37 Ways to Start Fire - Episode 1

POV of Min-Ji Cho

       It’s always a great day when you wake up to your siblings arguing about AG’s new historical characters… not. From somewhere downstairs, someone was arguing with someone, and while it’s not a rare occurrence for my siblings to do so, I was not in the mood to be woken up. Normally I don’t mind getting up early, but I had stayed up too late the night before. Frustrated, I put my pillow over my head until the yelling ceased. 

 

       It occurred to me that I hadn’t actually seen the new characters yet. So, slowly, I reached over and grabbed my phone from its spot on my chair. 

        Isabel and Nicki… not the most original names, and the stock photos were certainly not the best. Still, they looked like cool kids to get to know. But, maybe not right now. Now I wanted to go back to sleep. 

       Just then, Courtney burst into my room. “AYY MIN-JI!” She shouted. Ugh, of course it had been her yelling earlier. 

       “No- I’m not joining your evil organization to convince our siblings to adopt Isabel and Nicki,” I said. 

      “How did you know what I was going to ask?” She looked confused. 

        “Because,” I said, “you do this every time you want something.”

         She sighed, and left, slamming the door behind her. Now my peace had been too far disturbed to go back to bed. 

       When I finally came downstairs for breakfast, I passed Marie Grace tidying up in the living room. That was strange to me, but I didn’t think much of it. Perhaps she’s just the kind of person who likes to get a head start on spring cleaning, I thought. 

       In the kitchen, Luna was talking to Stella. I caught a little bit of their conversation. 

       “Stella- honestly! I’ve been here for years! Marie Grace only goes on a cleaning rampage like that whenever a new doll is coming,” Luna said. 

        I sighed. All this talk about Nicki and Isabel today, and it was only 7 am. There was no doubt that this was a big deal to my siblings, I just couldn’t find the same excitement. If they both joined our family, that would make 37 of us- 37 of us that could burn down the house at any moment… It was a miracle to me that it hadn’t been burned down already. Of course, there was the incident with the smoke alarms last month. I can’t talk about that; I’m sworn to secrecy on 3 things, and as far as you need to know, 2 of those things have to do with Courtney. 

        As the week passed, my siblings talked less and less about the twins. There remained a general excitement around the subject, but the thought that they may or may not join our family died down. Surely, everyone thought, it wouldn’t take an entire week for them to come from Wisconsin to Piney Grove. Plus, everyone pretty much stopped talking about Isabel after Isabelle found out about them. It’s strange, because no one quite knows Isabelle very well, she’s so shy, but the moment she found out about the new characters, she burst out crying. I like to think that it would be cool if AG released a doll named Min-Ji, even though I’m the one-and-only, but maybe Isabelle felt replaced. Claudie held an unreasonable (or perhaps it may have been reasonable, after all) grudge on Isabel and Nicki for being released so close to her. I tried to remind her that I was released with 19 other dolls, but she didn’t have it; she said that it’s different when you’re a historical character. For her sake, I hope AG releases some more stuff for her.

       By Tuesday, the house had been cleaned and organized from the top to the bottom, a feat I hadn’t known could be accomplished. That night, I was still downstairs by the time most of my siblings had gone to bed. A single light illuminated the doorway from the kitchen, and I heard Marie Grace’s voice. It sounded like she was talking on the phone to someone. Curious, I crept over to the door, pressing myself against the wall so she wouldn’t see me. 

       “Tomorrow?” She said. “Yes… Of course. No, really, l look forward to it! Thank you.” 

          She hung up. I was left with more questions than answers. What was happening tomorrow? What was it that Marie Grace looked forward to? 

     

         Marie Grace seemed to sense I was standing there, because she looked up and said, “Go to sleep, Min-Ji.” 

        “Are we getting a new doll?” I asked, moving out of my hiding place. 

         Marie Grace chewed her lip. “I don’t know.”

         “You’re doing the thing you do when you’re anxious or lying. Does that mean we’re getting a new doll? One of the twins?”

         “What thing? And, I don’t know. Go to sleep.”

          “You chew your lip whenever you’re lying.”

           She sighed. “I can’t say anything, Min-Ji. Just go to sleep and you’ll see tomorrow.” 

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       Bum, bum, bum! Cliffhanger, except you already know I got the twins, so it’s kind of not! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the first part of my FIRST EVER photo series! Let me in know in the comments what you think will happen next!

      Also, I need to talk about what’s going on with my GOTY Isabelle’s name. (Please don’t throw rotten tomatoes at me!) I initially decided to change it because I hadn’t bonded with the doll, and you guys more than delivered with your awesome name suggestions! The more I thought about it, though, the less it made sense for me to do so. She’s always been Isabelle, and kids with the same name are in school classes together all the time. If kids with the same name are together in classes of 25, I thought, then it’s not far-fetched for there to be two Isabel/les in a doll collection of 37! Plus, the spellings are different, so there is a differentiation between the two. I’ll likely go over their distinctions in one of the upcoming parts of 37 Ways to Start Fire, but my thoughts are now that GOTY Isabelle will be mostly referred to as “Isabelle ‘le’”. Surprisingly, this name conundrum has actually helped me develop both Isabel/le’s characters, and maybe it will end up driving the plot…

     I don’t think there’s anything else to say here, so have a great day and remember to eat your veggies! Bye! <3