The Third Child

Mary always says that the first memory she ever had of me was when Mom took me to the doctor in her belly and they got to hear my heart going. This makes me sad because now I never get to see Mom very much. She's always gone somewhere with Dad. I don't think I've ever met Dad, but Mary says he is very handsome and nice. I think that handsome might mean ugly, but I don't ask, because Mary is too busy going upstairs. She never told me what she gets to do upstairs, and I've even thought about sneaking up with her sometime. Actually, I don't even know why I'm never allowed to leave the basement, but I guess it's good I'm not alone all the time like I read in the magazines that Mary brings for me. They tell about how there are kids who never just live with one family, they have to go from family to family like a basketball. It's not very fair for them because their Dads hit them when they were just little babies, at least that's what the magazines said.

There's three of us, and I'm the youngest. My name is Polly, but that's just what I decided for Mary to call me. I named myself after my dolls that are only the size of my thumb. Mary says that the box says all their names are Polly. Nobody ever told me a name; so Mary said it was up to me.

Every morning, Joey and Sabrina, the other two, leave the house to go somewhere. I know because I can hear them through the floor. I'm still not sure why they aren't down here with me. Maybe it's because I'm too young. Mary tells me I'm 5, but I stopped having birthdays like Joey and Sabrina do. They have lots of their friends over, and during their birthdays Mary stays down here with me and we do puzzles.

Recently, Mary warned me that some of the things in the magazines weren't true; and that they were just little fibs that some man in an office made up. His name was Phil and he lied, so that people would buy his magazine. He was a miserable man, and he had no family. He lived with seven cats that he never fed. She told me I should feel lucky that I don't have to lie to be happy, like Phil does. I asked Mary did she ever lie, and she said only to protect someone. I wonder, did she ever lie to me? If she had said yes, I don't know what I would have done. Mary is my only friend in this whole house, so thankfully, she said no.

When Mary came back downstairs last night, she told me that someone was coming to interview Mom and Dad. Of course I wasn't allowed to go, but this time it was super top-secret. Me and Mary were to go stay in the hotel that apparently was across town, because they didn't want the interview man to find me. I still don't understand why they can't interview me, too. I could tell them lots of stuff about how it's like to live in the basement with your best friend. It would be especially cool if I could be in meanie-pants Phil's magazine, because even if he does lie sometimes, my story would be the truth.

I'm excited to stay in the hotel with Mary, because maybe I will get to see the stars for real. I've never seen them before, only in magazines. Mary says they shine like my eyes, but whenever I see myself in the mirror my eyes don't look anything like the stars in the magazines. Mary has been trying to get me a puzzle with the sky with stars in it, but Mom won't get one. I never get new toys anymore since Joey and Sabrina don't play with toys anymore, so they say it would be suspicious. Maybe one day Mary will save enough money to buy one on her own. Mary says she is very poor, and would have to live with her brother, if she didn't live in the basement with me. I wish we could go live with her brother, because he seems very nice from the letters he sends. I think he's the only one outside the house who even knows I exist.