by D. R. Mather
Judy’s smile was radiating across the entire room, “Do you like it honey?”
There was just no way Kevin could have the heart to say anything but what he said.
“Oh baby…it’s absolutely beautiful!”
Two minutes later and Kevin had joined the ‘sweater gang’. All of which came complete with one ‘fake’ Christmas smile, and a grumbling session over in a corner to be determined at a later time.
An hour into the festivities, something popped into Will’s head. He went over to Kevin, who had decided to hide over near the fireplace.
“Kevin, can you take me to Bill’s right now”
“Sure, can we have an accident on the way and this sweater gets burned up in a horrible and mysterious event?”
“Unless you want to sleep alone, I’d suggest you burn up along with it, because that’s the only way you’re going to get out of that thing tonight.”
They told everyone that they had to leave and then headed up to Bill and Katie’s.
Will knocked on the door and Katie answered.
“Will?”
“Hi Katie, can we come in for a minute?”
“Ah, sure!”
Bill was sat in his chair, watching whatever the kids were watching on the TV.
“Hey guys, what’s up?”
“Hey Bill. Listen, its only 6:00 p.m. I was wondering if…well maybe you guys….”
“Get everyone dressed,” Kevin jumped in. “You’re coming with us, the Coburn’s are kidnapping the lot of you.”
“But I was just watching …”
“Come on Bill, get ready, dress casual. Katie, get the kids their pajamas for later on. Let’s go, chop-chop.”
No one said a word; they just went to their rooms.
Half an hour later and the whole gang were unloading at the Inn’s drop-off area. Judy was the one who opened the door for them.
“HI JUDY!!!” yelled the kids as they ran up to her. She caught their hello hugs and then ushered them in.
Barb slipped around them and came out for Katie. When she got to her, she gave her a big hug. “Merry Christmas Katie, come on in.”
Bill followed Katie. Barb, Kevin and Will followed; Kevin closed the door and left the cold behind.
It was a fabulous time; the kids received gifts from everyone. They were almost buried in wrapping paper. Everyone else shared a token gift saved just for Christmas Eve. Camera flashes could be seen from almost every ground floor window. Memories were made; memories that lasted their entire lives.
***
Kevin woke up early on Christmas morning. He showered, dressed and went down into the living room. It was only 4:00 a.m. and he thought he was alone. He sat at the fireplace and stared at the tree, as wonderful, bitter memories filled his mind. He was about to give up the only thing that remained of his past today. A very precious memory it was too. It was time to entrust it to someone else.
He heard footsteps and looked up. Barb was walking across the room to him, wearing a thick robe and thick slippers. With no words spoken, she went and sat by his side. They sat quietly together for a while, then Barb turned to him.
“I don’t know where you came from, but I know a lot of people here are grateful that you came. I know about your past and I want you to know this now and keep it forever; I don’t have anything in me to fix the past, all I can work with is the present. If I could have, I would have, you can bet on that.” Barb took Kevin’s hands into hers. “You took a bunch of outcasts – people who had been rejected from life – and you stitched them into a family. I don’t know how you did it, but you did. We will be a family now and forever, no matter where we end up, and that is because of you. Nothing can change that.”
Kevin had tears rolling down his cheeks, as did Barb.
“I never would have thought it possible in my life that I could end up with not only one son or daughter, but many,” added Barb. “This is because of you. I understand that you lost your family, but you gained another one to help the burden inside of you ease. I woke up, Kevin. Maybe even while you were coming down the stairs, I woke up and something told me to go to you, to help you give up the last of your past. I’m here to help you now. Let me see it please.”
Kevin didn’t argue. He reached into his pocket and took something out.
“It’s beautiful Kevin, and its time I think.”
By 7:00 a.m. everyone had eaten breakfast and they were all bringing coffees out to the living room and picking a spot to sit. Kevin and Judy were closest to the tree. Judy started to get up to start when Kevin held her back.
“What do you say we let April handle this?” he said.
“Sure, but why April?”
“I think maybe she could use this. She doesn’t have any family anymore and it will do her heart a bit of good”
Judy looked into Kevin’s deep blue eyes, saw a flicker of light, and understood it, just like that.
“You’re right honey; it should be April this year.”
Kevin stood, “April, would you do the honors please?”
“Me?”
“Yes honey,” said Judy with the most warm, loving smile she had.
It was such a small thing: she was only calling out names and handing out gifts. It wasn’t much at all really, unless in your heart you needed that extra push to feel like you truly belonged, then it could mean a whole lot more. April made her way over and sat beside the tree, her eyes red and wet, but she pushed on just the same. This very small deed opened up something in April, something that made her whole. She was loved and she was wanted.
New cell phones were being tested; new clothes were draped in front of bodies. Everybody got things from everybody. Those in love got special things from their partners. Kevin was clever, he asked everyone to each get April one more thing to make up the difference, because she was actually the only one that was alone. April didn’t have a lover, a boyfriend or a husband.
When everything was unwrapped and everyone was randomly talking and testing and looking at things, Kevin stood up. He took Judy’s hand and walked her to the center of the room. Everyone suddenly went silent and watched.
Kevin went to one knee.
“Judy, from the deepest part of everything that I am, I give myself to you forever. Will you be my wife?” He slid Mary’s diamond ring onto Judy’s finger. She felt it. She felt Mary pass through her, and it almost overwhelmed her. In her soul she heard, “Go ahead, he loves you, be with him forever.” She was quiet yet tears were pouring from her like faucets. She didn’t know if she could speak, but she gave it a try.
“Kevin, you’re the only man I’ll ever need, you are my salvation. Yes, I will be your wife.”
Kevin stood up and wrapped himself around her. They were both crying their hearts out. Beth was trying to go around with boxes of tissues; she’d bumped into two pieces of furniture so far because she couldn’t see through her own tears. After five long minutes, they released each other and turned to everyone. The cheers hit the ceiling with a loud boom. Everyone moved in now. The girls were all planning a wedding that hadn’t even been talked about. Most didn’t notice that Kevin left the room. Most, but not all. Barb noticed. Kevin was sitting on the stairs when she found him and sat next to him. His legs were up and his arms were crossed across his knees; his head was in his arms.
“Knowing you have to let the past go takes guts, doing it takes even more guts, living with the results… well I guess that depends on what you want from it. I think you did the right thing, I really do,” said Barb.
Kevin reached over and hugged her hard.
“Thank you…’mom’. You were the tipping point that made me decide to give that away to Judy. You made me see what I could not see on my own, thank you.”
“Hush now, let’s get back to your bride-to-be shall we? We have a nice Christmas dinner coming up today, let’s enjoy it.” She took his hand and led him back in. Judy was on him in a few seconds, and they blended into the group.
Ke
vin went out in the side hall, down around the servant’s stairs and up to the second floor landing. He went back to the open living room panel; he was hiding something against the side wall of the door. He just stood there, not saying a word. By the end of a long minute, everyone was finally looking back at him.
“HI!”
“What’s up hun?” asked Judy.
“We can all pretend that we’re important grown-up adults, walking around every day, doing grown-up adult things but, I just happen to have it on good authority that inside of each and every one of us, there hides the child we once were. With that in mind, I give you this.” Kevin pulled around what he was holding and revealed it to the room. One ready to go, pre-waxed, eight foot long, real wood toboggan.
Roland move forward about three feet, “Are you shitting me? I haven’t been on one of those since I was twelve.”
“Not only am I not shitting you, but I suggest you all suit up; Barb, how long before you need to start food prep?”
“Well, the turkeys are in the oven now… oh, three hours?”
“Great, suit up.”
Twenty minutes later and everyone had just made the crest where the downhill slopes started.
“So this is why you asked Bill to clear this area, so we wouldn’t have to tread through heavy snow to get here?” Will said, looking around.
“Aha.”
Will walked over to the right and saw a powerful gas generator of some type, with a large pulley sticking out the front of it. There were four rods going into the ground, with four steel cables attached to the lower frame of the unit. Will was pretty sure this wasn’t going anywhere. He looked down the slope and about three hundred feet down, the rope which was now attached to the pulley was also attached to a tree that stuck out past the others. It also has a pulley attached and bound to the trunk of the tree. He turned to Kevin and pointed at the machine.
“It’s used for hauling things out of mines; gas-run engine. One-hundred and twenty horse.
Look down the hill. See the platform under the rope?”
Will looked down. There seemed to be some type of platform made from a sheet of plywood. It had rope coming out of all four corners and it was tied to the pulley rope so that it looked like a hammock.
“We aren’t getting any younger Will; I figured we might need a little help getting back up.
OK, who’s first?”
Everyone raised their hand. Kevin smiled and thought, ’Yup, only adults on the outside, kids on the inside.’ Then he turned to Cindy, “Cindy, can you do this?”
“I should be able to if I’m not alone. You know; body protection like pillows.”
“Great idea, all the girls, jump on.”
This was actually an interesting slope. It went down for about three hundred feet, then went back up very sharply for another hundred feet, before it started the next path down again. There was more than enough up hill to stop the sled’s progress.
Beth slipped in the front, Judy went next, Cindy sat behind her, Barb behind her and April took up the rear. They were on their butts with their legs running up the sides of the girls in front. Beth was in the front so she was sitting with her legs crossed under her. Kevin pushed them off. This was actually a very steep slope and in no time flat, the girls were doing fifteen or twenty miles per hour. The guys only saw flying snow and could hear five screaming women/kids. As they hit the bottom, they started to climb the other side. The uphill climb was about forty degrees at least by Kevin’s estimates. They were still climbing but he could see the sled slowing dramatically.
It stopped.
Kevin looked at it for a second and then said, “Shit, I forgot to tell them to peg their legs into the snow for brakes.”
The sled began to slide backwards, all the women still in place. Funny thing about a toboggan: they are made to go forwards, not backwards. They have no curve in the wood in the back, just the flat base. They were picking up speed fast because of the drastic slope of the second hill.
“JUST RIDE IT OUT!!” Kevin yelled out as loud as he could.
The worst one who could have done it, did it. April, on the back, stuck her foot into the snow, hard. All the guys watched as the top of the sled went up and over the girls and landed ‘splat’, upside down. The sled fell off to the side and continued its decent back to the bottom. All the guys saw it; in one flash instant, every woman down there was buried deep into the snow from the waist UP. Five separate pairs of kicking legs were pointed straight up to the sky.
The sudden outburst of laughing that came from the top of that hill could be heard all the way back to Indiana. When the girls finally dug themselves out of the snow they looked up the hill to see all the guys on their knees laughing hysterically.
Beth looked up, “Oh they are gonna pay for this, I promise you that much.”
Kevin yelled out, “GO OVER TO THE PLATFORM.” He pointed to the right, where the rope was. The girls all stood on the plywood platform and Kevin started the motor, pushed a button and the pulley started turning. The women were slowly coming back up the hill without as much as a single foot being in snow. Kevin saw the progress and sped it up to gauge a good speed. In about a minute, they had reached the top. Kevin had to stop it short because of the knots where the platform connected to the pulley rope. It was no more than ten feet away from them. Kevin reversed the engine and sent it back down.
“That was a blast guys,” said Judy. “Shame we didn’t stick the landing though.”
Kevin looked at them, “I saw April dig her legs into the snow, and I’d say you ‘stuck’ the landing pretty good actually!”
The guys just fell apart again and hit the ground laughing their asses off. Beth was the one holding the rope of the sled on the way back up. She walked over to the start point and dropped the sled so it was pointing downhill again;
“Ok Chuckles, your turn.”
‘Chuckles’ turned out to be a lifelong thing that they called each other whenever any of them made fun of the other. It may have sounded insulting, but it was actually very endearing.
“Well…..I don’t know…” said Roland.
“ALL of you chuckleheads into the sled, now!”
All the chuckleheads got on the sled like they were being sent to their rooms as punishment.
Other than Kevin, who was taking up anchor, it really didn’t matter who sat where. Beth, Judy and April pushed them off together, only just before they got out of Beth’s reach, she grabbed Kevin’s coat and with a mighty tug, yanked him to the side. The sled went the first thirty feet sideways, then the load tilted up and over. Kevin, Will, Alex and Roland tumbled and slid three hundred feet down the side of the hill. They didn’t stop until they got to the bottom. As they picked themselves up, they looked up the hill and saw the girls were the ones on their knees now.
Will looked over to Roland, “Maybe we shouldn’t have laughed at them.”
“Yeah, maybe not.”
Kevin yelled up to them to turn on the lift and in the same instant, realized he never showed them how. “Shit, come on boys, we’re taking the hard way up.” The return up the hill had its own laughs for the women; let’s just say there were more than a few comedic retries.
Long after a fabulous Christmas dinner, Kevin and Judy were on the sofa. Kevin was reading a science book about inner powers, Judy was lying with her left side on the sofa, her head in Kevin’s’ lap and her left arm sticking out past her. She was asleep. Kevin put the book down because it was time for a special gift. As he did so he made eye contact with the ring, Mary’s ring, Judy’s ring. He had put it in good hands, he knew that now, and he smiled a private smile.
“Baby, time to wake up.”
Judy was absolutely precious when she first woke up. Other woman may or may not see it, but Kevin did, and that was all that mattered.
“Awwwhumm…is it time?”
“Yeah, I think so.” He looked around and it seemed everyone kept looking at him for a cue. He did a ‘get up’ sign with
his hand. They all walked over to Will and Barb.
“Hey, what’s all this,” said Will.
Kevin came forward and kneeled between them both.
“I think he intends to marry us too Will,” joked Barb.
“Well if it doesn’t work out, I want the good China.”
Everyone laughed; they were all around Will and Barb now.
Kevin started talking.
“The both of you need a break. We’ve all been watching you two bust your asses around here and we all thought it was time we gave back something special.” Kevin put his hand behind his back and Judy handed him something. “These are for the two of you.” He handed one to each of them. “Barb, my sweet, you’re going home.”
Barb was speechless; in each hand they held two tickets for a round trip from Denver to San Diego, California.
“We also got you this.” He handed Barb hotel paperwork for a very lush hotel close to her mom’s home. “And this…” it was a paid receipt for a rental car. Everything for the hotel had been paid for, including the spa. All the amenities were included.
Will took the hotel paperwork from Barb and looked at it.
“Why, this is for four months!”
“Yes it is,” said Kevin. “We think the two of you could use a nice winter when you don’t freeze your ass off going out to get the mail.”
“But what about the Inn?”
“Will, we have the Inn, and we have your backs.”
Will looked at the car rental – four months as well. Then he looked at the airline tickets.
“This is for the day after tomorrow Kevin.”
“Yeah, it seems to be.”
Kevin reached back and brought Judy to his side. “Your little fireball wants this for you as well; you can’t disappoint your little fireball.”
“But what about the babies, won’t Cindy need help?” asked Barb.
“I’m pretty sure we have that covered as well, and when you come back in April, you’re going to be a new grandma and grandpa.”
Will looked at Barb, “Hun?”
