Angondra Holiday Special

by Ruth Anne Scott

  She deposited Aquilla in a seat by a window overlooking the cavern’s main shaft. The last rays of light still streamed into the apartment. She set a wooden bowl into his hands and a wooden cup on the table at his side. “Let me know if you need anything at all.”

  He stared down at the bowl in his hands. A mixture of nuts and seeds rested in the bottom. He gave the bowl a shake. The seeds tipped to one side. “Where did you get this?”

  Aria’s eyes popped open. “Excuse me?”

  “This mixture,” Aquilla replied. “Where did you get it?”

  Aria’s eyes darted back and forth between the bowl and his face. “I asked Anna to program our transmogrifier to produce the mixture you eat at home. I wanted to make certain you had the best food possible. I don’t know anything about the Avitras diet. That’s why I asked her, so you would be comfortable and happy here. Is it the wrong mixture? I am so sorry. I did everything possible to suit your tastes. Your visit is so important to us, Aquilla. I’ll do whatever I can to make you at home here. Just tell me what you would like, and I can reprogram it.”

  Aquilla raised his eyes to her face. “This is the mixture I eat at home. That’s what surprised me. I didn’t know what you would have here for me to eat, but I didn’t expect this. I didn’t expect you to go to such lengths to make me welcome. This is the best food you could give me. Thank you, Aria.”

  Aria stared at him in surprise. Then she laughed out loud and pressed her hand to her heart. “Every one of us is grateful to you for coming all this way to join us, Aquilla. We’ll do anything to put you at ease and make this a pleasant experience for you.”

  Aquilla shot a glance at Caleb. “You said that already.”

  Aria looked at Caleb, then at Turk. Then she looked around for Penelope Ann. Everyone in the room watched them in silence. In the end, she shook the confusion out of her head. “I’m so glad you’re happy with the mixture. I programmed the transmogrifier in your quarters to produce the same thing. If you want to change it, just tell me....or Donen, or Aimee, or Anna.....or anyone. We’ll all see to it.”

  Aquilla glanced across the room. “Hello, Anna.”

  Chapter 4

  Anna stiffened in her seat. All her effervescence vanished. “Hello, Aquilla.”

  “It’s been a long time.” He tipped up his bowl and emptied it into his mouth. He chewed his nuts on one side of his mouth. “Are you happy to see me here, too?”

  Anna’s eyes blazed, and she pursed her lips, but before she could answer, Carmen touched her arm. “So what are we going to do about the decorations? This place is about as far from Christmas-y as I can imagine.”

  “It’s almost winter outside, but we would never know it,” Chris added. “It’s perfectly comfortable down here. Isn’t there any way to bring the outside atmosphere down here?”

  Aria laughed. “You want to bring freezing wind and snow down here? No, thanks.”

  “It isn’t snowing now,” Marissa pointed out.

  “It will be soon,” Aria told her. “You made it just in time for a white Christmas.”

  “I hope we make it home,” Chris remarked.

  “You might be stuck here,” Emily replied.

  “None of this helps us figure out the decorations,” Carmen pointed out.

  “Decorations!” Penelope Ann exclaimed. “Are we going to have a little nativity scene in the corner? Come on!”

  Carmen smiled. “I’m not talking about a nativity scene. None of us here is a virgin.”

  Laughter rippled around the circle. “We aren’t even supposed to be celebrating Christmas,” Marissa added. “This is just supposed to be a seasonal holiday to honor our Earth traditions.”

  “My Earth traditions are Christmas with a nativity scene in the corner and carols out in the street,” Penelope Ann told her. “None of that is going to happen here.”

  Anna shook off her torpor. “The decorations are easy. We just go out onto the mountain and cut some evergreen branches. We can make up a wreath for the door and hang the rest around the apartment.”

  Carmen spun around. “That’s a great idea. Nothing smells like Christmas like spicy pine branches.”

  Aimee clapped her hands. “And we can cut down a tree and set it up—right over there, I think—and stack all our presents under it.”

  Dead silence answered her. The others exchanged anxious glances. Aimee peered from one face to the next. “Was it something I said?”

  Emily shifted in her seat. “Aria doesn’t want us to exchange presents.”

  Aimee’s head shot up. She opened her mouth and closed it again. “Oh.”

  After another long silence, Penelope Ann turned around to face Aria. “Why not?”

  Aria chopped the air with her hand. “I just don’t. That’s all.”

  Her friends stared at her. Chris stole a glance at Marissa.

  Aria glared back at her friends. Then she burst into action. She waved both arms and stormed across the room. “I just don’t want presents. Can’t you understand that?”

  “No one’s arguing with you,” Emily murmured.

  “If you don’t want presents,” Chris told her, “we can all agree to skip it. We’re guests in your home. None of us will do anything to offend you. We love you....”

  Aria cut her off. “Don’t look at me like that and give me a bunch of clap-trap about loving me. You all think I’m out of my tree. Admit it!”

  Marissa spoke up in her gentle way. “If we understood your reasoning, we might.....”

  Aria stomped across the room and yanked the door open. “I just don’t want them, and that’s final.” She barged out of the room and let the door slam behind her.

  The others stared at the closed door in silence. Only the crunch of Aquilla’s chewing filled the room. Anna turned away first with a wave of her hand. “Something’s bothering her.”

  “We should find out what it is,” Penelope Ann suggested. “She won’t be able to enjoy this holiday with it hanging over her head.”

  Chris rose from her seat. “We can collect the branches, anyway, and get the apartment decorated. There’s nothing stopping us from doing that.”

  “What about the tree?” Carmen asked. “Should we still bring that?”

  “It might upset her even more,” Marissa replied, “to see it standing there with no presents under it.”

  “I know it would upset me,” Aimee murmured. “What’s a Christmas tree without presents under it?”

  “How are we going to decorate it if we do bring it?” Carmen asked. “We don’t have tinsel, or popcorn, or an angel for the top.”

  “We can make all that with the transmogrifiers,” Emily told her. “And we can make apple cider and candy canes and everything else we need to have a tree decorating party.”

  “We haven’t decided whether we’re having a tree,” Chris pointed out. “We don’t want to upset Aria.”

  “I say we have the tree anyway,” Penelope Ann replied. “This celebration is for all of us, not just Aria. She’s getting her way by stopping the rest of us from giving gifts. The rest of us can have our way on this.”

  “No one’s stopping us from giving gifts,” Marissa told her. “We can still give gifts in the privacy of our own quarters or some other time. We don’t have to shove it in her face that we’re doing it anyway.”

  Penelope Ann slapped her thighs and stood up. “I’m making an executive decision. We’re having a Christmas tree with all the trimmings. So there.”

  “What are we going to say to Aria?” Aimee asked.

  “I’ll handle Aria,” Penelope Ann replied. “I’ll explain the whole thing to her. You leave her to me.”

  Emily stood up, too. “I don’t think you’ll have to convince her. I’m sure she’ll be as delighted as anybody to have a decorated Christmas tree in her living room.”

  “Good.” Chris beckoned them toward the door. “Come on. The decorating party is going out to collect th
e branches. Anybody interested, come with me.”

  She led the way out into the passage. The others followed, until only Marissa remained behind. She sat across the room from Aquilla, who observed the negotiation with detached interest. The gaggle of excited voices dwindled down the passage, and Aquilla’s eyes shifted from the closed door to Marissa. She smiled at him.

  Aria came back after the others left. She gave her visitors a quick glance and busied herself in her kitchen. Marissa smiled at her, too. At last, Aquilla rose from his seat. He set the wooden bowl on the table at his elbow. “Thank you again for the food, Aria. Your hospitality means the world to me.”

  Aria stopped what she was doing. “You are very welcome, Aquilla. You mustn’t hesitate to let me know if there is anything I can do to serve you.”

  He nodded. “I’m going to my quarters across the passage now. I would appreciate it if you would tell Penelope Ann when she returns that I am there.”

  “Of course,” Aria replied.

  He glided to the door and slipped out. A heavy silence descended over the room. Aria opened and closed cupboards under her counter and programmed the transmogrifier, but she pretended not to notice Marissa. Marissa sat still and waited for the inevitable.

  Aria finished her work and rested her hands on the counter with a sigh. She gave the room a sweeping glance. “I suppose they’ll be back to decorate the place soon.”

  Marissa called back over her shoulder without facing her friend. “They’re bringing a Christmas tree, too. They’re going to decorate it with tinsel and popcorn and an angel for the top and everything.”

  Aria nodded. “That’s good. I was hoping for a tree.”

  “They’re all in a tizzy about you and your presents,” Marissa replied. “They’re worried the tree will offend you, since you don’t want presents.”

  Aria’s head whipped around. “Why would I be offended by a Christmas tree?”

  Marissa shrugged. “You know how they are. They’re all on edge because Aquilla’s here, and they don’t know how Piwaka will react to him. They don’t know whether to shine their shoes or scratch their armpits.”

  Aria snorted with laughter. She stepped around her counter and threw herself down on the seat next to Marissa. “They’re really a collection of oddities, aren’t they?”

  “I guess we all are,” Marissa replied. “It’s pretty amazing that we all ended up here, so many millions of miles from home, and now we’re celebrating Christmas together.”

  Aria made a face. “Christmas always brings out the worst in everybody. I should have thought twice before coming up with the idea for this party.”

  Marissa shifted in her seat to face her. “I always think of Christmas bringing out the best in everyone. So emotions are running high, but that’s because we all care about each other so much. It was the same back home. Sometimes feelings got hurt and people made scenes, but in the end, they rose above their differences to make up and show their love for each other. They did it much better at Christmas time than they did the rest of the year.”

  A nostalgic smile touched the corners of Aria’s mouth. Then she arched an eyebrow at Marissa. “What Christmas are you talking about? I thought you grew up in foster care after you and your brothers split up.”

  “I did.” Marissa cocked her head to one side. “Everyone’s dying to know what you have against Christmas presents. Didn’t you and your mother and brothers share them after your father was killed?”

  Aria examined the cuticles of her fingernails. “We had them every year like clockwork right up until he died. My parents went to great pains to buy them, even if it meant buying them from secondhand stores. Then, after my father died, my mother had to support us on her own. She couldn’t afford them at all that first year, and we never went back, even after her finances got better. That’s the way I always remember Christmas. We had a big tree with all our family ornaments on it. We had tons of food and decorations all over the house, but never any presents. That’s Christmas to me.”

  Chapter 5

  Emily and Anna tumbled into the apartment with their arms piled high with green boughs. They heaped them on the counter. Their cheeks glowed cherry red from the biting mountain air.

  Emily laughed out loud. “That should be enough.”

  Aria set another tray of snacks on the table. “Where’s everybody else?”

  A shout answered her from out in the passage. The door flew open and slammed shut again. Then it flew open, and a foot jammed it open to stay. Chris’s voice echoed down the cavern. “Shove! Shove it hard.”

  A scratching, clawing noise followed, along with muffled grunts and groans. “Can’t you shove it any harder than that?”

  Penelope Ann answered from farther away. “We’re trying as hard as we can. What’s the hold-up?”

  More rustling sounds scratched at the door. “Push!” Chris bellowed.

  Aria hurried to the door and held it open. “What’s going on?”

  No one answered. The flexible tip of an evergreen tree stabbed into the apartment. The wider branches farther down the trunk caught on the door jamb and prevented the rest of the tree from squeezing through the door. Aria gasped. “What the....?”

  “All together now!” Chris thundered. “Heave!”

  With one tremendous effort, the branches swayed and collapsed. With four or five mighty shoves, the women forced the tree through the door. The last branch gave way, and the great mass of foliage skidded across the floor and came to rest in front of Marissa.

  Chris stood back and dusted off her hands. Aimee and Penelope Ann rested their hands on their knees and panted. Carmen got up from where she’d fallen to her knees in the final effort. Scratches marked the door jamb, and scattered needles littered the floor.

  Aria crossed her arms over her chest and raised one eyebrow. “Do you think it’s big enough?”

  Chris broke into a triumphant smile. “We got the biggest one we could find.”

  Aria surveyed the tree from one end to the other. “Did you have to?”

  Chris spun around. “Of course! We’re celebrating, aren’t we?”

  “Where are you going to put it?” Marissa asked.

  Chris waved her hand. “Oh, anywhere will do. How about right over there?” She pointed to the nearest wall.

  “That will take up half the room,” Marissa pointed out. “We won’t have any room to move around.”

  Chris shrugged. “We’ll work it out. Besides, what are we going to be moving around for? We’re here to decorate a tree.”

  “We’re not even celebrating Christmas,” Aria told her. “This is turning into something remarkably resembling Christmas.”

  Chris cocked an eyebrow at her. “Is that a problem?”

  Aria stiffened. “I’m just saying....”

  Chris clapped her hands. “Great. Then we can get started.” She rounded on Emily. “Where can we get the popcorn and decorations and everything?”

  Emily moved toward the kitchen counter. “I’ll get the transmogrifier programmed to make them.”

  Everyone burst into action and bustled around the apartment. Only Aria and Marissa remained where they were. They gazed at each other through the whirlwind. Emily sorted the branches and prepared garlands to hang around the window and door. She wove them into long strands and suspended them from every corner of the room.

  Anna drew bowl after bowl of steaming popcorn from the transmogrifier, and Carmen and Penelope Ann strung them into long chains. Chris and Aimee set the tree against the wall, but soon discovered it really did take up half the room. No one could walk from one side of the apartment to the other without squeezing through its pendulous branches. So they moved it into the far corner, where it fitted perfectly.

  Anna brought out tinsel, and tree ornaments, and striped candy, and every kind of decoration anybody could think of. “You might as well bring out a nativity scene. It’s the only thing missing.”

  A
nna made a face. “Yeah. No.”

  Marissa murmured down into her lap. “It’s not the only thing missing.”

  Chris shot her a nasty look. “You forgot the angel for the top.”

  “Do we want an angel or a star?” Anna asked.

  “Angel,” Penelope Ann replied.

  “Star,” Carmen interrupted.

  “Angel,” Aimee added.

  “Star,” Emily put in.

  Anna dropped her hands onto the counter. “Well, which is it?”

  The place erupted in conversation. They argued back and forth until Aria raised her hands and shouted over the din. “I’ll make the decision.”

  Quiet answered her. “That’s right,” Chris replied. “This is Aria’s house and her celebration. She should make the final decision.”

  No one said a word.

  “Good,” Aria exclaimed. “I say we have a star, since we’re out in the stars.”

  “We can’t see the stars through the aurora,” Chris pointed out.

  Aria opened her mouth to reply, but Carmen cut her off. “We can see the stars just fine when the aurora isn’t shining. What’s wrong with a star for the tree?”

  “We’re not supposed to be celebrating Christmas,” Penelope Ann remarked. “The star makes more sense.”

  “We agreed Aria would make the decision,” Aimee told them. “She said we were using a star, so there’s nothing more to discuss.”

  “I’m just saying...” Chris began.

  Marissa stood up from her seat. “I’m hungry. Let’s stop work and have some of this delicious food Aria put out for us.”

  A spontaneous gaggle of voices filled the room. Everyone left off their various jobs and descended on the table. They sat around the table, eating and talking about everything under the sun, until Chris looked around the room and said, “Do you know what we really need to make this celebration complete?”

  “What?” Emily asked

  “A fireplace,” Chris replied. “It won’t be Christmas without a blazing fire. I can remember Christmas at home, sitting around the fire drinking eggnog and singing songs.” She let out a heavy sigh. “Those were the times.”