The Belly for Dolls (fiction)

The security company checked the house, doors and windows and reported that there appear not to be any break-ins. After they installed the cameras with a panorama view on the house, the fear subsided until discovering the same almost identical scene the next evening. The doll case’s door ajar and the bible opened where last night’s reading ended. Upon closer view, the dolls’ arrangement differs from this morning view. The dolls appear thrown in a heap of a pile with no order what so ever. After covering the case and installing the invisible camera, a sense of peace and surreal spiritual quality engulfed the room promoting a deep slumber. The camera reviewed no activities the next evening and all appear in order so the regular routine of praying, listening to worship and praise music and studying the bible resumed. Dusting and arranging the dolls and making sure everything’s in place before taking off for work make less work upon returning home and more spiritual time but the spirit took over at work prompting the urge to check on the room by viewing the camera. What! The music blaring, all the dolls shouting, jumping and dancing to the music for it seem like an eternity. Checking back later they were seated with the bible open reading verse after verse consumed with the Holy Spirit. This may warranty a mental ill diagnostic so it is necessary to keep it a secret until it’s all worked out. This viewing; the dolls no longer trapped in their case but free to mimic the events of the night before as long as it’s spiritual and no human life nearby, evolved into an obsession. An obsession that begs a solution, to be free—aha! A play, a play for all occasions using biblical characters and an all-woman cast straight from the bible! The first evening the reading of Mary, the most privileged among women for every Jewish woman hoped to be the mother of the Messiah. What a timely Christmas celebration! About a month later after many rehearsals and viewing from afar the play perfected beyond expectations—a symbolic birth of the Messiah and a niche materialized. With so many women of the bible, it’s become a lifetime routine rehearsing and leaving for the Belly for Dolls’ office to work with designers to design and order the making of the costumes and review and edit the tapings. Each doll has its own distinct characters while one excel playing the Samaritan, a woman who said yes to Jesus while another one played Esther, a queen who risked her life for her people like a real Jew. The sassy one was in her element playing Potiphar’s wife, a woman swayed by sex. Another doll a wise one took on Queen of Sheba, a woman who desired to be wiser. It seems like the dolls had souls such as with the play Eve, the first mother and the mother of all; she didn’t want to eat of the forbidden fruit—did they think they could withstand temptation?