Cup of Tea

Sunday, June 30th, 1991

Lee sat at the tiny table and chairs, his knees scrunched into his chest. Very uncomfortable, but he’d do anything for his three-year-old daughter. If a tea party was what Alisha wanted, then he’d participate in a tea party.

*********

Amanda had gone shopping for the Fourth of July barbecue they planned to have at the house on Thursday. It was easier for her to go to the butcher, grocery store, and bakery without tugging Alisha along. Phillip and Jamie were off doing whatever teenagers did these days. Babysitting their little sister wasn’t one of the chores they relished.

So it was up to him, Daddy, to baby sit and keep his daughter entertained for the afternoon.

After feeding her the lunch Amanda had made and taking her down to the stable to see the horses, they’d come back to the house and he’d put her down for a nap. He thought she’d sleep for an hour or more, maybe even sleep until Amanda returned. His daughter, though, had other ideas. She was wide-awake after only half an hour. He turned the TV channel to her favorite cartoon, and she was happy to sit and watch . . . for about fifteen minutes.

The cartoon no longer holding her interest, she toddled over to her play corner. One of the first things Amanda had done after Alisha’s birth was to make a corner of the den a designated play area. This way they could keep an eye on her from the kitchen. A toy chest brimmed with goodies. Shelves in one corner were filled with dolls and books. A play kitchen, which included a stove, refrigerator, and sink, along with plastic dishes, pots and pans, utensils, and anything else imaginable, sat against the other corner wall.

For her birthday last week, Dotty and Kurt had purchased a little play table and chairs. One of her other gifts was a tea set--a miniature teapot and cups with saucers.

Immediately, she zeroed in on the tea set. “Daddy. Tea party.”

“Who else is going to come to the party?”

Alisha went over to the shelf and picked out a doll. “Emily.” She placed the Emily doll in a chair.

He smiled at his daughter. When Emily had given the doll to her last Christmas, Alisha had named it after her.

“Uncle Billy Teddy.”

Lee almost laughed out loud. He remembered the day Billy had given her the bear. And when she’d called it Uncle Billy Teddy, Billy’s chest had puffed out with pride until Lee thought his boss would burst.

He watched from the couch as she set up the scene. In front of each chair, she placed a little plate, then a saucer and cup. The whole time she made the preparations she prattled to Emily and Uncle Billy Teddy. Well, as much of a conversation as a three-year-old could have.

“Daddy.” Alisha tugged on the sleeve of his shirt.

“Yes, sweetheart.”

“Cookies, please.”

“Well, why don’t we go see what Mommy has in the pantry?”

Amanda kept a well-stocked pantry, and Lee knew the cookies were on a high shelf out of reach of little hands. “Which ones do you want? Oreos?”

“No.” She shook her head vehemently.

He pushed back the Oreos to see what else was on the shelf. “How bout some Fig Newtons?”

“No, Daddy. Animal Crackers. Animal Crackers.” She jumped up and down.

He should’ve known she’d want Animal Crackers. They were her favorite. She loved all the animal shapes. He pushed a box of Vanilla Wafers to the side and was rewarded with the telltale sign of the bright red and yellow box of Animal Crackers. It wasn’t hard to miss.

“I found them.” He took the box from the shelf.

“Goody.” Alisha clapped her hands.

“Here you go.” He handed it to her after he’d opened it.

“Thank you, Daddy.” She happily skipped out of the pantry and into the den. He started to follow her when the phone rang.

“Hello.” He kept an eye on Alisha as she placed several cookies on each of the plates.

“Hi, sweetheart. I’m just checking in to see how it’s going with Alisha. She’s not being too much of a handful, is she?”

“We’re getting ready to have a tea party.”

“Sorry I’m going to miss it. But I have another reason for calling, too. I forgot to check and see how much barbecue sauce we had. Can you let me know how many bottles are in the pantry?”

He seemed to recall seeing two bottles a few minutes ago, but he knew they’d need more than that for the load of people who would be coming for the holiday. “Do you want to talk to Alisha while I check?”

“No, she’ll want to tell me all about her day with you, and if I’m going to get home in time to make dinner, I need to get into the grocery store. Speaking of dinner, don’t let her eat too many cookies. She’ll spoil her appetite.”

“I won’t. I’ll go check on that sauce.” Lee went back into the pantry and checked the shelves. As he suspected, there were two bottles on the bottom shelf.

“Okay, we have two bottles. You might want to pick up three or four more, just in case. I’ll use it on the chicken and ribs, and I know some like to use it on their hamburgers, instead of ketchup.”

“All right, I should be home in about a half-hour. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Lee hung up the phone. Before he had a chance to move, the doorbell rang. “You stay here, Alisha. I’m going to answer the door.”

“Okay, Daddy. Uncle Billy Teddy says he wants three cookies. I told him Mommy only lets us have two.”

“Good girl. And tell him it’d spoil his dinner.”

Lee couldn’t help but laugh as his daughter stood in front of the teddy bear and wagged her finger at him, scolding him.

The doorbell rang again. As he hurried to the front door, he saw the paperboy through the glass panes. He dug into his pocket for his wallet. Damn, he must’ve left it in their bedroom. He opened the door. “Hang on one second, Tommy. I gotta run and get my wallet.”

“Okay, Mr. Stetson.” Tommy scrapped his foot on the front porch and blew a huge bubble.

Lee returned in a moment, cash in hand. “There ya go.”

“Thanks. And here’s your paper.” Tommy handed him today’s paper. “See you next week.” He hopped off the front porch, got on his bike, and peddled down the drive.

Lee hustled back to the den. He didn’t like to leave Alisha alone for any great length of time. She had a habit of poking into places and things she shouldn’t. His daughter had a very inquisitive nature. At least they’d stopped her from going outside without supervision. That was a day he’d never forget.

About six months ago, while she was cooking, Amanda had turned her back for only a few moments, and when she turned around, Alisha was nowhere to be found. After hearing Amanda call her name several times and noticing the alarm in her voice, he raced out of the home office to see what was wrong. A cold draft hit his back, and he shivered. He realized she’d hightailed it out the back door. A fact confirmed when they found her sweater and snow boots missing. His heart leaped into his throat. A knot of fear clenched in his stomach.

Then Lee thanked his lucky stars it had snowed the previous night. Little footprints could be seen clearly in the newly fallen snow. After grabbing their jackets, they followed the trail to the barn, where they’d found Alisha prattling to the horses, wanting to know if they were warm enough.

The next day, Amanda had made him install an extra lock that only adults could reach on all the doors. They’d already childproofed all the windows as soon as Alisha had learned to crawl. There were so many hidden dangers around the house for a child to get into. Cleaning solutions, medications, knives, and other sharp objects were some of the many items they had to place out of reach of tiny hands. Something he’d never thought of until Alisha had come into his life.

Lee breathed a huge sigh when he found Alisha sitting at the table, reading a book to Emily and Uncle Billy Teddy. She hadn’t managed to get into any mischief while he’d attended to the paperboy.

“I thought it was tea time?”

“Story time first. I read to you, too?”

“I’ll just read paper, okay?”

“Okay.” She started to read from the book. Actually, she couldn’t read. Although he liked to think of his daughter as a genius, she was really describing the pictures on the pages.

Lee sat down on the couch, opened the paper to the sports section, and began to check the scores from all the baseball games. While he read the paper, he kept an ear open and listened as Alisha read two more books.

“Come on, Daddy. Tea time.” Alisha tugged on his arm.

“Do you want me to get the Kool-Aid?”

“No Kool-Aid. Mommy buy at store. I got water.”

He rose from the couch and tossed the newspaper onto the coffee table.

********

So now he sat at the kid-size table and chairs, with his knees scrunched into his chest. But what was a little discomfort if it pleased his daughter?

“I’ll pour.” She poured water from the teapot into the cups in front of Emily and Uncle Billy Teddy, then filled his teacup.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” He picked up the cup to drink.

“No, Daddy! You have to wait for your sugar.”

“Sorry.” He placed his cup back on the saucer.

“Now would you like one lump or two?” She swished her hand back in a pose he recalled seeing on one of her TV shows that portrayed little girls playing “grown-up.”

“I better only have one. Need to watch my weight.” He placed his hands on his abdomen, grateful he really didn’t have a problem in that area.

Alisha opened the sugar dish and used a pair of tiny tongs to pluck out a play cube of sugar. Then she delicately plopped it into his water, although a tiny bit splashed over the rim of the cup into the saucer. “Now you can drink.” She picked up hers and held her pinky finger out as she sipped.

Lee mimicked his daughter, extending his pinky finger as he drank his tea. With his other hand, he picked up his cookies and ate them in one bite. “Yummy.” He rubbed his belly. “Thank you for the lovely tea and cookies.”

“You’re welcome.” She nodded, being the prim and proper hostess. “Would you like more?”

“No, thank you.” He checked his watch. “Mommy should be home soon.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than he heard the back door open. “I’m home. Can someone help me with these bags?”

“Mommy’s home!” Alisha clapped her hands and ran to the kitchen.

“Here, let me help you with that.” Lee took the bags from her and placed them on the kitchen island.

“Thanks. There are several more bags in the car.” She kissed him, then picked up Alisha and kissed her on the cheek.

“I’ll go get them.”

When he returned, he found his two girls putting away the groceries. Between the three of them, the supplies were soon stored.

“Okay, that’s all done. Young lady, you go clean up your play area while I start supper.” Amanda opened a bag of French fries and placed them on a baking pan.

“Can I do anything?” Lee wrapped his arms around her from behind.

“Put these in the oven.” She handed him the pan.

“Anything else?”

“Nope, we’re just having burgers and fries tonight since it’s just the three of us.”

“Why don’t I open a bottle of wine?”

“I’d like that.” She placed the patties in the frying pan.

From the wine rack, he picked a bottle he thought would go with dinner and poured them each a glass, then handed her one.

She turned the heat on low under the frying pan. “Thank you. Alisha told me all about the tea party. Did you enjoy it?”

“I had fun, except sitting at that table makes my legs ache.” He reached down and massaged his thigh. “Not the most comfortable position to sit in for very long.”

“I know. I’ll help you work on the kinks later.” She winked as she sipped her wine.

Sounds of a cartoon filled the room. Lee glanced over and saw Alisha sitting on the floor in front of the screen, watching Yogi Bear. He took Amanda’s wineglass and set in down next to his, then wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck.

“Later, big fella. I promise.” She kissed him passionately, giving him a taste of what would come. “Now get the pitcher down for me, please. I need to make some Kool-Aid.”

Lee retrieved the glass pitcher from the cabinet and placed it in the sink.

“Thanks.” She opened the package and poured the powder in, then added a cup of sugar and turned on the water. “What did she use for tea since we were out of Kool-Aid? Were you able to get her to drink some juice?” She stirred the contents of the pitcher.

Lee scrunched up his nose at the pitcher. Why in the world his daughter loved that stuff was beyond him. But it was her favorite drink at the moment. “We had water for tea.”

Amanda stopped stirring. “You got the water for her?”

“No. Tommy came to collect the paper money, and when I got back, she had it all set up.”

Suddenly, Amanda began to laugh. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh.”

“You going to tell me why you’re laughing?” He stood against the counter, with his arms crossed.

“If you didn’t get the water for her, where do you think she got it from?”

“She got it from the sink.”

“She can’t reach the sink. She can’t even reach the bathroom sink without help. I keep meaning to buy a small stool to put in the bathroom down here, but I keep forgetting.”

“So where did she get it from?”

“Think about it.” She took some ice trays from the freezer, popped the cubes, and placed them in the pitcher.

He rubbed his forehead. If she didn’t get it from the sink, where did she get it? “I give up.”

“Where is the only place she can reach?”

Lee’s stomach began to churn, and he grabbed his glass of wine and gulped it down. An image began to form in his mind. “The toi . . . toi . . . let,” he stuttered.

“Sweetheart, you’re white as a sheet.”

He poured another glass of wine and quickly drank it. “I’ll survive. It wasn’t a lot of water, and it was clear. Next time I attend one of her tea parties, though, I’m going to make sure I see where she gets her tea.”


The End