English Audio Request

William wanted a doll. He wanted to hug it and cradle it in his arms and give it a bottle and take it to the park and push it in the swing and bring it back home and undress it and put it to bedand pull down the shades and kiss it goodnight and watch its eyes close and then William wanted to wake it up in the morning when the sun came in and start all over again just as though he were its father and it were his child. "A doll" said his brother. "Don't be a creep!" "Sissy,sissy sissy!" said the boy next door. "How would you like a basketball?" his father said. But William wanted a doll. It would have blue eyes and curly eyelashes and a long white dress and a bonnet and when they would make a little click like the doll that belonged to Nancy next door. "Creepy" said his brother. "Sissy,sissy? chanted the boy next door. And his father brought home a smooth round basketball and climbed up a ladder and attached a net to the garage and showed William how to jump as he threw the ball so that it went through the net and bounced down into his arms again. He practiced a lot and got good at it but it had nothing to do with the doll. William still wanted one. His father brought him an electric train. They set it up on the floor and made an eight out of the tracks and brought in twigs from youtside and set them in clay so they looked like trees. The tiny trin threaded around and around the tracks with a claking sound. William made cardboard stations and tunnels and bridges and played with the train a lot. But he didn;t stop wanting a doll to hug and cradle and take to the park. One day his grandmother came to visit. William showed her how he could throw the ball through the net attached to the garage outside. He showed her the electric train clacking along the tracks through the tunnel over the bridge around the curve until it came to a stop in front of the station William had made. She was very interested and they went for a walk together and William said, "but you know what I really wnat is a doll." "Wonderful," said his grandmother. "No,"William said. "My brother says it will make me a creep and the boy next door says I'm a sissy and my father brings me other things instead." "Nonsense," said his grandmother. She went to the store and chose a baby doll with curly eyelashes and a long while dress and a bonnet. The doll had blue eyes and when they closed they made a clicking sound and William loved it right away. But his father was upset. "He's a boy!" he said to William's grandmother. "He has a basketball and an electric train and a workbench to build things with. Why does he need a doll?" William's grandmother smiled. "He needs it," she said, "to hug and to cradle and to take to the park so that when he's a father like you, he'll know how to take care of his baby and feed him and love him and bring him the things he wants, like a doll so that he can practice being a father."