Awaiting Aunt Matilda

There is a lot of love in this short story that I wrote. It is from Aunt Kitty’s Storybook. Please Enjoy!

Awaiting Aunt Matilda

“Dolly! Oh, Dolly, get off the ground! You’ll spoil your new clothes!” It was Dolly’s mother scolding her from behind the screen door. She had her hands on her hips and was giving a look that was not really angry, but frustrated, for the child knew better.

Dolly jumped up from the little low porch before her mother could even finish the sentence. Her medium length, dark brown curls bounced freely with the motion. She had been sitting on the back porch, her bottom nearly in the sand, with chin in palm and elbow on knee, daydreaming.

Dusting off the backside of her dress, she said, “Sorry, Mother!” in such a truly apologetic tone that made her mother smile.

“Come on in, and sit inside. We can’t have you dirtying your nice dress Aunt Matilda gave you before she even arrives!” Dolly’s mother said sweetly, reasoningly. The screen door made a nice “Sh!” sound as it shut lightly behind them.

Dolly’s dress was really very pretty, and she liked it very much. She wouldn’t want to displease Aunt Matilda, who had had it made especially for her. It was blue with lovely ruffles on the short sleeves, with a pinkish ribbon around her waist. The skirt hem was of real lace that was very “’spensive”. She had heard her father say that word. That meant it had to be special, if her father said so.

She really did know that she shouldn’t have been sitting on the ground in it, anyway. So in she came, to do just as her mother told her. She was to sit on the sofa and wait in anticipation of her favorite aunt’s visit. She went through the kitchen and into the living room. The blue-grey rug felt cushy under her feet, even through her blue slippers that Aunt Matilda had sent with the dress.

Dolly sailed onto the sofa, and sat with one stockinged leg under the other to look out the open window behind it. The smell of metal filled her nose as she pressed her face against the window screen. Her hands ran over the back of the couch. She felt the familiar feeling of the rough upholstery under her fingers. She could hear the tweet tweet of the birds in the bushes on this lovely day. ‘The world is so beautiful,’ she thought. It was such a peaceful scene. Dolly soon wondered if Aunt Matilda would ever come.

“Ding Ding! Chugga Chugga! Choo Choo!” It sounded to Dolly like a real live train was coming right through the peaceful little living room. It was her two year old brother who was pushing a toy train on a bumpy ride over the rug. By the time her head was turned toward the din, the tyke had already turned his train into an aeroplane.

“Pax!” she scolded, “Trains don’t fly!”

“Yes, they do!” Pax cried back in his little baby voice. Many grown-ups had trouble understanding him, but Dolly never had any trouble.

“They don’t, or my name’s not Dolly!” She’d heard a neighbor say something similar, and she’d hoped that it made sense putting it that way. You see, Dolly was four years older than Pax, and thus the much wiser sibling. She was much more mature than her little brother who was now swimming on the carpet kicking his feet.

“I’m a fish, Doll! I’m a fish!” Pax announced proudly, using his nickname for her that only he used. Dolly didn’t mind, for she’d answer to Doll, Dolly, and even Emily, which was her really true live name that she was born with. Dolly was a pet name that everyone seemed to call her. Sometimes she wondered where the name came from. It was pretty, anyway.

“Oh, my goodness!” Mother suddenly appeared out of thin air, as if by teleportation. She grabbed Pax off the carpet in a flash that only a mother could accomplish. “We need to keep your clothes unwrinkled until Aunt Matilda arrives!” She, also, was beginning to wonder if that would ever come to be.

“Fish, Momma! Fish!” Pax continued, flailing his arms in the air, forcing his mother to hold him out at arm’s length. Dolly supposed Pax really did think he was a fish.

“Please sit with your sister, Pax. It won’t be too much longer now until you can play again,” Mother said after she set him to his feet. Pax obeyed. He was a good boy, really. When he was safely on the couch and gazing out the window, the children’s mother disappeared back into the kitchen to finish making lunch.

Dolly looked back out the window, and wondered what kinds of fun things they would do when Aunt Matilda came. Aunt Matilda was different from her other aunts, and that was special, because Dolly had three of them. She was always so kind, and very funny, and best of all, she played with them! She would hop and crawl and be so silly with the children, that she wondered if Aunt Matilda was once a child herself. She was certain she had been. Definitely.

Looking over at her brother, she saw that he was licking the window screen.

“Don’t do that, Pax!” Dolly scolded, always the mother. “You’ll get tet-niss.” Dolly didn’t know what that was, but she knew that was something people got. She heard Father say it. Pax just ignored her.

Dolly rolled her eyes, shrugged her shoulders, and just as she finished sighing, she heard the familiar, happy sound of an auto in the distance.

Could it be? Yes! It was! Shortly, Dolly and Pax both watched a little blue sports car turn the corner onto the street where they lived. It went past the little white house on the left, past the vacant lot where a house was soon to be built, past the little cherry blossom tree in their front yard, and finally into their very own driveway. Cheers all around! Aunt Matilda was finally here! Oh, and she was getting something out of her back seat! Prettily wrapped presents for both of them.

The two joyous little children ran out to greet Aunt Matilda and to help her with the packages, Mother in tow.