The Nightgown

As she was walking amongst the shelves in the storage unit, just as she was about to turn the corner, she saw something…just out of the corner of her eye. Something pink, presumed to have been lost or donated long ago. She turned her head out of disbelief, but there it was, the old rag doll with the pink nightgown, tattered in areas at this point, but overall not that bad especially not knowing how long it had been in storage. It was Brina’s doll with that same pink nightgown she finally snapped over and –borrowed’ so long ago. Her eyes welled up with tears, as she picked up the doll and remembered that day, thirty years ago. 

Brina picked up Marciana’s new doll, “Pink? Why do you always get the pink stuff? Why can’t I have the pink stuff, instead of whatever the other color is.”

Marciana had never realized how much Brina appeared to despise her for getting pink items. She was known for her obsession with pink. And, as she was the older cousin, even if only by 4 months, it was enough it seemed that their relatives would favor her with pink items when available and poor Brina would get whatever color was left. “Ugh, and mine’s blue. Why couldn’t it at least have been purple, at least then you’d most likely want to trade for good.”

As bad as Marciana felt about this, well she did love pink, and it was given to her with her doll. And it was obviously meant for her, as the doll had auburn hair and green eyes just like her, while Brina’s had her brown hair and amber eyes, and even had her freckles. So it wasn’t like there was just a mixup on who ended up with whose gift bag. “How about I let you borrower the doll just for the night? That way you can play with her and the pink nightgown.”

“But I want my doll, to wear the pink nightgown. Not your doll, in the pink nightgown,” complained Brina.

Marciana was hesitant. She loved her cousin more than anything, they were best friends, but for some reason she just didn’t want to give up the nightgown. I guess that’s just a part of being ten sometimes. “Fine, as long as you promise to give it back before you leave. We have to cut the nightgown’s off the dolls, they were sewn on.” And with that the nightgown’s were snipped and swapped on the dolls. 

The following morning in all the chaos, with the big family departing and all going back to their separate homes, between the dozens upon dozens of photo’s of various groupings of the family, the multiple goodbyes, Brina forgot to return the borrowed nightgown for her doll…Or at least that’s what Brina had claimed the following morning when Marciana had called her to make sure her cousin and family had made it home safely. Marciana remembered having asked Brina to mail the nightgown to her. But the nightgown was never mailed and whenever they did meet back up at family reunions or various trips to see each other, the nightgown became a lost item and ended up becoming a joke, with Marciana teasing Brina that she had always planned to keep it for good.

There in the storage unit, Marciana started laughing through her tears at how often she would ask about the status of the nightgown as they grew up. Who knows when exactly it ended up in storage, but with a good cleaning she felt she could get the nightgown and the doll back to a decent shape. She wanted to bring it to Brina in the hospital. She figured it would be a good trip down memory lane for the two of the. She also hoped it would bring Brina some joy.

The next morning with the doll all cleaned up, not looking new, but not looking as beat up, Marciana went to the hospital. Once she entered the room, she saw Brina who looked at her quizzically as she noticed the gift bag. “I found this while I was in the storage yesterday, thought you could use the company,” Marciana let her know. As soon as she pulled out the tissue paper, Brina saw the doll and started laughing as she pulled it out.

“I thought this was given away long ago” Brina said.

“I found it in storage. It was a bit dusty and tattered but I washed everything and mended the nightgown.” Marciana let her know.

“Please don’t tell me you still want the nightgown back now?” Asked Brina, still laughing a little.

“No, I guess you can just have it now. I’m not even sure where my doll is at this point. I’ll have to go through my boxes to see if it’s still there or if was donated at some point over the years. You did leave me with the blue nightgown after all. I wouldn’t mind it so much now,” Marciana said.

“Oh sure now you wouldn’t mind the blue nightgown, but back then and for so long, it was all about the pink nightgown. Oh, how it bugged me how you got EVERYTHING in pink and I just got whatever the other color was. And now you don’t even care. How old were we when we got these?” Asked Brina.

“Oh, I think like 9 and 10 or something like that. I didn’t realize how much you liked pink too, sorry. I’m pretty convinced though every time I came around you hid the doll, just so I wouldn’t get the pink nightgown back that you were only supposed to be borrowing! And now that you’re playing the cancer card, how do I not just give it to you,” Marciana said.

“You’re telling me I just had to get cancer, to get all the pink stuff over you? I did hide her sometimes before you would come to town. I just wasn’t ready to give up the pink nightgown back to you” confessed Brina. And with that they both started laughing. They spent the day reminiscing more about their childhoods, and talking about everything under the sun just like they did growing up. 

Marciana stayed with her that night and fell asleep next to her at the bed holding her hand. She woke up with a start in really early the next morning. She thought she felt Brina give her one more kiss on the cheek, but then she heard it and then the sound had registered. Brina was gone and she had passed in the night, holding Marciana’s had on one side, and her doll with the pink nightgown tucked on the other side under her arm. Marciana wept.