She was by far the most beautiful doll I\u2019d ever seen. And she could talk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope Santa will bring me one for Christmas,\u201d my friend Maryanne whispered. The two of us had our faces pressed up to the toy store window that separated us from the Chatty Cathy doll inside. \u201cShe\u2019s the only thing I wrote down on my list<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Chatty Cathy was on every young girl\u2019s Santa list that Christmas. But I didn\u2019t tell Maryanne what I knew for a fact: Santa wasn\u2019t real. I remembered how disappointed I\u2019d felt when a babysitter spilled the beans, and I didn\u2019t want Maryanne to feel that way too. Knowing the truth about Santa did have one advantage, how-ever. It gave me the idea to search the house for presents that might be hidden away for me until Christmas morning. Between my parents and the relatives who lived with us in our Brooklyn brownstone, there was no shortage of places to look. In fact, deep in the back of Aunt Thecla\u2019s closet I\u2019d found my Chatty Cathy doll. Bingo! On Christmas morning, she would be mine. I could hardly wait. Until then, Chatty Cathy would remain my secret.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are y\u2019all looking at?\u201d<\/p>\n Maryanne and I didn\u2019t even have to turn around to know who had come up behind us at the store window. No one else in our neighborhood had an accent like Jenna Lee\u2019s. She and her family had only arrived from South Carolina a few months ago, without her father. I didn\u2019t know the particulars, only that they had relocated under difficult circumstances<\/a>. Her mother worked long hours as a waitress, which often left Jenna Lee to take care of her four younger sisters.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking at Chatty Cathy,\u201d Maryanne said. She moved aside to make space for Jenna Lee to see inside at the window.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you pull the string on her neck, she\u2019ll talk to you,\u201d I explained.<\/p>\n Jenna Lee wrapped her coat tightly around her. I could see it was far too thin for the New York winter.<\/p>\n \u201cChatty Cathy can say 11 things,\u201d Maryanne went on. \u201cLike \u2018I love you\u2019 and \u2018Tell me a story.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI ain\u2019t never seen anything like her,\u201d Jenna Lee said, stroking the glass window with one finger. \u201cShe would be nearly as good as having a real live friend like you two.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe you\u2019ll get one for Christmas,\u201d said Maryanne.<\/p>\n Surely, that was impossible. Not as long as there was no Santa in the picture. If her mom had had any money to spare, Jenna Lee would have had more than the two dresses she rotated every day. When she came over to play dolls with me, she\u2019d brought clothespins with eyes drawn on them. I elbowed Maryanne in the ribs, hoping she\u2019d change the subject.<\/p>\n Maryanne didn\u2019t take the hint. \u201cWhat\u2019s on your list for Santa this year?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t make lists,\u201d said Jenna Lee, her eyes never leaving Chatty Cathy\u2019s face. \u201cWe\u2019re grateful for whatever Santa leaves in our stockings. Last year I got five dollars to spend just on myself. I was real careful, so the money lasted a long time.\u201d She wrinkled her brow. \u201cI just hope Santa can find us this year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSanta knows everything,\u201d Maryanne assured her. I didn\u2019t know the half of Jenna Lee\u2019s family situation, but walking home, I thought about what Jenna Lee had said about being grateful. My aunt Thecla always said that\u2019s what Christmas was all about: being grateful for what we have<\/a>. It was easy to be grateful knowing I had a Chatty Cathy doll in her pink and orange box, just waiting for me to open her up on Christmas morning. I wondered if being grateful was hard for Jenna Lee.<\/p>\n That doll in the store window never left my mind in the coming weeks, busy as I was. I baked cookies with my mom and tried to keep Uncle Edmund\u2019s taste tests to a minimum. I decorated the tree with my dad and wrapped presents with my grandmother and Aunt Thecla.<\/p>\n With family all around every minute of every day, I hardly had time to myself. It wasn\u2019t until I was alone in bed at night that I imagined the conversations Chatty Cathy and I would have once she was mine.<\/p>\n On Christmas morning<\/a>, we all gathered around the tree. I thought I\u2019d burst with excitement. I scanned the brightly wrapped packages with my name on them, judging which one was the right size to hold the best doll I\u2019d ever seen. Arms handed out presents this way and that. The adults were up and down in their seats. Cousins tumbled around on the floor. Aunt Thecla grabbed the discarded bows to save for next year. I could hardly hear myself think amid the laughter and oohs and ahhs. I unwrapped a new sweater, a set of Nancy Drew books, a Mousetrap game\u2014but no Chatty Cathy.<\/p>\n Maybe it was mislabeled,<\/em> I thought. Every time someone else opened a gift, I held my breath, looking for that pink and orange box Chatty Cathy came in. But it never appeared. Grandma got her new apron. Mom got a new saucepan. Aunt Thecla got yet another Bible. Everyone, it seemed, got what they wished for but me.<\/p>\n \u201cAll those presents made me hungry,\u201d Uncle Edmund announced when the gifts were opened, the floor littered with wrapping paper. \u201cLet\u2019s all go eat!\u201d<\/p>\n The rest of the family moved into the dining room for breakfast. I stayed behind, crawling around, looking for a package that had gotten lost. My doll had to be somewhere!<\/p>\n I was halfway under the sofa when the doorbell rang. Aunt Thecla answered it. Jenna Lee\u2019s familiar accent rang out from the foyer. \u201cMerry Christmas!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n I pulled myself up and went to the door. \u201cI know it\u2019s early,\u201d Jenna Lee was saying, \u201cbut I had to come show Jacquelyn what Santa brought me!\u201d<\/p>\n Aunt Thecla clapped her hands. My heart leapt to my throat when I saw what Jenna Lee held in her arms. A Chatty Cathy doll. My<\/em> Chatty Cathy doll. The one I had seen in Aunt Thecla\u2019s closet. I was sure of it.<\/p>\n \u201cSanta was really good to us,\u201d Jenna Lee said, cuddling my doll in her arms. \u201cAnd the owner of the restaurant where Mama works invited us for Christmas dinner.\u201d She sighed. \u201cA Christmas farewell dinner. We\u2019re going back to South Carolina.\u201d She stuck out her hand to me. \u201cThank you for being my friend<\/a>, Jacquelyn. It\u2019s been real nice knowing you.<\/p>\n \u201dI knew I had to shake her hand, but what I wanted to do was grab that doll out of her arms. I would probably miss Jenna Lee eventually, but in this moment, I was just angry that she\u2019d somehow stolen my doll.<\/p>\n We said goodbye, and Jenna Lee went home. I turned to Aunt Thecla. I didn\u2019t care if she knew that I\u2019d snooped in her closet. I had to know: What had happened to my doll?<\/p>\n Aunt Thecla ushered me into Grandma\u2019s sewing room and shut the door. \u201cI did buy that Chatty Cathy for you,\u201d she admitted. \u201cBut two nights ago, I found out that Jenna Lee\u2019s family is going to be separated for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d I asked. \u201cIsn\u2019t she going home to South Carolina like she said?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, but she and her siblings are going to live in different foster homes for a while. I thought Jenna Lee would need a friend to hold onto until her family is back together.\u201d<\/p>\n Aunt Thecla with all her Bibles must have gotten an inspiration from God himself<\/a>. \u201cThat was exactly what Jenna Lee said about Chatty Cathy,\u201d I told Aunt Thecla. \u201cThat she would be like having a real friend, like me and Maryanne.\u201d<\/p>\n Aunt Thecla looked up to the ceiling. \u201cThank you, Jesus,\u201d she said. \u201cNow let\u2019s get back to the others. I smell those cinnamon rolls.\u201d<\/p>\n My parents were teasing each other over Dad\u2019s new Christmas sweater. Uncle Edmund and Grandma were singing. Everybody else helped themselves to breakfast. I stood quietly amid the chaos. Aunt Thecla stroked my hair. \u201cIf you really want that Chatty Cathy doll,\u201d she said, \u201cI\u2019ll start saving for it.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked at my family gathered around the table, laughing, eating, singing. I thought of Jenna Lee alone somewhere without her parents or any of her siblings and only Chatty Cathy to talk to. \u201cI don\u2019t need one,\u201d I said. \u201cI have all of you.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n I never did get a Chatty Cathy doll. But whenever I played with Maryanne\u2019s, I wasn\u2019t a bit jealous. If I could have given Chatty Cathy a twelfth thing to say, it would have been, \u201cI\u2019m grateful for all that I have.\u201d Just like Jenna Lee. \u00ad<\/p>\n