Lost 'N Found

I.
My sister built a tree fort with her own bare hands. she rigged a platform and a rope ladder to scale the trunk, climb to the top and peek into the far off ocean. Inside the fort, a kettle sits at a small wood stove, but it's just for show. There is no fire in the tree fort. There is also a fake bathtub and a fake fridge-- a fake gaslight and a fake hose. About the only thing that's real in my sister's tree fort is a rug that we both curl up on, and of course the view.

II.
One summer, I went up to visit my sister in her tree fort. At first she would not let me in. She drew up the rope ladder like a draw bridge and said, "No girls allowed." I didn't say anything, but curled up at the base of the tree, right in the roots, until I looked like one, and cried and cried and cried. Then she let me up and fed me circus peanuts.

From that day on she let me tend the imaginary fire and send imaginary smoke signals into the air. (We weren't really trying to find anyone.)

And no one tried to find us.

III.
And things were fine, nay great, until my sister's drinking problem led me to sit up from my corner of the rug one pale, lukewarm night and exclaim, "Sister-- it's me or the booze."

She muttered that she didn't know what I meant, that I was naive, ungrateful. We shuffled around each other for days in the tree fort. Tequila dripped from the floor boards to the thirsty frogs below.

IV.
I am not a large girl, but I do not fit so well in my sister's tree fort. I stub my toes, and thwap my forehead, and rake my knuckles. The mini mirror, should it shine, reflects only my waist. The mini rug, should it have tassles, tickle my lip. The mini shower, should it work, wets only my shins.

I have some leaves but my sister says I wasn't born with those.

I like my hands; I order seven pairs online. My sister is going to show me how to fasten them all with her sewing kit. I have a squirrel tail which, to keep clean, I lick, like a cat. My saliva flecks the air and catches the light. I am very pretty.

V.
I don't know why I came here. I don't know why I show up anywhere. If I leave, I'd like my sister to throw her arms around my knees and beg and beg for me not to go.
"It will be terrible here with out you!" She'd say. I do not tell her my secret wish.
"Narcissist," she'd hiss.

VI.
Today my sister is kicking me out of the tree fort. She says I have the drinking problem, not her. I don't think that's right. Before I leave, she pulls out a brown cardboard box. LOST 'N FOUND it says on the side.
"Give back everything I gave you," she says, but I don't know what she's talking about. She shakes the box at me so I take off all my rings and bracelets.
"Such a selfless martyr," she says, and I am ashamed.
"The car keys too. You can't drive drunk." I throw them in there.

I peer one last time in the box before I leave. Little mice crawl around my things.

VII.
Down in the forest, I weave among the trees and miss the parties with imaginary tea I had with my sister.