Story 7, The Return of the Smiling Wimpy Doll Summary: Summary

Christmas in Manhattan finds the narrator grown. He is an ex-GI and old enough to have an apartment with a doorman and fine enough furniture. By all rights, his set of first edition Peanuts paperbacks should be enough to keep the man content. Then a package arrives. The initial thrill of excitement gives away to feelings of dread and caution. His mother has packed a ton of his childhood mementos into a Life—The Complete Cereal box. Deep inside, he hears the quacking of a duck amidst the clinking and clanking of the contents of the battered carton. Resigned and compelled, he cuts the baling wire restraints with his scissors and the first item he sees is his long-lost Brownie Bear. This is quickly followed by...