Family

It had been years since she had visited her childhood home. Now here she is with her son Jimmy, grown standing inside the spooky old house, dusting the cobwebs off as she touched the locket around her neck and made her way to the aged record player her dad had bought her all those years ago. It had a silver disco ball at the top where lights are shown on it when you flipped the switch and turned to make pretty shapes and colors of red, green, blue, and gold all over the walls. Under the disco ball, it had a record player where she could play old records, and on the side of the front, it had an eight-track player. She remembered listening to songs by Glen Cambell, Jackie Wilson, and Marilyn MCcoo, and Billy Davis Jr. She thought those were the most beautiful songs in the world back then. She loved watching the lights all across the room, sitting in the dark listening and dreaming. She was five years old, then playing with her dolls and listening to music. This was when her love for dolls was born. It was the only time in her life she had felt happy and content. Now, as she looked around the house, she wished she could go back to those times when her mother, papaw, and father had been alive. Going a bit further into the house, she came upon some of the dolls she had been looking for, the ones she had loved so much. There was a Baby Beth doll, with her soft body, pink knit hat and slippers, and straight blond hair. Her daddy and bought her that and suffered for it. She heard the stories of how Louise, her biological mother, had jumped onto him for buying her the stereo, and Baby Beth doll. Louise never liked him buying her anything. Bethany was glad she was raised by her grandmother, whom she called mom, and her Grandfather, whom she referred to as papaw.

Jimmy said, "Mom, mom, are you done yet? It's hot in here. I am ready to go,"

"Almost, come in here and help me. I can't carry all this by myself." Bethany explained.

"Mom, are you taking all this?" Jimmy said as he looked around at the mess laying on the floor.

Bethany feeling frustrated and rushed said, "Yeah, Will you please leave me alone and let me do my thing. Here put this one in the bag." There were Cabbage Patch dolls, baby Drowsy, Christy, and a Nenuco doll, some Vintage Barbies from the '60s on up to the '90s all in bags scattered about. It was too much to carry all at once. So they made two trips.

"What are you going to do with all this? "Asked Jimmy

" I will put them on my shelves, and you're going to help me." Bethany laughed. She knew her son hated anything to do with dolls.

Bethany touched the gold, heart locket around her neck. It held a picture of her mom, her papaw, her dad who raised her, and even her little dog Peepee. She was going to have a place for all of them in her home. She felt closer to her deceased parents already. That night she felt so relaxed and looking forward to her plans for the next day. She laid down on the bed and closed her eyes. She imagined what it would be like resting in a coffin if she were dead. Oh, how nice. I could sleep forever, she thought. Trying not to think about not being able to get out. What could bring me closer to the ones I love, she thought, touching her necklace.

Later the next day Bethany and Jimmy were back home. Bethany sat at the kitchen table made of cherry wood, drinking her cup of coffee with cream and sugar. I need my family back, I need my dog. They need to know my child. She had grieved over their loss for close to 20 years. Grieved and grieved over what might have been having they lived, and now she was tired. She craved to see her dog back in her arms along with her papaw in his rocking chair watching old westerns and wrestling. She could almost see her mother sitting with her drinking coffee and, of course, her dad sitting there telling some big outlandish story. She touched her locket once again, thinking and thinking. She could get Peepee back. She knew she could.

She stood up and went to the garage. As she stepped onto the concrete floor, she saw the shovel over there in a corner by the Christmas decorations. She got the shovel and left. She walked way past the garage and kept walking until she got close to the hillside where the grave was. She began to shovel, bit by bit until the shovel hit a box. She looked in the box there he was laying, nothing but bones now, and covered in dirt and dead maggots. She put her gloves on that she had carried with her and picked him up. She took him where the water hose was and got a yellow bucket and some soap. She sprayed him off well and then got the soap and water in the bucket and finished washing him. She dried him off with a towel and took the dog's skeleton into the house when she was done. She placed him on her bed.

"What in the world are you doing? " Jimmy asked looking shocked and bewildered.

"I dug Peepee up and brought him into the house." Said Bethany as if it were an everyday thing.

"That is so creepy. Why did you do that? "Said, Jimmy in a dismay

"I wanted to be closer to Peepee. It's better this way. You'll see." Bethany said reassuredly.

" Well, that's a weird little mom, but okay. " Said Jimmy shaking his head and brushing it off, pushing it out of his mind.

Jimmy would do anything for his mom. She was all he had in life. The only family he had ever known. He knew how much she missed her dog. She talked about him every time someone died, or every time anything bad happened, she would reflect on her dog Peepee. He had seen pictures of him for years scattered across the walls and the coffee tables. He was a chihuahua terrier mix, wiry black hair, a mustache, a beard with a white streak going from his chin to his chest. The stories she told of him were hilarious. He wished he had gotten to meet him, but the dog had died when Jimmy was just a baby. His mom was going through something, and he knew it. The dolls didn't seem to help like they once did.

Jimmy woke to his mothers' voice. It was late and thunder could be heard in the distance. He could hear her talking, laughing, and saying, that's mommy's baby. Jimmy peeked into the room and saw her sitting on the bed with the skeleton of the dog in her arms, petting it and cooing as if it were real. Panic struck him. He was worried.

"Who are you talking to? "Jimmy asked Cautiously. He could tell she was on the edge of something. He didn't know what.

"I am talking to Peepee, of course," she said as if what he asked was absurd.

"Peepee's dead mom. He's not coming back. " Jimmy yelled in defiance.

"I know he's dead, Bethany said in an annoyed tone, but his spirit is here. Can't you feel it, Jimmy? Cant, you feel it?" Bethany said. Bethany touched the locket around her neck, feeling comforted but concerned by her child's demeanor. Was he going to make this difficult for her?

Bethany often made dolls of her own by sewing and using her own patterns. She decided she was going to make a new coat for her dog. She went to her sewing room and got out her stash of fur. She picked out a nice piece of medium black Faux fur. She went to her desk and began to draw the pattern of a dog, a chihuahua dog. She got her sewing box and scissors and began to pin the pattern pieces in place, one by one until she got them all pinned and cut out. She went to the machine, caressing her locket she sewed and sewed into the morning.

Jimmy got up from his slumber and rubbed his hands through his thick brown hair and then rubbing his dark brown eyes to get the sleep dust out. I need to wash my face, he said, and so he headed toward the bathroom. As he was passing by, he saw his mother asleep at the sewing machine. She must have passed out there. So he woke her up and helped her up to the couch.

He told her, "I am worried about you. Why don't you let me take you to the doctor? " his eyebrows curled in concern.

"I don't want to go to any doctor. I am fine. I know Peepee is dead. I am not crazy, but his spirit here and pretending helps me deal with him being gone, " Bethan explained trying desperately to appease him so he wouldn't worry.

"Okay, fair enough," Jimmy said, "but a grief counselor might help you."

"No thanks, I am fine." Bethany hugged her son and thanked him for his concern.

Bethany walked over, picked up Pee's skeleton from the table, and fit it inside the suit she had prepared. It fits perfectly, she said gleefully. Then she took his bones back out and got string and fiberfill. She began wrapping the stuffing around the bones of the dog meticulously, tying them in place as she went along. When she was finished, she placed the dog's remains back in the fursuit and sewed up the opening on the underbelly. "They're all better," she said. As she petting his new fur as if he were still alive.

That night Bethany thought of another idea. She could get her family back the same way she got Peepee back. They could be a family again. A family of dolls.

Later on that day, Jimmy was coming back from work. He worked at Game Stop part-time. He loved his job there, and just then, he got this eerie feeling as he was driving back home. His mother needed comfort. He understood that, and he realized she had always been a bit eccentric and often went out of her way to make herself seem creepy just for laughs. He could remember her coming home laughing because she had scared someone by telling them she hid bodies in her basement and telling them she was joking; laughed even harder when they sighed a sigh of relief. I love my mother, he thought, but she will have us on some government watch list with all her crazy antics one of these days.

He finally reached his home. It was a beautiful, sweet little, yellow house with a baby blue, tin roof, and shutters. The weeping willow tree hangs it' branches just outside in the front yard. It looked like a place to escape all your troubles with the climbing rose bushes of red going up the lattice to the side of the house. He loved his home, but now it was starting to feel a bit scary. The vibe on the inside didn't match the outside.

As he unlocked the door, he found his mother sewing away in her sewing room. She had been busy. She had five dolls made. One woman with shoulder-length dark hair and one older woman whose hair was in a bun with glasses. Also, one grandpa-looking one with grey hair and black-rimmed glasses and white shirt and dark pants. Another male with raven back wavy hair, a western button-up shirt with peal buttons, and a younger male doll looked like him. What in the world was she doing now. He thought.

What is all this?" Jimmy asked in an alarmed tone.

"I am making dolls, of course. I do it all the time." She said as if it were nothing.

" Yes, but these are life-size. and they look weird." Jimmy explained, Hastily.

"Oh yeah, they're going to go in the new doll room I am making in the basement."

" Okay, but why, you already have a doll room?" Jimmy asked suspiciously.

She touched her locket and said, "it's a surprise." with big wild eyes and a demented smile that gave Jimmy a slight chill. He shook his head and went into the kitchen to make himself some soup. He wondered if his mom had eaten anything. I am going to have to call the doctor tomorrow. Something is not right here, he thought.

Bethany took the dolls one by one, all down to the basement, including her dog PeePee. She had all of her family's Ashes lined up, and one by one, she poured the ashes of her family from the urns into the doll she had made just for them.

"Jimmy, come down to the basement. I want to talk to you about something," she yelled in excitement

With great dread, Jimmy called out, "Okay, I'll be there in a minute"

"Do you remember all the stories I told you about my mom and how she filled the world with love and took the love with her when she left? All the love that is left is you and me."

" I remember", he said feeling uncomfortable. These talks always made him a bit uneasy.

"Well, did I tell you how much your great-grandpa would have loved you if he had been here? He loved children and always gave them a dollar every time he saw them. He loved his family. My dad, your grandpa, and my mother all loved us. I am making way for us all to be together for the rest of our lives. Would you like that?" Bethany asked.

Bethany handed him a glass of lemonade she had waiting for him that she had repaired earlier, and said, "Look I made this for you. Drink, tell me what you think. I tried something new."

Jimmy took the glass reluctantly and drank the liquid. It tasted funny. What did she put in it he thought, but not wanting to disappoint his mother he finished the glass.

He smiled at his mom with a loving, warm smile and said, " It's good mom, Thanks."

Bethany, said," What do you think about what I was telling you earlier about being together forever?"

Jimmy trying to appease his mother said, "Sure, mom, whatever makes you happy."

Just then, she reached over and hugged him with great love, kissing him on the cheek. He stumbled and fell to the floor feeling dizzy. He looked at his mother in horror realizing what she had done, and he died right there where he lay. Bethany, got the doll suit she had made for him and tugged and pulled until she got him in the suit and sewed him up. She then struggled to straighten his body up next to the couch so she could then pull him up in a sitting position.

"They're perfect", she said, almost seeming sad as she then went over to the record player she had brought home from the old house, and put on Sunflower by Glen Cambell. Then turning the switch to the disco globe on, she drank her lemonade. She stroked her locket once more while climbing inside the doll suit she had made for herself and soon she was gone just like Jimmy.

It had been years since anyone had seen or heard of Bethany and her son. They had searched the house and found nothing. The house was up for sale, and it had finally found a buyer.

Cindy unlocked the doors to her new house. It's a beautiful house Cindy thought. We've been looking for a place to move so we don't have to rent anymore, and that weeping willow tree would be the perfect tree to hang a tire on for Samantha to swing on. Just then, she heard a sound as she looked around. What is that sound? The electricity hadn't been turned on yet. It sounded like soft music coming from somewhere off in the distance. What was that song? The words to the song were "make it so real it steals your breath away". That's what it sounded like it was saying. She couldn't really be hearing music. Could she? She thought as she looked around the house trying to find the source. Chill bumps ran up her arm, making her go to her car and her sweater.

She walked over to the door to the basement. It was an old wooden door that was really just a piece of wood on the floor with a latch on it, but it was stuck. No matter how hard she tried to pull it wouldn't open. I'll call the realtor tomorrow she said allowed. Samantha would be coming home from her dad's house tomorrow.