Chapter 4
As always it was Kelly who resolved to solve the problem. “After you finish your pizza, your dad has a present for you.” And she winked at Mark.
He winced, imagining that the children would say oh what a beautiful dollhouse, and then immediately retort but who broke this table!
But, that’s the way it went sometimes… Sometimes stuff broke, it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Okay, it was his fault. But…
“Hey dad. What did you get us?” Said Coralina, her smile bright and wide.
Beth even had big bright eyes staring up at him. She looked so curious and he wondered, like he often wondered, what was she thinking?
“Are you done eating?” Said Mark with a big smile.
“Yep, I am.” Said Beth. And he knew she was really excited if she would answer him with three actual words.
“All right, run to the living room and close your eyes. I’ll be there second.” Mark said, and he stepped into the garage. He lifted the giant dollhouse carefully, like a cake. He didn’t want to knock over any of the tiny little bits of furniture in the inside. He had this ongoing fear, that maybe they’d see through him. They’d see that he was the impostor, not a real dad. Not a good dad. But one just pretending to be that way. Perhaps that’s why he felt so bad about trying to give them nice things.
But Kelly, ever present with her smile said, “What the fuck? Stop taking so long.”
She held the door wide open as he carefully walked into the house through the tiny kitchen and into the living room. He set it on the ground in both girls were sitting on the couch hands covering their eyes. Beth was clearly peeking. But Coralina was absolutely determined not to see the surprise before she was told it was time.
“Here it is.” Said Mark. And he waited, he waited to see if this would be Nintendo sixty-four screams, or if they just be the regular variety. He wanted to know would they love him forever?
Both little girls screamed, Coralina did a full on cartwheel she was so excited. And they both dove right in fiddling with the little dolls, and running them up and down the stairs. Coralina made her little doll slide down the banister and is a got to the end it hit the knob at the top of the rail. The knob spun just slightly and there was a loud click. And all of the stairs popped forward suddenly. Each one was a tiny little drawer, and inside each drawer was tiny bits of plates and spoons, and tiny other accessories for the dollhouse. It included clothing for the dolls, and tiny little paper books with actual paper pages.
Coralina screamed even louder, with a high-pitched excited squeal. And Mark, even with his ears ringing from the brutal pitches that she was able to make, found himself grinning endlessly. Kelly reached around his shoulders wrapped herself tight around him. She kissed his ear and whispered, “you did it. You made them so happy.”
And Mark knew he was gonna get laid.
******
In the morning when Mark was in an excellent mood. He managed to play doctor with his hot wife all night, and his little girls were both happy as larks.
He got up at the early time of five, usually left the house by five twenty. Working construction had many perks, but sleeping in was not one of them.
He was surprised though to find Beth sitting in front of the dollhouse carefully playing with each of the dolls. She was quiet, barely making any sound. But he could see her mouth opening and closing as she made them talk to each other. No sound came out of his daughter, but he was happy that she was even pretending conversations. Perhaps that would give her the confidence to say what she was thinking in her pretty little brain.
“Hey Beth, why are you up so early?” Said Mark as he quickly pulled on his shoes.
“I found this.” She said, and she turned her head just slightly and flicked her eyes up at her father. She was so adorable, four was his absolute favorite age for little girls. Maybe for all humans, they were innocent they were wild. And yet… They saw the world as something good. He longed for that softness to be still within his soul. He held out his hand she dropped a little paper in her his hand. When he opened it it was a certificate that said authentic dollhouse from the maker Pierre Vlad Amar, underneath it didn’t have a website, but it did have an address. And he was so excited, maybe could finally find that replacement part!
He drove to work, and started building another wall for another home that he would never get to live in. They were sent home a little bit early, because they end up needing a dumpster that wouldn’t arrive until morning. It was fine by Mark because he wanted to drive down to this address on the paper the Beth had given him. He was so excited, even though his truck was rattling even louder than normal, and his brakes suddenly started squealing. Even though all of that was going on, he was back to drumming on the steering wheel like his life depended upon it. In his head he was a world-class drummer, but in reality he was pretty mediocre. If not, completely inept.
He was looking for 919, and not a few moments later he finally spotted it. The building said under construction, in a bright yellow sign on top of a faded one that read custom dollhouses. He stood, clearly baffled. This was the place – except the interior of the building looked like it’d recently been gutted.
He shielded his eyes from the sunshine and peered into the glass. He was hoping that it sees some sort of indication that maybe they were just remodeling and he could come back next month and… He felt a tap on the shoulder.
“Hi. Did you need in my store?” Said a very perky young lady. She had purple hair, and pigtails. He probably wouldn’t have even noticed that her eyes were bright green, and her lips bright red, except that she looked almost like a clown. He stepped back. Her top was so tight with her cleavage popping out, and he could hardly pay attention to anything she was saying.
“What?” He said, completely flustered by this clownish looking girl standing in front of them.
“I’m opening a bakery here. Why are you peering in my windows?” Said the woman again, tossing her head and sending her purple pigtails waggling back and forth.
“A bakery? I was looking for the dollhouse place.” He said, immediately turning bright red. How is he going to explain that he was looking for dollhouse furniture? Especially to this cute, entrepreneur.
“The dollhouse guy? I’m pretty sure he’s dead. But I do have the phone number of the guy leasing it to me… Here let me give it to you.” And with that she handed him her purse. Completely bewildered he held it for her, while she rummaged through it. Not two minutes later she yanked out a business card. On the front was printed blue and purple stripes with the name cupcakes with candy. On the other side it was blank, and she scrawled from a scrap of paper written in lipstick. “There you go, pretty sure that’s his number. Go away now.” She said with a bright smile, and a wink.
Mark wasn’t quite sure how to respond to any of that, but he thanked her and climbed back in his truck. He sat in his truck, staring at the girl unlocking the door very slowly with her purple pigtails. She was definitely going to run an entertaining bakery. That’s all he knew for sure at this point.
He was dialing the phone number not two minutes later. “Hello?” Mark said, pausing as the other I replied hello. “Hey, I’m looking for the dollhouse repair guy. I need a replacement table leaf.”
