In the Dolls' House

In the Dolls House ©

By Michael Casey

A dolls’ house is a thing of beauty and a token of love, Grandpa Alan had given a huge fancy one to his granddaughter, my niece many years ago. Now years and years later I had bought one for my small daughter, she had a nice plastic one already, and had of course played with her cousin’s dolls house. My daughter was so small and her cousin’s dolls’ house was so big that we used to say she was in the dolls’ house. So now it was time for an upgrade, so I ordered one and we waited for its arrival.

The dolls’ house came flat packed and I had to bring it upstairs where it would take up position in my daughters’ room. This was a lesson in building for me, the screws were so small as well, but with the help of my daughters we built it. Having built several pine beds I was sort of DIY qualified in building if you like, it was also the last time I’d ever try building anything. My unplanned quadruple heart bypass came along, so when we look back at the photos that we took we have bittersweet memories. My small daughter loved me to bits once I had constructed her house for her dolls.

The occupants of the small plastic dolls’ house  moved  into the new 3 story wooden house, they were so happy, I was not so happy as I had to buy more furniture and other stuff to kit out the new house. Other than that we were a family of happy bunnies, I staggered away to have a hot Radox bath, I’d been bent double for a couple of hours as I built the thing.

That night the dolls’ house held its first after hours, not that stuffed toys and other plastic creatures drink much alcohol, they normally spill it over the carpet in front of the dolls’ house. Big Totoro the stuffed version sat on the roof, always a night on the tiles, literally. Dollar the bear sat next to him, Dollar had an embroidered dollar on his leg that’s where his name came from. Stupid bear finished the line-up, Stupid just looks stupid that’s why he is called Stupid. Inside small creatures with beds and tables and baths lived a life of luxury, they even have a fire place with a real battery operated fire glowing in the dark. So all was perfect, until a year later they hear a purr.

Yes Totoro the cat came to live with us, and for Totoro a dolls’ house was an invitation to be nosey. The toy Totoro was neglected for a living breathing cat, this hurt toy Totoro’s feeling no end, but I took the toy to one side and explained about puppy love, I told him that whereas he spoke Japanese, Totoro the cat only understood English, well and a lot of Chinese too. I told toy Totoro that he was so important to us and he had a seat on top of the dolls’ house, just like Theresa May having the best seat in the cabinet, I did explain to toy Totoro that a cabinet was a cupboard, yes almost like a toy cupboard.

Totoro the cat was able to squeeze in and sleep in the dolls’ house, a bit like a squatter, toy Totoro knew what a squatter was I did not have to explain that. Totoro the cat liked stealing the plastic family and moving them all over the house, we’d trip over Mrs Mollycuddle or whatever her name was as we walked down the stairs. So as soon as we returned the family  member to the dolls’ house then Totoro would transport one to another part of the house the whole house that is, it was like standing on the transporter in  Star Trek  and you’d appear somewhere else, though it was Totoro who did all the transporting.  

As Totoro grew she grew bored with the dolls’ house, she liked chasing till receipts instead. Though when my daughter got a camper van, which looks like the van from Scooby Doo, then Totoro had something else to chase. The camper van allowed the owners of the doll’s house to travel all around the Casey house stopping here there and everywhere for tea and toast, and they never cleaned up the toast crumbs either. Totoro enjoyed annoying the Mollycuddle family, in fact she went too far once, and bit the head off one of them. I had to intervene and use superglue, otherwise we’d have a ghost in the house, though my small daughter does enjoy writing horror stories, so if ever you read any of her stuff, watch out.

Now if you have to improvise you can make a good doll’s house from shoe boxes, Clarks are best of course, but you can also use cereal boxes, and if you save the tins from biscuits you can have square or round turrets. Your dolls’ house can be as simple or complicated as you like, your toys can be safe from your cat too, just squirt a little Brut that your grandpa uses on the back of the dolls’ house it keeps cats away.