Chapter Two
Luke was out of bed earlier than usual. He made some coffee and then went to the entranceway. It was still dark outside, but there was a friendly bunch of light in the corner. The Coffee did not seem necessary. He was wide awake and went over to pick up the tree, but it shook a bit and the star brightened. He stepped back.
Maybe I woke it up and scared it?
Without thinking, he sang out,
“Oh Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum.”, as he had done in Grammar school.
One touch and all seemed well. He took the tree to the living room without a problem and then went to the garage. Soon he returned with an old metal stand. When he attempted to insert the trunk into the stand, the tree starting shaking and the red lights blinked wildly. He returned it to the floor and let go. It stood as straight as any of the trees on the mountain side.
“Man, this is no ordinary tree. Guess I did find a special one.”
He crossed his fingers, to make sure. And it stood erect while Luke searched around for ornaments. He returned with an arm load.
He crawled onto the floor and laid out a fuzzy white cloth around the base to look like snow. Sure is strange doing this without a fancy metal base. A plastic deer and a few little trees were used to make it a mountain side. Luke looked up from his place on the floor and saw the star brightness go high and go low like someone breathing slowly. But when he started to attach his lights or ornaments, the red lights did a fast flashing.
Maybe not a good idea. It does seem nice the way it is, right from the tree lot.
The clock reminded him of work, Darn, Late again. Luke went to the kitchen and made breakfast. Some warm tap water with instant coffee and a slice of bread was it.
He ran downstairs to the apartment-complex parking lot and into his ten-year old four-door car. A heavy “Cough” and it started. The half hour trip to work was mostly by expressway. Twenty minutes later he turned off to another parking lot that surrounded an all- glass tower. The tower reflected the surrounding sky like some form of camouflage to hide the paperwork beehive inside. His job was routine, but it was secure. Industrial adhesives were replacing other ways of attaching parts and were a growing field.
Customers called for quotations and delivery information. That was Luke’s job along with ten other employees. Luke knew the phones would be ringing all day till the price hikes started on January third. Just as well, he wanted to be distracted. His family had been pushing for the divorce and his wife, Angie, had not helped her case. She had been belligerent, especially to his mother and his father protected mom no matter what. A large wave of loneliness had washed over him in the wake of that turmoil.
At noon his stomach roared, much to the delight of his friend in the adjacent cubicle.
“You better tame that tiger, Luke. It’s time for lunch or didn’t you notice.”
Greg was tall and quite the women attractor. He had the voice and the chat for outside sales which he would be starting after New Year’s.
They walked between the beige cloth covered panels that separated offices and looked out the windows to check the weather. Then off to lunch in a cafeteria that was subsidized by their very profitable employer. They collected some food in the cafeteria line and went to the closest table.
Greg boosted, “I can’t wait to go on vacation and soak up all those Caribbean rays. “
He kept talking while Luke watched him with a glazed stare into nowhere. Greg stopped and tapped Luke’s plate,
“Say. Luke you have been in a funk for weeks. Maybe your vacation, next week will help you shake off the blahs.”
Someone waved Greg over to another table and he was relieved to have an excuse. Luke grunted, as Greg left, and began floating around in a dark sea of aimless thoughts. Some thoughts were about the Christmas madness. It would be nice to have a different one this year. Then he let slip audibly,
“The worst part is shopping for those darn gifts. Must be something better to do”
A cute purchasing agent, at the other end of the table caught his self-conscious grin, and as she past to leave, coyly dropped,
“There are fun alternatives, you know.”
The thrill of a possible come-on rose and fell. She joined a man and whispered to him. The man turned and looked back at Luke with a laugh and they parted while both laughing. Luke felt foolish, but mumbled,
“What alternatives did she mean?
He looked at his cell phone clock, then jumped up and sped off to his office with the tray in both hands. He noticed the tray when fully seated and thought, just like the time no one told me my fly had been open all day. For a while the phones were quiet so he returned to those ‘alternatives’. A Caribbean poster on his wall prompted a warm vision reminding him of something he should have done. Inside that vision were water skiing, palm trees and a warm sun. Oddly enough, so was his tree and it was watching him in the vision.
Maybe Christmas trees also have desires. Well enough escaping. Get back and find some work to do.
Soon, the customers were placing orders like crazy. He forgot his dream until another lull.
Maybe make shopping easier. I will travel up each level of the mall buying what is on my list. Then don my skis and race down the side of that fifty foot monster tree in the atrium and yell, “ Yah who.” and get out of there before I see or buy anything else. And that mall parking? “God!.” He groaned out loud. Some researchers claim that men have a little magnet in their skulls that acts like a compass, so they are good at finding their way around. Well, mine is stuck. I lost my car three times last year in that ocean of metal and plastic.
He pictured having his tree on the car roof; its pulsating star a beacon on that ‘ocean’, helping him to find his way back.
Five O’clock came quickly. Luke cleared his desk, “See you all tomorrow.” to his surprised friends and rushed out of the glass tower. It was one week until Christmas
He felt a warm Christmas ember in his heart as he drove home. It lit up a dark place in there and then traveled to his weary eyes. He looked at the rearview mirror hoping to see a difference and ended up missing the expressway ramp and continued on. He drove slowly along many streets of a residential area and soon was smiling at the home decorations and peering into the windows at the trees hoping to see one that looked familiar. Maybe there are other trees like mine. But they all seemed quite plain to him.
Before he knew it, there was the entrance to the mall. Oh well. So he entered. Wow. There is an open parking spot near my favorite stores. How did that happen?
He liked looking tough as if it was not winter and left his car without a coat.
Once inside,
“Bagley’s department store wants to make you a special offer for their credit card this season.”
“No thanks. I have four cards already.” Ugh! That old money aspect of the holidays. As he wandered about, everyone seemed stressed; that couple trying to find the least problematic gift for uncle George, the young kids running wild and wanting everything, a baby in its stroller crying maybe feeling left out, grandparents looking exhausted while resting at the marble fountain and grandma fidgeting around in her purse while grandpa’s spec’s slide down his nose while reading a paper through drooping eyelids. Who is inviting the holiday spirit here?
It reminded him of his family life as a kid: parents yelling at one another, no one listening, the fear of something lost in all that, missed chances for love, for touching, and just being with one another. During winters he always felt cold like someone living in a chilly house and feeling unprepared to handle the cold outside; already feeling cold from the tension at home.
A mall-wide gloom settled around him and would not let go. Oh yeah that tree at home. The gloom slithered away. He briskly left the mall and drove home. On the way he stopped at the Christmas tree lot and paid the attendant. The attendant commented that he had been sleeping quite well until last night and then shrugged his shoulders. Luke was tempted to say something,
but didn’t.
Luke was nearing his parking spot when a star got his attention. I know that star this time. Once parked, he stood outside the car staring at the partially curtained view of his tree. That star light sure is calming.
He started toward the entrance when a small car sped toward him and honked for Luke to step back. The frantic blinking of three bright red lights in his apartment window broke Luke’s meditation and he stepped back just in time. The driver’s window rolled down some,
“Sorry, on the way to the mall you know. Merry Christmas.”
The last word was cut short by the upward moving car window. Oh, man, inside and home and out of this crazy world. At his door the key went in more easily than it had for weeks. Once inside, he let his coat fall to the floor. Luke walked into the living room and looked at the tree and the three wagging ornaments going like dog tails. Listening to phone messages and reading the mail did not come to mind.
He rushed into the kitchen and loudly exclaimed,
“What is this tree and why do I have it in my home? Well, am I complaining? I wanted a special one. Who else has one and I’m tired and hungry.” Those words echoed inside the refrigerator as he searched for an idea of a meal,
“Tonight. Nice and easy. How about some chicken broth holding anything that is likely to soon spoil?”
He became lost in his creation of a stew Du Jour, cutting vegetables on the edge of being limp and emptying cans that had been forgotten. This was all helped with some garlic and bay leaves. Luke left it all to cook into a swirl of flavors and then went to the tree and stood before it.
“I wonder if you must be fed. How do I nourish you? Where do I put the water if you are hovering over the floor without a tree stand. Maybe you live on the air like Spanish moss? Or just maybe, Christmas spirit?” He chuckled. A wave of bright lights and clanging ornaments commenced with those last two words and then all was returned to normal.
“Christmas spirit?”
The wave of light and sound repeated each time he spoke those words. He felt like a kid with a new found toy.
“Well, I’ll be darn. Seems there is some way to communicate.”
Luke fell back into the soft chair behind him. He rubbed his chin like a thinker, but something got the best of him and a chuckle soon rolled into a roar of laughter.
By then a potpourri of odors had wound its way to his nose and he went to the kitchen. There seemed to be no reason to eat fast like he normally did. It really responded to me. Soon the food and the long day crept into his eyes and he yawned. That night he slept well.