Christmas for Dummies - Patrick S. (story read aloud txt) 📗

gifts to everyone--the Gregory family went into the kitchen for customary hot chocolate and graham crackers.
While Mara and Eric poured and scooped, Lacy tugged on her father’s shirt sleeve as they sat at the table. Her pallor had lessened overnight, and she seemed to have more energy than usual. Each time Ryan looked at her, he was overcome by a tingling sensation: he remembered fragments of the dream, and certainly the part where Lacy had died and a hole tore through his innards. That she was still alive, breathing, relatively healthy--if a bit too skinny--was all the Christmas gift he needed.
“Daddy?” she asked.
“Yeah? What’s up, sweetie?”
“What’s in the basket?”
“What basket?”
“The basket the old woman left. The one by the rocking chair.”
To show him, she walked over and came back with a brown, medium-sized basket with a cloth covering the top.
Mara and Eric returned with mugs of hot chocolate and plates of cinnamon graham crackers. When they saw the basket in Lacy’s hands, they nearly fumbled the porcelain; it all clattered on the table.
“Is that what I think it is?” Mara asked.
“I don’t know,” Ryan said. “I...I’m so confused.”
“Don’t be, Daddy,” Lacy said. “She brought it, remember? The old woman. She said it was a gift. Open it!”
“Yeah Dad,” Eric agreed. “Open it.” The boy rested against a chair, an anxious look on his face.
With trembling hands, Ryan peeled back the rosy cloth and at first thought it was empty. Then he saw a folded note taped to the bottom. He reached in and grabbed it.
“Well, go on,” Lacy urged. “I wanna know what it says!”
A part of him wanted to toss the basket and note far into the street, because he remembered how insanely awful

he’d felt when subjected to a vision of his daughter’s death. Instead, in part because his family was eager to see as well, he unfolded the note. On it was written:

Arlene Bentz, 33 years old.
Two functioning kidneys.
She will be in touch shortly.
My gift to a family who no longer
celebrates Christmas for Dummies.
MG

Ryan read the note to himself, then read it out loud and passed it to Mara who also read it aloud. Lacy grabbed it from her mother and read it very slowly. Her eyes scanned each word for a good two seconds.
“Is...I mean...does that mean...?” Mara stifled a gasp and fell into a chair.
Ryan’s heart thumped. He took the note again and read it through, half convinced that the words would scatter and form a cryptic code beyond explanation.
It was a dream, though, wasn’t it?

Wasn’t it

?
“She did this,” he whispered. “Maryann. Or...” he trailed off, unsure of what he was about to say.
“Dad?” Eric asked. It was strange to hear the twelve-year-old’s voice crack with emotion.
“Yeah, Eric?”
“What does it mean--that last part about Christmas? Who are the dummies?”
“I...I don’t think anyone is. At least...not anymore. And it means...well, it means that our Christmas decorations will be up longer this year. Much longer.”
Lacy’s eyes were wide and wet. She found his hand. “Why, Daddy?”
Ryan smiled. “As a reminder, honey. A reminder to us all.”

Imprint

Text: Cover Photo taken from Google Images
Publication Date: 12-05-2011

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