* * * * *
4: “Christmas Eve with Family”
Ali hurried through the front door and discovered Reynolds telling on her as usual, “Yep, she was down in the river again, Mom”. “Ali,” her mother said in exasperation, “get those muddy boots off and throw them on the porch.” Grabbing Ali’s arm, she ushered her toward the bathroom.
“Get into the bath and clean up and put that gun away for heaven’s sake. Grandma Agnes, Uncle Mack, Aunt Lurline, and Uncle Dan will be here in a little while!”
“Oh, boy----Uncle Dan! Is he still wearing his uniform? Is he bringing his rifle, again?” Ali whooped.
“Just get into the tub and I mean now,” said Ali’s mother. How special it would be with both Santa and Uncle Dan coming! It was Ali’s Uncle Dan who had sent her the little red and gold jacket with dragons embroidered on the front for her birthday a couple of years ago. Uncle Dan had been in a war someplace a long way from the Valley and was back home now. Her mother had shown Ali the place on the globe where her Uncle Dan fought in the war; the place was colored in red and kind of looked like a dragon’s head. Uncle Dan was sort of like a cowboy because he had a gun and rode in a tank (although a tank was definitely not as good as a horse thought Ali).
Ali’s mother loved Christmas. She decorated everything in the house, especially the little Christmas tree in the living room. Lots of presents were tucked under the tree already and, of course, Santa would be bringing even more later on. Reynolds made another face at Ali and went down the hall to his room.
“Mom, I’ve got a couple presents to wrap---be out in a while”, he said shutting his door against any intruders, especially his little sister.
Ali took her bath, got dressed in her beautiful dragon jacket from Uncle Dan and some clean overalls, and came out to the living room. Her mother always played pretty Christmas music on the record player in between rushing around in the kitchen trying to prepare dinner. Caroline Spain, Ali’s mom, was down on her knees near the Christmas tree putting the picture of her husband next to the old plaster Santa that had one arm upraised as if saying “Merry Christmas!” Ali’s father was almost never at home. He was “on the road” in a show her mother explained. George Spain, Ali’s father, was a singer. A long time ago when Ali was quite little, she could remember him singing a song called “It’s Gonna Be a Great Day.” He would sing the words and then hit a note on the piano over and over. If it wasn’t for the picture her mother put under the tree, it would be hard to remember exactly what he looked like.
“Hello,” came a familiar voice from the front door “anybody home?”
“Come on in, come on in,” Caroline yelled from the kitchen. In came all the relatives, talking and pointing, laughing and walking into the kitchen where Caroline was busy preparing dinner. Hugs all around and for Ali an occasional pat on the head.
“Well, you cleaned up pretty good, my little wild child,” said Grandma Agnes with a sniff. She had dropped off Ali, then gone back home to wrap those presents that she was so upset about. Uncle Mack, grandma’s brother, was right behind her.
“Well how is my little San Fernando Ali? Still shooting desperadoes in the neighborhood?” Uncle Mack was funny. Everyone always laughed when he called her “San Fernando Ali.” He couldn’t hear too good. Ali had to yell back, “Hi Uncle Mack.” Aunt Lurline, grandma’s sister, looked down at Ali and for about the millionth time called Ali a little tomboy and was off to the kitchen to help Caroline.
“Uncle Dan”, Ali yelled as she ran toward her very, very tall uncle. His head almost reached the ceiling!
“How’s my little niece?” Uncle Dan reached down and swooped Ali high into the air.
“I scraped my knees when I fell off the swing at Mrs. Amity’s,” Ali said as she pointed down at her knees. “Let me kiss them,” said Uncle Dan.
“I see you’re wearing that pretty little jacket I sent you from Korea.” That was the place on the globe that looked like a dragon, Ali thought. Uncle Dan then lifted
Ali up to the ceiling like an airplane and flew her around the living room as she stretched out her arms and yelled “Zoom, zoom ----ouch,” as she accidentally bumped her knee on Uncle Dan’s head.
“Careful, or you’ll crash the plane kid,” Uncle Dan joked.
There was lots of activity in the kitchen. All the women were grabbing this bowl or that bowl to help prepare the dinner. The men were putting together a makeshift table in the living room. “OK everybody, to the table now, time to say grace,” said Caroline. The family took their places around the table and placed their napkins in their laps and then looked at Caroline. There were only seven people around the table, but it was wonderful to see everyone, all gathered together. It was so rare that everyone was together. Caroline started to say grace, but stopped as she looked at Reynolds.
“Don’t touch anything on the table until we give thanks,” instructed Caroline with her head bowed, but with her eyes fixed on her son. Reynolds put his hands back down in his lap. Ali smiled and thought at least her mother saw that---- he doesn’t always get away with stuff like reaching for the drumstick first.
“Thank you for all our blessings and for our family gathered together this Christmas Eve night and for those far away,” Caroline said as everybody nodded their heads in agreement. “And may George’s show do well, and be a big success for him,” she added with a smile.
As everyone began to pass the food around the table, Caroline asked if they liked the music she had just begun playing on the record player.
“What on earth is that music----it isn’t Christmassy,” pointed out Aunt Lurline in her snippy, old-fashioned way.
“It’s the Broadway album of “Kismet”, George’s show,” responded Caroline.
“Kiss who?” asked Uncle Mack while dipping into the mashed potatoes. He held his hand up to his ear since he couldn’t hear so well.
“Kismet”----it’s the name of George’s show. It just opened a couple of weeks ago on Broadway.”
“What a silly name for a show. What does “Kismet” mean anyway?” Aunt Lurline said.
“It means something like destiny or fate or the way things are. Listen to the music,” Caroline implored her family.
“Well, why then didn’t they call it “Destiny?” ‘Kismet’------that sounds foreign to me,” Aunt Lurline added disapprovingly. Ali looked at her elderly aunt and wondered if there was anything she did like. She always seemed to find fault with things. Ali’s favorite song from the record was the one where a man sang “Rhymes have I” with rhyming words like “a camel’s a mammal.”
Caroline gave up trying to play the “Kismet” music. She turned on the radio to a station playing Christmas carols and sat down at the table once again, wiping her brow lightly with her napkin.
“Such a good meal, Caroline, too bad George can’t be here,” said Grandma Agnes as she dished some cranberries on to her plate.
“So where is he now?” asked Uncle Mack learning forward so he could hear the answer.
“He’s in New York City”, answered Caroline.
“Where did you say he is?” said Uncle Mack again.
“NEW YORK CITY”, yelled Caroline so Uncle Mack could hear her. Ali softly said to herself “New York City”.
“Where is that, mother?”
“A long way away,” Caroline said wistfully. “I’ll show you on the globe later, Honey.”
“I don’t know why he leaves you here all alone to look after the kids while he goes all over the place singing songs. I never heard of such a thing. A family should stick together,” Aunt Lurline sniffed.
“He has a beautiful voice and singing in a Broadway show has always been his dream,” explained Ali’s mother.
“Yep, I remember,” said Grandma Agnes. “It was the day Ali was born when he announced that he got a job singing.” She said singing like it was a bad thing to do. “You remember Caroline, you had to remind him that Ali was just born,” Grandma Agnes added looking down at
Ali like she was the reason George wanted to go away. Ali put her head down and kept hearing those words that Grandma Agnes said, “It was the day Ali was born.”
Suddenly Caroline said very loudly and with a hint of exasperation “Merry Christmas, everyone!” Caroline’s family looked at each other and quickly stopped asking about George. Ali noticed how her relatives quieted down, and began concentrating on eating instead of talking. After dinner, everyone moved into the living room to find a comfortable place to sit and open Christmas presents. Ali unwrapped her gifts and smiled at everyone, and gave each relative a hug and said thank you, but all she could think about was something about her father leaving when she was born.
That night when Ali went to bed, she held Smokey Bear extra close while looking out her tiny bedroom window at a couple of stars she could see. Her thoughts were jumbled with listening for Santa and wondering where was “New York City”? During the day Ali was so busy playing that she did not think about such things as why she went to boarding school during the week; why her father was never at home; why her mother sometimes seemed sad. But late at night as Ali lay in her bed, she thought about these things. Thank goodness Smokey was there to hold onto.
“Rhymes have I,” Ali sang slowly as she became drowsier. She had visions of her father’s picture under the Christmas tree all jumbled together with Smokey Bear saying “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires”, and Reynolds’ head looking down at her as she played in the river, and Santa and Rudolph and all the other reindeer flying though the night sky above River Street.
Ali sleepily and softly mumbled her usual prayer, made all the more special because it was Christmas Eve:
“I wish I may, I wish I might,
have the wish, I wish tonight:
God, please bring Mother, Daddy, Reynolds
and I together, where we could all live in
the same place, all week long.
And with that wish, Ali’s eyes closed in sleep and Smokey silently tumbled from Ali’s hand to the floor.