Dibs: In Search of Self

by Virginia M. Axline

you have anything to say?” he demanded of the doll. “Are you sorry for all the mean angry things you said?” He shook the doll, threw it around in the sandbox, hit it with the shovel. “I’m going to make a prison for you with a big lock on the door,” he said. “You’ll be sorry for all the mean things you did.” He got the blocks and began to line the hole with the blocks, building the prison for the father doll. He worked quickly and efficiently. “Please don’t do this to me,” he cried out for the father doll. “I’m sorry I ever hurt you. Please give me another chance.” “I will punish you for everything you have ever done!” Dibs cried out. He put the father doll down in the sand and came over to me. “I used to be afraid of Papa,” he said. “He used to be very mean to me.”