A Winter Discovery

by Michael Baron

  He didn’t like how hard everyone was on Charlie Brown, though. They didn’t talk to him in the Christmas spirit at all, and when Lucy called Charlie a blockhead, that was just mean. It made Reese feel the way he did when Tyler said he was better than Reese because he could build Legos faster.

  Charlie had just picked out a tiny little tree and he and Linus were walking back to the school.

  “This isn’t gonna be good,” Reese said to Tanya.

  Tanya reached across him for another pretzel. “What do you mean?”

  “They told him to get a huge tree and he’s coming back with this little thing. They’re not gonna be happy, and you know what they’re gonna do then.”

  Tanya took a couple of Skittles and kissed him on top of the head. “It’s okay. Just watch.”

  Reese wasn’t sure what Tanya meant by “okay,” because the kids were terrible to Charlie when he got back with the tree. That didn’t seem okay at all. Unless you thought it was okay to make other kids feel bad. Reese looked up at his sister. She didn’t think that was okay, did she?

  Tanya looked down at him. “It’s okay. Watch.”

  It took a few more minutes, but everything finally did turn out all right. Really all right, actually. It gave Reese that goopy feeling when Charlie came out and saw how everyone had decorated the tree and then they all started singing. When the movie ended, Reese just sat back against the couch, not even wanting some popcorn for a few seconds.

  “Wow,” he said.

  Tanya smiled at him. “Great, right?”

  “Definitely great.”

  “Best Christmas show ever. Know what I’m saying?”

  “I loved it.” Reese wasn’t positive that it was the best Christmas show ever, but it was definitely up there.

  Tanya got up to go to the bathroom and Reese stayed on the couch thinking about the show. He was so glad things turned out okay for Charlie. It would have been terrible if the kids just kept laughing at him. He never liked it when kids laughed at other kids.

  “Hey, Tanya,” Reese said when she sat down next to him again, “does Charlie Brown have a mom?”

  “Yeah, sure he does. She was one of those squawky voices.”

  “How come she wasn’t on the TV?”

  Tanya grabbed another pretzel. “Actually, you never see grown-ups in Charlie Brown cartoons. You never even hear them speak. You just hear that wah-wah sound.”

  “How come?”

  “Just one of those things.”

  Reese stared at the TV screen, which was now blank. “Hmm. I thought maybe Charlie was like us.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Reese turned his head to look at his sister. “You know; no mom.”

  Tanya leaned toward him and gave him a hug around the head. “Yeah, we haven’t talked about Mom since I came home. You thinking about her a lot?”

  Reese nodded, which was a little hard to do since Tanya was still squeezing his head. “A whole lot lately. Because of the snowflakes.”

  “Snowflakes?”

  “The non-melty ones.”

  Tanya gave him another hug and then sat back on the couch. “I’ve been thinking about Mom a lot too. I think it’s Christmas and everything.”

  “Mom really loved Christmas right?”

  Tanya looked up at the ceiling and chuckled. “Are you kidding? Mom wanted to marry Christmas. Mom wanted to start a family with Christmas.” She looked at Reese with a serious expression. “You do realize that I’m not saying that Mom wanted to leave Dad for Christmas, right?”

  “Huh?”

  Tanya shook her head really fast. “Never mind. Yes, Mom was very, very, very into Christmas.”

  That made Reese happy and sad at the same time. “I never got to spend Christmas with Mom.”

  Reese thought Tanya was going to hug his head again, but she just put her hand on his shoulder instead. “Yeah, I guess you were just a tiny baby the only Christmas she was around with you. I’ll bet she dressed you up in elf pajamas, though.”

  “Really?”

  “Just a guess, but it’s probably a good guess. She had me wearing elf pajamas until I was something like seven.”

  Reese thought of what Tanya would look like in elf pajamas now and he laughed. “Did she like Christmas music?”

  “Yep. She had it on constantly. You know the music that was playing during ‘Charlie Brown Christmas?’ There’s a CD of that, and Mom used to play it all the time.”

  “And decorations?”

  “Crazy amounts of decorations. She’d buy all these new ornaments every year and she always got a special one for me and Dad.”

  Tanya got a funny look on her face for a second. Then she turned away a little and then turned back to him. “Yes, decorations everywhere.”

  Reese took a quick look down at his lap. The Skittles were still there, but he wasn’t in the mood for one right now. Still looking down, he said, “Mom must’ve been a lot of fun to have around at Christmas.”

  Tanya got that funny look again and said, “Yeah, she was.”

  They sat quietly for a little while. Since the DVD had stopped playing, it was really quiet.

  Then Tanya gave him a little pat on the leg. “You know what? I think we should try to outdo Mom with decorations this year.”

  Reese perked up. “Is that even possible?”

  Tanya threw her arms out to the side. “I don’t know, Reesey-boy, but I think we gotta try.”

  It sounded like a pretty great idea to Reese. He didn’t really want to out-do Mom, but it would be great if he could be a little more like her.

  Chapter Seven

  Not such a bad little tree

  Now that Tanya was home, it was time to get a Christmas tree. The house had seemed a bit naked in mid-December without a tree in the living room, but this was a family thing, and they, therefore, couldn’t do it until the entire family was together. Gerry wondered what Maureen would have done in this situation. She almost certainly would have made the same decision Gerry did about getting a tree, but she would have decorated every other inch of the house while waiting for her daughter to come back from school.

  They drove about a half-hour east to a farm that allowed you to cut down your own tree. As they got out of the car, Ally, Tanya, and Reese looked out at the vast expanse of pines and firs that awaited them. Gerry turned the other way, though. Through a snow-covered tangle of branches, was a clearing blanketed in white. In that clearing stood one majestic oak covered in snow and frost. It seemed to be watching over the farm. Or perhaps it was watching over those who visited. Gerry didn’t need to think too hard to imagine the ways in which this image spoke to those who’d gathered with him on this expedition.

  Gerry felt a hand on his shoulder that he knew was Ally’s.

  “Gorgeous, isn’t it?” she said.

  “Yeah, just beautiful. It’s just standing there all by itself.”

  “That’s because it’s too magnificent to cut down.”

  Gerry leaned across and kissed his wife on the cheek. “And on that note, let’s go get a saw.”

  They did so – Reese wanted to carry the saw, but Gerry explained to him that Santa’s elves couldn’t make new fingers – and headed deep into the mass of trees. Gerry was partial to Fraser firs, while Ally preferred Douglas firs and Tanya Scotch pines. Gerry assumed Reese would simply want the single biggest tree that would fit in the house.

  It surprised him, then, when Reese ran over to a spindly little thing that barely came up to his chest. He knelt next to it and ran his fingers over the fragile-looking needles.

  “What about this one?” he said.

  Gerry chuckled. “We were thinking about going just a tiny bit bigger.”

  Reese stood. His shrug was barely visible through his parka. “Looked nice to me.”

  Ally walked ahead of them about twenty feet and approached a fat Douglas fir that had to be seven-and-a-half feet tall. “I could see this in the living room.”

  Though it w
asn’t a Fraser, Gerry thought the tree was impressive. He and Tanya started toward Ally, but, by the time they got there, she was waving them off.

  “Never mind, big bald spot in the back.”

  Gerry arched an eyebrow. “Are you going to say that about me some day?”

  Ally wrinkled her nose. “You’re going to get a bald spot in the back?”

  Gerry pretended to scowl at her and he turned to walk away.

  Ally called after him. “I’m just saying, there was nothing in our wedding vows about balding.”

  Tanya offered up another candidate in the next row. Gerry couldn’t tell what particular kind of tree this was, but its branches were tightly packed and sturdy. It wasn’t quite as tall as the tree Ally had suggested and then rejected, but it would certainly claim a prominent place in the house.

  Once she had their attention, Tanya walked completely around the tree.

  “No bald spots, Mill,” she said to Ally.

  Ally approached the tree and smiled at Tanya. “Just like your Dad...at least so far.”

  Reese’s voice rang out from about twenty yards away. “I found it!”

  They turned toward him, finding him sitting next to a tree that, if anything, was smaller than the previous one he’d claimed. When they got close to him, he gestured toward the virtual seedling and said, “It’s not such a bad little tree.”

  Gerry looked at Reese and then over at Tanya. From her expression, he could see that his daughter had just figured out something.

  “He’s looking for a Charlie Brown tree,” she said.

  Of course, Gerry thought. Now that Tanya had jogged his memory, he remembered the line from the show.

  Tanya knelt next to her brother and touched the tree. “Maybe it just needs a little love,” she said, quoting “A Charlie Brown Christmas” back at him. Reese nodded enthusiastically.

  “Hey, Reese,” Ally said, throwing a quick glance to Gerry, “how about this? We’ll get this tree for your room and then we’ll get another big tree for the living room.”

  Reese nodded again, and Gerry approached with the saw, though he probably could have pulled the thing out of the ground with his hands. Making sure that Reese kept his fingers far away from the cutting edge of the blade, he helped his son take down the tree. He offered to carry it for the boy, but Reese wanted to do this himself – and, realistically, it wasn’t going to be much of a burden, even to a six-year-old.

  Now that he had his Charlie Brown tree, Reese set his sights on something considerably larger for the living room. Gerry tried to explain why a twelve-footer would be problematic under an eight-foot ceiling, but even though he said he understood, Reese kept suggesting behemoths.

  A few minutes later, Ally found a stately and full seven-footer, and everyone approved it, even Reese, who gave his okay although the tree was “a little shrimpy.” As was family tradition, Gerry wielded the saw while Ally and Tanya stood on either side to catch it as it fell. Reese coached.

  “Don’t get too close to the blade, Dad,” Reese said, poking his head under the branches.

  “Got that covered.”

  “Don’t get any sawdust in your eyes.”

  “Good advice, but I think I’m okay.”

  “You might wanna saw faster.”

  “Easier said than done.”

  Gerry had worked up a good sweat by the time the tree came down and they’d carried it to be wrapped and tied to the car. He knew he’d feel a burn in his arms tonight from the sawing. It would make him feel like he’d participated in the process today, and there was a good chance that Ally would offer to massage the aches away once they were alone.

  Reese’s tree could have easily fit in the trunk – maybe even the glove compartment – but he said he wanted to hold it in his lap. As was traditional, they stopped at a bakery a couple of miles away from the farm for cocoa and apple pie. Reese wanted to take the tree into the bakery with him, but Gerry thought it best that he not do so. It took a bit of negotiation before the boy finally agreed to “leave the tree alone” in the car.

  Less than an hour later, they were heading home with Barenaked Ladies “Barenaked for the Holidays” album playing on the car stereo. Gerry had more than five hundred Christmas songs on his iPod from artists as wide ranging as Rosemary Clooney, James Brown, and Death Cab for Cutie, but this Barenaked Ladies recording became one of his favorites the minute he downloaded it, as it was equal parts good-naturedly irreverent and surprisingly respectful.

  “Another snowflake that doesn’t melt,” Reese said between songs.

  Gerry glanced at him through the rear view mirror. “What are you talking about?”

  “On my tree. It’s like the one on my window and the one on my mitten.”

  Gerry had no idea what Reese meant by this. “You see a snowflake?”

  Reese’s voice grew more insistent. “Right here on my tree. It was there when we bought it and it’s still there. It’s that snow that doesn’t melt.”

  Gerry turned briefly to Ally, who now leaned toward the back.

  “There’s a snowflake on your tree?” she said.

  Gerry needed to keep his eyes on the road, so he could only listen to the conversation. Even with Barenaked Ladies singing about Chanukah, he could hear both Ally and Tanya questioning Reese about the snowflake that neither seemed to be able to see and Reese getting more agitated as he tried to explain that it was right there.

  Gerry simply smiled at his son’s imagination.

  Chapter Eight

  The entire transaction

  When they got home, Tanya agreed to take care of Reese so Gerry and Ally could go shopping. The night before they’d finally decided on a present they thought he’d love: a pocket-sized video camera. Gerry understood that, to some degree, this was a stretch. Reese had never expressed any interest in taking videos and he was, after all, only six years old. However, Reese’s seemingly endless curiosity combined with his outsized imagination made it likely that he’d love the gift and use it often. Yes, there would certainly be times when he simply left the camera on accidentally, performing a half-hour study of his bedside lamp, and surely there would be a learning curve, but now that they’d come up with the idea, Gerry was enthusiastic about what his son might create. Maybe he’d stage a live-action remake of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Maybe he’d capture his incisive multi-part interview with Cardboard Santa. Without question, Reese would do something unexpected and Gerry couldn’t wait to see what that was.

  The good news was that they didn’t need to go to the mall for this particular purchase. The bad news was that they needed to go to one of the big box stores whose parking lot was stuffed and whose aisles were filled with people who’d waited far too long to buy things they could have gotten with a couple of clicks.

  “This amazes me,” Gerry said as they crammed their way toward the cameras. “Why does anyone buy electronics in a store? You don’t want to buy produce online? That I understand. You’d rather not get a Christmas tree from Buy.com? I get it. But this? You read some online reviews, you compare prices, and you place your order. Why would you do this instead?”

  “We’re doing it instead.”

  Gerry nudged around a cluster of people looking at stand mixers. He could see the video department from here, but it still seemed like a huge uphill journey. “We’re doing it because you prefer doing it.”

  Ally glanced at him, amused. “Ah, so that little rant just now was directed at me.”

  “No it wasn’t. Well, not specifically. Remind me why we’re doing this.”

  Ally seemed surprisingly relaxed in this huge crowd. “It’s the human factor.”

  “This is something you haven’t revealed to me up until now, isn’t it? You like rubbing up against strangers. I’m not sure how to feel about this.”

  Ally’s expression had less amusement in it this time, which made Gerry feel that he’d perhaps taken this a bit further than he’d intended since he wasn’t feeling particularly put o
ut at all.

  “You caught me, Gerry. I might as well admit now that I far prefer anonymously brushing my forearm against a stranger’s protruding belly than my husband’s touch.”

  There was an opening in the crowd, and Gerry reached for Ally’s hand so they could work their way through it. When they were on the other side, he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “Sorry. I guess I was crusading again. I need to learn when to turn the promotion machine off.”

  Ally kissed his hand back. “You’re winning, Gerry. By all indications, you’ve already won. Have you seen the numbers for online shopping this season? Have you looked at your numbers for this quarter?” She looked around at the crowd. “This isn’t a bad thing, though.”

  “You’re right. What I said was stupid. I’m glad these guys are doing well. Let’s go get Reese his camera.”

  Of course, Gerry knew exactly which camera he wanted, having researched it online. The entire transaction took less than three minutes – after the twenty-five minute wait to get a salesperson’s attention. He had to admit that he liked the clerk’s nod of approval at his selection and the surprise in his eyes when Gerry mentioned that the camera was for a little boy. That was something you couldn’t get on the internet, at least not now. Maybe he could find a way to approximate it on his company’s site.

  After checking in with Tanya, Gerry and Ally detoured to a nearby coffee bar before heading home. Reese was glad to have his daughter back from school for many reasons, but among them was her ready willingness to take care of Reese. The relationship between siblings had started out in the worst possible way – Tanya had disappeared at sixteen, seemingly motivated in equal parts by her criminal of a boyfriend and by her mother’s becoming pregnant – but that was the most distant of memories now.