Our favorite thing to do at Kya's house was to play with her mother's old tea set. Every time her mother got it down for us she would remind us at least five times of how fragile it was and that made us feel very special that we were allowed to play with it. Mrs. Dillard would make us lemon tea and we were each allowed two cookies. She had quite the sweet tooth and there were always cookies at their house. During our tea parties we would put on our best English accents, which were likely not very good at all, and say things like "lovely" and "spot of tea" and call each other "dear." And we always stuck out our pinkies when we took a sip. I loved that tea set, bone white with pale pink flowers. My favorite cup had a tiny little chip near the handle. Kya's favorite was the only one that still had a matching saucer.
At my house our favorite thing was when Mama allowed us to play in her office. When most people think of an office, they think of a desk and a chair and papers. And that is what you would find in Daddy's office, but not Mama's. He designed houses and Mama designed wardrobes. In the center of her office there was a gigantic high table that, at any given moment, was cluttered with a myriad of different fabrics. There were three sewing machines so that she could work on several different projects at a time, two easels and shelves lining the walls that were filled with skeins of her favorite fabrics. There were fabric manequin bodies that we had named Esmerelda, Seraphina, and Kit. Mama didn't always let us play in her office, sometimes she had big projects she was worried we would mess up. But when we were allowed in, she let us play with the rainbow of colors, use her easels to design our own outfits and taught us to sew.
"You can't possibly mess it up anymore than I do." She would laugh as we trailed out one skein of cloth after another. Sometimes she would even try to turn our crude sketches into
real clothing. This resulted in some interesting outfits.
For several months while Mama was working on a wedding dress for some A list actress, we played wedding with the extra fabric. Kya always had to be the bride. Sometimes I was her maid of honor, carrying the long train of silk that trailed behind her and other times I was the flower girl with a homemade bouquet. A few times I was even the groom with a crudely tied bow tie. But I was never the bride.
"Next time." Kya would always promise but it never happened.
YOU ARE READING
That Was Then
Teen FictionBlakely and Kya were inseparable throughout elementary school, but things changed quickly in middle school when Kya made new friends and left Blakely behind. It wouldn't have been so bad if Kya had just left her alone, but Blakely became a target fo...
