(December 25 7
a.m. CST)
Dinner that night was very quiet. Yoshie tried many times to get people talking, but it always ended in failure. Kazuo would consistently twist the subject to school and their up coming exams. Celeste gave only the minimal of answers, always in English. Kazuo would ignore anything she said and after only ten minuets he had excused himself and went up stairs. I don’t think Celeste ate much, but just sat, playing with her mashed potatoes and gravy until they were nothing but a congealed mass.
Yoshie and I talked for a while as we ate, but eventually excused ourselves as well. I went into the living room with a beer to watch the news. Yoshie helped her mother clear the table and put all the extra food away. Usually I could hear them chatting away but that night the house was silent except for the TV.
It was around nine-thirty to ten when Celeste came into the room, with a smile on her face. She took my empty can, threw it away, and then turned the stereo on to her favorite Christmas song. It was Nat Cole or something like that. I knew her smile was fake, I had seen it many times before. I just followed her lead, put on my own fake smile as Yoshie appeared dragging Kazuo behind her.
I remember when the kids were really little, just after we had moved to this house; we had come down to find a mountain of presents. We thought Celeste had gone crazy and the kids were hesitant to even open them. She did this for a couple of years, until my mother complained. Then she had to promise not to do it again. I can see why my wife loves this tradition so, but it’s harsh on the wallet.
I opened a present from Yoshie and found another tie. She gets me a tie for every occasion; I have enough to last the rest of t my life. Kazuo got me some books, and some music from Celeste.
“Father, why does she always do that?” I looked up to find Kazuo watching his mother. As always she had ripped through the wrapping to the box, while the rest of us were neatly unwrapping and folding the paper beside us.
“I do it because its fun.” She had an even bigger fake
smile on as she gave the paper a good rip. I started wondering what she was
imaging the paper to be.
“Why don’t you try, Kazuo? It was looks like fun.” I grabbed my last present and ripped the paper off. He looked at me a bit surprised and then Yoshie ripped the paper off her present. Celeste was smiling and waiting. This smile was kinder, almost hopeful.
“This is crazy.” Kazuo finished unwrapping his presents, threw quick thanks at us, and then disappeared. I looked back at Celeste. Her smile had faded.
“Mom, what did you get? Huh?” Yoshie pulled on her mother’s sleeve, the fake smile was back as she turned toward Yoshie to talk to her. With that fake smile, should I tell her?
December
25 7:00 a.m. CST
Nevada, Iowa
(December 25 10 p.m.
JST)
Morning had come only a few hours after our daughter’s early arrival in our bedroom. Kaden was downstairs preparing everything. I was upstairs, just about to wake Mercedes up.
“Kaden, are you ready?” I called down the stairs in a loud whisper. Kaden stuck his hand into the hallway with a thumb up. I turned and opened the door to our room; light from the hall fell on Mercedes’ figure, curled under the covers. I crawled onto the bed and leaned over her.
“Mercedes,” I called and shook her a little. She mumbled something about snow and fighting before rolling over and going back to her dream. “Mercedes, its time to open your presents.” She blinked sleepily and looked up at me. It took her a second to work what I said through her head. Finally her eyes snapped wide open, she jumped to her feet, and jumped off the bed with a squeal. I could hear the dog bark as she stormed down the stairs. The dog ran up, and then changed course and ran back down again. I called for her to be careful as I stood up and headed downstairs myself.
When I reached the living room, Kaden had just finished attaching the camcorder to the tripod in the corner of the room. Mercedes was already half way through her stalking with a candy cane in her mouth.
“All right, lets get these presents sorted out,” Kaden announced. Mercedes jumped up and ran to the presents announcing it has her job.
I walked over to my favorite chair and started to sit down, but Kaden stopped me,
“Sorry, you need to sit on the couch or you won’t be in the video.”
“That’s fine with me, I haven’t had a chance to even comb my hair yet.”
“Mommy, I’ll only give you your presents if you sit on the couch.” Mercedes warned. Having been beaten I got up and moved to the couch where Mercedes had set my first present. She continued to pass out the presents while keeping count. In the end Kaden and I both got five presents, while Mercedes ended up with fifteen.
When the presents had been sorted and handed out we tore into them without restraint. I tore off the wrapping from a flat square box. Inside was a beautiful diamond necklace I had picked out for myself. Thought of course, I let Kaden think he picked it out. I started to put it off to the side when Kaden grabbed it. He stood and walked behind the couch. He fasted the necklace around my neck and leaned down and kissed my cheek.
“When are we going to tell her about the move?” He whispered in my ear. I looked over at Mercedes as she searched through the paper for another present.
“Let’s wait a couple of days.”
“I’m gonna get a buckeye, want one?” I nodded and he left to go into the kitchen. I sat watching Mercedes and I must have zoned out because the next thing I remember was Mercedes pulling at my arm, with her new cabbage patch.
“Mommy? Are you okay? Did Santa forget something?”
“No dear, I got everything I wanted.” I smiled down at her but I think she could sense my true feeling.
“Mommy, are we going to loose Daddy”
The question shocked me a bit, “Why would we loose Daddy?”
“He has to play baseball somewhere far away doesn’t he?” I wanted to ask how she knew, but that really didn’t matter now.
“Yes, he does. Do you want to go with him?”
“We’ll always be together. We’re family. I go where you go”
“But it’s really far away. We won’t see grandma Reynolds or Grandma Evens for a long time.”
“We can talk to them on the phone, can’t we?’
“Well, yes, of course.” I hesitated for a bit. Should I tell her everything? But it was Christmas. But, she should know. “I’m afraid Puddles can’t come with us.” Mercedes’ smile faded and she looked over to where the dog was burrowing through the shredded wrapping paper.
“Why not?” Mercedes asked with a frown.
“Because he wouldn’t be happy.” The real reason was of course the fact of trying to import a dog. It was a year long process and not to mention the cost. But it was also true that he probably wouldn’t be very happy. “We’re going to be living in a small apartment in a big city. There will be nowhere for him to run around. He’d always be on a leash.”
“But Puddles don’t like leashes,” Mercedes turned back towns me, “Where is he gonna live?”
“Grandma Evens said he could live with her.” Slowly a small smile appeared on her lips.
“It’ll be like a long vacation. He loves playing the Grams dogs.”
“Yes they do get along well.” I smiled and gave her a quick hug.
“Your done unwrapping already?” We both jumped, we had forgotten Dad was in the kitchen. Mercedes dove back into her sea of wrapping paper, gave Puddles a quick hug and kiss and then went searching for her next present.
I sat on the sofa and watched
Mercedes and Puddles wade through the paper and fingered the diamond around my
neck. This was the last Christmas I would see in what had been my dream home.
Kaden sat down beside me eating his buckeye. I bit into the one he had handed
me, letting the frozen peanut butter and chocolate melt into my mouth. I leaned onto Kaden; I had just gotten one
ugly deed done, I had one more to go.
But it was Christmas, and he looked so happy. Should I tell him?