful cube, and the Cossack marionette hanging from strings, standing at attention as best she could while hanging in the air. And then Erin saw herself in panda bear costume. But she wasn't standing up pondering the reflection, but rather sitting down in the undignified limp way she had for the past three days.

Erin thought on the reflection for a moment, and then came to the discovery that she was once again sitting propped against the back wall, her arms fallen dead to her sides and head rolling just a bit to the right. She once again found that she was unable to move, and Erin could only wonder why.

---

Lannie walked from her room, still tired for no reason at all in the middle of the day. She was dressed in overly large pink jammies littered with clouds, stars, and crescent moons. She sleepily rubbed her forehead, wondering if she really had slept until one o'clock, and felt a bit depressed that it was true. But she looked back up to her toy shelf, and her toys, which she knew were happy because they all were smiling.

"Good morning, little toys. Did you sleep well?" Comrade Georgia kept her arm high, placed perfectly by strings so she always stood ready to defend Lannie from whoever might hurt her. Erin Bear lay against the wall, her hoodie pulled up over her head, as if she was resting beneath a shade tree. And then vibrant Kelly the crazed jester took flight from her box, and a glint in her eyes sparked a memory in Lannie's mind. She cocked her head to one side and put her thoughtful finger up to her cheek.

"Kelly Fool, I think we need to have a talk." Lannie glanced at her other toys. "Alone." She added quickly. She came forward and grabbed her jack-in-the-box carefully by her cube and took the toy back to her room, where she put her back down on the TV stand across from her bed. After she carefully closed her door so no one could eavesdrop, Lannie turned back to Kelly Fool.

"Now, I may be going crazy, Ms. Kelly, but I have the distinct memory that you moved and talked a few nights ago. See, I was getting ready for bed, turning off all my lights and the night was normal, until I came to tuck you in. I remember that I was putting you back in your box when I heard a scream, and though I felt something wrap around my finger." Lannie lowered herself a bit so she could look at Kelly face to face. The little jester wore colorful paint and a bright red smile on her face. "Was that you, Kelly? You can tell me, I won't be mad." The fool kept her lips tight, but her smile now looked to hold a secret.

Lannie began to laugh and she ran her fingers through her brunette hair. "Of course you can't move, you're just a little jack-in-the-box." Lannie tapped the jester on her head, and then walked over to her closet where she kept her own costume. She pulled down her pink dress and its accompanying shoes and was about to get dressed when she saw a forgotten thing in her closet. Lannie got back up and pulled down the pretty costume, and smiled just as brightly as she did when she first laid eyes on it back in October.

She spun around and held the top up so Kelly Fool could see it. "This was going to be my Halloween costume this year. I would have been just a pretty fairy. But then I found out about you and Marky and got my dollie costume and key." Lannie stroked her chin, "But, I suppose I could wear this for a change."

Feeling no shame to change in front of Kelly, Lannie pulled off her jammies and slid into a pair of tan hose; their thickness and texture giving her legs a cloth appearance. She added tiny wreaths of pink petals just above each of her ankles. Then she slid into the costume's green leotard, to which wings had been sewn. Her collar was made from strips of pink cloth cut to appear as leaves. She then put on a wrap skirt, which was multilayered with green and pink leaves, and tied together by a green rose. Lastly, Lannie put on her fairy cap, made to look like and upside down flower bulb.

She looked to her mirror for guidance and made slight adjustments to the position of her garments. Lannie saw Kelly Fool's reflection in the mirrored glass, and asked her what she thought. Even though Kelly was a Jack-in-the-Box, she wasn't surprised when the toy jumped off her stand and replied to her question.

"Well, I don't think you look much like yourself." She said. "You need a little more doll in you."

Lannie waggled her finger at her toy, "You're right. You're absolutely right, Ms. Kelly Fool." Lannie skipped over to her silver key, which she slid into the small of her back just below where her silvered wings attached to her leotard. Once attached, Lannie could wind it the requisite five times she need to trigger a transformation with only her mind. The silver key clicked and clacked until it could move no more, and so she released it.

The girl guided her transformation with her mind, and she watched as her four fingers pulled together and formed a solid mitt of cloth. Her thumbs both pulled in slightly to make them a little stumpier. Her hands and arms were then covered in tan fabric, which also spread across her chest. Pink doll freckles popped into existence on each cheek, and her hair wounded into thin strands of short white yarn. When these changes were done, Lannie's key slid back out of her back and left her feeling a little more at home.

"Thank you, Miss Fool." She said, turning around to the Jack-in-the-Box, who had already jumped back on her post and looked as wild as ever. Lannie picked her bright box up and brought the toy back to her place on the toy shelf.

---

Two hours later, Lannie lay on the couch, and from her high up perch, she moved Comrade Georgia's marionette handle and had the toy marching like a perfect Russian Cossack. Lannie's stomach twisted and gurgled, even though she had already made preparations to sate the ravenous beast; plans that came to fruition with a ringing doorbell. She jumped up and threw down Comrade Georgia, who fell down with a less than graceful thud.

Lannie slid on her stocking feet as she hit the linoleum foyer, but kept her balance and opened the door to reveal a delivery girl in green hat and orange shirt. She had a sharp chin and pulled her black hair in into a high pony tail. She was startled by Lannie's sudden and strange appearance.

"Nice costume." She said while pulling open a red pizza bag.

"Thanks." Lannie replied happily, her mouth beginning to water at the smells wafting from the pizza box.

"That's $14.23." The delivery girl said. Lannie was quick to hand her a twenty. "So – three back?" She asked.

There was an extra tone in the girls voice; a touch of expectance and it irked Lannie. "How about giving me all my change back and let me decide how much to tip?" She snapped, taking the delivery girl aback.

"Sorry about that, Ma'am." She looked into her changed back and pulled out six ones. Lannie paused for a moment then handed back half the singles. The delivery girl made a short nod and went back to her car. Lannie grimaced angrily at her, but resigned to going back into the house. It wasn't until she set down the pizza box and looked at her mitten hand that she remembered her magic key.

Tillery had already moved on by the time she got to her green Camry and put her delivery bag in the trunk. She started mentally planning what route she was going to take to her next customer's house. Then she felt something push into her back, and her body stopped moving.

Tillery heard a clicking sound, like was rubbing along the bones in her spine. When it stopped, all her bones were locked in place, slightly leaning forward, and arms knocked at the elbows. The clicking stopped and Tillery heard a music box begin to play a ragtime tune. The bottom of her shirt blossomed into a blue tutu. Long blue gloves glittered into existence around Tillerey's arm up past her elbows. Her hat remolded itself into hair shaped plastic crowned by a glittery tiara. Tillery's hair took on a sparkling blue color and arranged into a playful short cut.

"What did you do?" She said, her voice now light and airy. Tillery pulled up her left leg and spun en pointe to see the magic woman who was doing this.

Tillery felt a cool breeze run over her body and her skin responded by turning porcelain white. She heard a strange crinkling sound as her body locked into rigid place, with her mouth smiling a sideways grin that she did not feel.

To finish her shocking transformation into a toy, Tillery stepped onto a blue box that materialized into the world. The box was the snow white of her skin and decorated by snow flakes that moved while her key turned. And it included a curious silver coin half buried in a slot next to her foot.

The silver plush key fell to the ground, and Tillery watched a giant's hand pick her up. "This isn't real. This has to be a dream," the ballerina thought. She tried to move, but her body felt heavy and it's joints locked by powerful gears. Tillery's owner brought her into the house, and the toy gasped in her mind when she saw three  dolls line up around the couch.

"Well, ladies, I want you to meet your newest friend. This is Tillerina. She likes to be tipped."

Tillerina saw her owners mitten hand push the coin on the ballerina's base. All at once, her body unfroze and began to move. The new doll tried to jump off her base and run from this pretty dream, but a gears inside her porcelain body trapped her and forced her to dance and spin on her tiny base. A music box began to play a quiet, slow tune. She danced to it for thirty seconds before returning to a demure, simple position with her hands resting lightly on her tutu and feet pointing slightly apart.

The coin jumped out of its slot, and though Tillerina started to hate that little coin, she desperately wanted her owner to push it again so she could dance again.

---

Lannie laughed and jumped up on light feet. Everything felt perfectly at right with her world. That was, until she opened up her pizza box with her cloth mitten hand. She looked between the greasy pizza and her pristinely clean hand. She didn't really want to change from her doll costume. Fortunately for her, the silver key was sitting within arm's reach.

She picked it up and slid it into her back. She turned it only twice, and let it go so it could work its magic. Everything went according to plan for a few clicks of the key. A seam opened up in her mitten hands and the cloth folded back to reveal her normal human hands. Then Lannie's body convulsed. The key shuddered to a stop. Lannie's body locked in place. She tried to wind her key again. It made a horrible grinding noise before something metallic snapped. The key wound down again, but Lannie couldn't control it as it completed its revolutions. She looked back at her hands and saw her mittens had grown back and looked softer than they had before. Her body convulsed again and Lannie felt light headed. She fell backwards and collapsed onto her carpeted floor.