Happy Holidays VI
Sleepyside Christmas
By Ann
Trixie kicked the snow off of the concrete steps of Sleepyside General Hospital. Where was that darned Brian anyway, she wondered to herself. He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago. She had just finished her last shift as a Volunteen before Christmas, and she was tired and ready to go home. Her feet hurt, but she couldn’t sit down on the steps because of all the snow. And to top it off, Honey, her best friend and usual Volunteen partner had to beg off today to do something with her mother and father. That wasn’t actually like Honey. She took her obligation to the hospital very seriously.
“I’ve been deserted by everyone!” she muttered aloud. “I just want to go home and cover up under my comforter and sleep through Christmas.”
This was definitely not typical Trixie behavior, and she felt a bit ashamed at her lack of Christmas spirit. But it had been a rough couple of weeks. Finals had been the week before, and while she felt like she had done alright, she’d had to work very hard studying every night. She was still nervous about that darn chemistry test. She needed that credit to graduate high school, and the thought of having to retake the whole course again next year made her shudder. Mart had tried to help her through it, but he really hadn’t had the patience to deal with his scientifically challenged sister, and chemistry just gave him the chance to use more of those gigantic words he loved to torture Trixie with. She had really needed Brian’s or Jim’s help, but they were both away at college, preparing for their own finals. It had seemed silly to bother them, so she made due with nightly study sessions with Honey and Di. These had made her feel a little more confident, but when she had seen that chemistry test, her confidence had disappeared. She had no idea how she’d done on it.
But the really bad news had come in the form of a phone call. Trixie had just come home on the last day of finals, relieved that at last, it was all behind her. She was mentally making plans for how she would spend her vacation, and visibly bouncing from excitement that Jim and Brian would be home in three days. She really had missed Brian. The house just wasn’t the same with him living three hours away in a dorm room. And Brian being gone was even harder to bear when he missed out on the traditional Christmas preparations. He wasn’t there when the Belden Family put up the tree this year, so Mart had to put the star on top. It had been Brian’s job for years, ever since he had grown taller than his father! Brian hadn’t been around to taste test the Christmas cookies that Moms and Trixie had made last week either. Of course, that meant more for Mart and Bobby, but it just wasn’t the same. And then of course there was Jim. While Trixie could confess how much she missed Brian to Honey and her family, she didn’t talk about how much she missed Jim. She and Jim had never really talked about how they felt about each other. Everyone knew, of course. It was obvious to any of their friends or family, but Trixie never brought it up. And so, she’d been suffering in silence about Jim’s absence since he’d last been home at Thanksgiving. But it would be OK now, she thought. They were coming home in three days.
She began humming “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” as she reached into the cookie jar for one of the Christmas cookies. The ringing of the phone startled her, and she dropped the cookie. She picked up the phone as she tried to brush the crumbs off of the counter into the sink.
“Hello?” she said absentmindedly into the phone.
“Trixie?” Jim’s voice came through the phone and made her heart skip a beat.
“Jim!” she answered, the cookie crumbs forgotten completely. “What a great surprise!”
“I needed to call you, Trix, and let you know that Mr. Hayes fell and broke his leg last night.”
Mr. Hayes was Jim’s boss at the pet store where Jim worked part time after classes.
“Oh, no, is he going to be ok?” Trixie asked, filled with concern. She had met Mr. Hayes in October, when the Beldens had gone to visit Jim and Brian on campus. He had been a sweet old man, and it was awful to think he had been hurt.
“Well, he’ll be fine,” Jim began. “…but he needs help with the animals until he can get back on his feet.” Hayes Pets was a very small store, and Jim was Mr. Hayes’s only employee. “I can’t leave him here to deal with all of this alone. The animals have to be fed, and the cages cleaned. Even if we close the store, someone has to be here to take care of the animals.”
Trixie felt her lip tremble and bit it to stop it. This was too awful. She didn’t trust herself to speak, so she didn’t.
“Trixie?” Jim continued. “I’m so sorry I won’t be home for Christmas, but I just don’t see a way around it.” He paused for a moment. “…And I really do miss you. I was looking forward to spending some time with you.”
He was? Jim had never said anything like that to her before. Of course he missed her, he missed all the Bob-Whites, but he sounded different now.
“Me, too, Jim,” Trixie nodded into the phone. “This is just terrible. I mean, terrible for Mr. Hayes, of course, but…”
“I know,” Jim said. I’m sure that after Mr. Hayes gets back on his feet, he’ll give me a few weekends off so I can come home more often. Maybe that’ll make up for it?” he said hopefully.
“Oh, Jim, I’m sorry.” Trixie said. “Here I was feeling sorry for myself because you wouldn’t be here, but I just now realized that you won’t have your family around for Christmas. There I go again, being selfish!”
Jim laughed in spite of the situation. “I’ll manage. Don’t worry about me. It is kind of nice to hear that you’re disappointed that I won’t be around.”
“Well, yeah…” Trixie didn’t know what else to say. This was new territory for them, actually talking about how they felt toward each other. She didn’t want to say too much, but she didn’t want to say too little either.
“I need to go, Trixie,” Jim broke the silence. “I haven’t called Mom and Dad yet to tell them.”
“Jim, I really will miss you,” she told him. “Thanks for calling to tell me. It makes me feel like you care…” she cringed as she said it, hoping it wasn’t too mushy.
“I do care, Trixie, that’s why I called you. I wanted you to know that it’d have to be something big to keep me away from Sleepyside at Christmas.”
As they hung up, Trixie had begun analyzing the phone call as only teenage girls can analyze. He cares, he called me before he called his own parents, he said he misses me, he wanted to spend time with me, she thought as she ticked off the things he had said. Then she sank down into a kitchen chair. As hopeful as those thoughts made her about Jim’s feelings for her, the fact remained that Jim would not be home for Christmas this year…
As she shifted from one foot to another on the steps of the hospital, the sound of a horn honking brought her out of her gloomy thoughts. She jumped and looked up to see Brian with Bobby pulling up to the curb of the hospital in the Bob-White station wagon. Bobby waved to her from the open window. “Trixie, Prancer is at Crimper’s Department Store! Brian and I just saw him!” Trixie trudged through the snow down the steps and sidestepped the slush to get into the back seat. She smiled gratefully at Brian. She was supposed to take Bobby to the Santa display later this afternoon, but Brian had done it for her already. He had known she was in a bad mood when he arrived home, without Jim, two days earlier. Again, she felt a small pang of guilt for feeling so down at such a happy time of the year. She didn’t want to spoil the little time she had to spend with Brian by being grouchy.
Bobby turned to her, waving an opened envelope. “Moms says to give you this, Trixie. She said to tell you it’s an early Christmas present!”
Trixie caught a glance at the front of the envelope. It was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Peter Belden, and the return address was Sleepyside Junior-Senior High.
“Ugh,” she groaned. “It’s my report card! That was fast. Those teachers sure know how to ruin Christmas. She snatched the envelope from Bobby’s waving hand.
“What are you so worried about, Trixie?” Brian looked at her in the rear view mirror. You didn’t even call me for help studying for finals. You must have been pretty sure of yourself. And Honey said you girls had a nightly study session during finals week.”
“I wish!” Trixie shook her head at him. “It just seemed silly to bother you with my troubles when I know how busy you are at school. “But I did study really hard.” She held the envelope by a thumb and one finger, as if it might bite her.
“Go on, read it,” Bobby said. “It’s an early Christmas present from Moms! It can’t be bad.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that, Bobby,” Trixie shook her head. “The present part of it could be that she’s letting me see it before Dad gets home…you know, give me a chance to prepare myself.”
“Trixie, just look at it,” Brian laughed. It can’t possibly be worse than anything you’re imagining.”
Trixie shrugged and pulled the paper out of the envelope. She slowly unfolded it and peered at it while chewing intently on her lower lip. After a few moments, she let out a little squeal that even made Brian jump in his seat. She leaned forward between her brothers and held out the report card. “I passed Chemistry! I passed it. I didn’t just pass it, I got a C! That means I must have done well on the final exam!” She began to bounce in her seat, making her curls fall into her face. As she pushed them back out of her eyes, she continued to look at the report card. Not only did I get a C in Chemistry, I got a B in Algebra, and …I don’t even believe it! I got an A in Psychology!”
“Great going, Trix,” Brian grinned at her from the front seat. “I guess Jim was right.”
“Jim was right?” Trixie’s attention was instantly focused on Brian at the sound of Jim’s name. “Right about what?”
“Well,” Brian shrugged. “When you didn’t call either of us for help, he told me that you were finally realizing how smart you were, and that you must have figured out that you didn’t need us to get you through your classes.”
Trixie felt a blush creeping up her face. “I’d hardly say I’m all that smart,” she protested. “I got a C in Chemistry, not an A! But that was really nice of Jim to say.” She leaned back in her seat to hide her red face.
“Jim knows you pretty well, Trixie,” Brian said more seriously. “I, for one, think he’s right.” He winked at her in the mirror and then turned his attention back to the road.
Things aren’t all that bad, she thought to herself. I passed Chemistry, got an A in Psychology, Brian’s home for Christmas, and Jim thinks I’m smart! She settled herself back into her seat, her mood lifted somewhat.
As the station wagon made its turn into the driveway of Crabapple Farm, Trixie was surprised to see Honey walking up the porch steps. Brian honked, and Honey turned and waved, then came back down off of the porch.
Trixie was almost out of the car as Brian put it into park. “What are you doing here?” she asked her best friend. “I thought you had to drive into the city with your parents.”
“I did, we did…I mean, we just got back,” Honey nodded as she spoke. “I’m sorry I couldn’t work at the hospital today. Did you have a lot to do?”
Trixie shook her head. “No, it was actually very quiet. People must not get too sick three days before Christmas.”
Brian and Bobby got out of the car and walked up to the girls. Brian gave Honey a quick hug, and Bobby grabbed her by the hand. As the group turned to walk up the porch steps and into the farmhouse, Trixie was dying to ask Honey where she’d been, and what she’d had to do, but she held her tongue. If Honey wanted to tell her, she would. Instead, she held out her report card. “Look!” She opened it and held it up for her friend to read.
“Oooh!” Honey squealed. “I knew you could do it.” She squeezed Trixie’s hand.
“Not without your help, I couldn’t have!” Trixie rolled her eyes. “You studied with me every night before finals. I owe this to you.”
“That’s total nonsense, Trixie, and you know it,” Honey retorted. “I needed to study just as much as you did. I got as much out of our study sessions as you. So did Di! We should call her and see if she got her report card.”
The girls shed their coats in the front room and headed to the kitchen, where Honey quickly phoned Di, as Trixie pulled out more Christmas cookies and glasses of egg nog. She was just settling into a chair as Honey hung up the phone. “Di got hers, too,” Honey beamed. “Apparently, we are excellent at tutoring each other, because she got all Bs. She’s thrilled!”
“What about you, Honey?” Trixie asked. “Did you get your report card?”
“I imagine so,” Honey said thoughtfully between bites of cookie. “I didn’t check the mail after we got home. I came straight to your house.”
“Well, don’t you want to go check?” Trixie asked anxiously. “I’ll go with you.”
“Oh, no, let’s wait awhile,” Honey reached for another cookie and looked out the window behind Trixie. I’m still not warmed up from the walk down here.”
“Honey Wheeler!” Trixie stared at her friend. “How can you be so calm about your report card? I know you were nervous about that Algebra test! What gives?”
“Nothing,” Honey insisted. “I’m just still cold from walking down here.” She drummed her fingers nervously on the table, immediately arousing Trixie’s suspicions.
What is up? Trixie turned around to look out the window. Nothing out of the ordinary. What was going on? Honey was certainly being secretive. Why didn’t she want to see her report card? She wasn’t seriously worried about her grades, was she? Honey’s grades were always good.
Just then, Bobby bounded into the kitchen with his favorite Christmas book, Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer, in one hand. “Honey, Honey! Did Trixie tell you I saw Prancer at Crimper’s? He was there, I got to pet him and feed him!” There’s a picture of him in my book. Do you wanna see?” Bobby climbed up into Honey’s lap and started to flip pages to find Prancer.
Trixie got up from the table to put the dishes into the sink. As she did, she looked out the window again. But this time, there was something unusual. There was a person walking between Manor House and Crabapple Farm. A very bundled up person, but definitely a familiar person. Who could it be? It wasn’t Dan, he was upstate with Regan, checking out some new horses Mr. Wheeler was interested in. The only other people who walked down from Manor House to Crabapple Farm were Honey and Jim. And Honey was already here. She dropped the dishes into the sink and swung around quickly.
“Honey?”
“Hmmm?” Honey looked up from the book Bobby was showing her. She caught a glimpse of the scene outside the window, and couldn’t stop the grin spreading across her face.
“Where did you go this morning?” Trixie narrowed her eyes at her friend.
“We had to go to the train station,” Honey replied as nonchalantly as possible. “There was something we had to pick up there. Last minute delivery.”
Trixie squealed in delight as she ran to the back door. She flung it open as Jim reached the edge of the yard. She called his name, and he looked up, waved, and smiled a big smile at her. She jumped up and down on the back steps in her stocking feet, waiting for him to get to the house. He reached the top step and Trixie enveloped him in a hug that nearly knocked him back.
“Where did you come from? When did you get here?” The questions came one after the other. “What about Mr. Hayes?”
Jim laughed as he released her from the bear hug. “Mr. Hayes’s son came into town after he heard what happened. He’s going to stay with his dad and take care of the store, so…I took the train in this morning.”
“He asked me not to tell you,” Honey called from just inside the kitchen. “You owe me big brother!” she laughed.
“Sorry for the secret, Trixie,” Jim said as he walked into the kitchen behind her. “I knew you were disappointed, and Honey said you’d been moping around since school finished.”
Trixie shot her best friend a glare that quickly changed to an embarrassed smile as she saw Honey shrug her shoulders and nod her head.
“I wanted to see the look on your face when I showed up.” Jim sheepishly admitted. “So I asked Honey not to tell you. Forgive me?”
“Of course, you’re forgiven, Jim,” she said. “I’m just so glad you’ll get to spend Christmas in Sleepyside, all of us together.”
It was going to be a great Christmas!
The End
Author’s Notes: Thanks so much to Hayday for all her gentle prodding, encouragement, and letters from Jim! They did the trick!