Guardian Angel
17 Happy Holidays
DAD’S PREDICTION was true. The first week of December, I started delivering papers in the snow. I had eighty houses to deliver to now and the papers were heavy when I didn’t have my bike. I could ride as long as the roads had been plowed and people kept their driveways shoveled, but a lot of people don’t shovel their drive if they can still plow through it with their car. A lot of places just had two tire tracks up the drive.
When we had a total of fifteen inches of snow in two weeks, I quit trying to ride. I was glad my Sorels still fit.
School would be out for Christmas break on the twentieth and Hannah asked if I wanted to go tobogganing with the youth group that Saturday afternoon at Pokagon State Park. What a blast! There was this huge ramp that we had to climb up to where the six-person sleds were loaded. Then there was nearly half a mile of downhill and straight track where we sailed along at thirty or forty miles per hour. Wow! What a rush. As the smallest person, I got to sit in front with Hannah behind me. Then there were four others on the sled and away we went.
It would take almost half an hour to hike back to the ladder and get up to the top for the next run. We made five runs that afternoon and our faces were all red and our noses runny by the time we got back to the church. The parents who didn’t go to the park had fixed hot chocolate and pizzas for us when we got back.
By the time I got home, I was practically asleep already. Best thing about winter was sledding. We didn’t have a lot of big hills around us, but there was a good one behind Hannah’s church that ran right back to a creek with a wooded area that would keep you from sliding too far. I was really looking forward to trying it out.
That’s when the inspiration finally hit me and I got Mom to take me to Sears on Sunday afternoon. I still hadn’t bought Hannah a Christmas present and I finally knew the perfect thing. A shallow metal bowl about three feet across that was called a ‘flying saucer.’ A couple kids had them up at Pokagon and were sliding down the big hill on them. Not only did you go down the hill, you spun in circles, too. They weren’t too expensive and I remembered what Dad said about something we could do together so I bought two of them.
Tuesday was Christmas Eve and the paper was double size since there was no paper on Christmas Day. My bag weighed a ton. That was when I had part two of my great winter inspiration and tossed my newspaper bags on my new saucer sled and pulled it behind me. It was a little awkward, but it sure beat having the bags hanging from my shoulders. That afternoon, we stopped by the Gordons’ house and I gave Hannah her Christmas present. She jumped at me and hugged me like crazy and grabbed her coat, my hand, and the sled and took off for the hill. I knew Mom and Dad had a “house present” for the family and would be a while, so I went willingly.
Stupid of me, but I didn’t think to bring my saucer with me. Hannah went flying down the hill behind the church and half way across the field at the bottom. She came trudging up the hill laughing.
“Here,” she said. “Your turn.” I thought a second. The whole idea was doing something together. Of course, I thought we’d each have a sled and go down side-by-side, but it was a big saucer and we weren’t that big.
“Why don’t we try going together? We’ll both fit.”
“Yes!” We moved the saucer into position and I held it while Hannah got situated and then I got on behind. My boots were almost too big to be comfortable, but we scooted together and were all ready.
We didn’t move. We were just too far onto the flat to start sliding. I let go of the handles and pushed with my hands to start us moving. Suddenly we were off and going so fast, I couldn’t reach the handles. I barely managed to get my hands around Hannah so I wouldn’t fall off and that movement started us spinning in circles as we raced across the field. We came to rest just short of the first tree between the field and the stream.
Whoa! That was fun! A lot more fun than pulling my saucer around on my paper route. We both held the rope as we pulled the sled back up the hill and went again. Not every run was as successful. I thought I could push her and jump on and did a faceplant in the snow as she flew down the hill alone. On one run, we were going so fast that we saw the tree coming up and rolled the saucer over so we wouldn’t hit it. We had snow all down our backs and in our mittens. We were laughing so hard I could barely breathe. That’s when I heard Dad’s whistle. He had a piercing whistle that could be heard forever. He used it to call Betts or me home if we were out of sight of the house, like out in the woods. I could hear Dad’s whistle all the way down past the Hopkins’ house and I knew when I heard it that I’d better head home right away if I knew what was good for me. I was learning to whistle like Dad.
It was way too soon, but both Hannah and I were shivering and we headed to her house. Mom and Dad were waiting by the car and Rev. and Mrs. Gordon were standing at the door.
“Well, I’ll see you this weekend, maybe,” I said.
“Yeah. Can you come over and sled here some more?”
“I’ll ask. Merry Christmas, Hannah.”
“Merry Christmas, Brian. You are the best boyfriend ever.” With that she gave me a hug that made me feel ten feet tall.
I started a tradition this Christmas. I had a girlfriend, but I had a lot of other friends, too. It was something I never expected to have when I was little—I mean younger. I sent every one of them a Christmas card. And I was a little surprised when I started getting Christmas cards in the mail from them. So maybe their parents had made them send me one since I sent one to them, but I got seven Christmas cards that year addressed to me personally.
One of them was from Jennifer Pratt in Kokomo, Indiana.
I’d kept her address and phone number from the dude ranch, even though I’d never sent her anything or called her. Still, since I had it, I sent her a card with all my other friends. What I got back was a nice card with a two-page chatty letter in it. She was circumspect in what she said, so when Mom read the letter she didn’t find anything amiss in it. Her last comment, though, was meaningful to me.
“I’ll never forget our experience at the dude ranch and how you rescued me each time. Thank you. Please write back and tell me about what you are doing.” On the back of the envelope she’d written S.W.A.K. I would have to write and ask her what that meant.
After I finished with collections on Saturday, Mom took me to Hannah’s house and Mrs. Gordon invited me to stay for dinner. Mom said she’d pick me up at 8:00.
I’d debated with myself over whether to take my saucer. It was really fun hugging Hannah close as we went flying down the hill together. But I guess it would look weird if I went sledding and didn’t take my sled, so I tossed it in the back of the station wagon and in half an hour, Hannah and I were having races down the hill.
“That looks like so much fun,” Hannah’s sister Sarah said, standing at the top of the hill when we climbed up. “Can I try it, too? Please?”
“Sure,” I said. “You can use my saucer and race your sister.”
“Oh, then you’d be up here alone.”
“It’s okay,” Hannah said. “We know how to share one. And it’s even faster than going down alone. Watch, we’ll go lots farther than you.” With that, I was on the saucer with my arms wrapped around my girlfriend and we were racing Sarah. It’s not true that we were faster, but it is true that we went a lot farther. When Sarah was slowing down, we went flying past her.
“I went around in a circle!” Sarah said.
“Come on, let’s do it again!” Hannah chimed in. Boy, she sure got along with her sister better than I got along with mine. Probably because they were both girls. Regardless, we spent the rest of the afternoon with all three of us laughing and rolling in the snow. And just to be fair, I slid with Sarah part of the time and she slid with Hannah part of the time. It was just about as much fun to put my arms around Sarah as Hannah. Wow! We were so cold we were shivering like crazy when we finally reached the house—what Hannah and Sarah called ‘the parsonage.’
“Oh, my goodness!” Mrs. Gordon said. “Your lips are blue. You should have come in an hour ago.”
“It was just so much fun, Mom,” Sarah said, defending Hannah and me. “Brian let me use his saucer so we could all slide.”
“Oh, he did? What did he ride?”
“We slid together,” Hannah said. “We go a lot farther if we’re both on the same saucer.”
“Okay.” Her mom looked at Sarah and Sarah smiled back.
“It was great, Mom. Nobody got left out.”
After a really nice dinner of meatloaf and mashed potatoes, Hannah, Sarah and I went to the family room in the basement.
“Did you give it to him yet?” Sarah asked. It was obvious that she wanted to stay with us and was excited about something.
“No! We haven’t had time!” Hannah said.
“What?” I was brilliant.
“Sit down. I’ll be right back.”
Hannah ran back upstairs and was back in a flash with two neatly wrapped packages. She handed them to me.
“This one is from me, and this one is from our family.” Her family? I didn’t get her family anything. Mom brought over cookies and candy, but was I supposed to bring them all a present? “We were so busy on Tuesday running out to sled that I forgot to give them to you then. And this afternoon, we’ve been outside or eating dinner ever since you got here. Open them!” What was the right etiquette? Did I open my girlfriend’s package first or her family’s? I just knew I was going to make a mistake. I set Hannah’s aside and opened the family gift first.
“I’ll save yours till last,” I said. Inside the soft package was a grey-and-red wool knit scarf. It was about six feet long and a foot wide and would wrap around my face twice. “Oh wow! This is wonderful. This will be so warm in the mornings.” It really would, too. I’d used a ski mask when I delivered papers, but a big thick scarf would be great.
“I… uh… asked around and figured this would be a great gift for somebody who walks in the cold every morning. My friend said you didn’t have one,” Sarah said. “Mom and Dad thought it would be perfect and Mom knitted it.” Her friend? Was she friends with Betts? Then I realized—her friend Jessica. Still looking out for me.
“Thank you, Sarah. Your mom knitted it? I have to run up and thank her. I’ll be right back.” I ran upstairs and thanked Rev. and Mrs. Gordon for the lovely scarf that I was still wearing. I wasn’t sure, but I finally decided it was okay and hugged each of them. They smiled and told me I was welcome and to wear it in good health. I ran back downstairs and ran straight to Sarah and hugged her, too. She blushed.
Then I sat on the sofa next to Hannah to see what she got me. It was obviously a book. I could tell that just by picking it up. And it was a pretty thick one. I wondered if it was an adventure novel. I tore the paper off and wasn’t any too neat about it.
It was a cookbook. A cookbook? Huh? I leafed through the pages and it was full of recipes and some of them looked really good, but a cookbook? I noticed there was writing on the title page and turned to it to read what Hannah had written.
“Brian, Cooking is like chemistry. If you mix the right ingredients together, you get a good, repeatable result. Maybe this winter, we can try some of these ‘experiments’ together. Your girlfriend, Hannah.”
Cooking is chemistry experiments? How cool! Lights came on in my brain all at once and I realized Hannah got me something we could do together. I realized how neat it was. But she was looking worried.
“Do you like it?” she whispered. I couldn’t help myself. I kissed her. Not a big sloppy kiss like I practiced with Jessica, but just a gentle little kiss on the lips and then I hugged her.
“You are the best girlfriend a guy could ever have, Hannah. Thank you. When can we start experimenting?”
By the time school started on the Monday after New Year’s we’d filled both my kitchen and Hannah’s with cookies. This was almost better than chemistry because you could eat the results. A lot of times, while cookies were in the oven or right after they came out, we’d go up to my room and run real chemistry experiments. I recorded the results of our cooking experiments in my log book, just like my chemistry experiments. Sometimes we played with my train or a game. She was a killer at Battleship.
We went to Saturday afternoon basketball games to watch Lionel in action. He led the team in points and rebounds. Hannah laughed all through one game when I told her how Lionel had thrown me in the air so I could dunk the ball in seventh grade. Lionel was six-eight now and was dunking the ball any time he was alone under the basket.
On Valentine’s Day, the varsity and JV teams were away, but our junior high team was at home and there was a dance after the game. We’d never been to a dance together and we had a blast. Of course, I gave her a sappy valentine that said “I love you. Please be mine,” with a big red heart and all. She gave me one of two dogs chasing each other that said “It’s fun to play with you, Valentine!” It kind of looked like the ones we handed out in third grade when you had to give a valentine to everyone in the class, boys and girls. We had a good time with all our crew. I was looking forward to a slow song that I could hold her during, but as soon as one started to play, she headed to the table. “Aren’t you two going to dance this one?” Rose asked.
“These are no fun to dance to,” Hannah said. I looked at her, puzzled.
“Uh… Do you mind if I dance with Brian, Hannah? Just this one song?”
“Sure. I gotta catch my breath.” Rose led me to the dance floor and pushed her bodacious bodice into my chest. She put her head on my shoulder. We were the same height now, so I must have grown an inch or two this winter. It was a really comfortable fit. I kept looking over at the table, but Hannah was talking to Liz and Jackson and Sugar. They were laughing like crazy. I just shook my head and held onto Rose.
“You’ve really got it bad, don’t you?” Rose said, pulling back enough to look me in the eye. I bit my lip. I was pretty sure I knew what she was talking about, but I didn’t want to say anything. She squirmed in my arms a little rubbing her tits against me. “Look. You used to get hard just looking at my boobs and now they’re rubbing all over you and you aren’t even getting a rise!”
“I’m sorry, Rose. I never meant to respond that way, but I couldn’t help it.”
“Now you can help it?”
“It’s not that. It’s just that… Rose, I really think I love her.”
“Yeah. Everybody can tell. And it’s not like she isn’t with you all the time, but…”
“But what?”
“You’re not on the same page, you know. I know you want to do more than bake cookies with her—but please don’t stop doing that. Those oatmeal cookies you two brought to school Monday were wonderful! I just know that she isn’t where you are. Have you even kissed her?”
“Yeah. Um… at Christmas when she gave me the cookbook.”
“Once? With, you know, everything? Like we did that time?”
“No!” I was uncomfortable with where this was going. “We don’t do that kind of stuff and I wouldn’t tell anyone if we did.”
“I know, Brian. That’s why I love you, too. I won’t say anything else. I just… We all are worried about you. Not that we want you to rush into anything, but we all want to see you happy.”
“I am happy. Really happy.” The song ended and we went back to the table. As soon as the next fast number picked up, Hannah and I were back out on the floor. Somehow, every time a slow song came on, I got dragged back to the floor by a different girl. I got one dance with Sugar, Brenda, Whitney, Liz, Samantha and Rhiannon, even though she hardly left Doug all afternoon. It gave me a nice chance to connect with all my friends. And I was learning some good dance moves thanks to my partners.
I dragged Hannah over to the photo booth. The photographer posed us so I was turned partially toward her and she was looking up at me. I had my arms around her waist. This was it. As soon as the flash went off, I leaned in to kiss her like so many couples had done after their picture was taken. Just before I made contact, Hannah turned her face to the camera and I planted a kiss on her cheek. She smiled and grabbed my hand.
“Come on. They’re playing another good one!”
At Easter, our family went to church to hear Rev. Gordon. It was a nice service—especially compared to the kind of scary sermons I’d heard at Cassie’s church when I was going there. We sat with Hannah, Sarah, and Mrs. Gordon. Hannah was really pretty. I hardly ever saw her in a dress and this one was a little frilly and she wore gloves. After church, the Gordons came to our house for Easter dinner. We don’t usually go to church, but Mom really makes a great ham for Easter dinner.
Easter is when the weather broke and by the end of April, I was riding my bike trying to set a new record for delivering papers. The best I managed was forty-two minutes. I collapsed when I skidded my bike into the drive after I got home.
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