Holly was a shy girl at first, but as soon as she led me into her room, she became just as talkative as Marty. I walked into the room and felt a sort of punch in my gut. It was so different than the tiny, simple room I had as a kid. It was even bigger than the guest room I was staying in. She had a bed with white and pink floral sheets and a white headboard. The walls were painted ballerina pink, and the large windows were curtained with pink lace. The floor was white carpet, and it was littered with toys. There was a whole bin full of toys and a large dollhouse. Books and papers sat scattered across a white, kid-sized desk, crayons littering the top with some having fallen off onto the floor.
"These are my dolls!" Holly exclaimed, letting go of my hand to jump over to a large dollhouse where some dolls were laying discarded. She picked a blonde one up and turned to me, holding it out to me. "Do you wanna play dolls with me?"
Hesitantly, I reached out and took the blonde doll that was wearing a business suit. "Sure, I'd love to." I was never the kind of little girl that played with dolls, but Holly nearly squealed with excitement as she grabbed my hand again and yanked me down to the floor.
"This is Rosie," she said as she kneeled down beside me and picked up another doll. "She's a doctor, did you know that?"
I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that she asked me if I already knew her doll was a doctor. "No, I didn't know that."
"Oh! We should have a tea party!" Holly suddenly jumped up again and grabbed me, pulling me to my feet and yanking me over to a little table that was only as high as my shins. "Sit down." She said in a polite voice, and I saw that the five chairs sitting around the white table were just as tiny. I looked back at Holly, who was staring at me and waiting for me to sit.
"Alright," I chuckled, still holding the doll. Carefully, I squeezed down into the little chair, hearing the plastic squeak under my weight which it was not meant to hold.
"We needs guests!" Holly exclaimed before clumsily jogging over to a wicker basket that was filled with stuffed animals. Her long white hair was already starting to come undone from the pink bow in it as she started pulling stuffed animals out of the bin and tossing them all over the room. A teddy bear nearly smacked me in the face before I caught it and set it down gently. Finally, she had three large toys in her little arms, and she sprinted back to the tea table, nearly dropping them.
"This is Mr. Cat," she said, setting down a stuffed orange cat in a chair. She immediately started putting the next one in the other chair as Mr. Cat started falling over, but I quickly caught it and set him back in the chair. "And this is Matthew," she listed the dark green dinosaur whose mouth was open, showing fabric teeth and a pink tongue. "And this is my favorite. His name is Bunny Boob." She set a soft white bunny down on the last chair, and I had to hold back my giggle at all of their odd names.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Cat, Matthew, and Bunny Boob," I politely said to the inanimate stuffed animals, feeling my cheeks burn a little at how stupid I sounded. Holly found it hilariously funny, letting out a screechy unrhythmic giggle as she started to sit down in her chair. Suddenly, she stopped.
"Wait! You need to-to dress up." She carefully clambered back out of her seat and ran to another area of her room where another bin was. "You need..." She hummed and tapped her finger on her chin thoughtfully. "A necklace!" She pulled out a long string of fake pearls and ran over to me. When she got close, she suddenly got shy again. She was about to put the necklace on me until she remembered her shyness, choosing instead to hold them out to me.
"Oh, why thank you," I said as I took the fake pearls and put them over my head. I looked back at Holly who was smiling brightly at me, but then she had another idea.
"A hat!" She ran back to the bin and came back with what looked like a large, pink baby bonnet. This time, she put it on my head herself, and I thanked her, which earned me another ecstatic giggle before she went back to the bin. I was feeling quite awkward sitting at the tiny tea table looking at the stuffed animals, but Holly was such a charming and gleeful little girl that it felt impossible to say no to her.
When she came back holding a tube of red lipstick, my eyes widened. "Litstick," she mispronounced as she pulled the lid off the lipstick and carelessly let it drop to the floor. She held out the lipstick and walked closer to me, as I eyed it like a weapon.
"Um..." I began, leaning my head away as she came closer with a giggle. "Uh... alright..." I went to take the lipstick from her, but she suddenly jerked her hand away.
"I do it!" she demanded, and before I could say no, she put one hand right over my eye to keep my face still. I closed my eyes as Holly started to smear the red lipstick on my lips, and I cringed when I felt her hand slip, lipstick going right across my cheek.
When she was done, she shyly walked away from me, as if suddenly realizing that she probably offended me. Upon seeing her expectant, worried look, I just smiled and asked in feigned excitement, "How do I look?!"
Her face lit up like fireworks. "So pwetty!"
Once she put a pair of white gloves that were way too small for me on my hands, she was done dressing me and finally sat down at the table, pretending to pour tea out of an empty plastic teapot into fake teacups. She gave me a teacup and we clinked them together first, both pretending to take little polite sips of the tea, but she noticed that I wasn't doing it right. "No, you have to put your pinky out. Like this." She took another sip of the fake tea, sticking her pinky straight out.
"Oh, right," I said, mimicking what she was doing with her pinky. She broke out into giggles again, and this was the first time that anyone had ever found me so hilarious.
When the sound of footsteps came down the hall, paired with an unfamiliar voice yelling Holly's name, the girl suddenly stopped laughing. She turned to the closed door with wide eyes, putting her teacup down. I didn't have time to understand what was happening before the door was suddenly opened rather aggressively.
Immediately, a young woman walked straight into the room. Her eyes landed on Holly and her mouth opened, but then her eyes landed on me. An icy feeling shot right up my sides. The young woman looked my age, with golden blonde hair that set down her shoulders in long waves. Instantly, I knew it must have been the older sister Jo because she had that same kind of piercing look as the mother. Her skin was tan and clear with a dewy sort of glow. Her eyes were a bright green, surrounded by beds of dark, thick eyelashes. Her nose was thin and sharp, but it complemented the tender points of her cheekbones and jaws. Freckles spotted her nose and upper cheeks, giving her a youthful look. She had her mother's thinness and beauty and her father's tallness, giving her a lanky, towering look. Although her look was piercing like her mother's, it was different. Her mother's look was airy and indignant, but she was looking at me analytically, eyes locked onto mine. I was utterly taken aback by her beauty, and when her arched brows and pink lips twisted into a confused look, I realized what I looked like.
I was a grown woman sitting on a tiny children's chair wearing pearls, a baby bonnet, white gloves, and smeared lipstick, having fake tea with a six-year-old child and three stuffed animals. My face went as bright red as the lipstick.
Words left me. I thought I should introduce myself, or explain what was going on, or say something other than a whispery, frozen, "Hi."
For some reason, it felt surprising when she said a bold, "Hi," back. I think the gears clicked in her mind because an amused look passed over her face. "Enjoying your tea?"
I looked down to the plastic teacup and then back up to her, nodding a little which made the crimped ends of the pink bonnet tickle my eyebrows.
Jo nodded, keeping her eyes on me for a moment before she turned to Holly. "Did you steal my boots, you little thief?"
I took the moment to notice that she was wearing long white pants and a white blouse halfway tucked in with the sleeves rolled up. The blouse was unbuttoned a little far, showing a smooth, tan expanse of her chest. I couldn't help but wonder if those were men's clothes—the masculinity of their shape and the way they fit a little loose on her.
"No," Holly defensively answered. "Go away! We're having a tea party!"
Jo's hand on the doorknob slid away as she folded her hands behind her back, taking a casual step into the room and blankly looking around. She pursed her lips thoughtfully, taking slow steps with her long legs before she suddenly leaned down and lifted one of Holly's toy bins, finding a pair of outdoor boots right behind them. "Liar!" She grabbed the boots and held them up.
Holly just pouted at Jo, crossing her arms and looking away.
Strutting cockily towards the door, Jo snapped, "Stop stealing my shit." She gave a fleeting look back at me before she walked out and slammed the door shut.
I hadn't realized how breathless I was until Jo was gone. Wiping my forehead that felt a little damp, I looked to Holly who was pouting and squeezing her face between her bent elbows.
"That was Jo," she mumbled. She took a deep breath, self-soothing herself before sitting up straight again. "She can be mean sometimes."
I couldn't have assumed more correctly. There was obviously some sort of fiery streak that ran in this family. Marty was bold and talkative. Katie, the mother, was poised and judgmental. Judd was a classically rebellious and rough boy. Katie was sweet but a little demanding. And Jo—well she sucked all the air out of the room in a matter of seconds.
Holly seemed to be recovering, but there was a red tint in her cheeks now. "Why is she mean sometimes?" I asked her.
She pretended to pour more tea into her teacup as she shrugged. "Because she's sad."
Curiosity piqued me, but I didn't see the use in asking a six-year-old why her older sister was sad. It lingered in my mind for a bit more until Holly forced me to pour myself more tea.
Holly had called dibs on me, apparently, because at dinnertime, she demanded that I sit right next to her. We were having roast with vegetables, and it was my first time sitting and eating with the whole family—except for Jo. I couldn't help but wonder where she was.
"Miss Becca got to meet Mr. Cat, Matthew, and Bunny Boob today. We had tea," Holly said loudly as she stuck her fork into some green beans.
After spending the entire afternoon being yanked around with Holly who seemed to have unlimited energy, I found myself tired again. I was also feeling a little more disoriented now that the sun was setting and I was around the entire family.
"Oh really?" Marty asked as he chewed the roast beef with his jaw, the big muscles in them flexing with each chew. "That's great, honey." Marty looked at me with a wink, and I smiled, looking back down to my plate.
"So, Becca," Katie suddenly asked. She had been only picking at her plate, opting to drink more wine than eat food. "Tell me a little bit about yourself. What's it like in New Orleans? Marty has never taken me back home, even after all these years."
"Oh, it's, um... it's nice. I live outside of the city."
Katie nodded disinterestedly. "I hear it's a foul place these days. Thugs and gamblers. Dirty bars."
My teeth ached a little at her blatant disapproval of the place that I called home. "Well, it's... um..." I trailed, not quite sure of how to politely disagree with her. While New Orleans had grown sketchier since I was a child, it was still beautiful and poetic as a city.
"What do your parents do for a living?" she asked as she decided to take a small bite of roast.
"My mother works at a department store," I answered with a small smile, remembering the fight with Mama before I left.
Katie did not smile, only nodded her head and sewed her fine eyebrows together. "And your father?"
"Oh, he's dead."
Katie looked up at me suddenly, and her eyes instantly shifted to Holly. I followed her eyes and saw that Holly was looking up at me with wide eyes.
"He died?!" Holly exclaimed, and I watched her look over to Marty down the table. My face turned hot as I realized I had accidentally planted the idea of her own father dying in her head.
"Um—" I began, looking between Holly, Katie, and Marty. "Yes, but it's because he was in the army."
"Woah, he fought in the war?" Judd suddenly asked, perking up and looking at me with curiosity. "Did he get blown up?!"
"Judd!" Marty suddenly boomed from across the table. Katie put her face down in her hands, and I was ready to cut my own tongue out with the large knife used to cut the roast. Judd put his head down in guilt, and Marty looked back at me with softer eyes. "I'm very sorry, Becca. Your father must have been a very brave man who gave his life for the freedom of our country."
Smiling, I decided I rather not speak for the rest of the dinner. The Donnelley's did not linger on about much, because only moments after, Judd was blabbering about football and Holly was cheerfully telling me about her favorite subjects in school.