* * *
Two
weeks before Christmas, and all through the house, a creature stirs in
discomfort, the man of the house. Well, that’s what his mother calls him. James
had decided that his mother deserved a partner for Christmas, and he had tried
everything; every single dad at school had been asked, every blind date
perfectly scripted (to begin with). However, it was with a sigh that little
James resigned himself to wishful thinking, and hoping that there’d be somebody
stood on the doorstep come Christmas day.
Mum
had said that dad had gone away, a long time ago, and he wasn’t coming home.
Every so often, she’d look away, into a distant memory, and James knew, she was
thinking of him.
Maybe
that was it, he little boy decided as he rolled over in his bed, maybe she just
loved dad too much. Maybe.
*
* *
Natasha
didn’t know whether to celebrate the fact that the competition for her
affections had stopped, or worried by the downhearted look that had harboured
itself in her son’s eyes. So young, he didn’t understand, love doesn’t
disappear just because the person does. Absence makes the heart grow fonder,
right?
Yet,
on Christmas Eve, the idea of laying out presents for two was none too
appealing. Perhaps wishful thinking was the way to go.
*
* *
The
next day, Christmas, the man of the house bounded down the stairs, a winter’s
fire in his step. That same sentiment lay in his eyes, however, whilst watching
his mother unwrap presents on her own.
It
wasn’t until the toys had all been played with, the turkey eaten until they
were the ones who were stuffed, that Natasha asked her son about the contest he
had created.
He
wanted her to have someone, he told her, twiddling his thumbs. “Just like you
always have had someone on Christmas.”
She
hugged her boy then; he may not understand the mechanics of love – then again,
who does? – but, he could understand that people need it. Kissing his head, she
smiled, concealing the tears. “I always have you, baby.”
It
was from this embrace that they broke at the sound of the doorbell, a man
dumping his kit bag outside the door, arms spread for the two that he loved
most.
* * *
And here we have ... more fluff, because Christmas, and fluff seems to be quick to write, this was done in about 20 minutes.
Exams are over, hooray! Now the wait for results! I've done better in the last few days than I did last week, which is a plus. However, I'm doing a controlled assessment in English and have done no planning, so that is now going to have to be tomorrow morning's job!
I'll see you this weekend with a post about something or other, hopefully!
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