THE CHRISTMAS EVENT
By
DAN BARBIER
SMASHWORDS EDITION
© 2011 Dan Barbier All rights reserved.
December 2011
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and should not be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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To my father Josaphat who I lost on november 4th 2011, and to my children, Natasha, James-Alex and Pierre-Michel.
They embody the spirit of christmas.
P.S.: Don’t worry honey, the next one is all yours.
-0-
Let me tell you a story about a man. A good man. A good worker. A good husband. A good father.
He always wanted the best he could afford for his family but, he was a man who liked to put things off. I’ll do it tomorrow, he would always say. There’s always tomorrow and the sun will shine tomorrow was always the excuse flowing from his lips.
Never had he put off his christmas shopping this late.
Friday december 23rd.
He would regret it. I know. I was there. I am that man.
My name is Billy Weisbord and this is my story.
-1-
I was born in Montreal in november of 1976. I missed the Montreal Olympics by a few months. My parents were middle-class workers. My father worked in Boucherville as an assitant chemist while my mother was a waitress in a Diner on Masson street.
It was an o.k. upbringing, no sister or brother to argue with but nobody to look after me at school. I made up my own siblings with cousins who lived nearby.
I was a normal kid, I loved comic books and Hockey. My father took me to movie theaters every saturday. He really loved westerns and was a huge fan of Clint Eastwood. Me, I loved comedy and genre movies so my favorites were Eddie Murphy and Steven Spielberg. I studied filmmaking and discovered I had no talent for writing nor directing, could not decipher what lens we needed and what exposure to use but, my love for the cinema grew by seeing what it took to make good flicks.
I went to the marketing side of the business.
In 1997, I got a job at a special effects studio in Piedmont called Hybride Technologies. There, I met a colour grading artist and got married a year later.
After two years of marriage, my wife, Kim Siegel and I got pregnant with a baby girl. We called her, Nathalie. I, being an only child, decided that I didn’t want my daughter to face life without somebody else to name kin. We went for round two and a year later we had a baby boy. This one we called Nathan.
Pretty original, don’t you think ?
On september 30th 2006, I lost both my parents in the collapse of the Viaduc de la concorde in Laval. They were driving north to visit us for our son’s birthday at our house in Ste-Agathe. They were among the five deaths and six injured on that fatal day. Nathan’s birthday gift was smashed on my mother’s knees. Two days before, she called me to say she had bought him that huge Lego kit he had wanted so much. I can still imagine the faces of the rescuers when they found my parent’s Toyota Corolla full with thundreds of Lego blocks.
Do you have enough background ?
So then, what happened on friday december 23rd ?
-2-
I was finishing a meeting with Robert Rodriguez’s people about doing some of the effects for Spy Kids 6. Rodriguez wanted to add yet another dimension to his series.
He started with 3D then 4D, wich was smell, 5D with the Dbox and now 6D would be spraying the audience with a fine warm mist. We worked on the other Rodriguez flicks and had a good working relationship with him, so I felt confident we would get the contract for this next one. I was almost finished cleaning up my desk and preparing to go to Montreal for my Christmas shopping when Harold Mehling, a character animator and a good friend, showed up and sat in front of my desk.
“So ? Still up for that shopping nonsense ?” he asked.
“Yep.” I answered.
“You know you could wait for Boxing day and save a bundle. It’s only three days away. You’re already too late. You’ll never find what you’re looking for.” He added.
“I want my kids to unwrap their gifts on Christmas night, on the sound of midnight like my parents always did.” I told him.
He rose from the chair leaned on the desk.
“You’ll never make it.” He said with a smile and left.
“Thanks for the confidence.” I shouted at him.
I put the paperwork I needed to study during my holliday vacation in my briefcase and went out of my office.
It had started to snow in the early afternoon and my car, a white 2011 Audi A3, was covered with it. I shoved my briefcase on the backseat and retrieve my snow brush to remove the white blanket. I called Kim to tell her I was still going though with my plan. She disaproved of course, and told me to drive carefully. The weather man predicted 20 to 30 centimeters of snow between this morning and 9 pm. I looked at the road in front of me and thought he would be wrong again. This carpet already looked like it was 25 centimeters thick.
Well, the sun will shine tomorrow, I always say.
-3-
I got on the 15 south and soon discovered that the snow covered highway was an icy mess. I reduced my speed to 80 kmh. I wanted to drive to the city not skate to it.
When I reached Blainville I saw a pileup on the other side, on the 15 north. At least six cars were bunched, blocking the road for oncoming traffic. While looking at the accident, I noticed the Suzuki Ario in front of me starting to slide. I changed lane and out-distanced it. The driver probably had lousy tires, or lousy driving skills, I mused. The Audi was glued to the asphalte and I was confident with my driving technique. As I was nearing Montreal I saw the 15 north get crowded. Five twenty-six, the rush hour was in full swing. I congratulated myself again for choosing to live in the Laurentians and not having to live through this, day-in and day-out.
I chose to get off the highway and drive through the city instead of remaining on a fastlane and risking being in a pileup myself. I went on the Pie-IX boulevard and went southward to downtown, where I would do most of my shopping.
Ste-Catherine’s street is the nerve center of shopping montreal. The Eaton center, Ogilvy’s, Alexis-Nihon plaza, Promenades Cathedral, Les Ailes Complex, Ville-Marie Place, Faubourg St-Catherine, Desjardins Complex and on, and on. The mega cineplex of movie theaters, the AMC forum 22 with you guessed it 22 screens and Cineplex Scotia bank. A few streets down and you have the Bell centre where the Montreal Canadiens play. Loads and loads of small boutiques.
I parked on a small street next to Rene-levesque boulevard and proceeded to walk up to my destination.
GODDAMN !
I’m not the only guy who likes to put off holiday shopping to the last minute. The sidewalks were crowded. There were folks on both side of the street and the mob was pushing itself forwards or backwards, depending on where you’re going, to the stores they wanted. I stood there looking awestruck. Awestruck and being pushed and looked at like a moron for not moving at all. I expected to see some people roaming about but never thought it would be half the province of Quebec.
“GODDAMN !” This time I said outloud.
I started pushing my way down the street to my first stop: Chapters bookstore. My wife wanted the new hardcover novel by Patricia Cornwell, RED MIST and I of course wanted to look for the Steve Jobs biography. While I was there I promised myself to look for kid books too, I know Nathan loved the Alex Rider series.
I bought all I needed and went on my second stop. The Eaton centre. Browsing boutiques for expensive perfume for Kim, gadgets for Nathan and girl accessories for Nathalie at Ardene. The phone played the James Bond theme and I answered it.
“Hi, just wanted to know where you were as far as shopping goes.” Kim asked me.
“You wouldn’t believe the mob here. Twice I had to step over old folks who had stumbled in front of me. Remember that old movie with Schwarzzenegger, Jingle all the way ? That’s what this looks like, talking of which, I could swear I saw Ahnold fighting with a little girl for a Barbie in the Sears store.” I kidded.
“Honey, hurry home. I’m really worried. The snow is piling up here and the snowploughs haven’t gone out yet.” She did sound worried.
“Don’t worry, down here it’s almost finish.” I looked outside and barely saw through the white blizzard.
“Anyway, I’m practically done. Just a few more goodies and I’ll be home drinking hot cocoa.” I looked outside and wished I started this earlier.
“Gotta go, Honey. People are fighting over a cabbage patch doll that I want.” I hung up.
I opened the door leading to the snowstorm. The wind shoved my plastic bags all over, I hoped the handles would hold, cause some homeless person would be wearing my daughter’s earrings for Christmas.
The only thing remaining on my list was a pricey winter coat that Kim saw in the Ogilvy’s catalog. She thought it was too expensive and never asked for it, but I knew how she longed for it. It would be the unexpected gift for this year. Every year I buy something that doesn’t figure on her list, like a necklace, perfume, a high-price garment. Every year she rewards me by crying and saying I shouldn’t have. This is what I crave. The reward, the look in their eyes like how could I know.
-4-
I braved the wind and the snow. I made my way to the far away store. Bare with me, the ten minute walk took at least thirty. If a reporter would have stopped me to ask why I was going to Ogilvy. I would have answered “Because it is there.” That’s how I felt, walking through the storm. I slipped and fell on the bag containing ten boxes of Bionicle robots. I felt pain on my right side but I also felt foolish. I hoped I didn’t break open the boxes too. I finally made it to the famed superstore. I flew through the store, slided to a stop, raised my arms packed with plastic bags and went.
“YES !”
Customers stopped what they were doing and looked at me. I did not care. I was a fearless pionneer who defeated the storm and discovered garments for men and women. The phone played the James Bond theme and I strutted away to the women’s section.
“Hey Billy, did you decide to put away your foolish plan of shopping on december 23rd, in a shitstorm and mob infested stores ?” It was Harold.
“I’ll let you know that I’m standing in my last emporium, buying my last gift and I am not the least intimidated by a dozen snowflakes.” I informed him.
“You are on stubborn bastard, my friend. You take care now.” He said.
“Don’t worry pal, I’m always careful.” I looked back at the glass doors and saw that the storm had intensified.
I grabbed a white winter coat size small, and walked briskly to a cashier. When I went back out. The storm had increased in intensity. I just could not believe it. You could not lift your head to see where you were going before getting whipped by icy snow. With a lot of people going on opposite directions, it can be hazardous to walk with your head down. I smacked in a lot of men and women on my way back to my car.
When I arrived at my parking spot, I saw that my white car had disappeared under a snowbank. I didn’t need a snowbrush, I needed a shovel. I went to work and realized it was eight o’clock and I hadn’t eaten. I was famished. I was sure that with the condition of the roads I would be home around ten o’clock. I hurried cleaning my car and went inside.
I went back and forth to dislodge my vehicle from the snow around it and finally set out to drive home.
-5-
I decided to get on the highway right away and not drive around in Montreal to save time. It was a good and a bad decision, it turned out. Good, because there were almost nobody on the road. Bad, because there was a reason why. The highway was a snow filled car dump. When I say, there’s almost nobody on the road, it’s because the cars I saw were not on the road but off the road. I saw people pushing on their car trunks, trying to put their vehicles back on the highway. I had slowed down to 40mph to avoid sharing the same fate. I looked back at the bags on the rear seat and wondered, what is worth it ? I saw their eyes opening with joy at seeing what I brought and thought. Hell yeah.
I made it alive to the 15 north and had a brief moment of hope that I would be home before the kids went to sleep. It did not last long. Up ahead, I saw a lineup of cars slowing down to a crawl in front of me.
I sludged along at a snail pace and put on Q92 for christmas music. Bing Crosby sang about a White Christmas. Yeah, right. I think all the classics made it though the loop before I reached Laval.
I knew that you’re not suppose to speak on a cell phone while driving but what I was doing was not considered, in my opinion, driving. I called Kim and told her where I was and asked her to let the kids stay up for me.
“Of course honey, I already figured you wanted to see them and they are so anxious to see what kind of bags you’ll be bringing home. I’ll even prepare the hot cocoa you mentioned earlier and we’re all gonna have some.” It made me smile.
“Where are you exactly ?” She asked.
“I’m almost underneath the St-Rose viaduct in Laval.” I told her.
I suddenly had a vision of my parents crushed under another viaduct in Laval.
“I’ll see you soon honey. I love you. I love you all.” I had the urge to get that out before I went under that bridge.
I crawled under the concrete structure. I felt cramped by it. I never had claustrophobia but I understood how these people felt.
“Come on, hurry up. You’re lucky I drive an expensive car, cause if I was driving a Ford I would push you out of my way.” I looked up and imagined I saw a crack forming.
I hadn’t imagined it.
I Honked my horn. I didn’t care about my forty thousand car, I slammed the car in front of me and started pushing it. I looked up at the construction and saw it break up.
My last thought…
Imagining the look on the face of rescuers when they see an Audi full of Lego Bionicle parts.
*************************************
Nothing is better than the present.
Cherish your love ones with your presence.