Googyworld

Caroline stood in her messy room with her head down, avoiding the steely and disappointed gaze of her mother. 

“I don’t know what to do with you. I can’t even walk around in here. You have to clean up this room!” She sighed, closing the door. 

Scanning the room, Caroline saw her clothes all over, spanning every surface. She spotted her pink high-top sneaker dangling from the window crank, but couldn’t see its match. 

Her toys were so scattered around the room she typically just played with what she tripped over, instead of searching for something particular. 

But where tidiness escaped her, creativity thrived. 

Sometimes she thought of her messy spaces as islands. There was the land of mud where all her dirty play clothes lived. Her soiled jeans were the dual-headed leader of the land and her muddy formerly red sneakers were the Sargent protectors. Everything in mud land was a pair. 

Sock village, in contrast, consisted of all the mismatched socks, shoes and random toys that had no partner. They survived in harmony together, each with their own gifts. 

Barbieville was the isolated area in her room with some idea of order. Her Barbie dreamhouse, passed down from her older sister, and her new birthday Barbie car services the vast variety of her dolls from Barbie, Ken and friends to the assorted action figures her older brother gave her. Caroline daily dreamt up scenarios where the Star Wars action figures would storm the dreamhouse, but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would ward them off and save everyone. Or sometimes Barbie and Ken opened a medical clinic to help those from surrounding islands recover from unusual illnesses which only plagued their people. 

But her favorite pretend place was the mysterious and magical land of Googyworld, located under her bed. 

Caroline never knew what was under there and she didn’t care. She imagined it was mostly comprised of anything and everything naturally kicked under the bed when she got up in the morning or went to bed at night. And at other times when her mother was cross and she shoved things under there to open spots on the carpeting and make the room look cleaner. 

In her make believe sea of islands, Googyworld was a strange puzzle to the other island inhabitants. Some were scared of it. Others idolized it and yet everyone was curious and confused about its mystical powers. It seemed anything that entered Googyworld world was never seen again. It’s where everything went that made some afraid of it. 

Caroline pretended there was an invisible shield around Googyworld that sucked things in like a vacuum. So no one wanted to venture too close to its borders for fear of getting caught up in its vortex. 

The inhabitants of Barbieville often discussed an all out assault on Googyworld to rescue those lost, but their attempts were in vain. Nothing from Googyworld would ever leave. 

But one day, Caroline’s mother waged a cruel attack of her own. 

When Caroline came home from school, all the islands were gone. Caroline screamed in shock as she saw her room’s purple and lime swirled rug for the first time in years. Everything was put neatly put away. Sock village and mudland were either in her drawers or the laundry. Barbieville was relocated to her closet. 

But what about Googyworld? Caroline thought as she plunged on the ground and looked under the bed. It was wiped out too. Nothing remained but an empty void. 

She didn’t know whether to be mad or cry. But one thing was certain. It would never be the same again. 

Then Caroline’s mother appeared in the doorway. 

“See how nice your room looks now? I want you to keep it this clean from now on.” Her mother declared and walked away. 

Staring at all the vast empty spaces in her room, Caroline drew a deep breath, kicked her shoes and socks under the bed and raised her arm above her head in declaration. 

“This is my room and I vow that all my worlds will live to tell another tale again!”