I am Baaack! Part 12

Smiling in spite of herself, Joan held up both hands. "Down, girl! We'll see about that; one thing at a time. First, let's get you and Sukie fed." And she led the way into her kitchen.

As Joan was attempting to access cooking skills very seldom used these days, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Dainie, sitting at the kitchen table, had placed Sukie in a sitting position on the edge of the table in front of her, legs dangling over, and was apparently engaged in whispered conversation with her. Every once in a while she would cock her head as if listening to the doll's replies. All of a sudden, into Joan's mind popped the picture of Bogie holding the Maltese Falcon. 'Now, where did that come from?' she wondered. Then, all of a sudden, it made sense; she couldn't be sure, but hadn't the Maltese Falcon been hollow?!

Joan checked and saw that the sandwiches were done, and the soup steaming. She placed a sandwich on a Christmas plate - she thought Dainie would enjoy that - and ladled soup into a Christmas bowl till it was half full. She placed the plate and bowl on a Christmas tray, folded a napkin - plain white, she was out of Christmas napkins - around a spoon, and stuck it under the edge of the plate. She used a steak knife to cut the sandwich diagonally down the middle, and then cut one of the halves in half again. She carried the tray over to Dainie, and set it on the table. "You'll have to move Sukie, dear," she said. "May I hold her for a minute? She's so pretty."

Dainie looked up at Joan and smiled. She handed Sukie to her. "Sukie thinks you're pretty, too, Dr. Joan." Then she looked at the tray, which Joan nudged over in front of her, and giggled. "It's not Christmas, Dr. Joan!"

Joan moved so that her hands holding Sukie were out of sight of Dainie. As she spoke, she began to carefully squeeze every inch of the doll. "Oh, I know that, dear, but your coming to stay with me was like receiving a nice present, so I thought of Christmas.