THE CHRISTMAS I NEVER WOULD HAVE IMAGINED
By: Sylvia Rearick
I walked out of my house to an unbearably freezing cold day. I stared down at my shoes; two of my toes stuck out the ends. I walked over to a bench that was covered in snow so I brushed it off and I sat down. I was waiting for the shop to open so I could see people go in then come out with the most wonderful things for the holidays. Except, of course, I couldn’t buy anything. But I have gotten over it. The shop right across from me had just opened its doors to the first customers of the day. I thought about my family.
One of the customers had a white car with a little figurine. He wore a long white coat covered with many snow flakes. “Happy holidays!" he said to the bad-tempered shopkeeper. Then, without speaking another word, he disappeared into the shop. There were lots of people in the shop buying holiday gifts. It was madness. I saw a woman and a boy with boxes of presents of colorfully wrapped presents. The boy stuck his tongue out when he saw me. I stuck my tongue out too, but when the women saw me she muttered something I could not hear as she pushed the boy away from me.
I continued to watch the people. The same man that I had watched earlier in admiration walked out of the store caring ten boxes of what looks like Christmas ornaments. Then, to my surprise, he winked at me; or at least I thought he did. Nobody had ever winked at me before except my parents. As the man drove away I thought about what had happened. I walked home to my little shack in the middle of nowhere. My thoughts felt trapped in a fog that left me wandering,. Once inside, II fell asleep, with the thought of Christmas eve in the back of my head. I would have to spend Christmas eve all alone. When I was younger and my parents had better wages, Christmas dinner would be a feast. We would get a whole chicken with a handful of turnips. I was always happy when my parents had money because it was like something inside them would light up and they would finally notice me. They work day in and day out at a nearby factory only to earn less than minimum wage. Their only day off was Sunday, but I never saw them because that's the day they slept, not bothering to wake up until Monday. I always tried to remember when times were fun. I had not had a real conversation with my parents in a year!
I woke up later than usual to another snowy day. I got dressed and went on a walk. The snow fell onto my face as the wind whipped through my hair. It was very cold, so I press my coat tighter around me. The wind started blowing harder and harder as if trying to blow me away. At long last, I had enough with all the cold and wind and snow. I turned home; I was hungry and tired, but I knew nothing was awaiting me in the kitchen except for stale bread. I had five dollars, so for dinner I had a slice of bread, an egg from our old hen Maggie and a cooked carrot it was the best I could do. I went and after I had eaten sat on the bench again. I saw something odd that same strange man. He was chopping down a tree and he put it on his car and drove away to return again and get another tree. He did this four times and after getting tired of watching him I walked home and fell fast asleep. I had forgotten to close the door that night. I opened my eyes the next morning; the day bright and sunny. I walked out of my bedroom and into my parent's room because today was Sunday and they were sleeping on the floor. They must have been so tired from work at the factory that they just had to fallen asleep. I started to walk to the kitchen but I stopped abruptly staring in astonishment.
A tree, covered in ornaments, presents piled underneath, was standing in the middle of the room. I was speechless. My parents did not do this. Then, thinking back, I realized who did but, I didn’t say another word.