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 she 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, 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 of 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 for a while 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, it's sign proclaims it Santa's Mailbox. Gloria sees it as a lot of trouble to go to for nothing, but it as Sarah pointed 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 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 do 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 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 split the little bit of hamburger into two meals, the so called hamburger helper she uses isn't really the name brand kisnd, 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, she 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 smile 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."
<b>Christmas Morning</b>
As she expected, the children wake her and Pops very early, before it's light out. They don't want to wait to open packages, but Gloria makes them wait until after breakfast, something they used to always do, and something her mother did, though Gloria had thought she wouldn't be able to make them this year, the Christmas pancakes. They're just more or less ordinary pancakes, made in Christmas shapes, whether it be trees, or stars, or occasionally something they can only guess what it might be, maybe it's a lamb, maybe it's a donkey, they can't tell, but have fun trying to figure it out.
After breakfast, the melee begins, the children grab a package and open it, deciding after it's opened who's it is. The look on Tommy's face is funny when he opens a package containing a large doll. "Tommy, look at the tags, don't they say who they're for?"
"That's no fun, we like it this way."
"Okay, if you insist." Tommy quickly trades the doll with Molly for a Tonka truck. The children received everything on Gloria's wish list, and then some, she hadn't included too many frivolous things like battery operated toys, but they got quite a few of those too. Yet another package solves the accompanying problem, batteries for them all. They get batteries all right, but these are the rechargeable kind with a charger for all sizes of batteries. Gloria suspects Sarah had a hand or two in that little gadget, she's frugal, but not never cheap or stingy.
When there are no more presents to open the children quietly clean up the mess without being asked, they're being careful with the ribbons and colorful paper. Why they're on their best behavior after they've received their presents puzzles Gloria. When they've cleaned things up, they look to Pops, he herds them out to the barn, each one has some used wrapping paper and ribbons in hand. He says nothing to Gloria, but his wide grin as they're marching out tells her all she needs to know at the moment.
Gloria relaxes with a third cup of coffee, a luxury she hasn't allowed herself recently, since she was trying to stretch what they had. Whoever thought of it, put in plenty of coffee, and not a cheap variety, it's a well-known brand that makes a great tasting brew.
Gloria happens to see through the window, the children and her dad are leaving the barn. Susan, her oldest, and Tommy are toting a rather large, wrapped box. Dad has Molly by the hand, they're all smiles as they enter the house.
Susan, being the oldest, gets the job of presenting the gift to her mother. "Mom, this is from all of us, including Pops. We hope you really like it, though we're smart enough to know you'll say you do, even if you don't. Please, don't lie to us, if you don't like it, say so."
"Honey, you won't understand until you're grown and have children of your own, but you're my children, I'll love whatever it is."
"That's what I mean, Mom, don't tell us you love it just because we made it, love it or don't, but because it deserves it or it don't. All right?"
"Oh, all right, I'll be honest with you, but I still love that you tried to do anything."
"Okay Mom." She helps Tommy set the big box in front of her, on the floor, near her, it's nearly as tall as a coffee table, and about as long and wide, but it's a solid box, not a table. Gloria peels the wrapping paper off, little by little. There's beautiful wood underneath the wrapping that still smells of fresh varnish.
When she gets it unwrapped completely, she sees it's a box with a hinged lid, the words Mom's Memory Box are hand lettered in a childish scrawl on top, in a bright red paint usually reserved for tractors. Gloria opens the latch on the front, then slowly pushes the top up and back. Leather straps that appear to be made from old boots keep it from opening too far. She notices the hinges are made of the carefully cut and varnish-glistening old leather too.
The box itself is quite a present, it's obviously hand made, and carefully done, with what was available around the old farm. However, inside the box are many things Gloria recognizes. Her old baseball glove, some jacks, an old doll she used to tote everywhere, are among the things in the box, but what catches her eyes now are four picture albums. She tries to go through one of them, but can't, the pictures of days long gone, many of them with her mother, leave her eyes too tearful to look at anything more, but the children insist, so as soon as she can dry her eyes, she goes through the next book. This one is of her, the young children, and their father. Some of it is their own artwork, some pages are filled with photographs she'd sent her mother. Gloria can take no more now, the other two books will have to wait, she pulls her children tight to her, and looks to her dad, "I really do love it, I really do, but that's all I can take at one time. I'll have to save the rest for later."
Molly looks up at her, "That's okay Mom, the other two books are to fill with things from now, to remember later. Just then a flash goes off, Sarah has snuck in the back door, she's taking pictures with her old Polaroid camera, grinning from ear to ear like she always does. She hands some of the pictures to Gloria, "Here honey, that will start the fresh ones."
About that same time, in upstate New York
In the middleclass section of town sirens wail in the distance, coming closer as screams and shout split the cold air. A local boy has been hit while trying out his new bicycle, by a man that's known to have several drunk driving arrests, though somehow, because of his money or position, he skates from any serious charges, and keeps his license. The women stay with the boy, he's hurt, but should be okay, mostly it's just a broken leg and some bruises, they think, but won't be sure until the doctors can take a good look.
The men of the area, most of them fathers, are dragging Julian Gordano, the half drunk driver of the fancy Cadillac into an old warehouse that's been empty for years. The father of the boy that got hit is being kept away from the man by some of the others, for now. They're not vigilantes, they believe every man should get a fair trial, but in this case they have to make sure the trial is fair, not one sided with this guy having the fancy lawyers and big money against one overworked and underpaid assistant district attorney, this time the local assistant district attorney Daniel Monahan gets the unenviable duty of defending this guy, just so he has somebody to speak for him, they man they're dragging can't speak for himself, his jaw is swollen, likely broken, they didn't drag the father off him right away.
The area's ombudsman, Mickey Salvatino, calls the men to some semblance of order. "All right, settle down, we're gonna do this right, or we're not doing it at all." The men quiet down. "Okay, who saw what happened?" Seven men raise their hands. "Okay, Tommy, tell it the way you saw it, nothing but the truth now, don't add anything you didn't really see."
"All right Mickey. I was watchin' little Joey learnin' to ride his bike on the sidewalk, his dad was right there teachin' him how. This guy drove his fancy car down the street too fast, swerved, jumped the curb, and hit little Joey. Lucky for Joey, he didn't hit him straight on, it was a glancing blow that knocked him into some snow covered bushes. That's when big Joey dragged his sorry butt out of the Caddy and commenced wailin' on his ass."
Mickey nods, he saw it too, but in his role in the community, he has to appear somewhat impartial, just to keep things on the up and up. "Any of the rest of you see anything different?" They all shake their heads no. "Daniel, what've you got to say on his behalf?"
"Aw come on Mickey, don't make me defend this puke, my heart's not in it."
"Your disgust is duly noted, say something on his behalf."
"Let me see, um… well, Mr. Gordano will be willing to make restitution, pay for the medical care, the bike, all that." Scared as he can be, Gordano nods up and down as adamantly as his busted jaw will let him.
"I don't think that's going cut this time, you know this guy is responsible for ruining a lot of lives, little Joey is lucky in a way, lucky that he didn't get killed. Had that happened, we wouldn't be having this conversation at all. No I find him guilty, and no amount of money buys his way out of it this time. A suitable punishment is what? We're no band of murderers, though I can't say it wouldn't be justifiable."
Big Joey speaks up, "Let me at him for a while, the rest of you won't have to be involved."
Mickey shakes his head, "No Joey, we already are involved, and we don't want you becoming a murderer either. Any body got a fitting punishment?"
A small man, but one well known by these not so gentle men steps over to whisper in Mikey's ear. The small man is the local grocer, he's well respected and loved in this community, since he'll give credit to local families when times are bad, and he or his store helps out with everything they can in the community, whether it's raising funds for the schools, helping out at the local shelter or anything else the community supports. By the time he's done whispering in Mickey's ear, Mickey is smiling. Mickey calls four guys over, talks to them quietly, then the four leave quickly, they now have something important to do on this Christmas day.
Mickey speaks up, "Okay guys, drag this guy with you, we're going to meet for sentencing out at the old rock quarry. Leave you weapons home, you won't need them."
An hour later, the men are again assembled atop a narrow ridge that crosses between two deep holes where stone for important buildings in New York City and other places was once quarried. An old heap of a car is parked in front of them the engine is running, it seems to run well for an old heap. Two of the four men that Mickey detailed earlier are letting Gordano have all the whiskey he wants to drink. Not easy to do with a broken jaw, but the pain makes him want it more. They let him down two whole bottles worth. Since he can't stand up any more, so they put him behind the wheel of the old heap. One of the men gives him one more bottle, already open.
Mickey nods, these guys step away from the old car as Mickey leans close, he speaks loudly, "This car still runs great, it's your only way out, start driving and don't stop, if we catch you, we kill you, you've got three minutes head start." Gordano pulls the door shut. He doesn't bother to look for such a thing as seat belts, thee aren't any in this car now anyway, since they've been cut out. Gordano is too drunk to notice these men have no vehicles handy to follow him in, they parked down the road a bit. He puts the car in gear, then lays his foot down on the gas pedal.
As the crowd of men watches, the car fishtails from side to side, but to their astonishment, Gordano makes it across the narrow portion left between the two quarry sites. He nearly spins out as he gets to the other side where it's soft gravel, but somehow manages to right the car. The car picks up speed as it moves forward. Gordano doesn't see the next pit coming, the car is in the air before he has any idea what's happening. The old car sails well out into the pit, if Gordano had a ramp to get some altitude, the sucker might have made it to the other side. As it is, the car plows straight into a rock wall, then bursts into flames, as Mickey knew it would, it had a few adjustments made to make sure of that.
The wreckage falls to the quarry floor, the gas tank ruptures, the gas goes up with a loud whump sound. The men above just stand there looking, knowing that it was right, and just, but having a hand it doesn't set right with any of them, they're good men, so it shouldn't, but sometimes good men have to fight evil, even if it means they have to commit evil to do it.
All but Mickey walk back to their vehicles without a word spoken, they probably never will speak of this. Mickey stands and watches the wreck burn, until the fire burns itself out. "Serves you right, you sorry bastard, I just wish we'd had the nerve to take care of you years ago, when you killed my friend Henry. I suppose I should let his family know you're taken care of, finally. No perhaps not, I best leave that lie, too many questions might get asked." Mickey walks to his car slowly, not feeling good about what they did, but he does feel justice, true justice, was served for once.