“Why Mena, the sun is good for you. With your red, rosy cheeks you look healthy now. And look at Baby Carol her arm is back on? I am glad to see that you found a way to fix her.
“Yes, mom.”
****
Many weeks passed and Mena got well and went back to school. Her mom and dad never visited Mrs. Sousa but would wave in her direction when they spotted her in the yard. One day an ambulance pulled up in front of Mrs. Sousa's house and Mena's dad ran across the street to find out she was being taken to the hospital. The next day her dad told her that Mrs. Sousa died. Soon after, the old house was torn down and bulldozers came to flatten Mrs. Sousa's garden into the ground. Two new houses with smooth walls and big
windows were built on her property. Mena wondered if the ghosts of Mr. Sousa and Anna moved into the new homes. Maybe even Mrs. Sousa's ghost lived there. Near Mena's eighth birthday a lady looking like a young Mrs. Sousa came to the door introducing herself as her daughter. She had the picture of ”Anna" with her.
"This is for the little girl,” she said. "My mother wanted the little girl to have it."
Mena felt special that Mrs. Sousa thought of her and promised her daughter that she would take good care of Anna’s picture. She gave her father and mother big hugs when they allowed her to hang the picture in her room.
Late at night several weeks’ later Mena’s parents thought they heard voices coming from behind her door.
“Mena, is that you?” her mother called out.
Mena’s father gently opened the door to find his daughter fast asleep her arms cradled around Baby Carol.
“It’s not the first time I heard her talking to someone, Joe. I think she talks to that old doll like some kind of imaginary friend. Her birthday’s next week, she’ll grow out of it.”
doll like some kind of imaginary friend. Her birthday’s next week, she’ll grow out of it.”
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