My little Christmas story

My Christmas Tale Take Two

  By David Broughton.

  Gloria wakes, noticing the slightly cooler than usual feel of the floor as she sits on the edge of the bed dreading the day. It's two days before Christmas, but it sure doesn't feel like it to me. The two older children aren't excited either, they know there's no money in their house this year for any presents, or so much as a nice Christmas dinner. Little Molly still believes Santa will bring Christmas anyway, I hope she isn't too devastated when there's nothing on Christmas morning. It doesn't feel much like Christmas for other reasons too, one being that it's much warmer here in the middle of Florida than what the children and I are used to at this time of year. I wish the children and I never had to move to Dad's place. At least Dad is still kickin', he kicks at pretty much everything these days, and he has ever since Mom left this world.

  Dad never accepted that Mom could possibly leave this earth before him. She was a kind, sweet woman with a good word for everyone. Dad had always been the ornery, cantankerous sort, he drank too much sometimes, and raised hell all the time. He's not like that now, though I wish he was more like that, and less like the slow moving, brooding, quiet man he's become since Mom's been gone.

 

  Gloria tries to put it out of her mind, as she gets dressed for the day, but has no success at that, she continues ruminating: Living here wasn't because I had any real choice, once my dear, sweet, loving husband, Henry, got hit by that damn drunk driver, Julian Gordano. He had been arrested for drunk driving a number of times, but because he had money for sharp lawyers and possibly some bribes here and there, he got away with it. That… er… well hell, that drunk got away with killing Henry too, for the most part, he had to pay some small fines and spend a little time in jail, but not nearly what he should have, for what amounted to murder.

  There was the bit of insurance money, but with three children, a mortgage, car payments, and all the other things our normal little American family had, that money was gone in a flash. I knew we couldn't stay in upstate New York any longer, it's way too expensive to live there without a good income coming in. I have work here, but only as a part-time librarian, the best job I can get until I get certified to teach in this state, and that takes a little money too, but then things won't be a whole lot better, teachers never make a whole lot of money. Still, living with Dad helps, at least there's no mortgage to pay. He survives off his small military pension, I help out a little with the money, doing the cooking, shopping, cleaning and the other things he generally neglects, so it helps him out too, though he wouldn't admit it readily, he's not the type that would these days.

  A few brief honks of a car horn quickly drags Gloria's mind out of her dark musings. Gloria looks out the window, her friend from work, Sarah, is here to take her into town, though Gloria can't really think a good reason why she should go. She has only a little money, not enough to get a used artificial Christmas tree, let alone any decorations or presents. Gloria wouldn't go at all, but Sarah is fun to be with, her smile and laughter are infectious, and there's an outside chance that getting away might help her feel better about things, at least for a little while. The children, including her littlest, Molly, are in the barn with Pops, as they call their grandfather, so they'll be looked after for the day.

  Sarah has a wide grin on her face as Gloria gets her seatbelt fastened. "I know that look, Sarah, what are you up to, more importantly, what are you getting me into?"

  "Oh, nothing, ready, lets go."

  Gloria lets it drop for now, though she's certain Sarah has some kind of plans in the works for her. One of the things that makes Sarah fun to hang out with is also one of the things that worries Gloria today, Sarah is likely to do or say anything, at any time. If she thinks it, she often says it, without editing it first. She's as likely to do some teenager's stunt as to act her age, which must be around fifty, though anyone would be hard pressed to tell for sure, the mischievous twinkle in her eyes and wry smile on her face make it difficult to tell.

  Once they're in town, Gloria asks, "Where are we going? You know I have very little money."

  "Don't sweat it, we're going over to the Salvation Army store, they have stuff real cheap there."

  "Well, all right, that still doesn't change the fact I have so little money, but I'd love to get each of the kids a little something – I don't honestly see that happening though. We don't even have a Christmas tree."

  "We'll have to fix that."

  They don't go to the Salvation Army's regular store but a hastily setup store in an old mall. Gloria is surprised to find the place full of new toys, coats, shoes, all kind of things her children need. She can't afford to buy anything, but a smiling Sarah insists they make out a wish list. They do that as they browse the huge store. Since it's only wishing, Gloria puts down everything she can think of that her children, and father need, and a few things they might only want. When they're finished, Sarah puts the list in a big box made to look like an old fashioned mailbox, its sign proclaims it Santa's Mailbox. Gloria sees it as a lot of trouble to go to for nothing, but as Sarah points out, it was a lot of fun wishing.

  Sarah and Gloria ride over to the Salvation Army's regular store. Sarah buys a rather scraggly old artificial Christmas tree, a big box of lights that look tangled, and some other decorations that might have seen better days, but they were priced at next to nothing, so Gloria can accept them. Gloria knows Sarah already has nice decorations, the same ones she always uses, the kind for Hanukkah, so she knows Sarah is trying to get something for her house, so that it's not completely devoid of holiday cheer. Sarah's also smart enough to know that fancy, expensive decorations would be too hard for Gloria to accept, she does have a little pride left, but Sarah realizes she's slipping fast into that deep dark hole fancily called depression, but amounts to big time sadness, having wound up in these straits through no fault of her own seems to make it worse. Sarah is a perceptive woman, she knows that if the problems were of her own making, Gloria would find them easier to accept.

  Gloria can't see the sense in getting a tree, when there won't be any presents under it for her children, but Sarah will not be denied, she seldom is, Gloria knows she's going to get her way, her smiling, jovial nature fools a lot of people, but she's not a woman that will let anything stand in her way, if she's made up her mind.

  Sarah buys lunch at a little place in the same area as the Salvation Army store. A small family operates the little restaurant, they're originally from Guatemala, but they make a point of letting everyone know they're legal immigrants, with green cards and are studying to become citizens. Sarah asks, "Gloria, would you be able to help this family learn English better, especially when it comes to reading and writing it, the citizenship test is given only in English."

  "I have the time, sure I will. Getting back and forth might be a problem, and I don't know about leaving the children with Dad for too long, you know how he is."

  "Leave that to me, we'll work it out. There's no sense in starting that until after the first of the year."

  "Probably not." Sarah is still smiling wide as Gloria takes in her expressive face. I wonder, is this what she was up to with all this? She could have brought me straight here, or just asked at the house, she knows I won't turn down people in need if I can possibly help them.

  After their tasty lunch, Gloria spends what cash she has for a loaf of bread and a couple of boxes of the cheap brand of mac and cheese. Sarah takes note of Gloria buying so little and having to count change to do it, but says nothing as she takes her back home. At the house, Sarah insists she take the tree, lights, and ornaments they bought at the Salvation Army store. Gloria shrugs, though she sees no sense in it, she promises Sarah that she'll put it
up, and decorate it.

  After supper, the children and her father uncharacteristically head out to the barn. As he leaves, her father is toting the box of decorations with him. He turns back to his daughter for a moment, "Gloria, the children are working on a surprise for you, don't go to the barn and spoil it for them, lord knows they've had enough things spoiled for them lately. I'll keep watch on them as I sort out this mess of lights and things."

  "Okay dad, I won't peek, but it hardly seems fair, I wasn't able to get them anything."

  "They don't seem to care about that sweetie, but they want to do something nice for you, let them try."

  "Okay dad." I wonder what's come over Dad? He's more jovial than I've seen him since mom died. Maybe the children are having an affect on him? I don't know, but it's a nice change.

  Once the dishes are done, and the house straightened up, Gloria goes to bed. Her father and the children are still out in the barn. It's not late, but she's tired, mostly tired of worrying. She manages to get to sleep, to slip into a magical world as she dreams of the Christmases of her past, when she was a child, and her mother was still alive. They didn't always have a lot, some years were better than others, but they always had something, and a nice dinner with plenty of friends and family around. It was always a fun time, no matter the amount or worth of any gifts.

  The next morning

  Gloria drags herself out of bed, dreading facing this day and the next. If only I had a little something for the kids, and a way to fix a special meal, that would be enough. As it is, I guess hamburger helper without the hamburger will be our Christmas dinner. I have some here, but I can either use it tonight, or tomorrow, there's not enough for both. Maybe tomorrow would be better. Why does Christmas have to come at the end of the month? Why not the beginning? Why the 25th? That's no special day, really, just some day somebody picked long ago. I think it would be better if we just start forgetting about such things as Christmas, it only makes it harder for us, it certainly doesn't help anything.

  As she traverses the living room, on her way to the kitchen to see if there's any coffee remaining, she stands stock still, taking in the sight before her eyes. For a moment she thinks she's still dreaming, the scraggly tree isn't so scraggly looking now, it's covered with decorations, lights, and garlands. There are garlands and colored Christmas lights hung all around, giving the small living room a special glow, the way it used to when Mom was around. She shakes her head, then looks again, it's a beautiful sight. Apparently Dad was able to use most of the things Sarah bought, and found some of the old stuff to use too.

  Gloria goes on into the kitchen. There are dirty bowls in the sink from her children's breakfast, what it was she has no clue, they can't afford cereals and milk most of the time. She guesses Dad fixed them something, then they all went on out to the barn to continue working on their secret project. There's no coffee made, but there are enough makings for another pot, maybe two if she's careful. She doles out the coffee carefully, making this pot a bit weaker than she likes, but this way she'll have one pot left for tomorrow to help see her through what promises to be a very dismal day, decorations not withstanding.

  That evening, Gloria splits the little bit of hamburger into two meals, the so called hamburger helper she uses isn't really the name brand kind, it's actually cheap macaroni and cheese, with a little bit of burger browned and mixed in for flavor more than anything, there's not enough meat to do more than that.

  As she's cleaning up the supper dishes, Gloria hears a big truck or something rumble up the drive. It has to be a deliveryman that's made a mistake, or something of the kind, she knows she doesn't have anyone sending her anything. When she looks out, she sees not only a big truck, but also a military style van in the driveway. Marines in full dress-blue uniforms, complete with white hats and gloves, are lining up at the back of the big truck. Sarah gets out of the passenger side of the big truck with a Santa hat on her head, grinning wider than Gloria's ever seen her grin, she thinks, though Sarah's known to grin wide and often.

  Gloria throws open the front door, "Sarah, you're a welcome sight. What, are you stopping here on your way to a function of some kind?"

  "This is our function tonight. Stand aside girl, let these Marines do their thing." Dumbfounded, Gloria just stands with her mouth agape. Sarah gently tugs her out of the way as the Marines tote in lots of wrapped gifts, and boxes of groceries too. After a minute, Gloria finds her voice, "How … Sarah, what have you done? I hope you didn't take away from those that really need it."

  "Honey, trust me, this time around, you need it." Sarah places a fancy envelope, the kind made for holding cash, into Gloria's hand as she explains, "Some of it is from the people at my Temple, some is from other such church groups, the toys are from the Marines and their Toys for Tots campaign, so really it's from the entire community."

  Tears well up in Gloria's eyes as she hugs her friend. "I don't know what to say Sarah, except thank you. Thank you so much, for me and my children."

  "Don't fret it honey you're a good, kind soul that helps everyone you can, even when you don't have it to give. Relax, everything's fine. Looks like they're about done, we have a few other stops to make yet tonight. We need to go."

  "Not yet, you're not getting away that easy." Gloria gives Sarah a big hug, then insists on giving every last one of the Marines a hug. Why this turns big, strong Marines red in the face and teary eyed, she doesn't know, through her tears of joy it's difficult to tell exactly what they might be thinking.

  Suddenly, the children bust out of the barn then run into the house, seconds later, they're back at her side, her youngest, little Molly, turns to her brother and sister, "See, I told you, there must be a Santa Claus, did you see all that stuff?" While the last marine patiently stands by waiting for his hug, Gloria picks up little Molly. "See mommy, Santa came after all.''

  A smile plays at the Marine's lips, he speaks softly to Molly, "No, little miss, Santa was busy, he sent the Marines."

  The Marine gets a double hug, one from Molly, and one from Gloria with one arm as she holds Molly. Red faced, the big Marine gets in the van, they wait for Sarah to get in the big truck, the driver's wave, as do the Marines, then they move on down the driveway. Sarah makes another pot of coffee, full strength this time, some kind soul remembered to put coffee in with the groceries. As she puts them away, she can't help but hum an old song, not a Christmas song or hymn, but it probably should be, she always hears it the way Louie Armstrong did it, though she never saw him live, only on tape, the song is called "It's a Wonderful World."

  After a while of shaking the wrapped presents, the children are put to bed. Gloria relaxes on the couch, wondering what her father and her children have been doing in the barn. "Dad, what are you and the kids up to in the barn?"

 

  "You'll just have to wait for the morning, I wouldn't dare spoil it for the kids. They really do love you, you know."

  "Sure they do Dad, I'm their Mom, they don't know anything different, thank God. Sometimes I wonder how I've managed to keep us together."

  "You're doing the best you can in bad circumstances honey, don't beat yourself up over it."

  "You did, up until recently, so who are you to be giving advice on that subject?"

  "Precisely my dear, I'm a man that knows what a time waster it is. How much living have I missed being ticked off at the world because I no longer have Susan? I have you, I have the children, that's a lot. It's time we both realized we've got a lot to be thankful for."

  "It's not easy to be thankful sometimes, up until Sarah and her platoon of Marines arrived, I was really dreading the next week or so."

  "I know dear, but everything's going to be just fine now. Go on to bed, I have to finish up something in the barn, I promised the children."

  "Okay Dad, don't stay up too late."

  "Honey, I'm still the dad, you're still my kid, don't be telling me how late I can stay up if I need or want to." She would get mad, but the smil
e on his face changes her tune, she hasn't seen a real smile on his face for a long time, "All right dad, goodnight."

  "Night, dear."