Janet smiled happily at nothing in particular. She was perfectly content where her life was at the moment, had been perfectly happy with where it had been a year ago, and would no doubt continue to be cheerful into the distant future. She smiled on, with red lips curled into a perfectly cheerful grin, brilliant blue eyes crinkled in delight, and a rosy hue feathered across her cheeks.

She was the very picture of happy, and her life held no misery, nor regret, no misfortune, nor imbalance in the fates. Her life has been simple, and very fulfilling. Janet smiled on – even if she had a choice, she would have chosen to be happy.

That is to say, IF she had a choice. Of course she didn't.

She was dressed tastefully in a sweet yellow sundress, patterned with large daises. She absolutely loved that dress, and, even if she had the choice, she wouldn't have chosen anything else.

Key words there being: IF she had the choice.

She had small, tailored shoes, pale blue flats that were absolutely heaven on her feet. She thought that not only were they as comfortable as air, they were ten times prettier than it to. If someone offered her an expensive pair of Italian leather shoes, she would have refused them.

IF some had offered her some, but the only thing she was ever offered was invisible tea.

She was very polite, very ladylike, and very happy with the way things were going. Her painted on face and soft, padded body may seem to be lacking life and intelligence, but Janet herself was not.

You may have heard that some Native tribes believed that there was a spirit in everything. Even in the rocks, the sea, one for the sun, and moon, and trees. Even a spirit in each mosquito. Well, most people today have forgotten the beliefs of older, wiser people, and yet, their beliefs still life on.

Janet had a spirit and a mind, as did the dresser she used to sit upon, and the teacup that, at one time, sat in front of her. She didn't know how to communicate with them, of course, but she could feel their presence with the same senses which tell a normal human if they are being watched. Although the feeling was much more pleasant than that of being watched.

No, Janet couldn't move, or speak, or do anything else that you may find interesting. She just lived, and watched, and smiled. She smiled when she was unwrapped at Christmas, she smiled when she was invited to tea parties. She smiled when her dress was changed to a green one with cows on it, and then smiled slightly more when her yellow one was used once more. She smiled at the rain, and at the sun, at the dust bunnies under the bed that one time when she fell during the night. She smiled over the spare room when she was locked up in a glass fronted cabinet, and she grinned when the little niece took her out to play. She smiled when she was sold at an auction, and she simply beamed when she went to a new home.

Now she resides smilingly in a kingdom of dust and shadows, locked up tight inside an abandoned trunk. Her dress has faded, and she lost one shoe. Her forehead is chipped, and her delicate hands have lost almost all of the fingers.

And still, Janet smiles softly at the mice and dust, and shadows, and to herself, because she knows that she is still alive. She knows that it is a great thing to be alive, and she also knows what a dreadful thing it is to be not-alive, which is what she was some fifty years ago. It was dark and lonely, but now, now she could feel the spirit of the trunk, and the dust, and an old spinning top, and even another doll sitting by her side in their own kingdom of dust and shadows.

She giggles softly, so softly that she is the only one who hears. Yes, it is a wonderful thing to exist.