Cubby House
CATHERINE FAILLA
She crawled forward, unphased by the scraping of the bark against her palms and the soil staining the hem of her pink skirt. Sweeping the sagging tree branches out of her way, she grasped the handle of the door and turned it. The door pushed inwards, and she looked back over her shoulder, spotting white sneakers stumbling through the dry leaves a small distance away.
‘Alec! Over here!’ she called out.
‘You never slow down for me Kara,’ he whined, puffing.
She chuckled as he burst through the shrubbery, spluttering against the foliage that had brushed his face. He was pushing a clear container filled with leftover cookies from his seventh birthday party in front of him as he scurried on his hands and knees over to the cubby house. Kara held the door open for him and he dusted the dirt off his worn-in jeans before ducking inside. She gently closed the door behind them.
Alec plunked down onto a chair tucked into the small, round table that they had placed on the right side of the room. He opened the lid of his container and quickly shoved a cookie into his mouth. He held it between his teeth as he began arranging the other cookies into two rows of four on the underside of the lid - mimicking what he had seen his mother do while preparing the baking trays at home.
‘Stop eating. They are for dessert, and I haven’t made dinner yet.’ Kara commanded Alec.
He continued chewing surreptitiously. Kara swooped over and picked the lid up, carrying it over to a wooden play kitchen against the wall on the opposite side. She bent down, opened a square oven door and pushed the cookies into the nook. She turned the painted yellow temperature dial to the right, making sure the arrow was pointed exactly at one hundred and eighty degrees Celsius. Kara pulled an egg-timer out of her backpack, stolen from the drawers she could reach at home, and twisted it only a little bit, not wanting to wait very long to eat the cookies.
Opening an old shoebox on the floor beside her, she gathered a selection of colourful dinner ingredients, some plastic bread buns, lettuce, cheese, tomato and beef patties. She pulled a mini frying pan from the shelf on the side of the kitchenette, placing it on the sole burner of the stovetop and put the beef patties in. She made a quiet hissing noise through her teeth as she flipped them over with a silicone spatula.
‘Do you want me to feed the baby?’ Alec asked.
Everyone had been playing house at school recently, so Kara had brought the baby doll she got for Christmas with her today.
‘Yes, please!’ she gasped, shocked that she had forgotten to do something so important.
The doll’s pillowy soft body was not strong enough to hold up its hard plastic head, so it kept falling over whenever Alec put the bottle to its mouth, making him cackle.
Kara started giggling too, ‘Be careful!’ she exclaimed, hands on her hips.
Their laughter carried loudly out of the glassless windows of the cubby.
The timer rang and she hurried to put on oven mitts before taking the cookies out of the oven. She performed an exaggerated inhale over them before putting them down on the table and warned Alec not to touch them yet even though they both knew they were not truly hot. He listened.
Kara laid out floral plates and cups from a tea party set on the table and brought over their burgers. Alec took the red disc shaped like a tomato out of his. The slippery smooth surfaces of the toys caused their stacks to fall apart a few times when trying to lift them to their mouths, but neither of them were fazed, periodically reassembling them and continuing their midday dinnertime conversation.
‘When I go to space, I’m going to see all of the stars and planets. I will get to walk on the moon, and I’ll bring some moon rock home.’ Alec explained confidently.
‘That’s so cool,’ Kara admired. ‘You must study very hard to get there though. I’ll help you with the homework… I think I’ll be famous, because there will be people listening to me sing and I’ll get to make music videos, like the ones on TV on Saturday morning.’
Alec theorised, ‘You’ll probably get to live in a mansion or a castle or something.’
Her eyes went wide at this, dreaming of hidden passageways, floor to ceiling libraries and a slide that took you from the top floor to the bottom floor. But then she noticed an unsettled, pondering look in Alec's eyes; his eyebrows furrowed in a way she hadn’t seen before.
‘We could have a sleep over some nights,’ she suggested.
‘Thank you,’ he responded sincerely.
He picked up a smartie-covered cookie and handed it to her. She took it from him and smiled back at him. Alec delicately tilted a pastel teapot over their teacups. They both envisioned the warm, cosy tea flowing. They clinked their teacups together.
‘We’ll keep having tea parties and then we’ll watch lots of movies,’ Kara assured him. ‘I’ll build a movie room with the biggest screen you’ll ever see.’
Alec nodded eagerly, blonde cookie crumbs tumbling down his chin, ‘That will be so fun. Oh! Dad just got Toy Story on tape. Do you want to ask your Mum if you can come back to my house and watch it?’
‘Absolutely! I will go ask now,’ Kara beamed, leaping from her seat, tearing the cubby door open and speeding her way up the steep hill.
Scrambling, Alec collected all their belongings and rushed to follow her.
*
Now, Kara hunched over the dining room table, sifting through layers of paperwork, running her fingernail up and down her bottom lip nervously. Unfolding another bill, she scrutinized it, pondering how the total could have increased so much since the last quarter. She tossed the sheets down and rubbed her eyes, wincing.
Keys jingled and the apartment door creaked open. Alec treaded inside, dropping his bag at the entrance, making his way to the kitchen. Kara watched him drift through the house, waiting for him to speak, but he didn’t. He filled up a glass of water. There were audible gulps as he drank, his throat dry.
‘Hi,’ she spoke. ‘How was your day?’
He looked at her over his glass - the first time their eyes had met today.
After placing his cup back down on the bench, he responded shortly, ‘Good.’
He turned to open the fridge, returning the bottle of cold water into its compartment on the door. Kara paused, tight-lipped and repositioned herself on her chair.
‘That’s all. Just good?’
She saw his back muscles tense beneath his wrinkled dress shirt.
‘Yeah. Same as always.’
Kara took a breath and pushed the conversation on, ‘How was that meeting?’
Alec rolled his eyes as he turned to face her, ‘You don’t care about the meeting.’
‘Yes, I do!’ Kara snapped, sitting fully upright.
‘I don’t even care about my meetings, as if you do.’
‘I care about what you’re doing! What you’re up to everyday! I want you to talk to me about things, but you don’t seem to mind whether I’m involved in the rest of your life or not.’
She had grown tired of having this conversation.
‘Right…’ he scoffed under his breath.
She tossed her hands up as he slipped his phone out of his suit jacket and clicked it open, checking the time.
‘What time’s dinner?’ he asked.
Gritting her teeth at the change of topic, she responded, ‘We’re getting takeaway, so whenever you want.’
‘Again?’ he queried.
‘I’m tired. I don’t feel like cooking.’
He opened his mouth to retort, but pattering footsteps on the kitchen tiles interrupted him. Wearing a light pink onesie and holding a knitted blanket in one hand, Millie waddled into the room. Her eyes brightened at the sight of her father.
‘There’s my girl.’ Alec kneeled to wrap her into his arms. He kissed her forehead.
‘Takeaway for dinner!’ she relayed cheerfully to him.
Alec and Kara exchanged an unnerved glance, wondering how much else of the conversation she might have heard.
‘Not for you today. We’ve got leftovers for you in the freezer.’ Kara informed her.
She pouted and shuffled over to her mother, leaning into her open palm. Kara ran her fingers through her short blonde curls.
‘Did you have a good nap?’ she asked.
Millie nodded; her eyes gloomy from her disappointment over dinner.
‘Hey, if you’re good, we can have some biscuits for dessert though!’ Kara reassured her, chuckling as she watched a smile eclipse the child’s face.
‘I’m going to finish my drawing now!’ she announced suddenly, darting back to her bedroom.
Once she was out of sight, Alec and Kara’s eyes met briefly before looking down to the floor. Alec shook his head.
Slinking out of her chair, Kara said, ‘Guess I’ll order then,’ and wandered to find her laptop.
Thirty minutes later the food arrived.
Alec stalled leaving his study, trying to execute as many of his boss’ last-minute requests as possible.
After being called a few times, he joined his family at the dinner table.
He frowned as he opened his takeout meal, ‘You didn’t tell them no tomato?’
‘Hmm? Oh. I forgot you didn’t want any.’ Kara shrugged.
His eyes narrowed.
Alec watched Kara from across the dining table. He used to be able to locate her instantly in any room, but now she was indistinct from the curtains, the wallpaper or their hand-me-down furniture.
She used to jump out of her chair in the lecture theatre to wave him over. He reshuffled his entire timetable so they could share a class.
He was proud to have her on his arm at his first office Christmas party, reassuring her that her hair, makeup and dress were all perfect.
She’d laugh at him being so competitive when they joined his grandma at bingo, and he’d cheer her on when she stole the show at karaoke night.
They’d take an afternoon to sit at their favourite ice-cream shop. Kara would choose boysenberry, and Alec ordered coconut. They’d swap cones halfway through.
‘Good job!’ Kara applauded, praising Millie finishing her food.
‘I get dessert then?’ Millie reminded her.
‘Of course, we can eat while we watch a movie in the living room.’
‘I’ll pick one!’
She zipped away, launching herself onto a beanbag, TV remote in hand.
Alec washed his dirty plate in the sink, the water flowing from the faucet for only a few moments, leaving the edges dry and without soap. Kara intercepted the plate as he went to place it down and swung it into her own half of the sink, scrubbing both of their plates thoroughly with a sponge. The plates chimed resoundingly as she slid them into the drying rack with involuntary force.
He muttered, ‘Thank you,’ and she nodded in acknowledgement.
Millie called out to her dad when he moved past the lounge, ‘We will watch Lilo & Stitch!’
‘I’m not going to watch a movie tonight darling.’ He told her gently.
Kara pricked up and paced to the edge of the kitchen, peering from behind the dividing wall, and watched her daughters face fall.
‘But it’s Friday. I get to stay up.’ She insisted.
‘I know, I know, but I’m tired. I’m going to go to bed, I’m sorry.’
‘Mum is making cookies. You can have one before you go to sleep?’
‘I don’t enjoy sweets anymore.’
Inhaling deeply, Kara retreated into the kitchen, her head feeling heavy upon her shoulders. She gripped the edge of the bench and squeezed her eyes shut, diffusing the fog in her vision.
When she opened her eyes, she was drawn to a framed photo that sat on the shelf above. It was herself and Alec sitting side by side in the tall green grass in front of her colourful childhood cubby house. Their cheeks were rosy with joy as they held their teacups and baby dolls up to the camera.
She flipped the frame face-down.
Catherine holds a lifelong passion for reading and crafting stories of her own. This drew her to pursue a degree with a major in Creative Writing, where she enjoyed exploring a wide range of genres through her short stories. She also engages with other artistic hobbies like drawing and sewing.
