by Jody Sharpe
“Nice hat, Taylor.”
“Yours is just as bad, sister.” We laugh and then I tell him excitedly about the fawn. “We have time, want to see her? I want to hear what the new vet says and you can have one of Aunt Helen’s, cinnamon rolls?”
“Just one? Let’s go.” We lock up again and walk across the alley and I remark to myself how lucky I was to meet Taylor in college at the Student Union. Taylor does books for us and works part time in the store. He’s also the accountant for several businesses in town like Walin’s Wizard Wrench Hardware, Madam Norma’s Parlor, the Town Trolley and others. His wife Hattie, a budding lawyer, is a great friend too. We see Meredith coming out the back door of our house. Her long blond hair catches the sunshine. She’s wearing a big red sweater and jeans, an ensemble I should have worn today instead of this elf thing. Why did we decide to dress up for the Christmas Elf sale? I stop at the truck to pet the black Lab. He’s friendly.
Meredith walks up, “Hannah, the fawn is so adorable. I told you your chart said this would be the start of a remarkable new year, remember?” She has a mischievous look on her face.
“Yeah, I do.”
She looks Taylor and me over and rolls her eyes. “All I can say is… you look like giant extras from the movie Elf!” She laughs and whispers, “And the vet’s adorable too!” There’s that mischief in her eyes again. “I’ll be back in a minute for cinnamon rolls and I want to hear the story of how you found the baby deer. Tony has got to see this.”
My curiosity has mounted. Adorable vet? Yes, I can do this.
We walk into the pink kitchen. The aroma of cinnamon rolls is overwhelming and there bending over Dawn, is the new vet. He’s taller then Taylor. He doesn’t look up when we come in.
“Red, you remember Josh Ryder, your old boyfriend?” Dad grins ear to ear.
The vet turns to me with a smile on his bearded face. I’m at a loss for words. My brain is trying to process this scene. Then the memory comes like sunshine through a rain cloud.
“Han, I don’t look that different do I?” Josh Ryder says smiling his always crooked smile. Are you kidding me? He’s all grown up now and totally gorgeous. He looks like Adonis. Did Adonis have a beard?
“Josh… wow… you’re the new vet? How are you?” I sound like a croaking frog surfer dude. My Sunday school boyfriend stares back at me with the cute crooked smile I remember still visible behind a mustache and beard. I walk over and give him a tiny hug. He half-hugs me back, his hand still on Dawn but he feels like the Rock of Gibraltar. He was too tall for his sixteen years and gangly last time I saw him when I was fourteen and he moved away. Then Mom passed away that summer and the world as I knew it never was the same.
“It’s been years since you and your parents left town. So where have you been?”Duh, he moved to Canada. I know I’m talking too fast and smiling so hard I feel my face almost crack.
Unfortunately, I suddenly remember I’m wearing the most unflattering elf costume ever to meet the first boy I ever kissed. I’m sure I’m turning the color of my red Christmas giant jumper. I quickly take my childish hat off.
“Well, we lived in Toronto. I graduated early from university and came back to go to Vet School at Kansas State. I just graduated; always wanted to come back to this pretty perfect little town. Doc and Shari are family friends and so I got this job.” He smiles and my knees want to buckle. “But how have you been, Han?” I remembered he called me Han back then. Dad, Aunt Helen and Taylor are staring at us like we’re on TV.
I’m mesmerized by his handsome face but have enough grace to reply, “Great, great.” I know part of my life has been great. I can’t tell him I’m an angel’s shadow, I haven’t had a boyfriend in three long years, or possibly that I’m through with love, though seeing him makes my heart pitter patter. Maybe I’ll reconsider.
I look away from him and see Taylor smiling an impish smile and I laugh, “Excuse the way we’re dressed. We have a Christmas Elf sale at the store today. This is my friend and business colleague, Taylor Msumba.” I gesture toward Josh. “Josh Ryder.”
“Josh! It’s a pleasure to meet an old boyfriend of Hannah’s and on her birthday too.” Taylor gives me his biggest “gotcha” smile.
“Oh Lordy,” says Aunt Helen, “your birthday, dear! I forgot to wish you a happy birthday.” She comes rushing over and gives me a fast hug. So does Dad. Total embarrassment sets in.
“Sorry Red, we were so in awe of the fawn.” Dad winks at me and nods at Josh. Both of which Josh can see. Oh brother!
“Happy Birthday,” Josh’s eyes dance looking at me.
“Thank you.”
Josh smiles and gets back to examining Dawn. We all watch him expectantly, me in particular noticing his hands. There is such tenderness in the way he handles the fawn. She sits there as if she knows she’s safe.
Then Josh looks up, “She’s a Fallow deer, they’re normally found in Europe but farmed here for their meat. She’s extremely small, perhaps dwarfed, and about one month old, I’d guess. No broken bones, but she has a cut on her hoof and the ankle seems to be curved in slightly. I think she can walk. She’s dehydrated and thin so we have to give her a baby bottle every two hours. I may have to give her some fluids intravenously later but the bottle seems to be working at this point.”
Josh looks at Aunt Helen, “Do you have a towel we can wet with warm water to clean her off some more?”
“Why, sure thing.” Aunt Helen gets a towel, wets it with warm water and we watch him like he’s performing a heart transplant. He gently cleans her. I get a fluffy towel and hand it to him to wipe her dry. He stands her up. Her adorable wobbly legs stabilize as she stares around the room seemingly unafraid. She touches her bandaged left back foot down gingerly on the table, but seems to be able to stand. We should have called her Bambi, but I just couldn’t. I always loved the story but that was Sam’s ex-wife’s name. Bambi used to call our store relentlessly and hang up. I saw an old torn picture of her once in his kitchen drawer. She was tall like me, pretty but with a mean look. He was always agitated when he spoke of her. When we broke up the calling stopped.
Josh picks up Dawn and tells us he’s taking her outside to see if she can walk and so we all go with him like the Pied Piper and his mice. Meredith and Tony have joined us now and we watch the fawn take a few awkward steps and do her business. The foot injury has given her a little limp.
“Yeah, a good sign.” Josh laughs… “She looks just like Bambi.”
Can he read my mind or what?
“It’s odd to have found her in the wild, but I’m imagining the mother left her because she couldn’t keep up with her. Nature’s way. Maybe Doc and Shari can keep her at their place with the two horses. Although, I don’t think she’s gonna grow any bigger than Duke.”
“We’ll keep her here, right?” I look at my Dad and aunt and of course I know what they will say.
“Yes, of course, I’ll have to find out about a license but maybe it can work.” Dad is nodding and slaps Josh on the back. I feel the red blush pumping in my face again.
“Oh, we’ll have such fun,” Aunt Helen almost sings. Josh’s dog barks and clearly wants to jump out of the truck.
Dad says, “It’s okay to let your dog out if you want, Duke’s friendly and old Louie loves everyone.” I look at my dog and Duke winks. That dog.
“Thanks.” Josh smiles at me again and my toes start curling in the slippers.
He opens the door and the nice lab bounds out. “This is Homer. I found him walking on the freeway last year. He goes everywhere with me, to work too.”
“Great dog,” Dad says petting him.
“Hey Homer,” I say bending down to pet him too. Huge Homer sniffs the animals and they sniff back. He fits right into this funny looking scene quite well. There’s Dad in his early morning Santa look with Bubbles still hanging on for dear life, Aunt Helen in pink personified, holding her white kitten, dressed for Christmas. Taylor and me, dressed as giant elves, Meredith and Tony
who look rather normal really, three dogs, a fawn and big, handsome Josh Ryder. After we watch the dogs run around saying hello and Dawn surveying her new surroundings, Josh suggests putting Dawn inside on the dog bed to snuggle with Duke and Lou. He wants to come back in two hours to check on her and bring a formula for her to drink.
“Can you stay for some coffee and cinnamon rolls?” Aunt Helen says it as if she’s planning a spring garden wedding. They sure are trying to fix me up with my old boyfriend. It’s a matter of minutes, seconds really. Let’s face it, they’ve already started.
“Sure,” he says looking at me with that smile.
“Mer and Tony come in please.” Dad is staring from me to Josh and I give him a look that says “stop.” We all walk back into the house and Josh places Dawn carefully on the dog bed. Duke is there in a flash next to her and sits like he’s been charged with sentry duty. He starts licking her over like she’s his pup. We watch as our Louie does his three circles before plopping down.
More coffee is brewing and Aunt Helen serves up her rolls. Between gobbling rolls and everyone jabbering, Josh seems to be enjoying himself talking about the fawn while looking at me a lot. Uh, oh, I think. UH oh. No, I can’t fall for him. He’s probably married and I made a vow that I would not get close to any man again, even sweet Andy Walin. I look at Josh and my heart fills up with the long ago memory of him sans beard the day he said goodbye.
“How did you find her, Han?” Josh says while he takes a sip of coffee. His eyes are still as turquoise as the ocean in a Hawaiian postcard.
I hesitate a moment before I lie. “I guess I have a little bit of that psychic thing going on like Dad does finding animals. Finding Duke on my birthday three years ago was the first time. I woke up hearing him out there and drove right to him and today I did it again. Weird isn’t it?”
He smiles a big smile. “Wow, no, that’s impressive, and on your birthday again?” He takes another sip and stares at me. Everyone is staring at us again like we’re a reality TV show. Yikes, I want to run out of the room but I don’t want to miss a minute of being with him.
The big tower clock strikes nine and I gulp my coffee knowing we have to open the store; people will be waiting. There is a definite lull in the conversation and I find I’m stalling. Enough. This is foolish of me.
“We have to get to the store, Josh, but it’s so great seeing you again.” Everyone says goodbye to us and as I turn to leave with Taylor following, Dad pipes up.
“Josh, we do so appreciate your coming over so quickly. How much do I owe you sir for the very expedient Christmas service?”
“Not a thing, Merry Christmas….it’s a pleasure to see you all again.”
Everyone’s staring from me to Josh. Dad looks happy at that. “That’s very nice of you and how about…um ….If you are free, we’d love for you to join us all tonight for our annual Christmas Eve dinner and birthday celebration for Hannah at Jack’s By the Sea. Would you be able to come? Bring your family along too. Everyone is welcome.”
Oh great, Dad is really churning it isn’t he? I wonder if Josh really is married. I so hope he’s not. We all wait for Josh to speak. It’s like we’re frozen in time. Thank God, we’re interrupted by Laurjean and her nineteen- year- old wise cracking son, Chris. A big breeze blows in with them. “There’s the baby!” She swoops past us all to see the fawn.
“Hi I’m Laurjean Whitefeather and this is my son Chris,” she says to Josh.
“Josh Ryder, nice meeting you both,” Josh says looking at me, actually staring at me again.
It’s amusing to hear Chris remark to Taylor and me in total deadpan, “You guys are tall drinks of water, just like my dad says.” He nods his head, “Cool, ebony and ivory giant elves.” Taylor and I laugh.
Then Josh decides to respond to Dad’s question. With one foot out the door, I’m sweating like a tall drink of water in a hot elf suit.
“Back to your question Gabe, I’d love to come tonight, thanks. It’s just me, and with Doc and Shari gone, I would be on my own tonight, thank you. What time?” He winks. My heart does a somersault and I realize I didn’t even eat a cinnamon roll. I tell myself to stop it, not to get so excited. I don’t even know this dude except as a fleeting teenage memory from Sunday school and the long walks home. What guy would want a woman in an elf suit anyway? Then I remember that first kiss on a long ago summer’s day. My toes curl even more.
Dad’s thrilled. “Laurjean and I play Santa and Mrs. Claus at the Boys and Girls Club down in Riverton. Then we make an appearance at the store before closing. So is seven okay?” He winks at me again. Oh, my God!
“Great thank you, I’ll be by in two hours though to check on the fawn okay? Maybe I’ll drop by to see you in your store too, Han.”
“Perfect.” Dad almost shouts ho ho’s like Santa. Aunt Helen laughs louder than I’ve ever heard.
As I say goodbye I think, “Stop”. Remember what happened the last time you got involved with a guy? You let the darn secret out and are so guilt ridden it’s driving you insane!” The last thing I do is look at Josh again and he’s looking at me with the crooked smile. I think I start to melt tiny elves running down my clothes. I wave and say goodbye reminiscent of the Queen in the Rose Bowl parade.
We walk down the path only to meet Andy Walin shuffling up the alley. Everyone uses our back door instead of the front since we’re across the alley from the store. “Hey, Hannah, nice look!” He chuckles, “Wow, you too Taylor. Heard you got a fawn in there. Mind if I check it out?”
“Go on in, Andy. Could you smell the cinnamon rolls all the way at your hardware store, or are you really as psychic as your Dad?”
He gives his thumbs up and I match him. “I’ll never tell. Bye elves,” he jokes. As he walks in I envision him eating the roll round and round like Bubbles.
“Today is really going to be a great, great day,” I say out loud to the Christmas air as we walk toward the store.
Taylor looks at me as he holds the back door to the store open for me. Like a fortune teller he waves his hand across his face. His voice deepens, “I see an old romance turning into a new one.”
“Taylor, stop it,” I laugh. “You’re no Madam Norma!” We both laugh again as we look at each other and walk into our outrageously decorated store with one hundred tiny paper animal elf ornaments hanging from the ceiling. Each customer gets one as they leave the store along with hot cider and sugar cookies. There are a few folks already waiting at the door. Looking into the window is a huge Doberman, his paws up wanting to get at the cat. It gets Jesse going; she is partial to big dogs. “Bring it,” her face taunts back as she sits defiantly on her bed in the pink curtained window at DEAR DOGS Etc. 217 Main Street, where an angel lives as a human, behind the store just across the alley...
To: Hannah’s email@…..
From: Sblakley‘s email@…..
Great Job Hannah! You have quite an imagination. See me after class today to talk about your work.
Sam Blakley
THE BOY AND THE KITE
Hannah A. O’Ryan
Creative Writing 102
Professor Sam Blakley
Michael sits on top of the hill at Miller’s Run. His favorite kite, the blue and gold one sits on his lap. As the wind whips up he thinks about his beautiful mother. He longs to see her face once more as she sips coffee across the kitchen table. She’d be smiling at him again with a tilt of her head as she talks buttering his wheat toast at breakfast time. But all is lost now. He is all alone, just a boy and his only friend, his trusty kite.
Then something magical happens. His kite starts moving in his lap. The boy looks down in wonder as the kite lifts up like a magic carpet. Michael tries to hold it down with his two hands but the kite pushes up and an astonished Michael goes with it.
Rising up and up towards the top of the trees Michael looks down three feet…thirty feet and higher still. He hangs on as if being held by an angel with wings aloft. Over towards the sea they go the angel k
ite and boy. Michael smiles his mother’s smile.
Christmas Eve at Jack’s restaurant is always the best night of the year. The weather is California wintry but inside it’s warm with candles aglow and seafaring décor and Christmas cheer energizing the restaurant. Everyone is having a wonderful time between cracking Maine lobsters, drinking pints of beer, wine, and eating steaming baked potatoes and the crusty sour dough bread. We have fallen into conversations about our childhood Christmas memories. Dad’s Irish brogue got more pronounced as he told us stories about Christmas in Ireland, how many families light a red candle in the window and there is much excitement waiting for a present left by Santa Claus. Maybe during his angel life he watched children as he helped provide a Christmas miracle. I think I must be staring off into space because Josh who’s sitting next to me says, “What are you thinking about?”
“Oh, just a memory or two,”….I smile and he smiles back.
“Now, that we have finished our splendid Christmas Eve dinner, I propose a toast to my darling Red.” Dad smiles and everyone stands but me.
“Happy birthday, my dear daughter! You found us a little Christmas angel today and so may your year be filled with nothing but love.” He looks over at Josh and I look down feeling my face flush again. I’ve just been reacquainted with Josh and my Dad’s already making father of the bride speeches. I’m going to have to talk to him later about that. Then he hands me a gift from them both. Aunt Helen looks delighted still wearing her lobster bib over her pink wool pant suit. I open the box from Porters Jewelers. My breath stops, because in the red velvet box are two gold necklaces. The bigger one has a heart with mothers and his name on one side and their wedding date on the back. The smaller one has a round pendent with a tiny diamond on it. On one side are Aunt Helen’s initials, and the other side mine. I start crying wiping the white tears furiously as Josh helps me put them on.