The dining room was normal, relatively. There were ten round tables around the room, a bar and stools along the left wall, and outside a lovely patio with more tables. The cafe had an old time saloon kind of feeling, with a balcony that ran across the interior of the dinner area. Whitney could see a number of doors heading into rooms up there, but had no idea what may be behind them.

She almost stumbled on the ballerina doll as she stopped by a nearby table, close to the center of the room and right next to a pedestal with another doll on it. She seemed to be made from a soft, light wood, and her brown haircut pixie short.

The doll was a marionette, her arms and legs dangling from a handle two feet above her head and held up by a colorful wooden stand. Her clothes, too, were bright and playful, consisting of short green shorts and an unbuttoned green shirt, both with pink trim and fake pink buttons. Her whole costume was that of a slightly more feminine lederhosen. She had knee high multi colored socks that matched her suspenders, and also tight nylon stockings around her legs and arms, covering every inch of her apart from her face. Even her hands were wrapped in white mittens.

Whitney cocked her head as she looked at the windup toy. While the doll had heavy makeup that included doll red cheeks, and a pixie pointy nose, she recognized the girl on the stand. It was Harriet, one of her best freinds.

“Do you like her?”

Whitney blinked and looked back at the Ballerina, “What?”

“That’s Pennyochio. She’s one of our play dolls.”

“What?” Whitney said again, looking between the windup and the ballerina.

The ballerina smiled softly at Whitney, “Oh, I’ll let her explain.” She went up to the marionnette and shook her strings.

“Hey, wake up!”

And then Harriet, pulled and twisted by her strings, stood up and waved to Whitney,

“Hi! What’s your name,” the marionette asked, her eyes and face not registering that she knew Whitney at all.