The Christmas Promise (Christmas Hope)

by VanLiere, Donna

  “Do I need to ask him about this or is it something you two would be able to help with?” Chaz said.

  “We can,” Kelly said. “No problem. It’ll be addressed to security, right?”

  He smiled, pretending to be uncertain. “I don’t think so. It will probably be addressed to Judy in the office, but security must screen it first before anyone opens it.” They looked skeptical. “I guess GKD had some sort of nut job working for them who sent out hazardous materials wrapped in a common package. Of course, authorities dealt with that guy, but the whole thing makes Judy kind of nervous.”

  “Okay. Yeah. Right,” Tricia said, writing the name of the company onto a sticky note and posting it in front of them. “We’ll keep our eyes open and get it up to you guys.”

  “You can just get it to me, if you don’t mind. I’d love to do something dangerous so I can tell all my friends.” They laughed and Chaz faked a smile; he was weary of constantly figuring his way out of something. Perspiration stuck to his shirt as he pushed through the doors.

  I pulled into a spot across the street from Wilson’s and saw him from behind. He was wearing a university jacket with a blue hat and white tennis shoes, and carrying a backpack like my son’s. I threw the car into park and walked after him. I rushed through the town square, hurrying past men and women who were bundled up for a day of shopping. He walked toward the gazebo and I reached for his arm. He turned in a snap and I felt blood rush to my face. “I’m sorry,” I said, retreating. “I thought you were someone else.” I was a fool. What is wrong with you, Gloria? I thought. Running after people like a bull after a red cape. I hurried toward Wilson’s and my feet slid out beneath me, taking my breath away.

  Robert Layton was the first to my side. “Morning, Glory!”

  I blew the curls out of my face and searched the back of my head for the bobby pin. “That joke never gets old, does it, Robert?” He laughed, helping me up. “I wasn’t made for winter.” He held me steady as I straightened my coat, shoving the yellow hat back onto my head. One pant leg was riding above my boot and I pulled it down, stamping my foot to knock off the slushy mess on top of it.

  “I saw you running after a man, Gloria. Has it really come to that?” I laughed. Robert picked up my gloves and handed them to me. “Besides your pride, is anything broken, cracked, or wounded?”

  I brushed snow from my backside. “Well, my mother always told me that if I was going to fall to do so in front of a young man because he’d still be able to bend over and pick me up.”

  “I can’t imagine that anyone in my office would call me young,” Robert said, laughing. I had met Robert three years earlier at a charity function. He was an old friend of Dalton and Heddy’s, and I found him to be pleasant and unassuming, quite the opposite of what I’d always imagined for a lawyer. “Is your work keeping you busy, Gloria?”

  I clapped my hands together. “Just a few days ago I got a car. That doesn’t happen very often, you know. That’s very exciting for me and Heddy.”

  Robert pulled up the collar of his overcoat. “I bet it is.”

  I needed to get home, and I stepped into the street. “But I have to find a mechanic before my neighbor gets back into town.”

  Robert took me by the arm and opened the car door. “Call Jack Andrews at City Auto Service. He’s done my work for years.”

  “I can’t pay a lot,” I said.

  “He won’t ask a lot. Gloria, you need a place where you can put all the stuff you collect.”

  “I got a place. My garage.” I started the car and rolled down the window. “Thank you, Robert. Say hi to Kate.”

  He walked back to the sidewalk, shoving his hands in his coat pockets. “You bet. Let me know if I can ever do anything to help.”

  I scribbled Jack Andrews’s name on a pad I kept in the car, and watched as a homeless man across the square pulled a hat farther down on his head. It was getting colder. I squinted to see who he was, wondering if he was new to town, but the light turned green before I could see his face, so I drove away.

  My kitchen and living room were strewn with boxes filled with shampoo, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, and toothbrushes. Dalton and Heddy were helping me inventory what we had so we could figure out what items were still needed for care packages we’d be giving to the families with whom we worked and to the street people downtown. It was our fourth year putting the packages together, and each year we managed to add more things. I heard a car and looked up from the kitchen table to see Miriam pulling into her driveway.

  “Do you hear that?” Heddy said. “Dogs have stopped barking. Birds have stopped chirping.”

  “She has a way of doing that,” I said, watching Miriam drive into her garage. She’d been gone five days, but it felt like one glorious year without her next door. I worked at breaking down a box, but stopped when I heard something. “What was that?”

  “Probably Jack working on the Silver Fox,” Dalton said.

  Heddy and I looked out the window when the noise grew louder, and saw Miriam shouting on her cell phone, waving her arms. I pressed closer to the window. “What is she doing?” Miriam’s voice grew strident and shrill, and Heddy and I ran to the front door, leaving Dalton at the table.

  “Everything! I mean everything,” Miriam shouted. “How soon? I can’t wait that long. I need someone over here now. Forget it!” She snapped the phone closed.

  Jack Andrews was bent over the engine of the car, but lifted his head to listen. I shrugged my shoulders as I passed him, and walked into Miriam’s yard. She looked as if she’d just stepped out of the pages of Town & Country, wearing her beautiful long camel-hair coat, black leather gloves, and fur-trimmed hat. “Miriam?”

  She jumped. “What! What, Gloria?”

  “Is something wrong?”

  She pointed to her house. “Everything’s destroyed. Everything.” Her voice broke and Heddy and I walked up the front steps, opening the door. Water seeped over our shoes, startling us. “You’re telling me you don’t have one room? Not one single room?” Miriam was screaming. “I can’t wait four days. I need a room now!”

  My eyes widened as I watched water cascade down the living room wall. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Heddy said, whispering.

  I reached to flick on the light switch but caught myself. “You didn’t walk through there, did you?”

  “I’m not an imbecile, Gloria,” Miriam said.

  Heddy leaned farther into the doorway and listened. “Is that a toilet running?”

  I pointed upstairs. “It’s probably been running since she’s been gone,” I whispered. “For five days.” Heddy slapped her head.

  “When will these people be leaving town?” Miriam was pacing up and down her driveway, shouting again. She hung up, defeated. “Every hotel is booked for the annual Christmas in the Colonies craft fair.” She spat out the words. “Every room is filled with nutters dressed as Puritans!”

  I knew what needed to be done, but put it out of my mind. “How long is the fair in town?” I asked.

  “Four glorious days of all things crafty! Since I need a place to sleep, maybe I should go down there and snuggle up with a Pilgrim.”

  “I don’t think she’d be their type,” Heddy muttered behind me.

  I swatted behind my back to hush her, and sighed. It was going to take a great deal of courage to form the words in my mouth. I thought about them for the longest time, hoping the earth would swallow me, but a cataclysmic event never happens when you need one most. “Miriam, you are welcome to stay at my house until something is available.” Heddy slapped her head again and I turned to shush her.

  “I’ve never been put into such a position before,” Miriam said, peering inside her home. The sight made her sick and she put her hands over her face. “What am I going to do?”

  “I just said you could stay at my house.”

  “I know what you said, Gloria! I’m trying to talk myself into it.” I watched as Miriam peeked inside her doorway again, moan
ing. I felt like doing the same.

  If Dalton heard the commotion out front, he never bothered to investigate. Miriam retrieved the suitcase from her trip out of the car trunk and stepped inside my house. She stopped at the sight. “Oh, my.”

  “We’re helping Miss Glory put packages together for Christmas,” Heddy said, making a path through the living room. “Just a few staples that everyone needs to…”

  “I won’t call you Miss Glory,” Miriam said, turning to me. “That’s a ridiculous name for a grown woman. During my stay, I will call you Gloria. Where do I put my valise?”

  I kicked boxes aside with my foot and led Miriam to the den I had converted into another bedroom down the hall from the living room. Whiskers leaped from his perch on the bottom step and Miriam jumped. “Is that always inside?”

  “Most of the time. He goes out to do his business but comes back when he’s finished.”

  “Cats are simply rats with shorter noses,” Miriam said, grumbling under her breath. I looked to Dalton and Heddy and they widened their eyes, lifting their hands as if defenseless to help. I waved my arm at them and sighed. It was going to be a long four days.

  Four

  The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him, “What are you going through?”

  —Simone Weil

  Chaz’s new shift started at four the next day. The store closed at nine, so there would only be five hours when he’d have to deal with people. With the exception of Larry and the rest of the janitorial team, at night he’d have the place to himself to do what he wanted. He wandered through Women’s Clothing and saw Ray there. He was pointing to a woman with twins and pretending to gush over them. She pushed the baby stroller closer to Chaz and he stopped. “Your twins are really cute, Mrs. Grobinski.” She beamed and went into a story about Nicholas crawling but how little Natalie was content to just watch her brother do all the work. Mrs. Grobinski talked and talked and Chaz was stuck. He didn’t have the patience to be a “courtesy officer.” Ray saluted him and laughed his way into the men’s department. Twenty minutes later Chaz carried Mrs. Grobinski’s bags to the car and helped put the twins in their car seats.

  He made his way to the mailroom and nosed through the letters still sitting in the bins from the afternoon mail. “It hasn’t come,” Kelly said.

  He turned to see her standing in the door. She was pretty in an understated way. “Just curious,” he said. “Hey, what if I’m not here when it comes? What will you do with it?”

  She looked around the room and pointed to the top shelf. “I can put it right there under the air return.”

  Perfect. “That’d be great. Thanks.” He turned to leave but stopped, looking at her. “You know, I don’t come in until four and if that package comes early in the day maybe you could call me and I could come in and take a look at it.”

  “Sure.”

  “Or if you have the time, maybe you could bring it to my apartment?” He hadn’t been with a woman since moving to town. He’d lived with a lot of women over the years but moved on when they felt compelled to change him.

  She smiled and said she’d love to bring the package to his apartment.

  When the dinner hour came, Miriam chose to remain in her room, where she had been since the day before. Heddy whispered throughout the evening, afraid of disturbing her. “It’s all right,” I said. “There’s no need to walk on eggshells.”

  “Has she come out at all?” Heddy asked, whispering.

  “I left this morning to take Marv Lichton to the doctor’s office. Then Lakisha called and said Arianna was sick at school, so I picked her up and took her home. Maybe her royal highness broke out then.”

  “Did she eat anything?” Heddy said.

  “I don’t know. But if she gets thirsty I know where she can find some water.” I laughed at myself and fell onto the sofa, pounding the cushions. The bedroom door opened down the hall and I put my finger to my lips, but cackled again when the door closed.

  Miriam finally emerged from her room at eleven. She crept through the living room and turned off the porch light that was shining in her window. At eleven fifteen I walked downstairs and turned it back on. Miriam flicked it off again at eleven twenty. I was confident I could outlast her and had it shining bright at eleven thirty. Miriam crept through the living room at eleven forty-five.

  “The light stays on, Miriam!”

  Miriam screamed in the darkness. “It’s shining into my bedroom,” she said, digging her stubbed big toe into the carpet for comfort.

  “Close the blinds and the drapes,” I said.

  “I have done that, but there is still a glowing beam making its way into my bedroom from that confounded light.” She turned it off in a huff.

  I forced my way next to her and flicked the light back on. “The light stays on!” Miriam clenched the robe in her hands and darted back to her room, slamming the door.

  At midnight Chaz noticed a small figure dash beneath a rack of clothes in the juniors’ department. A vacuum cleaner hummed behind him, but the young woman running it didn’t notice he was there. He bent beneath the clothes and saw a small boy smiling at him. The young woman rushed beside Chaz and spoke in rapid Spanish to the boy, yanking him from beneath the clothes. She pulled him to the wall and made him sit up against it.

  “He can’t be in here,” Chaz said, hoping she understood English.

  “What are you going to do about it?” Her English was fine.

  “They told me nobody can be in here. That’s all I’m saying.”

  She was angry. “Miss Glory’s got somebody at her house right now, so I didn’t want to ask her to watch him.” She was getting loud. “I got nowhere to take him tonight. If I don’t bring him here, I lose this job.” The little boy began to shrink beneath the clothes again, upset by his mother’s voice.

  Chaz rubbed his head. “How is that my problem?”

  “You’re making it your problem!” she said, flailing her arms. “He won’t hurt nothing, and when I’m done we’ll go home.”

  Chaz was getting angry. He had the potential to make some decent cash, and this woman was jeopardizing that for him. “He can’t be up here,” Chaz said. “He could break something and get hurt.”

  She lashed her arms toward him. “Then what do I do with him?”

  Chaz didn’t understand how her problem was ending up on his shoulders or why he was responsible for her kid, but that’s how it landed. “I’ll take him into the security office. But don’t bring him to work again.” She watched as he led the little boy down the stairs.

  “That’s an ugly shirt,” the boy said, eyeing the security uniform.

  “Thanks, I like it, too,” Chaz said.

  “I didn’t say I liked it. I said it was ugly.”

  “I know. That was sarcasm.”

  “What’s sarcasm?”

  “Never mind,” Chaz said. “What’s your name?”

  The boy jumped down each stair, making a popping sound every time he landed. “Donovan. What’s yours?”

  Chaz opened the door to the office. “Chaz.”

  “That’s a dumb name.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Hey, Raz,” Donovan said, laughing.

  The kid was getting on his last nerve. “It’s Chaz.”

  “Okay, Spaz.” This was the very reason Chaz had never liked children. Donovan saw leftover pizza sitting in a box on the desk and opened the lid. “Is this yours?” he asked, picking up a piece before Chaz could answer.

  “Go ahead,” Chaz said. “You can have that piece since you got finger smutz all over it.” Donovan stood beside the desk and devoured the first piece, reaching for a second. “Didn’t you eat dinner?” Donovan shook his head, and cheese dangled from his bottom lip onto his chin. He ran his shirtsleeve over his mouth. “I assume that’s your mom out there working?” He nodded. “What’s her name?”

  “Mom,” Donovan said.

  “What do other people call her?”
/>
  The little boy shrugged.

  “That’s okay,” Chaz said. “I’ll find out later. I can tell she really likes me.”

  “No she don’t,” Donovan said, his mouth full.

  “I know. That was sarcasm again. How old are you?”

  Donovan held up five fingers. “How old are you?” he mumbled through a mouthful of pizza.

  Chaz held up two fingers on one hand and four on the other. “Do you know how many that is?” Donovan shook his head. “Twenty-four.”

  “That’s old. You’re old,” Donovan said.

  “So far you’ve done wonders for my self-image,” Chaz said. “Is your dad working tonight?” Donovan shrugged and took another bite. “Do you have a dad?”

  Donovan shrugged again. “Some ass I’ve never met.”

  “You shouldn’t say things like that,” Chaz said.

  “Why not? My mom says it all the time.”

  “Yeah, but it’s not a word a little kid should say.”

  “Why not?” Donovan asked.

  “Ask your mom.”

  “Why?”

  This was going nowhere, and Chaz wanted more to drink than the two beers he had in his cup. “Forget it,” Chaz said. He walked to the lockers and pulled out a blanket and pillow. “Why don’t you lie down while your mom finishes up?”

  Donovan hopped up on the desk. “I’m thirsty. I need some Coke,” he said, snatching up the drink. Chaz lunged for it, but Donovan took a long sip and stuck out his tongue. “Gross. What is that?”

  Chaz snatched up the drink. “It’s nothing. Drink some water.”

  “I want Coke.”

  “A little kid shouldn’t have Coke at midnight,” Chaz said. “Even I know that.” Chaz held the cup behind his back. “Do you want water?” Donovan shook his head. “All right, lie down there and I’ll tell your mom you’re in here.” Donovan lay down and looked up at Chaz. “Do you know where you’re at? You’re in the security office, and if you get up off this couch every alarm in the building will ring. All I have to do is set the sequence into this superelectro pad.” He pretended to punch numbers into a calculator on the desk, and Donovan lifted his head. “Nuh-uh. Just lie back down. I’ve got the numbers sequenced already. The alarms sound according to your body weight.” Donovan looked puzzled and pulled the blanket up to his chin. Chaz turned off the light, leaving the one in the bathroom on. He stepped outside the office, waited a few minutes for movement, but there wasn’t any. Donovan had fallen asleep. Chaz motioned to Donovan’s mother, indicating that he was sleeping, and she nodded, continuing to vacuum. “Can’t wait to work with you every night,” he whispered to himself.