"I don't know how to feel," Beatrice said, sitting in her mothers kitchen while her mother made them some tea; Bea continued, "I don't...I should feel happy, you know, grateful? All I ever wanted was for others to love Beatrice the way I did, and for her to bring them joy the way she did for me, but now that that's happening...I don't know. It feels like they're trying to take something away from me."
Her mother, Gloria, turned away from the kettle as she waited for it to heat up and she opened up a pack of cookies, biting into one. "It's only understandable you'd feel that way, considering Beatrice was a real dog. I think you need to tell them that, otherwise they'll never understand this attachment to what they assume is a fictional character. Be upfront about it." "...they made a doll, and they gave it to this little girl," Bea said, and that caught her mothers attention. "They made a doll??" she asked, "Wow, you've really made it, Amelia." "...no, you don't...you don't understand," Bea said, "you don't know what I saw." 3 DAYS EARLIER Beatrice, Michelle and Eliza were in Bea's car, though nobody but Beatrice knew why. She'd gotten them take out breakfast from McDonalds and she'd even offered to get them lunch and dinner too if they weren't done come days end, but she wouldn't tell them why she'd invited them on this little ride along. After a while of just sitting outside of a house on a normal everyday suburban street, the smell of breakfast sandwiches filling the car, Michelle finally had had enough and looked at Bea. "What are we doing?" she asked, "Shouldn't we be working?" "Technically this is work related," Bea said, "I need to see it. I need to witness it firsthand." "Witness what?" Michelle asked, but before Bea could even respond, the front door opened, and the couple from the meeting walked out with their little girl who was clutching the doll to her chest as tightly as she could. Michelle couldn't believe it. They were stalking a child for marketing purposes? This was sick. Eliza reached forward and held out a hashbrown in a paper sleeve to Michelle. "You want this one?" she asked, and Michelle smiled warmly, appreciating having her there as she graciously accepted the hashbrown and bit into it. They waited until the family was in the car, and then they followed it down the street. "Why are we doing this?" Michelle asked. "Because I need to see her react to it," Bea said, "I need to know that it's good for her, that she loves it the way I love it. I need to know that putting this doll out won't cheapen Beatrice Beagle." Michelle didn't even bother arguing. She knew she had no leg to stand on after all, so she simply ate her hashbrown and enjoyed the ride. After a short drive, they car pulled over at a school, and the mother got out and helped the little girl out and walked with her into the school. After a minute or two, she re-emerged, re-entered the car and it drove away again. Bea parked outside of the school and waited. "Cool, so now we're just watching a public school?" Michelle asked, "Nothin' creepy about that at all." Beatrice smirked as she picked up her coffee and took a sip. "I wanna sign off, I know it's the right thing to do, and I know it would help us tremendously. Liam said it himself. We need to bring in money outside of subscriptions. The show's not cheap, despite looking that way. There's costumes to be made, props to be built, puppets to be created, and everyone deserves equal pay for their work, and the only way to do that is to sell stuff. I wanna sell this doll, but...I need to know it's worth it first." Michelle got out of the car and walked away for a bit, just trying to wrap her head around Bea's obsession. After a moment, Eliza joined her. As the two walked away from the car a bit, Michelle rubbed her arms, shivering. It was still somewhat cold outside this morning. Eliza took her jacket off and put it on Michelle, who blushed at the gesture. "She's weird," Eliza said, "but I'm weird, and you like weird. I get what she means. These things we create are very personal to us, and we wanna make sure they're personal to others too, you know?" "I get that, I do, this is just..." Michelle said, turning to face her, "...ugh...this is just really uncomfortable. I'm all for being here for Beatrice. Hell, neither of us would be here if it wasn't for the other. But..." "Just let her do her thing, ya know? Let her get it out," Eliza said, "Then she'll write it off, and everything will be good." Michelle nodded, sighing. Eliza was right. She couldn't deny it. Beatrice was an important facet of herself, and she couldn't just let them make a doll of it without seeing firsthand what the kid might act like with it. Beatrice wasn't just a character, it was a literal part of herself. Michelle respected that. Hell, it was part of what drove her to find Bea in the first place. Michelle looked at the car and thought about all of this. They did need the money. She'd stick it out. She looked back at Eliza, who smiled at her. "Your jacket's warm," she said. "I'm glad you like it," Eliza said. "Aren't you cold?" "I don't get cold," Eliza said, "I'm weird like that." Together they walked back to the car and got back in. After settling back into their seats, Michelle sipped her iced coffee and leaned back in her chair, feeling Eliza play with her hair from behind. She blushed. She liked the attention and the friendship Eliza gave her, so she often let her do whatever she wanted. Michelle glanced at Bea, who was nervously chewing her nails. "You okay there cowboy?" she asked. "...I want children to be happy. I was a happy child. Contrary to popular belief, and preexisting notions within pop culture, great art doesn't have to be borne out of great sorrow. I had a wonderful childhood. I love my parents, and they love me. I was successful. I did what I wanted for a living. I wanted to share that joy with other children. I knew there were kids out there, kids like you Michelle, who maybe weren't happy. Who didn't have great lives or good parents. Who maybe needed something more. Something to be there for them." Michelle teared up, nodding slowly. "...but it has to be more than a commercial oddity. It has to be more than just a tax write off. It has to be more than an economic cow. It has to actually mean something. I'm not against merchandising as much these days, so long as that merchandising is tasteful and respected and means something. I don't wanna overdo it, sure, but why can't there be a doll, you know? Beatrice exists on the screen, why can't she exist in the hands of a little girl? She existed in my hands." Michelle furrowed her brow and reached out, touching Bea's arm as Bea wiped her eyes. "She was my dog. She was my real dog. Now I want her to be everyones dog. I want everyone to love her the way I did, the way I do, and I want her to be there for them the way she was for me," Bea said, "this isn't merchandise. This is a gift. I wanna give the kids a gift of love. So even in the darkest nights when they're the most scared, they know they have something with them that loves them, because they hear it every day on the television." Michelle didn't want to push the issue anymore, so she simply acknowledge it and kept quiet. After a few minutes of silence, Eliza piped up from the backseat. "When I make a puppet," she said, "I think about what aspects of myself I want to put into it, because it's easier to draw from real life than create something from thin air. It's weird to put an aspect of myself into, say, a flower pot puppet, but it helps. It helps sort out how you feel about yourself, too." "I guess since I don't make things I have a hard time understanding," Michelle said, "but I'll take your words for it." "But you DO make things, you made an entire set in your basement," Beatrice said, reaching over and touching her hand, "and hell, that's the biggest fan response I've ever gotten, so that says something." Michelle laughed and nodded. She had almost forgotten about the basement set, it'd been so long ago. God, everything felt so long ago now. How had it all come to this? *** "Sounds like you'd already made up your mind," Gloria said, pouring herself and Beatrice cups of tea and walking to the table with them, "so why the need for the spying?" "We weren't spying. We were doing recon. It's totally different," Bea said as her mother set the teacup down in front of her, the both of them chuckling slightly as she added, "and I just...I had to see it myself, first hand. It's one thing for her folks to tell me how she reacted, but it's another to see it with my own eyes." Bea lifted her teacup to her lips and took a long sip as her mother opened up the package of cookies further and pulled some out, placing them on the table in between them. Bea took one and ate it, chewing, then after a few minutes of snacking, she finally sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I guess I just needed to know whether or not the company was using people to lie to me to get what they wanted," she said, "after all, Liam did the same thing. I guess once you've been betrayed by someone you trust so deeply, it makes it hard to trust anyone at all, especially those in the corporate world." Gloria finished her own cookie, then cleared her throat. "Yes, but...he's obviously done a good job of earning your forgiveness," she said. "Right, because he actually knows how much he hurt me. But companies, corporations, they don't care. They just see me as a way to line their bottom dollar. I am nothing more than a machine that churns out a product for them, hence the hesitation," Beatrice said, "so I think I have every right to be suspicious." "So what happened then?" A moment. A long pause. Beatrice sighed and a smile played on her lips. "...the best thing in the world, honestly," she said. *** It'd been 3 hours, and still they sat parked there outside of the school. Michelle checked her watch and sighed. She didn't really have anything else to do today, and yet she felt like she could be using this time more constructively than she was. Michelle finally tossed her hair back and pulled it into a bushy bundle, handing it back to Eliza who started to braid it. Michelle looked at Bea, who was tapping her nails on the steering wheel. "You know, Liam's gonna start to wonder where we are," she said. "So? Not like he's my husband," Bea said, "I'm allowed to do things without him knowing." "I'm just saying maybe we should go back to the studio for a bit, or call in or something," Michelle said, "give someone some idea of what it is we're doing, even though what it is we're doing is kinda creepy and now that I've said it out loud I don't know that I want anyone to know about it, which only furthers the creepiness altogether." Beatrice laughed and adjusted her rearview mirror. "We won't stay much longer, okay? I promise. I just need to-" Everything stopped. Beatrice was staring dead ahead out the windshield, and Michelle followed her gaze towards the schoolyard, where the kids had just been let out for recess. Beatrice undid her seatbelt and climbed out of the car, telling the girls to stay here until she got back. "This is ridiculous," Michelle muttered under her breath. "Yeah, but you'll have nice braids when I'm done," Eliza said, making Michelle smile. Thank god for Eliza, she thought. Beatrice strolled across the lawn, and approached the wooden fence that surrounded the schoolyard, her eyes scanning the groups of kids until she found the one she was looking for. Ashley Harding was sitting on a wooden bench, eating apple slices and cheese, holding Bea to her chest as she snacked. Beatrice approached cautiously and knelt down. "Hello," she said, making Ashley turn around; she continued, smiling, "Do you know who I am?" "...you're Beatrice Beagle," the girl said, "I recognize your voice." "That's right," Bea said, smiling warmly at her, "I like your doll." "I got it for my birthday!" Ashley replied, holding it out to Bea, who took it from her and examined it; Ashley continued, "it's my favorite doll. It's so soft and it makes me feel safe during bed." "You're not surprised I'm not a real dog?" Bea asked. "I'm not stupid," Ashley said, making Bea laugh as she added, "I know it's a costume! I know what costumes are! Did you...did you make the doll? Did you let me have it?" Bea hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "No, your mom and dad just love you so much that they found a way to get you a doll nobody else can have yet," Bea said, "I mean, sure they couldn't be made without me, but they're the ones who got it for you. I am happy you have it though, especially if it makes you feel safe and loved." "Do you have any kids?" Ashley asked as Bea handed her doll back, and Bea glanced over her shoulder back towards the car, seeing Eliza braid Michelle's hair, and she smiled. "Yeah," she said, "yeah I do." *** "Well, it sounds like everything went better than expected," Gloria said, "sounds like you'll have a popular toy in stores soon enough. Can't see what the problem is." "I didn't say there was a problem, except for maybe myself," Bea responded, "the problem is me. I'm the issue. I hold everything up because of this attachment to Beatrice, and wanting to share her but also wanting to keep her to myself. It's an odd dichotomy to have." "That's how mothers are," Gloria said, making Bea smile a little and give a short nod; she added, "She may be fictional, but she was based on a real dog, and you were like her mother. It's only understandable you'd be protective. Nothing weird about that at all. Kinda like how your father and I are protective of you." Bea understood, and she couldn't argue. Then again, she didn't know the half of how protective her folks were of her. Replacing her dog when it died, moving her to the country, keeping her somewhat sheltered. They had done so much in the name of keeping her safe, and she didn't even know any of it. But that's the way it should be, really. When you've done something right, nobody will know you did it at all. Parents are often the best at it, if they try hard enough, and Beatrice's tried harder than most. *** Beatrice was lying on the couch as Leslie scooped their food from their take out containers onto plates and brought them into the living room, setting them on the coffee table. She motioned for Bea to scoot, so she sat up and sighed heavily. "Rough day the coal mines?" Leslie asked. "They're gonna make the dolls. I told Liam today it was okay," Bea said. "Oh yeah?" Leslie asked, opening her beer bottle and taking a swig, then wiping her mouth on her sweater sleeve, "and what made you make that decision?" Bea shrugged. "Just seemed like the right thing to do," she replied.
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Beatrice Beagle follows a young woman obsessed with a defunct pizzeria and kids show featuring a dog mascot. As she uncovers more about its mysterious past, she becomes sucked into the life of the woman who played the mascot, they both discover just how much they need eachother. Archives
April 2024
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