Storiesonline.net ------- Christmas Waif by Old Fart Copyright© 2008 by Old Fart ------- Description: An old man takes in a young runaway on a dreary Christmas Eve. Celebrate the hope of the season. And don't forget your hankie. Codes: tears ------- It was 10:20 at night on Christmas Eve when I heard the noise. It was raining and there was enough wind to cause the branches of the oak tree out front to scrape the front of the house so I didn't pay any attention to it until I heard it a second time, a little louder, a little more insistent. Something between a knock on my front door and somebody scratching at it. I went over to the door and turned on the outside light. There's a picture window next to it and I moved the blinds out of my way. There, on the top step, was someone with a dark coat, head bent over, chin was almost on chest, the long, dark hair looking scraggly from the rain and what I assumed was lack of washing. I was all set to let the blind back down and ignore whoever this person was outside my door. I started to move my fingers back, releasing the blinds when I saw the most woebegone face I think I've ever seen. I couldn't tell if it was man or woman, adult or child. I just knew I'd have nightmares and difficulty looking in the mirror for a long time if I let that blind fall and turned away. I opened the door. She, I could tell it was a young girl now that the light from my living room fell upon her face, lifted her head and said, "Please, Sir. It's raining and I'm..." She didn't have a chance to finish what she was saying. I reached out and practically dragged her inside, out of the rain. Upon closer inspection, it was not a coat but a dark gray sweater that came down to just above her knees. It was soaked and half the buttons were missing. She stood there, trying to hold it closed, shivering. Her face looked like it was having problems deciding whether to be dirty or clean. I came to the conclusion that it had been dirty and the rain had rinsed some of the dirt off. Make that filthy. It was going to take more than a winter rain to get her clean. "My name is Arthur," I said. "What's your's?" "Maxie," she said quietly. She had kind of pulled into herself, looking timid and defensive. I realized she probably was not expecting to be yanked into the house and subjected to the inspection of an old man when she took a chance and knocked on my door. "Well Maxie, you're a mess. You are filthy and wet and cold and those clothes look like you've been wearing them for weeks straight. The first thing we need to do with you is get you out of them," there was a sudden intake of breath at that, "and into a hot shower. I've got some pajamas that will be way too big for you but they'll be warm. And I've got plenty of safety pins we can use to at least hold the pants up. Are you OK? I mean, you aren't injured or sick or anything like that, are you?" "No Sir, I'm fine." "I'm close to 70 years old and my name is Arthur. Save that 'Sir' crap for someone who appreciates it. I'd much rather have some affection, even if it's pretended, than phony respect. After you've known me a while, if you find you respect me, fine. But I'd hope you would still want to call me Arthur." "Yes, S ... Arthur." "Much better. Have you got anything on under that sweater or is that all you're wearing?" She opened it up to reveal a lightweight dress, something for the spring or summer, looking like it too had been worn for months straight. "Hmmm. I don't think any of that would withstand a cycle in the washer. Probably fall apart. I don't suppose there's anyone you'd like me to call, is there? Some relative, maybe? Like a mother who misses you?" "No, there's nobody like that, Arthur." "I suppose not. Well, it's not going to do either of us any good for you to drip all over my carpet and catch cold. There's a bathroom down that hall on the right. There's liquid soap and shampoo and conditioner in the shower. Let's see. Hairbrush, toothpaste, new tooth brush in the medicine cabinet, hair dryer under the sink and clean towels on the hanger. It's going to take a couple of minutes for me to find those pajamas so you can either leave the door unlocked and I'll put them on the counter while you're in the shower or you can come into the kitchen wearing a towel when you're ready for them." "I trust you. You can bring them in the bathroom." "Good. Off you go, then." I went into the bedroom across the hall from the bathroom Maxie was in. I heard the shower for a minute and then the door to the stall opened and closed. The shower was turned on stronger. Good. It was going to take some water pressure to clean her up. My daughter grew up in this room. I married late in life and was almost 40 when she was born. Suzanne was the light of my life, the perfect daughter. And then she started to talk. And think for herself. I came from a world in which adults were considered to be right strictly because of their age. Young people did what they were told; their mission was to be seen and not heard. Suzanne never bought into that. She and I would get into the worst fights, yelling and screaming and slamming doors when it was over. There were many times I had the impulse to throttle her or to pick up something and throw it against the wall but I never indulged those impulses. I loved my little girl too much to do anything physical to harm her. But both of us learned that well chosen words worked just as well or better than a fist or a belt. Sometimes the two of us avoided each other for days, even weeks after one of these battles of wits was supposedly over. I look back on it and they were for the stupidest things. A school outfit I deemed inappropriate. Staying out later than allowed, not coming straight home from school. Sometimes it felt like she was goading me on purpose. One thing I learned while she was in my life was that we were both stubborn and neither of us would back down. Then came a time when it went too far. She was sixteen when she came to me for help. Despite our track record, she chose to come to me instead of her mother. She was pregnant. No, she didn't love the boy and the last thing in the world she wanted was to marry him. She did not want to kill her child. She was going to have this baby and she wanted my understanding and support. Just that. She wanted me to be her Daddy. Of course, I knew better than anyone else and let her know in no uncertain terms how I felt about a sixteen year old mother. Even with the way were with each other, things would have probably worked out if I'd just said my piece and shut up. I was too riled up for that, though. I wanted an admission of guilt and an apology and who knows if that would have satisfied me. She finally had enough and disappeared. One morning she was just gone. She called her mother a few days later to let her know she was all right. Poor Janice, always stuck in the middle. Almost a decade and a half of trying to keep the peace between us. She tried to get me to call Suzanne and apologize to her. She begged me for once in my life to shove my stupid pride aside and make the first move. I accused her of ganging up on me with our daughter. Janice left me soon after that. A daughter was born but I never saw her. My granddaughter. Janice found somebody, got married and moved back east. She sent me cards for Christmas and my birthday every year. Every one had a note with Suzanne's phone number in it. Twice a year, I'd sit in my easy chair, looking at the name and the phone number and envision calling her. I would grovel and she would tearfully forgive me and introduce me to this child of hers; the granddaughter I knew absolutely nothing about. But I was too damn stubborn for that. I've often wondered how bringing a new life into the world could have looked so wrong to me. These days it's so widely accepted and the only couples who seem to want marriage are the gays. The world is changing but there are very few still around with 70 year old morals. The longer I waited, the harder it became to take that first step towards reconciliation. I snapped into the present and went over to the dresser. The dresser that had been my daughter's but had never been used by a visiting granddaughter as it should have been. I opened drawers and found some pajamas in the third one. Probably not today's style but they were in good shape and they were flannel. Unlike those from my drawer, these might fit her without requiring drastic steps and safety pins. I looked in the closet and there was a quilted robe I thought might work. It might drag on the floor a bit but should keep her warm. I folded the robe and put the PJs on top of it and was just picking the pile up off the bed when I heard the shower turn off. I walked across the hall and got my face close to the door. "Maxie!" "What." "It's Arthur." "Really?" "Yes. I've got your clothes. Are you decent?" "Heck no. I'm nekkid as the day I was born." "I can't bring them in with you like that. I'm an old man, Maxie. I'd probably have a coronary and die." "Just my luck. All right. Hang on a minute." I heard the shower door open, then close. "It's safe now, Old Man." I opened the door and was inundated by a torrent of steam. I made my way into the room and found the counter more by feel than by sight. "Here you go, Sweetheart. I found some things that might fit. Call me if you need anything." "Hurry up, Old Timer. You're letting all the warm air out and I'm freezing my tail off in here." "Oh, Sorry." I rushed out the door, pulling it closed behind me. I heard her chuckle as I walked down the hallway towards the kitchen. I filled the kettle and put it on to boil, then went into the pantry and got a couple of cans of chicken with rice soup. I emptied them into a saucepan and put it on medium. I heard the hair dryer start up, making its wah-wah-wah-wah sound as she moved it back and forth. The kitchen suddenly lit up for half a second and then there was a clap of thunder a couple of seconds later. The rain was pelting loudly on the aluminum awning over the patio outside the kitchen. The hair dryer went off and I heard the door open shortly after. She came into the kitchen, her head bent over as she used a Q-tip in her ear. She looked absolutely gorgeous. So young, so fresh, so different from the girl at the door. "You look good," I said. "How do you feel?" "Wonderful. It seems like years since I've been clean like this." "How long has it been?" I asked her. Her eyebrows tightened for a moment, then she relaxed. "A long time. A very long time." I could tell she wasn't going to say anything further. "I've got some soup on the stove and the water's ready to boil. I can get you some tea or hot chocolate and I may have some instant coffee somewhere if you want that." "Are you going to have anything?" "Tonight seems like a good night for cocoa," I told her. "Good. You make that for both of us and I'll serve up a couple of bowls of soup. Where do you keep the bowls?" "Up in that cupboard," I said, pointing. "But I don't need any." "Anything I eat, you eat. You could be trying to drug me." I was ready to protest when she laughed at me. Not a quiet chuckle as she had when she was in the bathroom but a full out, joyous laugh. It sounded like silver bells as it filled the kitchen. How many years had it been since I heard laughter like that in this house? Still smiling, she put her hand on my arm. "Arthur, it's a miserable night outside. It's nice and warm in here. Come on. Have some soup with me." "All right Maxie. If you insist." She told me of her experiences on the street but as soon as it started getting personal, she changed the subject. There were loners who wanted nothing to do with anybody else, some groups, or camps as she called them, that were just as reclusive and others, both singles and camps, that welcomed all. If you had, you shared. If you needed, you got. If you took advantage, you found yourself alone in short order. The girl was hungry. When I asked how long it had been since she had a good meal, the only thing she would say was it hadn't been quite as long as her last shower. She said it with a sad smile on her face and she was looking at something that was not in my kitchen when she said it. I found some canned beef stew and I heated up a couple of cans. I just kept her bowl full and she finished it all without making me eat any. Make that finished almost all of it. The last spoonful never made it to her mouth. I heard it clatter to the table, then I saw her head slump over as she fell asleep at the table. I picked her up and carried her to Suzanne's room. I wondered what I'd gotten myself into before I was halfway down the hall. She was a light girl but I wasn't used to this much exertion. I actually fell forward onto the bed, my arms beneath her cushioning the fall a bit. It took some major work but I was finally able to pull back the covers she was lying on far enough to get her underneath them. Thank God she was already in pajamas. She looked so peaceful, asleep on my daughter's bed. Like she belonged there. I turned out the light and pushed the door closed, not latching it. I pushed the bathroom door open and turned on the light. If she woke in the night, that should take care of any fears or whatever else she might have or need. I went into my room and climbed into my bed. I was more tired than I could remember being but it was the kind of tired one gets from doing things, not just from being old and tired. I left my bedroom door open for the first time in a long time. I awoke with a start. There was somebody in the house. My bladder wouldn't let me investigate and I remembered that I had company as I stood in front of the toilet. I put on a robe and made my way to the kitchen. "I found the instant coffee but I figured you'd want tea," she said, handing me a cup with the bag still in it. "I'm not much for tea so I made myself some coffee. Merry Christmas." "Merry Christmas to you, too." She went over to the stove and stirred something. She had my big deep dish frypan going and I looked over her shoulder to see what was in it. There was a mess of bacon and five or six eggs. "I have more than one pan, you know." "More than one is a luxury I'm not used to. We're lucky to have one. Hell, we're lucky to have an old coffee can." "Should I make some toast?" "Only if you want some. I'm going to dip mine in the leftover bacon grease." "How can you stand that?" "Stand it? That's real eating, man. Better than toast with mar-jor-eeene on it." "All right, you convinced me. Do you have enough for two?" "Two? This pan would feed half the camp I was staying at a couple days ago." I got a couple of plates and some silverware, then sat at the table and sipped my tea. She was piling food on the plates within seconds, then she took some bread and swiped it across the fat in the bottom of the frying pan. A piece went on each of our plates. My doctor would probably take one look at the plate of food in front of me and put me in the hospital but I enjoyed it as I hadn't enjoyed food in years. I wondered how my bowels were going to react to it. There were so many things I was restricted from eating that associating taste with it seemed foreign. "Is there any more of that instant coffee left?" "I'm sure we could come up with enough for another cup for you, Arthur." "Let's do it. Blood pressure be damned." She turned the gas on under the kettle and spooned some instant coffee into a clean mug. The kettle started whistling and she poured boiling water over the coffee. She handed it to me and I held it up to my face, smelling the fumes as it dissolved into the water. I picked up my greasy fork and swirled it around, then took a sip. "It's been a long time," I sighed, to myself as much as to Maxie. We both ate with gusto. That was something I'd been missing without knowing it, much like the taste of food. Damn the years and their effect on my body. And damn the doctors with their pills and their cautions and their studies. "I haven't enjoyed a meal this much for as long as I can remember," I told her. She smiled at me and lifted up her coffee mug. "Good times, good food, good people," she said. I lifted my mug and banged it into hers. We both laughed as some of my coffee sloshed out onto the table. She stood as I swiped up the last of the yolk with the last of my greasy bread. "I'll do the dishes." "There's no need for that. I can do them later." "No, Sir. You can dry if you want to." I was standing next to her five minutes later with a tea towel in my hands, drying a plate when my body finally protested. "Excuse me, I've got to go," I said, making a dash to my room and its attached bathroom. My body started before I got settled. Let's just say I used more toilet paper than normal and I put on a new pair of boxers when I was finished. When I got back into the kitchen, she was drying the frying pan. The sink was empty. "Are you OK, Arthur?" "I'm fine. Just my body telling me I'm too old to eat like I did when I was a kid." "That's too bad. Food is one of the good things." "Yes, it is. Are you done with the dishes?" She opened a cupboard and put the pan inside. "Now I am." "Good. Come into the living room. Let's see if Santa came by." "You're a little old for that, aren't you Arthur?" "Christmas is a day for miracles, Maxie. You never know." I took her into the living room. I'd had the gardener set up a tree for me this year and paid the cleaning lady's children to decorate it. Last year's tree had been a lot smaller and I hadn't had one for all the years before, after Janice left me. "Wow," she said, looking at the tree. "Impressive." "Take a look and see who those things are for," I said to her, pointing at the presents underneath it. "I'm too old to crawl around on my knees." She picked up a small one and read the card out loud. "To Maxie from Santa." She giggled and lit up like a little kid. "Open it." She tore the paper off, then opened the box inside. It was a Swiss Army Knife. She sat on her legs looking like they'd both been amputated at the knees and oohed and aahed as she pulled out blades and drivers and utensils and an awl. "This thing has everything!" she exclaimed. "What else?" I said. She pulled out present after present. A backpack, an arctic sleeping bag, pots and pans and dishes that folded up to nothing for carrying. A couple of pairs of blue jeans and sweatshirts and hiking boots, a package of underwear, socks and bras. She looked at me funny when she opened a package to find three smaller Swiss Army Knives, all the same. "You never know when you need something to trade," I said. The last package contained freeze dried food packs; enough for several weeks. "That looks like all of it," I finally said. "No, I see one more back here." She pulled out a package wrapped in newspaper and tied with a scrap of string. There was no card on it but she handed it to me. I pulled the string to the side and pulled off the paper. A coiled belt was inside. I opened it up and looked at it. Carved into the back of the belt was the name "Arthur." I wiped a tear from my eye. "Did you make this?" I asked her. "Of course. I had to do something with last year's knife." She walked over to my chair on her knees and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Wear it in good health, Arthur." I felt some moisture when she kissed my on the cheek but she quickly turned away so I couldn't see her face. "I just need to pack all of this stuff and I'll be off." "I thought we'd have a Christmas dinner. I got some pre-cooked turkey we could warm up." "Sorry, Old Man. No can do. Places to go, people to see, things to do." She gathered up her packages and took them into her room. I heard her throw them on the bed and then the door closed. I stood up and put the belt on over my robe. It was a good fit and I was sure it would be fine with a pair of pants. I just left it on and sat back down, waiting for her. I didn't have to wait long. She came out in her new boots, jeans and sweatshirt, her backpack over her shoulders. The sleeping bag was attached to the bottom. "Did it all fit?" "Uh huh. Just like someone knew what they were doing." I stood up, lifted my arms and turned around in a circle. "My belt fits fine" "Glad to see it." She came over to give me a quick hug. I grabbed onto the sides of the backpack so she couldn't get away. "God Damn it, Maxie. When are you going to stop this foolishness and make up with your mother?" She stared me in the face, steel in her eyes. "Right after you do, Old Man." I dropped my right hand and then I raised it to the strap over her left shoulder, lifting it and pulling it down her arm. She shrugged and turned around, making it easier for me to remove the backpack. Taking her hand in mine, I went over to the fireplace and got the one card I'd received off the mantel. I took her into the kitchen and dialed the phone number that was on the bottom. "Suzanne. Merry Christmas. It's your father. Listen, there are a couple of us here who need to talk to you. ------- The End ------- Posted: 2008-12-25 ------- http://storiesonline.net/ -------