by Hunter, Lara
“Thanks,” she said warmly. She was slowly becoming less shocked to receive compliments from Scrooge. She looked around the cabin, trying to avoid staring at Jason again. “So…have you ever sold a house yourself?” she asked. Jason shook his head.
“Oh, well that’s my favorite part of the job, hands down. There’s nothing like the look on someone’s face when they land their dream home,” Anna said wistfully.
Jason regarded Anna carefully. “You really are a big-hearted unicorn,” he said.
“Now, that’s something I haven’t been called before,” she said, amused.
“I mean that in a good way! Maybe I should try selling a house sometime… I might learn something valuable from it,” he mused. Anna couldn’t help but feel pleased at the compliment, strange as it was.
Jason took a sip of coffee. “And, you know, on some level, maybe staying in this business is a way for me to connect to my parents.”
Anna nodded thoughtfully. They looked at each other for a moment, then Anna took her eyes off him and onto the ceiling, searching for something to say. “So…what do you normally do when you’re up here?” she asked. “It’s not like there’s any TV, internet, or phone signals to distract yourself with.”
“There isn’t that much to do,” he said simply. “I guess I eat, hunt, and drink.”
The thought of spending the holidays in such profound solitude, without even the comfort of a book or a movie, made Anna feel melancholy. She looked at Jason, and placed her hand on top of his. She felt comfortable with the intimate gesture after they’d shared so much about themselves—and Jason’s expression indicated that he felt the same way. “Alright. I have a proposition for you: I help you have a proper Christmas this year, the way I know it.”
Jason frowned. “Err, I don’t know, Anna… I’m quite used to my old Scrooge routine. I basically invented it to avoid ever having a “proper Christmas”.”
“But how would you know if you’d enjoy it or not? You’ve never had one.”
“I just really don’t see the point of doing a bells-and-whistles Christmas. I don’t mind doing it the solitary way, honestly.”
“The point of Christmas is not bells and whistles. The point is… celebrating life, and community and…connectedness.” She was going to say and love, but thought that Jason might not be ready for such cheesiness—and she definitely didn’t want to insinuate anything.
Jason shrugged. “But I’m not going to die if I don’t make a fuss over celebrating those things, am I? It’s nice of you to offer, Anna, but I think I’ll manage how I always have.”
Anna groaned. I really am working with a bona fide Scrooge. “Look—you already tried my mom’s pancakes. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“Well no…” he conceded.
“Okay, so all I’m proposing—is just a few more nice, random traditions like that. If you just give it a shot, you’ll see for yourself how fun it can be!”
“I don’t know about this…”
“C’mon Jason, what’s the worst that can happen? You overload on merry times and delicious food?” she teased.
He sighed, resigned. “Alright, alright. I’m still not convinced, though.”
“Yes!” Anna said, pumping her fists. Jason chuckled at her enthusiasm.
Anna finished her coffee, and got up. “After you finish that, we’re going to get started right away. First task for today is some good ol’ spring cleaning—and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Is this really what your family does for Christmas?” Jason asked, raising his voice over the sound of the vacuum cleaner.
“Yep. It’s kind of fun, right? Okay, maybe it’s not the most fun part, but it’s all about getting rid of the year’s dust and debris to prepare for a fresh start in the New Year.”
“Um. Sure,” Jason said hesitantly, as he spotted another giant dust ball.
Anna headed to the pantry to hunt down the ingredients for another one of her mother’s recipes: shortbread cookies.
Alright…Flour, baking soda, sugar… she thought, as she collected the items one by one.
As she focused on rolling out the dough on the kitchen counter, Anna sensed Jason approaching her.
“Okay, I’ve vacuumed, dusted, and wiped down all the windows. Anything else?”
“Of course—now you have to go through all your old junk and create a giveaway pile.”
Jason stared at her blankly. “For real?”
“Yep. You’ll see. It’s cathartic,” Anna said, plopping a ball of dough onto the baking pan.
Jason set to work begrudgingly. Every now and then he would check in with Anna about the merits of a particular item.
“Lava lamp from the seventies?” he said, holding it up.
“Keep.”
Jason looked at it again. “Nah, it’s going.”
Anna shook her head in response. “I’m disappointed in your decision, Jason.”
A few moments later, he returned. “Another lamp that may or may not be functional?”
Anna considered it. “It’s fairly ugly. I say toss it.”
Two hours of deciding the fates of miscellaneous items later, Jason slumped onto the chair, exhausted. Anna brought over a pot of soup she’d prepared and a plate of freshly-baked cookies.
“I’m not sure if that was cathartic. It’s more sad, you know, seeing all of my parents’ old things, stirring up old memories…”
“That makes sense. But I think that confronting the sadness will help you in the long run,” she mused, while pouring herself some soup. “Once you actually get rid of those things, it’ll be like symbolically letting go of your demons.”
Jason stirred his soup, pensive. “You would think I would have got rid of them by now,” he said, “but I guess I can blame my liquor cabinet for that.”
“Ah, yes…alcohol to avoid dealing with your problems. You wouldn’t be the first to try it,” Anna said. “But demons aren’t so simple, Jason, as I think you know.”
Jason didn’t say anything for a minute, then cleared his throat and changed the subject. “Well I’ve got to say, everything smells delicious. Is the soup your mother’s recipe as well?”
“Nope, it’s my own experimental dish,” said Anna proudly.
Jason tasted it, nodding as he did so. “Of course, it tastes as good as it smells.”
Anna smiled. She was a sucker for compliments on her cooking.
“So…next on the list is decorating this under-loved cabin with some pine cones and holly,” she announced.
“I don’t get why you insist on collecting pine cones and holly when it’s freezing out,” Jason said, fog forming as he spoke.
“Okay, it’s cold,” Anna said, shivering a little, “but it’s sunny, too. You’ll get acclimated in no time,” she said, wrapping her hands around herself. “Everyone hates winter, right? You’re stuck inside all day. But if you force yourself to get out every once and a while, it’s not so bad. Plus it really is beautiful out here,” she said, picking off some pine cones from a stray branch as they walked along.
“Okay, Pollyanna,” Jason laughed.
“Har, har,” Anna smirked. “You know I’m right.”
They walked for a few more meters, snow crunching beneath their feet. “Hey. This is actually perfect snowman snow,” Anna said, picking up a handful.
Jason looked at her, curious. “And what, exactly, is the perfect snowman snow?”
“It’s either…freshly fallen snow, or snow that has been exposed to warmer temperatures. Basically, snow that will form clumps,” she explained, rolling up her handful of snow to demonstrate. “Haven’t you ever built a snowman before?” she teased.
“Well actually…I haven’t,” Jason said.
Anna gasped. “Seriously?” she said. “Okay. We must remedy this situation immediately.”
She handed Jason her snowball. “Start rolling this around on the ground,” she instructed.
Jason bl
inked, looking at the snowball as if it was an alien. “Uh….”
“Just do it,” she said.
“Alright, alright,” he said, obliging. He gingerly placed the snowball on the ground and started rolling it. Trails of dead vegetation began to be exposed beneath the snow as he rolled the growing snowball. “Huh,” he said, after it had doubled in size. “This actually works.”
“Uh huh,” Anna grinned.
“Except now it looks more like a Swiss roll than a snowball.”
“You have to reshape it every now and then.”
“Got it.”
Anna stuffed her handful of pine cones into her pockets, and got to work building the snowman’s midsection.
“Is it big enough now?” Jason called out. In his task of building the snowman’s base, he had wandered a distance away from Anna.
“No, keep rolling!” Anna hollered back. She scrutinized the ball’s progress, and when she deemed it sufficient, she said, “Okay, you can stop now!”
Anna started carrying the midsection over. Oh God, this is heavier than expected, she thought, wrestling with the weight of the ball. Seeing her struggle, Jason came over to help. Anna felt a jolt run through her when his hands brushed hers, even through their gloves.
They placed the snowball on the base and stood back to check it was stable.
Jason surveyed the currently-headless snowman. “And now…for the head?” he asked.
Anna nodded. “You’re a fast learner,” she said, smiling.
Jason quickly set to rolling up another ball of snow before ceremoniously placing it on top. He looked the finished snowman up and down. “Okay. Yeah. I think I can see the appeal of snowmen. There’s definitely a sense of accomplishment.”
“Not so fast,” Anna said. “Now you gotta give him some personality.” She broke off some chips from her pine cones to create some makeshift eyes and a nose.
Jason smiled. He seemed like he might even be a little excited at the prospect. He broke off a twig from a nearby tree and gave the new snowman a frown.
“What? Why have you made him unhappy?” Anna laughed.
“Because of the tyranny of Christmas,” Jason smirked.
While Jason went off to collect more materials, Anna stealthily created a smile for their grumpy snowman. Despite his defending of the frown, Anna noticed that Jason seemed a lot lighter than she had seen him so far.
Jason returned a few moments later, his hands clutching something that Anna couldn’t make out. Seeing the snowman’s changed expression, Jason shook his head. “Why?”
“One who has never participated in Christmas cannot say it is tyrannical,” Anna said solemnly. Then she grinned. “What have you got there?” she asked, gesturing to his hand.
“Pine needles,” he said, as he began to stick them in the snowman’s head.
“Are you giving him acupuncture?”
“No!” he said. “I’m giving him spiky green hair.”
Anna looked the now punk snowman over. “Definitely the most beautiful I’ve ever seen,” she said, as one of the eyes fell off.
Jason started to snort with laughter, and Anna couldn’t help joining in, hysterical at the sight of their cobbled together handiwork. As their laughter started to fade, they gazed at each other, unsure for a second of what to say.
Anna blushed and looked away, suddenly fidgeting with the pine cone in her hand. “Um, okay,” she said. “I think we have enough materials now… Shall we start heading back?”
They trekked back to the cabin, pointing out birds and squirrels as the wind bit their cheeks.
“Wow. That’s perfect,” Anna said suddenly.
“What’s that?” Jason asked.
Anna pointed to an opening between two pines. “It’s a clear, open field, full of unspoiled snow. I’m guessing you haven’t made a snow angel before, either.”
“Oh no, I’m not—“
“C’mon,” she laughed, grabbing his hand without thinking about it. She led him through the clearing, and promptly leapt into a pile of fresh, inviting snow.
“It’s not every day that you get such perfect, fluffy snow,” she said, waving her arms and legs.
Jason slowly lowered himself to the ground. He worked his way up to dragging his limbs through the snow in a windshield-wiping manner.
Anna was surprised that she hadn’t had to goad him further to do so. I’m totally getting through to his Scrooge heart, she thought triumphantly.
“I feel ridiculous.”
“Admit it, Jason. It’s fun.”
“…Okay, I’ll give you that.”
A beat later, Jason abruptly got up. He surveyed the clearing they were in, then gave a satisfied nod. “Wait here,” he said. Anna slowed her arm-flapping, curious.
“I have something to show you,” he explained.
Jason returned a couple of minutes later, skis in hand, having just run back to the cabin.
“You know you weren’t bad at skiing for a beginner,” Jason started. “But that was cross-country. Downhill is a different beast; a beast…that is way more fun.”
Two days ago I never would have thought I’d hear him say the word fun. Anna got up slowly, wide-eyed with a mixture of curiosity and fear. “Um…I’m not sure about this…” she said, hesitantly. Skiing didn’t exactly have positive connotations in her mind; her only and most recent experience of it had been while she was in the midst of freaking out about surviving and wondering if her boss had sneakily trapped her in the middle of nowhere.
It was Jason’s turn to goad her. “C’mon, Anna. You never know, you might enjoy it!” he teased. “And besides, in a ski resort, the beginner slopes are called “bunny hills”. The hill we’re on right now could really be considered a baby bunny hill.”
As usual, Anna’s risk-averse self would have happily declined. But something about the rare, childish excitement on Jason’s face compelled her to go against instinct. “Alright, okay. I’ll do it,” she sighed.
A triumphant expression on his face, Jason helped her up, taking her hand. Anna blushed at the touch.
At the top of the clearing, Jason explained the basics.
“There are really only three things you really need to know. First is, if you want to go kamikaze-style, you aim straight down.”
Looking at Anna’s face, he chuckled. “I’m guessing you don’t want to go kamikaze just yet, so in that case, you make your way down in an ’s’ motion. You do that by shifting your weight side-to-side,” he said, demonstrating the movement.
“Lastly, and most importantly, to slow down, bring your skis to a point, like a pizza slice.”
Anna nodded. She felt slightly queasy.
“Ready?” Jason asked enthusiastically.
“No.”
Jason looked at her with a crooked smile. “Just follow my lead. You’ll be okay, I promise,” he said. And without another word, he took off.
“Uh—wait!” Anna yelled. Realizing that she had no choice but to follow suit—if she didn’t want to seem chicken—Anna took off.
Anna unsuccessfully attempted to imitate Jason’s smooth, skilful swerves. Midway down, she lost control, panicked, and flew down the last stretch, having completely failed to master the pizza position Jason had described. Jason watched the whole sorry performance from the bottom of the hill, doubled over in laughter.
After she’d reached the bottom safely and recovered from her panic, Anna ended up laughing too.
“I’m sorry,” Jason said, still chuckling. “Honestly, that really wasn’t bad for your first time. And the biggest thing is that you did it, even though you were freaked out. I’m proud of you, Anna,” he said, beaming.
“Admit it, it’s fun,” he teased, as Anna rolled her eyes.
“Okay, okay…yeah, maybe a little,” she conceded.
“Wanna go again?” he grinned. Anna realized that this was the first time she’d seen Jason grin so freely; a full-on, full-toothed grin. It made her feel warm to see his Scrooge exterior
was melting away.
“….Yes.”
They had been back in the cabin for scarcely a second before Jason started putting his gloves back on. Anna looked at him inquisitively.
“Well,” he said. “Isn’t Christmas supposed to have, like… a tree?” he said hesitantly.