1.

‘It’s blue,’ the little girl said to the doll perched on her knee. ‘As blue as the cold that flies south in the summertime.’

‘Brrr!’ said Jemima, looking up into Penny’s big brown eyes. ‘Do you like the snow?’

‘It’s fun!’ said Penny.

‘Is it cold?’ said Jemima.

‘Not if you wear woolly mittens,’ said Penny.

‘Is it really blue?’

‘Of course it is.’

Jemima was disconcerted. ‘Are all cold things blue?’

‘Yes.’

‘I thought snow was white,’ said Jemima.

‘No,’ asserted Penny. ‘Snow is cold, and cold things are blue.’

‘It’s not fair. I want snow to be white.’

2.

‘What can you do with snow?’ asked Jemima.

‘You can make snowballs and throw them at people,’ said Penny. ‘I love that. And you can go tobogganing, and make a snowman.’

‘Can you make snow families?’

‘Yes,’ said Penny. ‘With snow girls and snow dolls.’

‘All dancing in the snow.’

‘Would you like to be a snow doll?’ asked Penny.

‘No, it would be too cold. I’m perfectly content being an ordinary doll,’ said Jemima.

‘I’d like to be a snow girl,’ said Penny.

‘You might get lost. A blue girl in the blue snow would be difficult to see.’

3.

‘I can’t see anyway,’ said Penny.

‘That’s how you could get lost,’ said Jemima. ‘You’d get jolly cold even in your woolly mittens.’

‘I’d wear warm boots and a snuggly jacket.’

‘But how would I find you?’ asked Jemima.

‘You’d have to look very hard.’

‘I would, I promise.’

‘What’s it like being able to see?’ asked Penny.

‘It’s like knowing where someone is even if you can’t hear them.’

‘But I know where you are. I can feel you on my lap,’ said Penny.

‘What’s it like being blind, Penny?’

‘It’s just normal. It’s just the way I am.’

4.

‘What’s it like not being a real person?’ said Penny.

‘I am a real person.’ said Jemima.

‘But you’re a doll.’

‘I’m a real doll, aren’t I?’

‘Yes.’ Penny let out a ripple of happy laughter. ‘I don’t very often feel like a real person though.’

‘You are, though!’

‘I know, but when you can’t see, you’re different from everybody else.’

‘Everybody is different anyway,’ said Jemima. ‘You’re the same lovely person to me, whether you can see or not.’

‘Thank you, Jemima,’ said Penny. ‘I’ve never seen you, but I can tell that you’re just the loveliest person ever.’

5.

‘Snow is very complicated, isn’t it?’ said Jemima, changing the subject.

‘Yes, it is. So is seeing and not seeing.’

‘And real and not real.’ The doll paused. ‘It doesn’t matter, does it? Not really.’

‘No, because we still love each other,’ said Penny. ‘It doesn’t matter if we are blue or not, or real or not, or can see or not. It doesn’t matter at all.’

‘Can we sing a snow song, Penny?’

‘Yes. Do you know Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?’

At that moment, thoughts of Rudolph between Penny and Jemima had to stop, because it was their tea-time.

The end.