Tea for Two by Rachel Sievers

The door opens, the day is warm and the sun is already rising burning off the last wisps of fog. The child moves over the threshold holding a tortilla she found in the pantry. Last week the food bank handed out tortillas and she had filled her backpack full of them. Tortillas were good with anything from beans to peanut butter. This morning it was plain but she did want to wake any of the guests from last night, still asleep on the floor. 

Careful to shut the door quietly she moves over the plywood porch wary not to snag her bare feet on any of the spots that give wicked slivers. The dirt is still cool this morning as the girl adjusts the small backpack full of supplies and moves to the old wood pile. 

When they had first moved into the old double wide on the outskirts of town the girl had noticed the wood pile and hoped that maybe they would have fires. They had done that once with one of her mom’s boyfriends. They had even roasted marshmallows and it had been one of the girl’s favorite memories. She had even worked up the courage to ask her mom about the wood. “That wood is rotten and wet. All you would get would be smoke,” she had said as she blew smoke up and over her own pretty face. 

The girl had been disappointed and her mother must have noticed because she laughed and said, “why don’t we make brownies.” The girl loved it when her mom had good days like that. Not the days when the demons came and she shouted and scratched at her body. 

The wood pile hadn’t been a total loss though, as the girl walked up to it a black and grey tabby came out. The girl ran her hand over the cat’s sleek form, “good morning Maybell. Mind if I take Oliver and Princess Peach for some company?” The cat arched her back and the girl ran her hand over it and gave the mama cat a piece of tortilla. It ate the tortilla, it seemed like cats like tortillas too. 

The kittens had been weaned at least a week ago and as the girl moved into the wood pile she could only see Oliver. She wondered where Princess Peach was but grabbed up the orange kitten and pulled up the end of her shirt to make a sling for Oliver. “See you later Maybell.” 

The girl started for her destination for the day. She had discovered it a week after moving in and having no brothers or sisters she didn’t have to share it. She moves to the end of the driveway and past the grey postal box that sits askew on the rotten post. She walks along the paved country road for a few hundred feet whispering to Oliver who is lounging in her pulled-up shirt. 

As she passes the field of old boney heifers she looks both ways and crosses the already warm pavement to the conifer forest across the road. Making her way through the large ferns she moves slowly up the steep bank until she comes to a game trail. She walks down the worn path to the aspen grove. The girl loves the spot with its tall grass and black and white trees. It is always quiet here. 

The girl likes the quiet, it is safe. She knows that when there is loud music or loud voices it is time to find a new place to be. She sees the aspens with their green round leaves moving in the early morning breeze. 

She finds her favorite spot, a group of trees with some numbers carved into them. She sits on her bottom and lets the orange kitten out of her homemade hammock. The kitten looks around but doesn’t move from the spot she plops him down on. She unslings her backpack and pulls out her supplies. 

Her Winne the Pooh blanket is pulled out first and she lays it on the grass then out of the pink backpack she pulls a pair of pink fluffy socks her grandma had given her for Christmas. A water bottle that reads Taft Elementary and three barbies. She sets the barbies up. Two had long blond hair and wore different colored ball gowns but matching styles. The third barbie, the girl, had taken scissors to her hair and now regretted it. She didn’t have a Ken doll and thought by cutting all the hair off she would have one, but she was disappointed with the results and just pretended she was sick. 

The kitten joins the girl on the blanket and they spend the morning having tea and muffins that taste a lot like water and tortillas. When the sun finally reaches its zenith, the girl lays on her back and stares up into the green aspen leaves. She closes her eyes and listens to the sounds of her spot. The gentle whisper of the leaves the purr of the kitten on her belly. 

It’s the cold that wakes her or maybe the kitten licking her face but when she wakes she notices the sun is trailing the underside of the trees. She sees the numbers carved into the side of trees and she is excited for school next year, maybe she can make sense of what they mean. 

Packing up the supplies, she hammocks the kitten again and makes her way back home. When she gets to the driveway the cars from earlier aren’t there and she moves towards the house. It is quiet. She puts Oliver with Maybell and tosses the last of the tortillas for all the kittens to enjoy. 

She makes her way up the steps and sees her mom leaning back against the white trailer house. The orange end of the cigarette burns bright. “Hi baby,” her mom says and the girl walks up as her mom takes her in her arms. “Wanna make brownies?” The girl nods and her mom takes her hand tossing the cigarette into the Folger’s can and they move into the empty house. 

Rachel Sievers

Image by sascha lechner from Pixabay – brownies on a messy board with a bowl of melted chocolate and some scattered nuts.