A Christmas Passage

by Mia Rodriguez

  Chapter 8

  At the next house, Snowy smiled widely. She arrived at the bottom of the chimney and did a dance. She didn't mean to be so cocky, but she was really getting a handle on this. No longer did the wind brusquely shake her about. It carried her smoothly.

  "I'm ready," Snowy told Alma Aurora.

  The life screen appeared before them.

  A little girl was tugging at a man's coat. He was hugging her. "Please make mommy come back, Daddy. Please."

  The child and her father were at a funeral. With a huge knot in her throat, Snowy found herself trying to ask Alma Aurora the important question. "Is that her mo . . . mo . . ."

  "Yes, it's her mother in the casket."

  Snowy couldn't speak after that. Tears threatened to explode from her eyes. She no longer felt the same vibrant energy as when she had arrived.

  "Your mother is in heaven, Aretha," the father said, tears streaming down his eyes. "She'll watch over us."

  Aretha's mother had died of cancer. Aretha's father tried to give his daughter all the love he could, but she constantly cried for her mother. Snowy was immensely thankful when the scene was over because she wasn't sure she could watch any more sadness.

  "I can't give her what she wants the most," Snowy cried. "I can't give Aretha her mother back."

  "I know you can't give her mother back."

  "Nothing I give her will make up for her mom. What will I give her?"

  "Think, Snowy, you have it--"

  Snowy sighed. "I know. I know. I have it inside me."

  "You do," Alma Aurora asserted.

  Snowy went deep in her thoughts. "I know! I'll give Aretha her own mini-car! One of those you can actually drive! Is that awesome or what?"

  Alma Aurora frowned. That wasn't your first instinct, was it?"

  "Are you reading my thoughts again?" Snowy asked angrily.

  "No, but I can feel certain things, and I know that's not the right gift for her. What was your first thought?"

  Snowy frowned deeply. "A flower. A single violet."

  "So give it to her."

  "But it's so small. So nothing," Snowy murmured.

  "Her mom used to put one in her room every day."

  "She did?"

  "Do you still think it's a small gift?" asked Alma Aurora. "You'd be giving her a piece of her mother."

  Snowy gave her the flower in a violet vase. They stepped over to Aretha's room. Alma Aurora waved her hands at the drapes. Snowy was fascinated as gold flecks disappeared into the curtains.

  "What did you give her?" questioned Snowy.

  "Those heavy drapes have been closed for a long time. Tomorrow, a most brilliant sun will come through them."

  Snowy's face twisted. "Her mother's gone, and that's all the spiritual gift you're giving her?" she snapped.

  "What's wrong with it?"

  "It's not a gift!" Snowy exclaimed. "I see the sun go through my drapes every morning."

  "Some people don't recognize a spiritual gift when they see one," Alma Aurora murmured.

  Chapter 9

  "Wow! This is some mansion!" Snowy exclaimed to Alma Aurora when they arrived at the next home. "I'm in heaven."

  "No, actually heaven is quite different, Snowy," Alma Aurora said, smiling.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Positive."

  Snowy had been to many pretty houses in her life, but this one was the most beautiful she had ever been in by far. The kitchen alone was the size of her grandfather's toy making shop. Everything in the mansion looked very expensive.

  The Christmas tree was the most enormous one Snowy had ever seen, and at Santa's home, there were colossal ones. The biggest difference in this tree and the one at the North Pole was that this one had state of the art decorations while Snowy's tree had homemade ones. Snowy had kept telling her grandfather to get with the times when it came to Christmas, but he insisted that the decorations should be handmade.

  "If only I could live here," Snowy said, sighing.

  "Don't you like living in the North Pole?"

  "Would you like living in a house crowded with toys you can't play with?"

  "I bet many kids would love to exchange places with you," commented Alma Aurora.

  "They'd be nuts! One 5:00 AM combing of reindeer coats would cure them of that!"

  Alma Aurora shook her head. "Someday you'll realize how fortunate you are."

  Snowy rolled her eyes. "Stop talking like a parent."

  The life screen appeared before them. It looked so small compared to he opulent house but as soon as it turned on, its rays of energy took over the huge living room. A little girl with long, curly blonde hair and green eyes sat at her window seat.

  "What would I be able to give her that she doesn't already have?" Snowy asked Alma Aurora.

  "No human being has everything."

  "Right!" blurted Snowy with disbelief. "She's rich."

  "That doesn't mean her life is rich or that it's perfect."

  "We should just leave and let her parents be Santa to her. They've got the money."

  "Look at the screen, Snowy."

  The little girl put her nose to her window pane. "Santa, please give me a baby doll."

  Snowy glanced over to the shelves of her room which were loaded with dozens of beautiful dolls in glass boxes. "She has so many already," Snowy stated.

  "Those dolls are collector ones that she can't play with."

  "Am I supposed to feel sorry for her? The poor rich girl kind of stuff? I'll tell you something, at least she has dolls."

  Alma Aurora sighed. "Where's your compassion, Snowy?"

  "She can do what I would do--break the glass boxes and play with the silly dolls."

  "Sometimes human beings have problems breaking the glass boxes they're in. They're imprisoned."

  "Would you cut that parent stuff before I throw up?"

  The little girl placed her fingers on the window pane. "I'll love her and promise to always treat her well. I'll never scream at her or tell her bad things."

  Snowy rolled her eyes. "Isn't that cute? Here's the doll, rich girl."

  Snowy turned around and placed a gift box under the tree.

  "Don't you want to watch the rest of this?" asked Alma Aurora.

  "What for?"

  "Just watch, please."

  Snowy stepped back next to Alma Aurora to watch the scene. The little girl was huddling at the top of the stairs as if she was hiding. She was watching a man and a woman at the bottom of the stairs. Snowy imagined they were her parents.

  "Stay home," pleaded the woman.

  The man took a swig from the glass in his hand. "What for?"

  "To stay with me and Jilly."

  "I've got to go," he stated as he started leaving.

  "Don't you dare leave," demanded the woman.

  "I come and go as I please. It's my life. Is that clear?"

  "But--"

  "I don't want to be here!" the man snapped. "Why don't you get it through your thick head?!"

  "Why do you want to leave Jilly and me alone? It's Christmas Eve for goodness sake! Why can't we be a family?"

  The man took a big gulp of his drink. "I've got to go."

  "But--"

  "I'm leaving!"

  She grabbed his cuff. "You'd better stay."

  Abruptly pulling away, he grimaced deeply. "I've got to go! What's wrong with you?! Are you stupid?" He furiously rushed out.

  Abrupt scenes from the past flashed from the life screen of fights that included vicious name calling and loud, ugly words. Jilly's mother always seemed to be crying. Her dad always seemed to be running out on them. After the fights, Jilly would go to her mother.

  "Baby, what are you doing here?" asked Jilly's mother, popping medication.

  "Can I sit with you?"

  "Mom's taking a nap, okay? Go back to your room."

  When her father would arrive home, Jilly would approac
h him.

  "Go to your room, and do your homework or something," he would say, opening a bottle of alcohol.

  "Can I sit next to you?"

  "You're just like your mother--always wanting something from me. I can't give you anything."

  "Daddy, I--"

  "I can't give you anything! Why can't you and your mother realize that? Both of you are so stupid."

  Jilly would amble over to her room, sit at her window, and sob. Sometimes she would hug herself and rock back and forth. Then she would start singing Christmas songs to herself no matter what time of year it was. The scene stopped as abruptly as it had started. Snowy didn't say a word. All she knew was that her stomach hurt.

  "Sad, isn't it?" asked Alma Aurora with a quiet voice.

  Snowy stayed quiet.

  Alma Aurora climbed upstairs to Jilly's bedroom. Snowy trailed behind her. She really wanted to see what the little girl's spiritual gift would be.

  They stepped into Jilly's opulent but meloncholy bedroom. Alma Aurora went over to Jilly's bed where she was sleeping soundly. She touched the little girl's head with both hands. Flecks of gold started flying over it.

  As Snowy and Alma Aurora were walking to the chimney, Snowy asked her what she had given her. Snowy couldn't imagine anything that could help the poor child.

  "I gave her thoughts," Alma Aurora stated.

  "Thoughts?"

  "She's going to have thoughts that say, 'I'm not invisible. I'm special. Love is around me in the trees, wind, plants, and the universe. God loves me. I am loved.'"

  "Do you think thoughts are important?" Snowy asked.

  "What is it that fills those gift boxes for you?"

  "My thoughts."

  "Okay, then," Alma Aurora stated.

  It made sense to Snowy. Then she had an inspiration. She asked Alma Aurora if she could make a change to the doll gift.

  "What do you want to change?" she asked.

  "I want the doll to talk. When Jilly presses the doll's hand, it will say, 'You're not invisible. You're smart. You're special. You're a loving part of God's universe."

  Alma Aurora beamed a huge smile. "You're really getting the hang of this, Snowy. Your grandfather will be so proud."

  Chapter 10

  "This isn't as easy as I thought," Snowy said as they were flying in the sleigh to the next home. "In fact, it's even harder than the time gramps made me go to each house on the block and give out Christmas trees."

  "Why did he make you do that?"

  "He didn't like the Christmas trees I had sold to the children."

  "Why?"

  Snowy shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Something about them being small and puny. I had told the children that they were Charlie Brown Christmas trees. They all wanted one."

  "Oh, Snowy," Alma Aurora said with disapproval in her voice.

  "Anyway, this going into people's lives for gift giving is really taking it out of me."

  "It's not easy," agreed Alma Aurora.

  "I was forced to do this, but why did you volunteer?"

  "Because the more you see, the more you can open your heart and as a result, the more you understand others."

  "Do you think it's important to understand others?"

  "It's how you understand God--how you understand life. Differences can be good," Alma Aurora assured.

  "At the North Pole we have so many different kinds of animals, plants, creatures, and humans."

  "That's why it's so special."

  Upon entering the next house, Snowy could feel an unmistakable sadness. She was beginning to understand when Alma Aurora said she sensed things.

  As the life screen appeared before her, she didn't want to watch it. An extremely skinny, bald and sick looking child lay in bed staring at the ceiling.

  "I wonder what's wrong with him." Snowy asked.

  "Nothing is wrong with him."

  "What do you mean? Just look at him."

  "He's sick--not wrong," Alma Aurora murmured sadly. "In fact, it's the many people around him who are wrong."

  "Sometimes I don't understand you."

  "Watch."

  The screen showed the parents moving the family to a new city because the company they both worked for needed them there.

  "Can't we go home?" the boy asked his parents.

  "We're home, Mando," the mother said softly.

  "Not this house. The home we left. I don't want to live here."

  "We have to stay here," murmured the father unhappily. "I'm sorry, son, but your mother and I can't move on to other jobs. We need the health insurance our present jobs provide for you."

  "I don't fit in," Mando stated.

  Scenes flashed of kids in school calling him ugly names like gross boy and wetback. There were only a few different cultures in that town.

  "Go back to your gang and your drive by shootings," a little boy yelled at him.

  "I don't do drive by shootings!" Mando exclaimed.

  "You're Mexican, aren't you? Go back to Mexico and take your sick cooties with you!"

  "I was born here," declared Mando. "So were my parents. My mama says my ancestors were here before the Mayflower."

  "Liar! Liar!" the kids taunted Mando.

  "But--"

  "Go back to Mexico and take your germs with you! You don't belong here!"

  "It's hard to understand human beings sometimes," sighed Alma Aurora with frustration. "They are always insisting on being superior to each other. There are different kinds of angels in heaven. We celebrate differences and not retaliate against them. No comprendo."

  "I don't understand why they're so mean to each other either."

  "You understand Spanish, Snowy?"

  Snowy nodded. "My grandparents know all the world languages, and they made me learn them too."

  Snowy felt embarrassed about having complained so much at having to learn different languages. "Why do I need to learn them?" she had wailed. "I'll probably get stuck in the North Pole forever, anyway."

  Alma Aurora frowned at the screen. Mando was in the cafeteria eating by himself with his eyes facing down. Everyone stared at him wide-eyed and then whispered.

  "They've found out he has Leukemia. They think it's contagious," Alma Aurora mentioned, frowning.

  The next scene showed Mando at the hospital so ravaged and sick that he couldn't get up. Snowy turned away. "I can't watch this," she cried. "I can't do this anymore, Alma Aurora. Let's go home."

  "We can't leave."

  "This is too hard," Snowy sobbed.

  "It is but we have to stay. Believe me, we have it easy compared to God. He has to constantly witness viciousness--sometimes in His name! This is what He goes through every day when checking on creation."

  "I . . . I . . . I can't do this."

  "Yes, you can," Alma Aurora insisted.

  "Please, I want to go home."

  "We need to finish this for Mando's sake."

  Snowy decided to stop insisting on going home. While she was watching Mando's illness from a distance, he was going through it. Snowy sighed. She wondered what to give him. He wasn't asking for anything. It must've been hard believing in anything in his situation.

  Snowy had a brainstorm, and then she grabbed a gift box. She was about to put it under the Christmas tree when she realized there wasn't one in the house.

  The life screen started showing his parents.

  "I don't have the energy to put up a tree," the father told the mother.

  "Me neither," the mother replied.

  "Will Mando even be home for Christmas?" Snowy asked Alma Aurora.

  Alma Aurora pressed the forward button. The screen showed Mando being discharged on Christmas day.

  "They definitely need a Christmas tree," Snowy asserted. "But how do we get one for them?"

  "Believe," Alma Aurora stated.

  Snowy glanced at the corner of the living room and closed her eyes. When she opened
them again, she let out a disappointed sigh. "It didn't work," she murmured.

  "Believe," insisted Alma Aurora. "You've got some doubt. Believe."

  Snowy nodded. A lot depended on her believing up a tree. She'd do it! Believe! BELIEVE, she told herself as she shut her eyes. When she opened them, a magnificent tree sparkled and gleamed in the corner. Snowy grinned at Alma Aurora and put the gift under the tree.

  "What is it?" asked Alma Aurora.

  "It's a hologram poster with rays of light touching the clouds. It says, 'I'm never alone.'"

  "I like that."

  "What's the spiritual gift?" Snowy asked.

  "I'm going to give those other kids dreams about being from different cultures and then developing an illness and having no one wanting to be a friend."

  "What are you going to give Mando?"

  "A long dream about his healthy soul."

  "A dream?" Snowy asked angrily.

  "I thought you understood about spiritual gifts."

  "Why don't you make him well?"

  "I can't, Snowy."

  "Doesn't it bother you to think about how much he's suffering?"

  "Yes, of course," Alma Aurora asserted. "His pain along with the lack of compassion from others is devastating."

  "Cure him then," Snowy demanded.

  "I can't."

  "You can't leave him like that!"

  "It's not that I won't. It's that I can't."

  "What do you mean you can't?" Snowy asked impatiently. "You're an angel."

  "I'm only an angel, but you're a human being. It's up to you to make him feel better. That's what it's all about--loving and helping each other."

  "What good does that greeting card sentiment do?" snapped Snowy. "He's dying."

  "It's only his flesh that's dying, Snowy. His soul isn't. The body may be temporary, but the soul is forever."

  Snowy angrily shook her head. "I don't understand, Alma Aurora. I don't understand why you won't cure him. I don't understand why you can't give Aretha her mom back. I don't understand why Jilly was born in such an unhappy home. What did Jilly, Mando, and Aretha do that was so bad? They're children!"

  "They're not being punished, Snowy."

  "You could've fooled me."

  "They're not," Alma Aurora insisted.

  "Why is Manolo dying?"

  Alma Aurora sighed. "It's only his flesh that's dying."

  "What kind of a life gets cut short?"

  "Snowy, do you have an idea of what eternity is?"

  "Yes, I think so."

  "Really? Tell me what it is," Alma Aurora said.

  "Forever."