Not On My Watch

Suzette was Auntie Dolly’s favorite porcelain wonder. None of us liked her, yet, we could not give her away Maybe because we loved Auntie Dolly so much. And we knew she would want one of us to keep Suzette. Suzette is too prissy for me, a cousin told us. Not me, I have six little ones. She would not last a week. I am packing to move to a new town. Excuses all over the place, no one wanted this creepy doll. She is not that spooky, I say, offering to take her. Suzette stayed in a box the first few months with me. But I had a dream that she had to be unboxed. I put her in the living room, on the mantel. The next day, she was sitting at the kitchen table. Reading the paper over my husband’s shoulder. Not on my watch! I told her. She went back into the box.