Tessa and Penny crouched in the brush twenty yards from Old Lady Barnaby's house, watching the goings on through the sliding glass door. It was like it was every time they spied on the crazy old lady and her collection of wind-up dolls. She wound the key on toy's back and set the doll back on the ground. And on normal days she watched her dolls begin to laugh and play.

Tonight, though, the toys stood in a semi-circle and talked amongst themselves and to Barnaby. The Tessa and Penny could see the Old Lady gesture, and assumed that she was talking back.

"Pretty boring tonight." Penny shrugged.

"Yeah. Tessa replied. She paused for a moment and added, "I'm actually bummed out that they're not performing tonight."

"It seems pretty intense, though." The two girls were so focused on the six dolls on the floor that they never noticed Old Lady Barnaby missing from her chair.

"What could they possibly be talking about?"

"We were discussing" and elderly voice said, "whether we should invite you two for tea." The girls spun around to face the voice, and saw Old Lady Barnaby standing behind them.

"Mrs. Barnaby!" Penny exclaimed, "We, uh," she nudged Tessa, looking for help, but the raven haired girl couldn't speak.

"You were spying on me and making fun of my dolls, just like you do every day. Why don't you two scurry along and leave my dolls and I alone?"

"Hey, lady," Penny said, poking a figure at the crone, "this is a free country and we're not your toys. We'll do what we want."

A few minutes later, Old Lady Barnaby was placing Penny and Tessa up on a shelf in her sewing room and posing them. "There, now you are my toys." She then walked out of the room and turned off the light.

"Next . . . time. . . keep . . . your mouth . . . shut." Tessa said.