You Are Invited
A rounded frame full of life silhouetted in the door way. Tabitha was sat in front of the television. The presence caught her eye. She looked up. There was Aunt Tawny’s bright and engaging smile watching her from underneath a fawn hat.
“And how is my little Trouble?” she asked.
“Aunt Tee!” Tabitha cheered as she leapt to her feet and ran into the arms of the middle aged woman. Aunt Tawny flicked the hat off her head and planted kisses on Tabitha’s cheeks.
“I missed you,” said Tabitha.
“Not as much as I missed you,” replied the aunt. Her smile beamed again. Tabitha could feel her own cheeks tighten with glee. “Where is Ma and Pa?”
Tabitha shrugged her shoulders. “Out at a party I guess,” she explained. “They told me not to wait up for them.”
“You’re here by yourself? The door was open.”
Tawny sounded more stern.
“I prefer it when they aren’t here,” Tabitha said taking her aunt’s hat, putting it on her own head and dropping back onto the sofa.
“I can’t stay I’m afraid, Trouble. I just wanted to stop by and see you.”
Tabitha pushed out her bottom lip. “You don’t have to go.”
Tawny pulled her closer. Tabitha rested into her aunt’s warm body.
“I’m afraid I do,” she said. Her voice always had a musical tone. That evening the tone was a little deeper. “I have to go away and I may not see you for a little while.”
Tabitha sobbed. “Why? Did you do something bad?”
“No, no,” she said. “I did a good thing but it was a long time ago and it upset a lot of people.”
Tabitha tightened her shoulders and sat up straight. “Better to be bad then,” she stated. “When you are bad no one cares and you don’t have to leave.”
Tawny laughed. “People do care when you are bad. It just means they run away from you.”
Tabitha laughed too. She didn’t like the idea of Tawny being in danger. She was such a larger than life character that she couldn’t imagine Tawny being afraid of anyone.
“I have something for you,” she announced drawing a small, business card from the breast pocket of the lime green shirt she wore. The card was black with the words KNOCK KNOCK CLUB embossed on it in white. Two finely shaped women framed it in a white silhouette.
“What is it?” asked the little girl.
“It’s something I am building for you. When you are ready it will be yours. It is a club for adults. It is a very special club that will be yours to change things and make the city what you want it to be.”
Tabitha was mesmerised. She looked at her first invitation to the Knock, Knock club through a child’s eyes like it was a gate way to a fantastical world. In a lot of ways it was.
“You won’t leave me alone will you? Please stay a little while.”
Tawny leaned over and kissed her forehead.
They watched television together. Tabitha’s eyes began to feel heavy. When she woke again she was in her bed. Tawny must have put her there. Ma and Pa were home . Dawn’s early light was beginning to show through the window. There was a note by her bed.
I’LL COME BACK FOR YOU.
It was signed with a curling letter T.
Ma and Pa were arguing. Pa had thrown pots down in the kitchen causing a mighty crash to echo through the expansive house.
“You have ruined everything!” Ma was screaming.
Pa was probably still drunk.
Tabitha lifted the Knock, Knock card and held it close to her chest. One day she would have the power to change her shitty life. In her club, things would run her way.
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