Yesterday, I wrote about Jettie telling us that some of her friends don’t seem as interested in playing her version of make-believe anymore. It hit me harder than I expected. Not because anything was wrong, but because she still has this enormous appetite for pretending, and I hated the thought of her beginning to wonder whether that appetite itself was something she was supposed to outgrow.
I ended that piece with a practical solution. Dada’s Make-Believe Department, already operating at what I considered a fairly aggressive 100 percent capacity, would simply increase production to 150. Apparently I should be more careful about making public commitments.
That afternoon, when Jettie got into the car after school, I told her there had been some sort of emergency alert on our phones. Someone had gone missing. I hadn’t had a chance to look at it yet. Naturally, she immediately wondered whether the alert had come to her phone too. It had. Waiting for her was a missing-person graphic announcing that Barbie had disappeared. There were photographs, identifying details, and a plea for information. Agent Jettie Jane was specifically named as the person to contact if Barbie was spotted.
She was in immediately.
I told her she should probably keep her phone nearby in case anyone contacted her with information. By the time we got home, the investigation had begun. I slipped away for a moment and called her phone. Her dear friend Deer was on the other end. This required me, naturally, to become Deer and, eventually, every other character involved in the investigation.
Deer was frantic. Barbie was missing. She had been upset earlier in the day, ranting that something was gone and that she absolutely had to have it. Then she had stormed away in her car. Deer was worried something terrible might have happened. Fortunately, there was a witness. Rocky had seen Barbie while skating through town.
So Jettie began looking for Rocky, eventually realizing that the most logical place to find a skateboarding witness might be near the skateboard hidden in the toy closet. Rocky was located.
Rocky remembered Barbie saying that the Bedtime Gang had agreed to help her. This was alarming because, according to Rocky, if Barbie needed the Bedtime Gang, whatever was happening must be serious. The Bedtime Gang, of course, sleeps in our bedroom. Their leader is Bun Bun. So to the bedroom we went.
Bun Bun assured Agent Jettie that nothing sinister was happening, which is exactly the sort of thing a stuffed rabbit says when you are trying to establish that absolutely nothing sinister is happening. Barbie had apparently been searching for something she didn’t have. There had also been considerable discussion about cows. Barbie kept insisting that we needed more cows to prevent this particular crisis from ever happening again.
The investigation therefore moved to Cow, who was found inside the dog-food trash can, where Cow had reportedly last been seen attempting to steal the dogs’ food. Cow strongly disputed this characterization. Cow claimed not to know where Barbie was, but suggested that if we were dealing with a genuine mystery, Jettie should probably consult the smartest of all the stuffies: Mouse. Mouse is a scholar. Mouse lives among the books.
We found Mouse on the bookshelf. After carefully analyzing the available evidence, Mouse informed Agent Jettie that the key to the entire investigation had been discovered. The key, Mouse explained, was figuring out where the key might be.
This eventually led Jettie to our keys. Hanging near them was Monkey.
Monkey had information. Apparently Barbie had been talking obsessively about cookies-and-cream ice cream. She wanted it badly enough that she had announced she would go all the way to the Barbie junkyard if necessary. She had also mentioned checking on her airplane.
This sent Agent Jettie to the Barbie junkyard, where the investigation finally began collapsing toward its inevitable conclusion. Barbie wanted cookies-and-cream ice cream. There wasn’t any upstairs. There was, however, another freezer downstairs.
And inside that freezer was Barbie.
She had gone searching for ice cream, fallen into the freezer, and gotten trapped. Case closed. I am pleased to report that Barbie survived the ordeal, although I cannot confirm that she learned anything from it. For me, though, the best part came afterward.
There was no discussion about what the game meant. I did not sit Jettie down and explain that this elaborate domestic crime drama had been constructed as a response to her feelings about make-believe. There was no Dad’s Important Lecture on the Preservation of Imagination. I didn’t have to tell her that imagination remains available whenever she wants it.
She told me.
Almost immediately after Barbie was rescued, Jettie announced that we should do this at least once a week. Barbie should keep having adventures. There should be more mysteries and new stories. Next week, apparently, Barbie may be opening a restaurant and will require assistance gathering ingredients from her various friends. So that escalated quickly.
What began as me feeling sad that Jettie couldn’t always find someone who wanted to enter imaginary worlds with her ended with my eight-year-old essentially ordering a second season.
And I think that is the answer I was looking for. Not an argument about why make-believe matters. Not a lesson about refusing to grow embarrassed by the things we love. Not even reassurance that she should keep pretending for as long as pretending makes her happy. Just pretending.
Because there was a moment yesterday when Jettie knew perfectly well that Dada was hiding somewhere in the house making a phone call. She knew I was Deer. She knew I was Rocky. She knew I was Bun Bun and Cow and Mouse and Monkey. She knew Barbie had not actually become trapped in a freezer while desperately searching for cookies-and-cream ice cream.
And none of that mattered.
For an hour, Deer was worried, Rocky had seen something, Bun Bun knew more than he was saying, Cow was unfairly accused of stealing dog food, Mouse held the key, Monkey had overheard something important, and Barbie needed rescuing. That little world existed because the two of us agreed to enter it. Maybe that is all make-believe ever required.
Yesterday I thought I was creating a game for Jettie because I wanted to protect something she loves. Then she found Barbie, looked at me, and immediately started imagining what should happen next. Apparently the Make-Believe Department isn’t protecting anything.
Business is booming.