Aprons and Raggedy Andy

The Great Ducknik made this apron for baby P-Dunky, back when she was thinking about designing and making toys and children's clothing for a living. For awhile, she made playhouses out of fabric that went over card tables, turning the tables into beautiful little forts inside, with strong windows and cute pockets for storing stuff. She made hand puppets and aprons. One of the first things Plot and Duck did, when they first moved back to California from Pennsylvania, was to take Duck's wares to gift shows and try to sell them. They learned the hard lesson: Add in your own labor time and you're making a nickel an hour if you're lucky.

Years later, Plotnik repeated this mistake. He and his partner produced a Hanukkah CD, which sold very well. But before there was a CD of eight songs there was only the first song. So they named themselves Blue Star Productions, mounted a cassette of the song onto a tall, blue card (with a gold star), along with the story of recording it and various other tidbits, and took it to Hanukkah Gift Faires (the extra 'e,' always the extra 'e') to sell as a Hanukkah gift. They priced it at $8, then $7, then $5, but no matter the price people would always ask: "Five dollars I'm giving? One song I'm getting?"

(All around their Hanukkah Faire gift table, people would be stampeding to buy beaded belts for $85 and purses for $135 and a box of plastic dreidls for $11 each but they could not, would not fathom $5 for a cassette with only one song on it.)

Anyway, after the gift business was put away, Punky ended up with an apron and a few playhouses and quite a few hand puppets. (And several Hanukkah single-song Cassettes mounted on a blue card with a gold star.)

Last week Ducknik dug the apron out of the attic and gave it to Baby Too.

Ah, the Raggedy Andy.



Before they moved to Stiletto City, when the small family of three still lived on the farm in Pennsylvania, the mother of Plot and Duck's good friend made a Raggedy Andy doll for Baby Punky-D. He was attached to that doll for years, it seldom left his side. Until the move to California.

Now he was a big boy and didn't wan' no steenking dolly, but he knew before Plot and Duck knew. He would try to lose it. He'd hide it places and Plot would find it and bring it back to him, not seeing the child's apparent lack of gratitude. This happened several times.

The last time was at the supermarket. PD took the doll over to a canned goods aisle, removed the cans, stuck the doll behind the cans and then replaced the cans, effectively hiding the doll from sight.

But somehow a grocery clerk spotted him, and as the three were exiting the supermarket, the clerk ran up to the car with the doll, breathless. "Your son almost left his Raggedy Andy!" Plotnik will never forget the look of clenched teeth frustration on his son's face.

But the message had gotten delivered. The doll was put away until BZWZ came along, but she didn't want anything to do with dolls. So it went out into the carport, and after the move to Saint Plotniko, was taken in an unopened box up to the attic.

Ha ha! Revenge! Last week Duck found it and gave it to Isabella! She loved it! "Are you hungry, Isabella?" people would ask her, and she'd say "No. But dolly hungry." Then she'd feed her doll. Like, a face full of scrambled eggs.

And yet -- yet -- the revenge is PD's. The Plotniks East are in Brooklyn and the doll was left here. We've still got it. Obviously, Raggedy Andy is a Kalifornia Kid now.