Dream Dad. Holly Haggarty

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knew about Pippi Longstocking. They had read that book aloud in class. Pippi’s father was shipwrecked on an island. But unlike Willa, Pippi didn’t have a mother either. She lived alone with a monkey and a suitcase of gold . . . I wish I had a suitcase filled with gold, thought Willa.

      “Hey,” said Marina, “maybe your father has found treasure on the island. Maybe pirates were there long ago and left gold. It’s not much good to him there, though. I hope it also has fruit trees and some animals to hunt. Maybe it’s not a desert island, but just deserted.”

      After school, Willa stopped at Marina’s to play. She found she didn’t have to call home, though, because her mother was at Marina’s too, having tea at the kitchen table with Aunt Nadya. They looked funny together, the two mothers. They were so different!

      Aunt Nadya had flaming red, frizzy hair. Even though it was a hot day in June, she was dressed up. She always wore make-up and fancy clothes or costumes. Today she wore a full red skirt of cotton lace with a scooped-neck matching blouse. She was feeding one triplet, who sat in a high chair. Another was in her lap, attacking her earrings, while the third was sitting on the floor, chewing her shoe buckle. To Willa, Aunt Nadya looked like a gypsy fortune-teller. Beside her, Willa’s mother looked very plain in a white shirt and the same faded jeans she always wore. She was hunched over her cup, as if she were hoping for a very good fortune.

      “There you are, Willa,” Aunt Nadya greeted her. “Guess what? I get to babysit! There’s a party at the university tonight. I’ve told your mother she should go, even though she still hasn’t gone to a movie with me, as she’s been promising. You can stay here for a sleep-over.”

      A sleep-over! Willa and Marina were overjoyed! Willa had never slept over at Marina’s before. They could play all night long!

      First, though, they had to take care of the triplets. This the girls didn’t mind. They loved playing “mother” with the triplets—especially since there was more than enough baby to go around!

      Pamela, Marina’s older sister, came home early for once. She was supposed to come home right after school too, to help out, but she usually managed to be late. Pamela went to high school and she wore make-up: black eye liner, pale face powder and icy-pink lipstick, exactly the same way all her friends did. Willa preferred Aunt Nadya’s make-up: lots of colour around her eyes and bright red lipstick. It was much more glamorous, she thought. Willa wished her mother wore make-up.

      “You haven’t cleaned the bathrooms yet!” Marina reminded her sister. “Mom said you can’t watch television until they’re done.”

      Pamela rolled her eyes as she walked by.

      Soon Marina’s father, Mr. Borzikowski, arrived, wearing coveralls streaked with mud. He worked as a gardener for the city. The babies waved and babbled excitedly when he entered the kitchen. He lay down to play with them on the kitchen floor and soon all three were clambering over him, reaching for his long, bushy beard.

      “Take those filthy coveralls off,” Aunt Nadya called out from the dining room, where she was sewing. “Don’t muck up the babies!”

      For supper, Mr. Borzikowski made spaghetti. There were eight people around the table, including the triplets in high chairs, who were fed mashed spaghetti. Willa couldn’t believe the noise. The babies cried and laughed and banged their spoons. Several conversations went on at the same time, and everyone interrupted each other, shouting to be heard over the clamour.

      After supper it was discovered that Pamela still hadn’t cleaned the bathrooms. This set off a shouting match between Pamela and her mother.

      “I want those bathrooms done right now!”

      “Why should I have to clean them? Why can’t Marina?”

      “Marina has been taking care of the triplets when she comes home from school—something you never do!”

      “That’s not work. That’s play!”

      “And you will play in the bathrooms, right now, or you will be grounded!”

      Pamela stomped upstairs. When Marina reminded her mother that it was also Pamela’s turn to load the dishwasher, Aunt Nadya told Marina and Willa to do it.

      “That’s not fair,” Marina protested loudly. “Pamela gets out of everything just by not doing anything!”

      “Just do it!” Aunt Nadya ordered.

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