'Tis the Season

  Nikki loosened her hold on Paw-Paw and watched him walk around the room. He was limping, but not badly, and Nikki thought he would be okay. Then she and her mother and Mae huddled together on the couch, while Tobias stalked outside. “I’m going for a walk,” he called, and slammed the door behind him.

  “Is Daddy really gone forever?” asked Mae.

  “Yes, I think so,” said Mrs. Sherman.

  “Okay,” said Mae. “Then I erase him from my mind.” She slid off the couch and returned to Chesapeake.

  Nikki leaned against her mother, breathing heavily.

  Nikki was glad her father had chosen to return on Sunday, because if he had come back on Monday, she didn’t think she would have been able to go to the New Year’s Eve party at Flora and Ruby’s. It was her first-ever slumber party and she didn’t want to ruin it, so she was glad to awaken on the day after the awful incident and find that she felt somewhat better. And she was looking forward to the distraction of the party.

  Tobias drove her into town that evening. “You’re going to stay at home with Mom and Mae tonight, aren’t you?” asked Nikki as he turned left at Dutch Haus, then right onto Aiken Avenue.

  “Yup.”

  “Okay,” said Nikki. “It’s the fourth one,” she added as they reached the Row Houses. “Right there.”

  “Call me tomorrow,” said Tobias. “I’ll come pick you up.”

  “Thanks,” said Nikki.

  Tobias drove off and Nikki felt butterflies in her stomach, but they disappeared when the busy evening got under way. First there was pizza for supper, which Min insisted on serving the girls in the dining room on her fancy china. “Just for fun,” she said, and Nikki, Flora, Olivia, and Ruby pretended they were wealthy and stylish women.

  “Like from old movies,” said Ruby. “Those ladies who ate with their pinkies up and little dogs asleep in their laps.”

  After that, they gathered around the TV to watch Freaky Friday, and later, they spread their sleeping bags out in Flora’s room, Nikki having borrowed a spare from Olivia.

  “You know what we should do now?” said Olivia. “You know how on New Year’s Eve everyone looks ahead to the next year and makes resolutions? Well, I think instead we should look back over last year and talk about all the stuff that’s happened. This has been kind of an amazing year for all of us.”

  “A year of changes,” said Nikki.

  “Both good and bad,” added Flora.

  Ruby stood up on Flora’s bed, tilted her face to the ceiling, closed her eyes, waved her hands through the air, and said in a strangely accented voice, “I am ze genie from ze magic lamp. I cast each of us into ze past. One year past! Go back, go back in time to last New Year’s Eve, and speak of your life zen. GO!” She opened her eyes and pointed to Olivia. “You in ze blue shirt. You start.”

  Olivia, trying not to giggle, said, “Well, one year ago, everything was normal. I mean, it seemed normal because it was what I’d always known. Ruby, sit down, okay? I can’t do this while you’re standing on the bed with that look on your face.”

  Ruby sat on Flora’s bed with a plop.

  “Thank you,” said Olivia. “Anyway, what I mean is, Dad had his job, the job he’d always had, and we never had to worry about money, which was good. But I barely knew you guys and I didn’t have any really close friends. That was bad. At school, I felt like I never belonged. So that was how things were last New Year’s Eve. And then in June, you guys moved here,” Olivia said to Flora and Ruby, “and suddenly I had real friends right next door! It was like a dream come true. And then, by the end of the summer, we were friends with you, too, Nikki, and for the first time in my life I had an actual group of friends.

  “But of course by then, Dad had lost his job,” Olivia continued. “Another bad thing. But the very worst thing of all was thinking that we might move and I’d have to leave my friends behind.

  “So now it’s one year later, and I have you guys, and” (Olivia broke into a grin, because she had secretly been waiting all evening for this moment) “Mom and Dad are going to buy Ma Grand-mère.”

  “What?” cried Nikki, Flora, and Ruby. And Ruby added, “Seriously?”

  “Seriously,” said Olivia. She told her friends about the idea she’d gotten in Needle and Thread. “So I talked to Carol and Ellen,” she went on, “and the next thing I knew, Carol and Ellen were talking to my parents, and now everybody’s happy. Carol and Ellen want to move to California, and Mom and Dad are going to buy the store. It’s much better for them than Stuff ’n’ Nonsense anyway.

  “The store will be theirs by the spring. We’re going to put up a new sign. Sincerely Yours. Mom is going to make her candy and cookies and things and sell them, and she and Dad will also make baskets like the ones we gave out at Christmas. But they’ll be baskets for all occasions — birthdays, baby showers, graduations, holidays, anything. People can come to the store and select the things for the baskets, or we can choose for them. Won’t that be cool?” Olivia stopped speaking and looked around at her friends.

  “Wow,” said Flora.

  “That’s amazing,” said Nikki.

  Ruby sprang to her feet and yelped, “Wa-hoo! You get to stay here!”

  “Okay, someone else take a turn,” said Olivia.

  “After that?” said Flora. “I never heard so much news.”

  “But we all have to say something,” replied Olivia.

  Ruby glanced at her sister. “I guess we can go together.”

  “You’ve been through the most changes,” said Olivia.

  “And everything happened because of that one night,” said Flora.

  “Almost a year ago,” added Ruby. “In twelve days it will be one year exactly.”

  “Let’s not talk about the night itself,” said Flora. “Everyone knows what happened.”

  “You know what’s weird?” said Ruby. “If it hadn’t been for the accident, we probably wouldn’t all be together right now. Flora and I wouldn’t have moved here, and Olivia, you might not have spent so much time at Needle and Thread last summer, so Mrs. DuVane probably wouldn’t have thought to bring Nikki to the classes, which means that even you and Nikki wouldn’t be friends.”

  Flora’s gaze traveled to the window. “We lost our parents, we moved here to live with Min, we met you guys. Sometimes it’s hard to believe.”

  “Even the good things are hard to believe,” said Ruby.

  “I’d give anything to have Mom and Dad back,” said Flora. “No offense, you guys.”

  Olivia opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again and said, “Okay, Nikki, your turn.”

  “Well,” said Nikki, and she could feel color rise to her cheeks, “there are two big differences for me between last year and right now. One is having you guys for friends, and the other is that Dad’s gone. Except … I didn’t tell you what happened yesterday.” To Nikki’s horror, she felt her lower lip tremble.

  “Nikki? Are you crying?” asked Flora, and she scooted across the floor to sit next to her.

  “No,” said Nikki, and she burst into tears. She cried for a long time while Olivia searched for a box of Kleenex and Ruby looked nervous and Flora put her arm around Nikki’s shoulders. When Nikki felt that she had control of her voice again, she told her friends what had happened the day before. Every bit of it, from the moment she had heard the truck outside until her father was gone and she was watching Paw-Paw limp around the living room.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” asked Olivia.

  Nikki nodded.

  “And are you sure he won’t come back?” asked Ruby.

  Nikki nodded again. “His pride was hurt.” She paused. “I’m also pretty sure he won’t send us any money, but he hadn’t sent any anyway, so it doesn’t make much difference.”

  The girls sat quietly until Nikki said, “Is this what usually happens at a sleepover?”

  Her friends giggled.

  “I don’t think this has ever happened at a sleepover,” said Olivia.
“This is a first.”

  “Girls?” called Min then, her voice floating up from the living room. “It’s almost midnight. Come join us.”

  So Nikki and her friends changed into their nightgowns and ran down the stairs. They found Min, Aunt Allie, and Mr. Pennington in the living room. Aunt Allie was writing on her laptop, and Min and Mr. Pennington were sitting companionably on the couch, Min embroidering the collar of a baby dress and Mr. Pennington working a crossword puzzle. The television was on and Nikki could see a shot of Times Square in New York City.

  “Hey, I just remembered. Look what we have!” exclaimed Ruby. She disappeared for a moment, then returned lugging a shopping bag into the room. She dumped it on the floor. Out fell noisemakers and paper hats and packages of confetti. Ruby passed out the hats and noisemakers, while Flora opened one of the packages.

  “Are you sure it’s okay to throw the confetti around?” Flora asked Min. “Think of the mess.”

  “That’s why vacuum cleaners were invented,” said Min. “Besides, this only happens once a year.”

  Ten minutes later, when the ball fell in Times Square and Min’s clock chimed midnight, everyone shouted and hugged and blew their horns — even Flora and Ruby’s aunt, who had only turned off her computer when everyone began chorusing, “Ten, nine, eight …”

  For a teeny moment, Nikki, looking at her new friends, the silly hats, and the drifting confetti, thought she might cry again. But she bit her lip and drew in a deep breath.

  “Open the front door,” said Mr. Pennington suddenly.

  “Why?” asked Flora.

  “You’ll see.”

  Flora opened the door, and from up and down Aiken Avenue came hoots and cheers and cries of “Happy new year!” Nikki could see sparklers fizzing in the darkness.

  “Happy new year, Nikki,” said Flora.

  “Happy new year.”

  If you were to walk along Main Street in the middle of January, you might not know that Camden Falls had recently been dressed for the holidays. Gone are the wreaths and twinkling lights and the tree in the square. Gone are the menorahs, the Nativity scenes, the Santas, the candy canes. In the store windows now are microwaves and Dustbusters, lamps and bedspreads, mittens and snow shovels. Doubletree Sporting Goods is having a sale on skis and ski boots. In the window of Needle and Thread are bolts of batiste and dotted Swiss and soft cottons, and a sign (lettered by Ruby Northrop) reading THINK SPRING!

  On this gray and misty afternoon, if you were to turn off Main Street, you might walk the few blocks to Sonny Sutphin’s apartment. Stand in the bleak backyard and look through the ground-floor window into the kitchen. There’s Sonny, sitting in his wheelchair, the newspaper spread open in front of him. His finger is sliding down the Help Wanted ads. Sonny doesn’t feel very confident — it’s been a long time since he held a job — but he does feel determined. “Computer skills necessary,” he murmurs. “Nope…. Manual labor. Nope…. Store clerk.” He looks up from the paper. “Store clerk,” he repeats. “I could be a store clerk.”

  Now leave Sonny behind and take a long walk through the countryside to Nikki Sherman’s house. If you were to peek in the windows at the end of this raw day, you would see Tobias sitting with Mae in the living room, helping her with her first-grade homework. In the kitchen, Nikki and her mother are preparing supper.

  “Mom,” says Nikki, “have you heard from Dad?”

  “Not a word.”

  Nikki considers this. “You know,” she says finally, “you don’t have to look for day care for Mae. When you find a job, I can watch her after school. That will save some money.”

  “That’s a very nice offer, sweetie,” says her mother. “But I want you to have your afternoons free to spend time with your friends or do, well, whatever you want to do. You have enough responsibilities as it is.”

  “Thanks,” Nikki replies. “But isn’t day care going to be awfully expensive?”

  “Not awfully expensive. Anyway, I’m the only one around here who should worry about money. You concentrate on school, okay?”

  “Okay,” says Nikki, but she’s frowning.

  Darkness has fallen, but the walk back into town is pleasant enough in the icy air. Linger outside Mary Woolsey’s snug house for a few moments. Mary is sitting on the couch with Daphne and Delilah, reading through some more of her mother’s papers. She finds a letter from her father to her mother, and she smiles. Letters from her father are scarce. Then Mary glances at the date at the top of the page, and her smile fades. She puts her hand to her mouth. The letter was written in 1935, three years after the fire at the factory. Her father didn’t die then, Mary thinks. Her father survived the fire and her mother knew it.

  Now make your way to Aiken Avenue. The Row Houses are as naked as Main Street, their holiday finery returned to attics and cellars and garages. At the curb in front of three of the houses lie brittle evergreen trees, waiting to be picked up by the garbage truck. Olivia Walter finds this very sad.

  There’s Olivia now, sorting through the photos of Camden Falls wildlife that she took the previous year. Some of them are very good and she’s thinking about her project for the 350th birthday celebration. And there are Olivia’s parents. They’re sitting together in the room on the third floor that used to be Mr. Walter’s office. Now it is their shared office, and on this evening, they’re looking at the architect’s plans for the changes to be made in Ma Grand-mère before it becomes Sincerely Yours. They are holding hands, and Mrs. Walter is smiling.

  Walk to the far north end of the Row Houses and you’ll see the Fongs. It’s a quiet evening and they’re talking in the kitchen, feeding their dogs and thinking about their own dinner. Mrs. Fong rests her hand on her belly. “Look!” she says to her husband. “I can almost use it as a tray.”

  Next door, Robby and Mr. Edwards are making pasta. Robby likes to cook with his father. As he stirs the sauce, he says, “I made a decision today.” His father looks at him, eyebrows raised. “In school we were talking about our jobs,” says Robby.

  “The jobs you’ll get after you graduate?”

  Robby nods. “Yes. And I think Mrs. Grindle is too mean, so I don’t want to work at Stuff ’n’ Nonsense after all, even if I like the stickers. I want to work at Olivia’s store instead.”

  “Olivia’s store?”

  “The one her parents are going to open. I could help with the cooking.”

  “You are a good cook,” agrees his father.

  Next door, Mr. Pennington’s windows are dark. He has gone to the movies with a friend. Jacques dozes in his dog bed and waits for Mr. Pennington to come back. That’s all he ever does when Mr. Pennington isn’t at home.

  Now walk to the house at the south end of the row. This one belongs to the Morrises, and it’s much quieter than usual. The Morris kids have colds, and their parents have made them all stay in bed today. Mr. and Mrs. Morris are running up and down the stairs, fetching coloring books and apple juice and cough medicine, taking temperatures and encouraging noses to be blown. “This happens every single January,” says Mrs. Morris.

  Next door, Mr. Willet is busy, but he carries out his tasks with a feeling of dread. He’s packing up Mrs. Willet’s belongings for her trip to Three Oaks, which will take place in four days. His wife repeatedly asks him what he’s doing. “Packing for our trip,” he replies each time, trying not to let his voice shake. “Okay,” she replies. And then a few minutes later, “What is it that you’re doing?” She never uses her husband’s name because she isn’t certain who this man is.

  At the Malones’ house, Margaret is sitting at the desk in her room. She’s trying to study for a test, but she’s having trouble concentrating since in the room across the hall Lydia is having a loud phone fight with Brandi, her former friend. Lydia needs new friends, thinks Margaret, and returns to her biology textbook.

  The house to the north of the Malones’ is the one belonging to Min and Flora and Ruby and, for the time being, Aunt Allie — whose visit has l
asted much longer than anyone expected. Min is in the kitchen taking a chicken out of the oven and thinking how busy and noisy the house is. This time the year before, just days before the accident that took the lives of her older daughter and her son-in-law, Min would come home each evening to a nearly silent house with only Daisy to greet her and would spend quiet, solitary hours before going to bed.

  But on this evening a year later, Ruby is in the downstairs hallway, where she has rolled back the rug and is practicing a tap routine, while she sings “On the Good Ship Lollipop.” And in the living room, Flora is poised in front of Daisy Dear. She has decided to teach Daisy some tricks, starting with one she calls Ballerina. She’s holding a treat above Daisy’s head and saying over and over, “Ballerina, Daisy. Ballerina.” If Daisy will ever stand up on her hind legs and twirl around once, she will get the treat.

  Aunt Allie is in her room on the third floor, writing away madly.

  Presently, Min calls her family to dinner. When she and Flora and Ruby and Allie are seated around the kitchen table and have been served, Min says, “So, did everyone have a good day?”

  “Yes,” chorus Ruby and Flora.

  And Allie puts her fork down and says, “I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching, and I’ve come to a decision.”

  Everyone looks at her, and Flora gets a strange feeling in her stomach.

  “Oh?” says Min.

  “I think I may remain in Camden Falls permanently.”

  “My stars and garters,” says Min, and silence descends on the dining room.

  Q: What’s the holiday season like where you live? Is it at all like Camden Falls?

  A: I live near Woodstock, New York, and the holiday season here is very much like the one in Camden Falls — and that’s because I based most of the Camden Falls traditions on Woodstock’s. For instance, Woodstock really does have an open house one evening early in December when people come into town to do their shopping, carolers walk up and down Tinker Street (the main street), and the shopkeepers serve goodies. And on Christmas Eve, after a short parade, Santa Claus always makes a fantastic appearance. He’s arrived in a helicopter, emerged from the top of a giant candy cane, and, just like in the book, been lowered to earth in a hot air balloon. It’s my all-time favorite annual event.