It’s often said about “killing someone with kindness”, something I thought about recently. There are many different ways in which one can carry an act to extreme measures. I am guilty of such malevolent behavior.
Well, not really. I was a mere child at the time, so please, lighten up. And my actions did not involve “killing”, not by any means. But I did manage to inflict injury on something I loved dearly.
She was my favorite doll, named “Joanie” for reasons I can’t explain, guessing now that it must have been an important name to me way back when. Made of rubber, she drank and wet and was one of very few dolls that came my childhood way. What made her special was that I could feed her with a bottle. And feed her I did. So much so that her butt eventually rotted away. She started leaking, terribly, through whatever washcloths or dish towels I wrapped her in, but I loved her and felt that it was my duty to keep up with the doll’s water torture. I think that if there was a way for her to refuse the constant flow of water that I forced into her tiny mouth she might have screamed ENOUGH! But, she never did, just kept drinking that water like a drunken sailor.
Poor Joanie ended up being unceremoniously hauled away with the garbage along with a stern warning from my parents on any future doll requests. Oh, I made them, received one or two but kept them as is, some in their original packaging. They became something to look at, rarely played with, and I still have one or two tucked away.
For what and who I have no idea but at least their butts are intact.
