"Sarah, would you please set the table? Your father will be home soon."

Sarah smiled. "Should I use the good plates?"

"I think that would be a very good idea," Irene said.

Sarah drifted off to the dining room and opened the hutch to a set of white China dishes with a gold leaf edge. She carefully removed three plates from the shelf and placed them on the mahogany table.  Each place setting sat on a hand-embroidered placemat to protect the finish on the table.  Irene watched from the kitchen as Sarah placed the silverware on each side of the plate.  Sarah returned to the hutch and from the left side removed three water goblets.  "Should I fill the glasses now or later?" she asked. 

"Wait until your father gets home," Irene answered.

Sarah returned to the kitchen. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"No, I think that’s it."

"Okay, then I’m going upstairs to finish my homework,"

"Alright, I’ll call you when dinner is ready and your father is home."

Sarah ran upstairs taking two steps at a time. Irene chuckled to herself. Sarah was a bit of a tomboy at times.  Maybe the doll wasn’t such a good choice after all. Irene was so taken by its unusual beauty that she could not resist buying it for Sarah.

THUD!

Irene jumped. Dropping her dish towel on the counter, she rushed from the kitchen and ran up the stairs calling, "Sarah! Sarah! Are you okay?"

Sarah met her mother at the top of the stairs. "What was that, Mom?"

"Are you okay? You didn’t drop something on the floor?"

Sara could only shake her head from side to side. They both looked at Irene’s bedroom door at the same time and then at each other.