Chapter 17:

MY PARENTS HAD finally snapped out of the shock about the time that we had our screaming session. They were absolutely ecstatic about the sale that we had made.

We talked about what to do with the money on our way home. We decided that for now it was going to go into an account that was going to earn interest, and we'd do something more long-term with it in a month or so. I had offered to pay off the house, but they seemed to think it had other places that would be better to put it into.

We called my grandparents as soon as we got home, they couldn't believe the news either. It was still early enough to have gone out for ice cream or something to celebrate, but given we were already full from dinner that didn't seem that appetizing an idea. Instead we just sat around and excitedly talked about the evening until Mom and Dad forced me to go to bed.

The next day I went to school and things seemed normal. A silent pact had been formed between the four of us not to say anything to the other kids about our experience last night. Telling them could only mean trouble we had decided. Since we couldn't talk to everyone else about what happened the night before, all we talked about at lunch was the slumber party the next night.

"What are we going to do?" I asked Amy.

"All sorts of things! But I'm not telling you or anyone else what until Friday night." She said mischievously.

"Come on Amy..."

"Nope, you're just going to be surprised like everyone else!" She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Oh, I have one of those too," I stuck mine out. We both started giggling and the other girls just looked at us and shook their heads.

Ashley asked, "Are you two sure you aren't twins that were separated at birth?"

"Fairly," I answered. I had never given it much thought, but most of the time that we were out together doing stuff most people probably assumed we were sisters.

We had a fairly quick day and Amy came to my house after school. When we walked back from the bus stop I looked over and saw a large box sitting outside the door. As I got closer I saw there were actually two boxes sitting there.

"Brandon this must be the stuff that Mattel sent us!" Amy exclaimed.

"You're right. Help me get it inside and we'll see what it is." I said as I reached over and picked up one of the boxes. Actually I should say tried to pick up one of the boxes. It was heavier than I expected, and bulky. I decided to open the door first then pick it up again to carry it in.

I got that box inside the door and Amy brought her box inside too. "Brandon why don't we take these to your room to open?"

"Okay." I replied.

'Easier said than done,' I thought for a second as I picked the box back up. It was large and I figured it weighed at least fifty pounds. It took me several minutes to get it into my room and set it on the open floor area in there. She sat hers next to the one I had while I grabbed a pair of scissors to open them up. We decided to open the heavy one first, 'just what was inside of it?'

As I got the flaps of that box open I saw another box inside that had a pink exterior. Could it be? Could I really have received a set of girls' toys of my own?

Amy helped me pull the inner box out and we found a huge, really expensive, really nice doll house. "Wow Brandon, you won't have to come over to my house to play Barbies anymore."

"No I guess I won't will I?"

"What else is inside of here?" She asked as she dug through the box. We found several sets of doll furniture inside. "Wow, this is a really nice doll house set. I think it's nicer than the one I have!"

"Well you're probably going to find this same doll house sitting at your house." I replied. "Let's see what's in the other box." I said excitedly.

A few cuts later and I found that they had given me eighteen dolls in that box, featuring most of the Barbie characters. Amy was ecstatic upon looking at all of the dolls that were in there. "Brandon, this one is going to be a huge collector's item. They are already over seventy-dollars new! And this one too! Wow..." She went on for a while.

We inventoried that box finding that there were six collector's dolls, and the rest were all okay to play with. Inside that box were also several fashion sets of clothes for all of them to wear. I was absolutely in heaven, but what would my parents say?

"Amy, I doubt my parents will let me keep these."

"Why?"

"Well they're probably going to say that it's rather strange for a boy to have a doll house and Barbies – especially one my age. I mean you even get some razzing for still playing with them." I said.

"Who cares? Tell your parents it's like a trophy for a trophy case. Your parents can't really argue with you about that. I mean after all, think of how much money this Barbie project earned you."

"I guess you're right."

"Besides, this is part of who you are Tiffany." She said.

"Thanks Amy," I replied. "Well, why don't we wait until my mom gets home before we do anything more okay? She'd kill me if she missed out on doing something with these dolls and stuff."

Amy laughed, "Yeah, I think that you're right on that." We left all of the toys on the floor of my room, still in their boxes, and went to sit out in the living room and watch TV while we worked on our homework. My mom came home about thirty minutes later.

"Hey Amy, Brandon, how as your day?"

"It was good." I replied.

"Did the package come from those execs?" She asked.

"Umm... yeah, it did."

"Well what was it?"

"Why don't you come see for yourself?" I said as I led her down to my room.

"Oh my... Wow! This is a gorgeous doll house. I would have killed to have had one of these when I was little." She looked over all of the dolls and all the clothes and dollhouse furniture. "So do I have to say goodbye to these or what?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well are you giving them to Amy?"

"Why would I do that when she should have an identical set sitting at her house?"

"I don't know. You hadn't gotten them out yet though."

"You mean you wouldn't mind if I kept them?" I asked incredulously.

"No. I think this is a great way for you to remember this experience." She said. A second later after a hesitation she added, "And, I happen to know you've been playing Barbies with Amy at her house. I wasn't going to go out and buy you Barbies, but seeing as how they're already here..."

I was shocked! I hugged her and said, "Thanks Mom. I figured you were going to make me give them away or something."

"And deprive myself of the chance to have this doll house and these dolls in this house?" She asked. "Well come on, let's get to putting this all together. I think we can have some fun with this!" She seemed excited about it all.

We started opening the packaging of the dolls (talk about a pain in the butt!), and setting up the doll house. We eventually set the doll house up in a corner of my room on the floor. We tried putting it on top of the dresser, but it made it way too tall to do anything with, and it also blocked the window. We worked on getting the dolls and furniture set up inside of the house until 5:30 when Amy's mom came to get her.

"Brandon, tomorrow when you come to the sleepover, bring two of your Barbies okay?" Amy asked.

"Umm... Okay. Hey give me a call later and let me know if you got the same thing or not?"

"Okay, talk to you in a bit then." Amy said. As she left Amy gave me a wink so as to say, 'see?' I just smiled at her in return as she got into her mom's car.

"Mom?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"Is Dad going to be alright with me keeping that dollhouse?"

"Yes. We already talked about it."

"What?" I said surprised, "What do you mean you already talked about it?"

"Well when we heard they were sending you something we had a feeling it would probably be Barbies or something like it. I asked your dad if it was if he was okay if you kept them and he said yes."

"Really?"

"Yes sweetie. It's a great way to remember this by. Now go get washed up. I'm going to have dinner ready here in a few minutes.

"Okay Mom." I said as I went to go wash my hands. What was going on? That was far easier than it ever should have been!

That night Dad came home and mom showed him what they had sent. I watched his face and read something, I wasn't sure what it was, but it went away as quick as I saw it. A second later he looked at me and said, "Well, looks like a nice memento from your project." Everyone seemed to be following that same party line. At least I was getting to keep them!

"Speaking of which, they said the check should arrive tomorrow during the day. If it's here when you come home Brandon, please put it in the safe and lock it, okay?"

"Sure Dad. Are you sure you guys don't want me to pay off the house with it?" I asked.

"Yes Brandon, that money has other uses like paying for your college and such. And maybe in a few years it'll help pay for a car for you to drive." He added.

"Well okay." I said. "Do you know what we want to do with it until then?"

"Well I talked with a tax guy today and he figures that we need to go ahead and pay twenty-thousand in taxes on it to be safe. We should hopefully get at least five thousand of that back since you're under eighteen. The thing that may really throw things for a loop is the twenty-percent revenue. If that turns out to be anything – and Mr. Hancock and Mr. Sanders believe it will – it should add up to a lot of extra money."

"How much do those two think that could bring in?" I asked.

"Well they're thinking that it could end up making it onto the front of a movie at some point this year. If it does there'll be a revenue split. If, you're even talking of a box office/vhs revenue of a million-dollars, that's another fifty grand for each of you."

"Cool." I said.

We all talked for a while that night before Mom told me to go ahead and pack my stuff for the next night. I filled an extra backpack with clothes and stuff, along with two of the Barbie dolls like Amy had asked. For good measure I also put some outfits and accessories inside a Ziploc bag to take with me. I couldn't help but smile as I enjoyed being able to choose which Barbie I would take. They were all my very own Barbies! And, so many dolls to choose from!

That night when Iwent to bed I saw something else in the doll house's presence that pleasedme. It was the first girls' itemdecorating my room! With that thought Icouldn't help but smile as I went to sleep.

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