Four Towers and a Whisper

Toy Room City never slept, not really.

Stuffed deer trotted along crayon-colored sidewalks. Sheep dolls lounged on soft cotton benches. A pair of goat dolls chased a rolling button down the main avenue, laughing like it was the funniest thing that had ever happened.

And right in the center of all of it stood Crayon Dollhouse — four tall towers, each one a different crayon color, jutting up like they were trying to reach the ceiling themselves.

Crayon Pinocchio leaned against the blue tower, sunglasses on, giant rainbow crayon resting across his shoulder. He was carved from pale tan wood, every joint clicking softly when he moved. The supersuit made him look important. The sunglasses made him look cool. He liked both.

A small sound drifted from somewhere above — not loud, not quite a word.

He tilted his head.

Up on a second-floor windowsill sat a little goat doll, her legs dangling, staring up at the ceiling with an expression Pinocchio couldn't quite name.

The Parrot and the Paper Wings

Pinocchio climbed up to the windowsill — joints clicking, boots scraping the painted wall — until he was sitting right beside her.

She was a small goat doll, her cream-colored fabric body soft and still, dark button eyes fixed on the ceiling. She wore a tiny lavender dress with a white collar. She hadn't noticed him yet.

"Hey," he said.

She startled so hard she nearly fell off. He caught her sleeve.

"Sorry." He let go. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," she said quickly.

Above them, perched on a curtain rod, sat a large green parrot doll with a bright orange beak and sharp plastic eyes. Somebody had tied a little paper note to his foot that read: FIRST ANNUAL CITY SKY RACE — FLYING CONTESTANTS ONLY.

The goat doll stared at that note like it had personally insulted her.

"You want to enter," Pinocchio said. Not a question.

Her button eyes flicked to him. "Goats don't fly."

"Says who?"

"Says everyone." She pulled her knees up. "This morning I told Baa-Baa and Clover I wanted to fly and they laughed so hard Clover knocked over a whole tower of blocks."