Sentimental

china doll

It was a gift from an aunt long before my little sister was pulled out of my mother's womb. 

Encased in a transparent jar, the ceramic doll remained untouched. Only recently, when the soon-to-be mother began moving stuff out of her room and into the narrow corridor did the china doll got dismissed. Its jar coated in dust, trash spilled within the bowels of the container itself.

I found the jar and the porcelain baby while cleaning the end table facing the stairs. There, the memento lay half-buried under piles of trash and forgotten keepsakes. The delicately crafted doll leaned on one side, pressed against the glass vase by a discarded Eveready battery. Rolls of yellow and green ribbons add to the garbage. The ribbons were put there as souvenirs marking an occasion, perhaps, to be collected and reused at a later time.

I took out the china doll from its container, making sure the figurine doesn't fall, or hit a hard surface. One of its legs was already severed. The industrial glue has failed to reconnect the broken parts.

The glass jar was taken away for cleaning, while a wall-mounted metal sconce, with its candle holder missing found new use after it too lay unclaimed on the table. There, on a wall separating my room from the outside world, it found its home. A metal hook was already in place. All that was missing is a wall-mounted conversation piece, which the glass encased ceramic doll now fulfills.