I figured you all would actually appreciate the story of what recently happened to me.

I'm a teacher's aid at school for a class of accelerated freshmen. Currently, they are working on a project to build a ridiculously complex machine to perform a simple task. Anytime they have projects, I mostly sit in the back and do nothing.

But then I started looking around. And at the group nearest me, I saw a tragic tragic thing. It was what appeared to be a Samantha doll...sitting atop a ladder with a rope and weight taped to her body. These children were DROPPING her, from the ladder, to pull a skateboard. I was in shock.

I got up and started talking to the girl who owned the doll. I tried to explain to her what was wrong with the picture, and even if she didn't care about the doll, if she fixed her up she could sell her on ebay. She DIDN'T CARE.

I went home. I told my mother. And we fished out an Our Generation doll we'd found at a thrift store. My mom gave me 20 dollars. The next day at school, I proposed switching dolls and giving her ten dollars for poor Samantha. And...well, she didn't even think about it! (after the project, the doll was doomed to a kindergarten classroom.)

Samantha was removed from the evil evil machine, and I took her in my arms and began examining her. She was FILTHY. Arms, legs, face--GREY. Literally. She was marked Pleasant Company, had long strings, and even an artist mark! I took her home where my mother and I cleaned her up, and underneath all the dirt, after brushing her hair...she was beautiful.

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She will, however, be being sent to AG Doll Hospital for a wellness visit. She needs her limbs tightened up, and a little bit of stuffing is poking out the top. Remarkably good condition though, considering what was being done to her.

I'm hoping to give her a good new home with a little girl I know next door who wants a Samantha very badly. Her parents don't like the mattel dolls, and pm dolls on ebay are just too much. I feel like it was supposed to go this way. [img]wink.gif[/img] (coincidentally, the girl's name is also Samantha.) More pictures if the little girl's mom lets us give the doll to her.

-Janine