An unexpected Christmas

This is the second of four newly written Christmas stories that I'm using to relaunch this blog. I'm posting one independent story on every Sunday leading up to Christmas Eve, one for every Advent.

An unexpected Christmas

Towards the end of every year, when the cool December air sweeps in over our hearts, people start to huddle together in the streets; we queue with strangers for hours in order to find our friends and loved ones the perfect gifts for Christmas. 

   It was the thought of queuing for hours and being trapped on the train with all these strangers that was on Benjamin Jackson’s mind that afternoon as he was watching the snow fall outside his office window. Never in his wildest dreams could he imagine coming home three months later to find shards of broken crystal underneath withered rose petals from the bouquet he was going to buy for his wife just a few hours later.

   The familiar ring tone from his cellphone broke the silence as he was gazing through the window. “Hello, my darling.” It was his wife Charlotte’s own designated ring tone. “Yes, I’m in a meeting at three, but I should be out of here by four.” Benjamin takes a quick glance at his watch. “No, I’ll be fine. You don’t have to pick me up. You just want to see your Christmas presents anyway. Besides, Matthew’s probably going to want to play in the snow after school, you shouldn’t drag him back into the city. When do you finish anyway?” He takes another quick look at the watch. “At six? See; then there’s no point for you to pick me up, I’ll probably be home before you. I have to go, I’m running late for the meeting. Love you, bye.” Benjamin hangs up the phone, grabs a folder from his desk and hurries out the door.

   It’s just a few minutes after three when Benjamin arrives at the conference room. Everyone is already there and the regional manager of sales has already begun his run through. Benjamin is met by his boss’ unhappy stare from across the table, all that is left for Benjamin to do is mouth back “I’m sorry” as he takes his seat.

   It takes approximately two point seven minutes for Benjamin to realize that he’s trapped in the meeting from hell and that he’s probably going to die there. It feels like he has been taken hostage by the most boring man in the world and that he is trying to smother them all with his talk about budgets and cut downs. Benjamin is looking at this overweight, greasy, balding man that is trying to suck the very life right out of him, and Benjamin is thinking that the garish orange tie, with neon-green stripes, around the greasy man's neck is the only shred of evidence that this man has any kind of personality.

   As Benjamin is having his life sucked right out of him, his phone starts to ring. It takes him several seconds to locate the ringing phone, seconds during which the overweight, greasy life sucking man with his garish tie has stopped his presentation and Benjamin now has an entire room full of executives staring at him. When Benjamin finally manage to find the phone he automatically, without thought, turns it to silent mode. Once again he’s met by his boss’ anything but happy stare, and Benjamin now has to spend the rest of the meeting pretending to be fascinated by annual tax rates and next year’s budget cuts.

   At four thirty, when Benjamin is just about to give up hope of ever getting out of the meeting, the greasy man finally give his thanks and wishes everybody good luck for the next quarter. Benjamin gets on his feet quicker than everybody else, and he calculates that if he can get to his office to lock up and leave the building before his boss catches him, he could be down town in ten minutes instead of enduring another lecture in conference etiquette and of the importance of keeping time, that can wait until tomorrow.

   By the time Benjamin is out on the street the snow has started to fall quite heavily, big luscious snowflakes fall and covers everything in sight, and as he's walking through the narrow streets in the eldest parts of the city he can’t help but to imagine a giant snow globe which someone has shook over and over again.

   Benjamin is reminded of the times when he used to walk through these streets as a child, excited at the very sight of the first snow and how beautiful the city became once all the Christmas decorations started to appear; how warm and inviting all the little shops and boutiques became around this time of year. Albeit that this part of the city has not changed much since then but the Christmas preparations seems to have gotten so much grander. Walking there, making his way towards the larger shopping centres, he was a little saddened by it all and he felt robbed of the joy he used to get in time for Christmas. Nowadays the Christmas frenzy starts in October and he miss how much more genuine the spirit of Christmas felt when it started in December. It's not only the appearance of the city that change, but also its very spirit, when Christmas is drawing near.

   Benjamin has reached his first destination; one of the finer jewellery stores in this large shopping centre, which looks more like an entire city than anything else. Benjamin had made it a tradition to always get his wife at least three Christmas gifts; something she wants, something unexpected and thirdly a piece of jewellery. For their first Christmas together he had bought a necklace best described as looking like it was silver. This year, now that their financial situation is a little better, he wants to get her something a little more luxurious, at least something that won’t turn her neck green, again.

   The shopping centre wasn’t as packed with people as Benjamin had thought. Christmas was just a few days away after all, something his wife had pointed out during a conversation on why it’s best to buy all the Christmas presents early, a conversation they had had every year. The truth was that Benjamin knew very well that the city was going to be overcrowded with other Christmas shoppers, but for him that was the very point; Benjamin loved to do his Christmas shopping together with hundreds of strangers, all trying to find the best gifts for their loved ones, standing together in queues for hours, in fully decorated shops with fairy lights in every window.

   On his way to his next destination Benjamin passed an enormous toy store, and even though Benjamin and his wife had already bought enough Christmas presents for their son, he couldn’t help but to stop and glance through the window. And there it was; a light-brown, cuddly, teddy bear with big beautiful eyes and the softest fur Benjamin had ever felt. It was the perfect size for a little boy to carry under his arm and it had a baby-blue hooded sweater that even said “Matthew” in beautiful embroidery. Benjamin could just see the joy in Matthew’s eyes if he would get this teddy.

   Well, out on the streets again Benjamin stops to inhale a huge breath of the cold fresh air. He can’t help but to think that it all is pretty magical; the feather-light snowflakes swirling around his head, so clear and so cold; sparkling like diamonds in the light. Benjamin got a sudden urge to stick out his tongue and catch as many snowflakes as he can. Had he still been a young boy he wouldn’t even have thought about it, but as a man in his thirties he worries about what the people around him would think, a rather sad realization he thought to himself; there is so much we loose of ourselves when we grow older, “To hell with it” he thought, and he stuck out his tongue and rescued a little bit of the child still inside of him.

   The wind had really begun to pick up when Benjamin reached his final destination and he was really happy to get out of the cold when he stepped into a little antiques store. He had walked by this shop many times before and a few days ago he had noticed that they had a rather beautiful selection of crystal vases, bowls, cocktail glasses and various beautiful ornaments, all in crystal.

   He knew exactly what he wanted to get now all he had to do was find them. Christmas for Benjamin was curling up under a big blanket next to his wife, sipping hot chocolate with marshmallows or drinking from a big mug full of steaming warm mulled wine. Last year they had spread a blanked across the floor in front of the fireplace and they had been lying there sipping champagne whilst the wood crackled and the flames slowly turned to embers. They had used rather colourful plastic cups for their champagne, this was rather romantic in its own way, but this year Benjamin wanted to find some really nice crystal champagne glasses for their romantic times in front of the fire.

   Benjamin was searching high and low, every table and every shelf in this little shop was covered in ornaments and nick-knacks. He found several glasses that were nice but none that were just right, until he spotted a pair high up on the shelf behind the store clerk. They were a pair of long stemmed crystal champagne flutes, stylish, with a beautiful swirl etched in the glass, running from the brim around the stem and down across the foot. As they were standing there on the shelf he really could see himself with Charlotte in the reflection from the crystal, the two of them seated on the blanket sipping champagne in front of the fire. These were perfect; elegant, under stated and a little quirky, just as Benjamin and his wife.

  The clerk told Benjamin that these flutes had a bit of a history and that they had once been part of a whole table set belonging to a wealthy woman who had lived just down the street from the shop, and that these flutes were the only two remaining pieces from this set. Whether this was true or just a story to justify the price didn’t matter to Benjamin, they were clearly antiques and he liked the idea of having things with a history, even if he didn’t know exactly where they came from.

   Now that Benjamin had everything he needed he had to make his way to the train station. When he got out on the street he got a big chill down his spine from the cold and he joined what seemed like a stream of people hurrying in the same direction as he was going, all wanting to get away from what very likely could turn into a full blown snowstorm.

   Just outside the train station was woman busy packing up a flower stand. Benjamin thought the idea of selling flowers out in the cold was rather peculiar, surely they would freeze, but just as he was about to pass the woman he saw a large bouquet of dark red roses sprinkled with snow. The warm luscious red against the cold white snow was so beautiful that he thought of his wife and how long it had been since he spontaneously brought her flowers, and roses being her favourites he simply had to buy them.

   There were floods of people pouring down the stairs to the tube station, and with all his bags and now a huge bouquet of roses in his hands Benjamin was no longer as pleased to be huddled among all the strangers. He had finished shopping quite a bit earlier than he had expected so he thought he’d call Charlotte and tell her the good news. He couldn’t get a signal. “Bloody underground” he thought, “Bloody phone, oh well” he thought, the train was just pulling up to the platform, he was going to be home soon anyway, so he might just as well surprise her.

   Benjamin made his connecting train just in time, but he had to stand since it was overcrowded as usual. He could hardly see anything outside the windows as the train sped across the tracks; everything was white. Luckily he only had a few stops on the way before he was home.

   Benjamin had a bit of trouble getting off the train and he wondered yet again why the people getting on never learned to let people off the train before they shoved themselves inside. But never mind that, he thought, there was only a short five minutes walk and he’d be home, “No need to contemplate the stupidity of man and ruin my good mood.”

   The car was not in the driveway and the porch lights were off when Benjamin walked up to his house. “They must be stuck in traffic then” he thought. He was home earlier than he had expected and chances were that he’d make it home before they did anyway.

   Once he got inside the house he turned on the porch lights and dropped the keys on the table just inside the door. He didn’t bother to remove his coat and shoes, he just wanted to get inside and unload everything so he stepped right into the kitchen where he put the roses on the edge of the counter and all the bags underneath it.

   After hanging up his coat and removing his shoes and gloves he wanted to have another look at the champagne flutes that he just bought, but he thought he’d better phone his wife and see where they were. He opened the box with the champagne flutes and unwrapped the silk paper from one of them and put it on the counter next to the roses. As he was unwrapping the other flute he picked up his phone and saw that he had several missed calls and voice messages from an unknown number. He held the phone with his shoulder as he studied the champagne flute; it was truly stunning. The voice at the other end of the phone told Benjamin that his wife and son had been in a car crash and that they had been rushed to the hospital.

   It was as time stood as the glass fell from Benjamin’s hand and shards of crystal scattered across the floor. Little did he know that when he had spotted the champagne flutes high up on that shelf, Charlotte had been talking to their son only to turn around to see two bright headlights come crashing through her windshield, and by the time Benjamin had wished the clerk a happy Christmas, Charlotte’s car had been caught underneath the speeding lorry and been dragged for half a mile in the snow.

   Benjamin couldn’t tell how long it had been but it seemed like a lifetime for the taxi to get to his house. “My wife and son have been in a car crash, you have to hurry” he told the driver after giving him the address. All Benjamin could do on the way to the hospital was to tell himself not to think about what could happen, or what had happened, right now he didn’t want to think about anything at all, all he could do was to stay calm and not think.

   There were several ambulances parked outside the emergency room entrance, the very sight of them turned Benjamin’s stomach to a knot as he hurried inside to the reception. “My wife and son have been in a car crash” he anxiously told the woman at the desk. “They told me on the phone that they were here. Her name is Charlotte Jackson and my son’s name is Matthew. I have to see them right now, can you please tell me where to go?” Benjamin was told to have a seat while the nurse would find out. “I don’t want to have a seat, I want to se my son! I want see my wife and son! They have been in a car crash!” Another nurse who had been there when they brought in Charlotte and Matthew overheard Benjamin at the desk and she went over to try and calm him down. Benjamin was told that his wife was in surgery but that he could see his son soon and that a doctor would come and talk to him. A moment ago in the taxi time seemed to stand still, and Benjamin could feel his every heartbeat. But now everything was in chaos; there were people everywhere, running around, telling him things, and asking him for details, it was as though nothing was real anymore.

   Benjamin was shown into the room where his son had been taken. They had told him that both of Matthew’s lungs had collapsed, he had several broken ribs, both his right arm and leg had been broken in several places and he had a concussion. They told Benjamin that Matthew had been lucky, that his son was going to be fine, that he was sedated for now and that a respirator was breathing for him until they could restore his lungs, but that everything was going to be fine.

   When Benjamin went into Matthew’s room it wasn’t those words that stuck with him. Benjamin couldn’t see how “lucky” his son had been. All he saw was his little boy hooked up to a machine with a giant tube stuck down his throat. “Oh my God” Benjamin’s throat closed up and he felt the tears rush to his eyes, “Matthew, my little boy.” It wasn’t luck Benjamin thought of when he first saw his son.

   Benjamin spent the next few hours seated at Matthew’s bed, holding his hand. The doctors came and went and updated him on his wife’s condition. They told him that Charlotte had multiple broken ribs, one of her lungs had been punctured, both her arms and right leg were broken, and her pelvis had been shattered but most crucial was that the hit to her head that had begun to make her brain swell and they had to operate and remove parts of her skull to give room for the brain, otherwise she could die or at the very least she could become paralysed. They told Benjamin that in order for the swelling of the brain to go down, after they removed the back of her skull, they would have to put her in a chemically induced coma, to give the brain time to reduce back to its normal size. This meant several surgeries over a long time and there was a risk that she would never wake up from the coma, but that this was the only thing they could do to save her life.

   The fist day at the hospital seemed to go on forever and yet Benjamin could later not recall how things had happened, he had no concept of a time frame; only specific events came back to him. The first few hours were the worst, when the only thing he could do was to wait until the doctors had restored Matthew’s lungs and taken him off the respirator. Matthew would still be kept sedated for a few more hours after that but at least he was breathing on his own. The sight of Matthew lying there without any tubes in his throat was the first piece of relief for Benjamin, albeit a small piece, but it was a step in the right direction.

   Matthew was sedated all through the first night and Benjamin didn’t leave his side until Matthew opened his eyes for the first time. “Matthew? Can you hear me? It’s daddy.” It was impossible for Benjamin to keep away his tears but he didn’t want to alarm his son so he sat there and lovingly stroked his hair, “You go ahead and sleep, everything is going to be okay”.

   It wasn’t until Matthew had opened his eyes that Benjamin felt like he could leave his side, and by that time he was allowed to go and see his wife.

   Charlotte was looking peaceful in her bed, her arms and legs were set in plaster, her head wrapped in gauze and she was in a coma, but at least she was breading on her own. She was stable for now, the doctors said. They had repaired her lung, but all they could do now was wait, wait and pray that the brain swell would go down so they could repair her skull and then she would hopefully wake up from her coma.

   Benjamin was wandering the hospital, up and down the corridors, he didn’t know what to do. Until now he had not let himself think about anything other than that his wife and son were both going to be fine, but what if they were not? Could he take care of Matthew all on his own? How could he tell Matthew that his mum was dead? How could he be a single father? He didn’t know the names of Matthew’s friends, or which shirt goes with which trousers. It was only Charlotte who could make Matthew eat his peas, how can a boy grow up without eating peas? A ridiculous though Benjamin realized, but there were so many things he didn’t know. And how could he go on living without his wife? The love of his life, his high school sweetheart. “No! No!” Benjamin suddenly burst out. “It’s not about me now, whatever happen, happen. I have to deal with it. I have to do it. Why am I being so selfish?” he thought to himself.

   On his way back from the cafeteria, where he got his twelfth cup of coffee, Benjamin passed a gift shop. “It’s Christmas the day after tomorrow, I should get Matthew something before he wakes up again.” He thought to himself. Unfortunately it was a sad excuse for a gift shop, one plastic cheap looking thing after another, “a souvenir shop would have been better than this.” After rejecting one thing after another Benjamin finally decided on a raggedy looking teddy bear that was more solid than soft, with a strange orangey-brownish colour. “It’s not pretty, but it’s at least something,” he thought to himself. “Matthew won’t be home for Christmas, he will be lying in a bed and he won’t have his mother there, he deserves something, even if it’s not the best looking teddy in the world.” Benjamin went back to Matthew’s room and placed the teddy bear under the arm of his sleeping son.

   Christmas came and went, a lot of friends and family members came to the hospital, they did what they could with what they had. Matthew was showered with gifts, but all he had wanted was to see his mother, but the doctors didn’t want to move him so early. On Christmas Day Charlotte had to go through another surgery, they were going to repair her skull now that the swelling had been reduced. It wasn’t until after New Year’s Eve that Benjamin could finally take him to Charlotte’s room. Benjamin was carrying Matthew, who had his right arm and leg set in casks. Matthew was holding his orangey-brown teddy tightly in his good arm when they went into Charlotte’s room. “Here she is, Matthew. See? She’s just sleeping, but you can talk to her if you want, the doctors said that she can hear us.” But Matthew had looked away and buried his face in Benjamin’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Matthew. Mommy is going to be just fine, she needs to sleep so she can get better. It’s okay. You can come and see her whenever you want now.”

   It was a full seven days after Matthew had visited his mother the first time that Charlotte finally woke up, and when she was strong enough both her and Matthew were moved to their own private room. It had been a rough few weeks, and in some ways the hard part was just about to begin, but Benjamin was finally allowing himself to feel relief and when he heard his wife laugh for the first time since the accident he felt like everything was truly going to be okay.

    Charlotte had to stay at the hospital for a long time after the accident, with a shattered pelvis the healing process was going to be extensive and once healed she would have to go through months of rehabilitation to learn how to walk again, and even then she was told that she might not ever walk exactly like she used to. Matthew stayed with her at the hospital for the duration of her time. Benjamin went between the hospital and his job and only stopped at their house to sleep, get clothes or pick up the mail, he paid no attention to the house whatsoever.

   The day the doctors told Benjamin that he could finally take his wife and son home again was the happiest day of his life, with the exception of the day Matthew was born. Charlotte still had a lot of physical training to do but now that she could walk with crutches she wouldn’t have to stay at the hospital.

   It was an early spring day in March that Benjamin drove his family back to their home. Charlotte had made it perfectly clear that she wanted to walk into the house on her own, after that Benjamin could dote her all he wanted to but Charlotte was adamant that if she couldn’t walk into her own house then she had no business being there. It was quite late that they arrived, the cool evening breeze felt soft against Charlotte’s face, after being in a hospital for three months she had really missed the sensation of having the wind against her face.

   Well inside the house Matthew went to his room to play and Benjamin took his wife to the den, he had wanted to curl up next to her in front of the fireplace since Christmas and he thought that it would be the perfect way of coming home. He lit the fire and told Charlotte to wait there; he had a surprise for her. Benjamin had intended to go to the kitchen to get some of Charlotte’s favourite cheese and chocolates, which he had bought a few days earlier, but when he stepped into the kitchen the last few rays of the evening sun struck the sole champagne flute standing on the counter by the back wall. He had not thought about the time that he got the news about the car crash since it happened and he had not even been in the kitchen, other then to throw away everything that had been left in the fridge, at all during the last three months. Benjamin went over to the flute and took it in his hand. It was truly beautiful. The roses on the counter had withered; most of the petals had fallen to the floor where they were covering the crystal shards from the broken flute. Benjamin grabbed a broom and swept up all the petals and shard and put them in the bin, before he returned to his wife with the cheese and chocolates.

   When Benjamin swept up the rose petals and crystal shards he saw the other bags he had left on the floor. He thought that he’d surprise his wife with the necklace he bought her for Christmas a little later in the evening, but when it was time for Matthew to go to bed Benjamin decided to surprise him with that magnificent teddy bear that he had picked out for Christmas. It was just as soft as when he held it the first time, much better than the ugly gift shop one. When Benjamin walked into Matthew’s room they boy was already asleep. Benjamin took the cheap raggedy teddy from underneath the arm of his son and replaced it with the new, soft and gorgeous one. He put away the old one with the rest of Matthew’s toys before he switched off the lights and left the room.

   Charlotte had tucked herself in already when Benjamin came into their bedroom holding what looked like a jewellery box and an empty glass. “I forgot that I had this,” he said when handed her the necklace. “And I thought we’d celebrate your home-coming with a glass of lemonade. It’s meant for champagne but until you’re allowed the real thing we’ll have to stick with lemonade,” he said and poured the glass to the brim. “I bought us a pair of Champagne flutes for Christmas, but this is the only one left so from now on we’ll have to share it.”

   In the early hours of the morning Benjamin woke up with a sudden unease. Charlotte was asleep and seemed at peace, but he still couldn’t shake the strange feeling. Benjamin got out of bed and went to the kitchen to have a glass of warm milk. The sun was just about to raise over the tree tops, it was going to be a beautiful day. Standing there in the kitchen sipping his milk Benjamin realized what had woken him. It was the first time in months that he didn’t have to worry about his wife, about his son, about anything other than the trivial things of our everyday lives.

   On his way back to the bedroom Benjamin thought he’d check in on Matthew, just in case. When he switched on the lights he saw that Matthew must have woken up during the night. He too must have been sleeping uneasy because the new, soft and cuddly teddy was seated at Mathew’s bedside and underneath the boy’s arm was the orangey-brown and raggedy old teddy bear.

The End

This story took a little longer for me to write than a story of this size normally would take. I have to admit that I wasn't terribly inspired when I wrote it. The original idea for it was actually the first I got for all four stories, and it got me excited, but I got off track somewhere and I'm not exactly sure what happened. All I know is that it's not my best work and I'm not that proud of it. I think the problem is that it's two stories, I have a tendency to want to tell too many stories in one. But in the end I like it, at least parts of it. Normally I would have killed off the mother to make it much more tragic, and in my mind more beautiful, and maybe that was the problem, but this is a Christmas story and I suppose the spirit of Christmas got the better of me and I couldn't bring myself to kill the mother of a little boy on Christmas.