The world outside her home was a beautiful, wonderful place. Little bits of puffy snow danced to the ground. It was beginning to stick on the grass, but melted on the concrete. It made a very satisfying crunch if she stepped on it. But it was also very cold, and Doll decided not to step on it unless she absolutely had to. She didn't feel too cold, at least not yet. But she didn't have a choice, did she? She had to get the paper to the office.

Doll walked in a very nice, straight line along the sidewalk and was careful to avoid the cracks, unless she absolutely had to step on them. She never did. The office wasn't far. Three buildings down along a sidewalk that weaved through a square of brown brick apartment buildings. It was amazing that she knew the exact way to the apartment office.

She saw a small family in big puffy jackets standing and watching the snow come down. One was a little girl person and she watched Doll with wide eyes, as if she had never seen a doll before. The mother of the little girl also saw Doll and smiled, "Christmas party?" She asked.

Doll shook her head and smiled, "No, just the office." Her own voice, Doll sometimes thought, sounded an awful lot like Owner's.

The mother said something to her daughter that got the little one to stop staring, and Doll kept on walking. She didn't see anyone else on the way, which made Doll a little sad; she liked meeting new people.

When Doll came to the office, she stopped on the front mat and stamped her buckle shoes to get the white snow off them. Then she went inside, and the warm air wrapped her up like a blanket. It seeped into her skin and body, sinking in and banishing the cold.

She heard a happy, excited laugh from the desk by the front door and a nice, older woman with gold glasses and white hair. "Well, aren't you just adorable?" She cooed at Doll.

Doll's smile widened, "Thank you," she said merrily, and walked up to the desk. "I have a paper for you." She handed the white paper with the money number on it to the woman, who frowned a bit and looked at it.

"Oh! You're rent check. Very good, dear." She took the paper and Doll was ecstatic. She had completed her mission. Had made sure Owner kept her house. The woman wrote down a note in a book on the desk, then handed Doll a smaller slip of paper.

“A present?” Doll asked, surprised.

“A receipt, dear. Are you all right?”

Doll nodded as she took the gift receipt with one hand. “I am now that Owner gets to keep our house.” She smiled and spun around, leaving the woman quite confused.

The trek back to her home went very well at first. It did seem colder, somehow. Doll had a bit of a shiver as she walked, and pulled her arms up to her chest to keep everything warm. She hoped to see or talk to the family again. She came into the central green area again and looked around for the family, but didn’t see them. She didn’t move for a moment as she scanned the lower balconies and the snow-covered area around her.

Then Doll heard a voice from behind her. “Are you ok? Are you lost?” She heard a woman’s voice.

Doll turned and smiled at the woman. She was dressed in loose and warm pink sweatclothes, she had her hair done up in a bun, and she had a bag of groceries tucked in her arm. She looked . . . worried.

“I’m fine, and I’m not lost. Why are you worried?” Doll asked quizzically.

The woman thought for a bit, “You just looked lost. And you’re dressed like a doll. Which, admittedly, wouldn’t be that weird where I work. But here . . .”

Doll’s eyes lit up, “You work with dolls like me?”

“What? Sort of. Not really. Look, it’s freezing out here and you don’t have a jacket.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re shivering.” And then the woman reached forward and took Doll’s hand.

Doll’s mind went blank. She felt the woman’s hand through her mitten and it shocked her how good it felt. She had never, in all her time being a perfectly soft and perfectly good doll been touched by someone other than Owner. She was soft and beautiful and good just like Doll.

“I . . . I am a bit cold. Now that I think about it.”

“Look, lemme just get you to my place and warm you up a bit.” She smiled lightly, “Ok?”

Doll looked up into the eyes of the woman and nodded.