Wild Woods
7
Celebration
Deck the Halls
“THEY WOULDN’T THINK I’m… uh… a bad person?” Nina asked when Gee told her and Karen about the kids’ suggestion.
“No, they understand you’ve been through a lot but thought maybe you could just use a friend your age to have fun with,” Gee said.
“I don’t know what to do!”
“Maybe that’s something a friend could help with,” Karen said. “I’ve worked in the woods with all those kids and if they say they want to be your friend, that’s exactly what they mean.”
“Okay.”
“Maybe we could invite one over this weekend to help decorate for Christmas,” Karen said. Nina’s eyes lit up.
“Christmas!”
“You like Christmas?” Gee asked.
“Yes. I like candy and cookies,” Nina said. “And no one gets punished on Christmas or um… used.”
“Do you celebrate Christmas, Karen?” Gee asked.
“I celebrate anything. It’s winter and there is snow and decorations and a roaring fire and a tree. I like it all. What do you like best about the holiday, Gee?”
“I like the… uh… I remember… smells. Pine. Cinnamon. Turkey. I don’t remember anything specific but I remember the smells. Isn’t that funny?”
“It is,” she said, reaching for the little notebook she always had near. “I’m going to write it down as a new memory emerging. Maybe we should introduce a whole bunch of new smells to you and see what they remind you of.”
“An interesting concept,” Gee agreed.
“Um… Gee? Karen? Can we invite Sister, Brother, and Littlest to have Christmas cookies with us?” Nina asked in a small voice.
“What a wonderful idea!” Gee said. “Let’s make arrangements.”
“I’ll talk to Jude and Laura,” Karen said.
“Jude and Laura?”
“Gee, they’ve fallen in love with the children. The only thing stopping them from asking for custody is the upcoming wedding.”
“Do they have room for children in their home?”
“We have to move across the street soon. They can have this house,” Karen said happily.
“Who’s first?” Gee asked his crew on Thursday. “Nina would like to meet someone.” Jeanie raised her hand. Gee nodded.
“We all thought it might be easiest if the first person she meets was also an orphan,” she said.
“You’ve all been giving this a lot of thought, haven’t you?” There were nods all around.
“Then let’s plan on Sunday. You can join Nina and Karen while I try to control this unruly crowd in the woods,” Gee laughed.
“Hey!” they objected. And then pelted Gee with snowballs.
“What’s your favorite thing about Christmas, Nina?” Jeanie asked. Karen had the two girls in the kitchen mixing flour and eggs for cookies.
“Um… Sweet things. Candy and cookies. Sir and Madam let me sit at the table and eat whatever I wanted on Christmas,” Nina said. It seemed to be the only happy memory she had.
Karen started to reach for her but Jeanie already had an arm around her new friend. Karen kept the conversation going while the two girls comforted each other.
“Were there guests as well as Sir and Madam?” she asked. “Like we are having the children and Jude and Laura?”
“Yes. Not with the sir and madam I ran away from. But the others. And sometimes there were visitors who brought pets with them, like me… Girls and boys… It was…”
“You don’t have to talk about it if it’s painful,” Jeanie said softly. “We can whisper about it later if you want.”
“What is your favorite part about Christmas, Jeanie?” Karen asked.
“Mmm. Gravy! I’ve been at Flor for five years and it’s not like they don’t feed us. I know some kids at Rosebud High who don’t eat as well as we do. But the gravy they make at Christmas is the best! They cook a lot of turkeys to feed two hundred kids and the drippings laced with butter makes the best gravy. They use real cream and flour to thicken it. It’s so yummy my mouth is watering already.” The girls laughed as Jeanie made a slurping noise.
“Maybe you could come help us celebrate this week, too. You could show me how to make that gravy.”
“I… Really? You’d invite me, too?” Jeanie squeaked.
“Well, Jude and Laura will be here, so Gee and I have an older couple to talk to. The children have each other. There’s no reason Nina couldn’t have a friend with her, too. If you want to invite Jeanie to come to Christmas dinner, Nina, it’s fine to do so,” Karen said.
“Me? Invite?”
“This is your home, Nina. You are free to invite your friend.”
“Jeanie! Would you come to Christmas dinner with us?” she said excitedly.
The girls bounced up and down as Jeanie screamed, “That would be so cool!”
Sharing Traditions
Gee’s crew worked hard Sunday morning but were all too excited about being out of school for the holiday and about Jeanie visiting Nina to stay focused into the afternoon.
“What do you do for Christmas over at Flor, JD?” Leslie asked. She was the youngest of the crew working Sunday but had been the first one to suggest transplanting trees from the Wild Woods to expand the Forest. JD seemed more relaxed and flirtatious around the girls without Jeanie around. He put on a very sad face and looked at the girl from Rosebud High.
“We have an old dead branch one of the kids dug out of the dump last year,” he started the tale. “It still had a little tinsel on it. It had a popcorn strand on it, too, but the rats got that. We’ve kept it hidden all year so the headmaster doesn’t find it. Late Christmas Eve, when the adults are drunk into a stupor, we’ll get the tree out and gather round to sing ‘Silent Night.’ Then we’ll hide it again for next year and hope we live to see it again. Christmas Day, the staff is nice to us. The cook might give us an extra portion of gruel and if we’re very lucky it will be hot.”
“You are so full of shit!” Rebecca said. She threw a snowball at JD and for the next ten minutes, snow was flying all over as the kids lost track of what they were supposed to be doing. Gee laughed at them just before he was pelted with a dozen snowballs.
“I think we’ve accomplished all we’re going to out here,” he said, wiping snow from his hard hat. “Let’s gather up the tools and get back to the office. We won’t be back out until Wednesday. We have Christmas Eve and Christmas before then.” The kids cheered.
“Why don’t you all come over and see,” JD said. “A lot of kids have left for the holiday. You know we’re not all orphans. It’s a boarding school.”
“I’m taking off for home tomorrow morning,” Rebecca said. “I’m taking my roommate with me.”
“Come on, Gee,” JD said. “The invitation includes you.”
“If you’re sure the administration won’t mind you bringing guests,” Gee answered.
“It’s our home,” Trevor said. “We follow the rules, but we live there and can invite friends over. If we have a guest for dinner, the cooks want to know in advance so they can have enough food. Otherwise we’re pretty normal. We’ve been known to raid the fridge in the middle of the night like any other teens.”
“Of course, there’s only cold gruel in the fridge,” JD mourned.
Gee had been to the school when he made his plea for volunteers and had been given a brief tour of the complex of dormitories, classrooms, and facilities. The whole place was now decorated for the holiday and a large tree stood in the cafeteria. There was hot cider on the counter and several kids took advantage of the hot chocolate machine. Other kids filtered in when they heard the chatter of the crew, talking about Christmas traditions.
“I did a report on traditions at Flor del Día,” Rebecca said. “I think everyone does some kind of report about the school during their stay here. It started as a soldiers’ and sailors’ orphanage after the Civil War. Some time around World War II, things started to change here and the school was opened for other boarding. We each get an allowance so we can go into town for ice cream or to the movies. We have a football team but not basketball. Everybody wakes up again in the spring for track and baseball, though.”
“Good afternoon! It’s nice to see some visitors,” Evan Nygard said as he strode up to the table. The headmaster seemed full of holiday spirit as he wore a Santa hat, oblivious to the way JD had described him as a modern Bill Sikes. “Gee, it is always a pleasure to have you visit. Do I see friends from Rosebud High?”
“Yes, Mr. Nygard. I have a good mix of Flor and RHS students on my volunteer forestry crew. We decided to knock off early today and share Christmas traditions,” Gee said, shaking the man’s hand.
“Well, one of our traditions here at Flor del Día is that from Solstice to New Year’s there are always fresh cookies at three o’clock. Enjoy!”
Right on cue, kitchen staff began putting trays of Christmas cookies on the serving tables and more students started wandering in.
“Wow! Every day at three?” Leslie said.
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Rebecca said. “We can’t just wander into the kitchen any time for a cookie and milk. The poor cooks would never get meals prepared. But this is like our time for a snack. Maybe it’s a little less spontaneous than you’re used to, but we still get cookies.”
Devil Incarnate
Gee took his leave as the kids enjoyed cookies and made new friends. He headed for the hospital to visit his kids. His kids. He knew he would never be able to adopt the children but he felt a special connection with them that filled his heart. It was the same with the teens on his crew, the same with the children in the library during reading time, the same with Nina. They were his kids and he was their champion.
“Gee!” Sally Ann called as he entered the room. She bounced out of the beanbag chair leaving a book and the three startled children behind as she hugged Gee. She turned to the other three and waved them closer as Gee knelt so he could hug all of them. When he stood, Littlest clung to his neck and he carried her.
“What have you been reading today?” Gee asked.
“We’re reading about Paddington Bear,” Sally said. “We read part of the story and then act out the parts with our animals.”
“What a clever idea,” he said glancing up at Ruth Ann. She shrugged.
“I’m not really needed,” she said. “I just let the children figure it out. And kiss a booboo or hug a child. I guess that’s important, too.”
“It is. I didn’t expect to see you so late this afternoon.”
“Oh, the kids have been having such a good time that I couldn’t see stopping. I have a book as well and have been reading.” Gee glanced at the book she held. Positive Parenting for Autism. He smiled. “The psychologist said it would give a good basic grounding. There was a copy here. I think Laura has been reading it, too.”
“I just thought I’d stop and say hi to the children before dinner,” Gee said. He got down on the floor and began running a toy truck through a mass of building blocks.
“We should put things away that we aren’t playing with,” Sally Ann told the others. “I have to go home now.” The children joined her and soon the books and toys were all put away except the stuffed animal each child held.
“We’ll be back,” Ruth Ann said. “Merry Christmas!”
“We’re taking the children for the holiday tomorrow,” Gee said. “They’ll be back Wednesday afternoon.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Ruth Ann said. “They need to get out of this room more.” After hugging each of the children, Ruth Ann and Sally Ann left.
“And we should get ready for dinner,” Gee said to the children. They immediately began setting their little table, spreading the cloth and putting a small vase of flowers in the center. All without a word. Gee had, however, heard some giggles as the children were playing.
A few minutes later, Grandma Sue arrived with dinner and Gee said goodnight.
Gee walked down the hall of the long-term care unit trying to figure out how he could get the children released to a good home. As he glanced in the rooms he passed, he saw people sleeping, watching television, and reading. One very old man looked up from a vacant-eyed stupor and his eyes focused on Gee.
“George,” rasped the old man. “George.” Gee went into the room and paused by the bed.
“Most folks call me Gee. Do I know you sir?”
“George, we shouldn’t play in the quarry anymore. It’s too dangerous,” he said. “What they’re hiding is none of our business.” He seemed not to really see Gee and was talking to someone else who stood in his stead.
“What is hidden in the quarry?” Gee asked.
“Things they don’t want us to know about. We have to stay away.” The old man shifted his position slightly and said, “I won’t challenge you for the Family leadership, George. It’s yours. You needn’t eat the nut. Don’t eat it, George. Don’t eat it.”
Gee puzzled over this. He’d twice eaten the nut. He didn’t think that was what the old man was talking about. Family leadership? Gee stopped at the door to look at the nametag. ‘August Poltanys.’
“George!” the old man barked once more. Gee turned and this time he was clearly the focus of August’s eyes. “Take care of Jan, George. He wasn’t ready.” He then closed his eyes and soon snored.
August Poltanys. Gee recalled being told that Jan’s father, nearly as old as Ben Roth, had been in care for Alzheimer’s Disease for fifteen years. Gee hadn’t realized the care was here in the hospital.
He was near the end of the hall when he heard sobs from one of the rooms and stopped to look in. The sight was both touching and repulsive. Lying in the bed was a figure Gee recognized. Rena Lynd, the flirtatious checker at the Market who had been addicted to Lustre and then was pushed into the quarry when Karen was kidnapped. She lay silently in her comatose sleep with machines monitoring her vitals.
Next to her, a man held her hand, kissing it repeatedly and crying. “I love you, Rena. I will never deny you. Come back to me. You are the only one who can save me.” Gee started to turn away when the man looked up and he recognized Pastor Lance Beck of Calvary Tabernacle. They held each other’s eyes for a moment before the preacher dropped Rena’s hand and moved toward the door.
“You!” he spat at Gee. “Begone, Lucifer. You cannot have her.”
“How is Rena?” Gee asked softly, trying to avert the preacher’s hatred.
“She wanted only to be loved. To be loved and cherished. You spurned her. Drove her to drugs and into fantasies. And so, she lies here, unable to hear me calling her. Go! You have done all the damage you can.”
“I don’t want to hurt Rena,” Gee explained.
“She is surrounded by my love now. I have confessed it. My love is enough to combat all the minions of hell you send against her. I will not let her die unloved. Begone!”
Gee glanced once more at Rena’s still form and backed away, not wanting a further confrontation with Beck. His last glance back showed the preacher kneeling by Rena’s side, his head bowed over her hand in prayer.
Silent Night
Gee saw the van pull under the porte cochère and stepped outside into the brisk chill to help Jude and Laura with the children.
“You have a perfect car for transporting little ones,” Gee said as he gave Laura a hug and turned to shake Jude’s hand.
“We bought it last week, hoping for a chance like this. We even had car seats professionally installed,” Laura said.
“I’m afraid the kids don’t like it,” Jude said as he opened the side door. “They haven’t moved since I buckled them in.” Gee looked at the children and saw vacant looks scarcely masking their terror. He started into the van and then backed out.
“You buckled them in. You need to let them out so they know you are taking care of them,” Gee said. “Otherwise they might think I’m rescuing them.”
“Oh, no!” Laura breathed.
“It probably has to do with them being confined. They don’t understand it’s to keep them safe,” Gee went on as Jude lifted Brother out and handed him to Laura. Laura immediately cuddled him and cooed over him. He hugged her neck, a slight tremble in his hands. Next, Littlest was handed out to Gee.
“Littlest!” Gee said, hugging her. “You’ve come to visit me on Christmas Eve. You are such a wonderful present.” Littlest gave a slight sob and pointed back at Sister. Jude had the oldest child unbuckled from the car seat and lifted her out. She was not as quick to be comforted by him as the other children.
“It’s okay, Naomi. No one is going to hurt you,” Jude soothed her. “We just wanted you safe as we drove the car. Now we are at Gee and Karen’s house and having a nice adventure. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I would never let anyone hurt you, Sister. You are precious and I will always take care of you.” The girl began to relax in Jude’s arms as he comforted her. They moved into the house, where Karen was waiting at the door.
“Merry Christmas!” she announced as she kissed each of the children.
“You can’t imagine how strange that sounds,” Jude said. “We just need to get used to being multi-cultural.”
“Go on,” Laura said. “You’ve been Merry Christmased by my family for years. There’s no sense pretending you’re unaccustomed.”
“Yes, but… Karen!” Jude laughed as he helped the children out of their coats.
“Jeanie!” Nina yelled as she pelted down the hall and out the front door to greet her friend. Jeanie had a backpack and heavy coat on as she approached.
“Nina! You don’t have shoes on! You’ll catch pneumonia!” Jeanie yelled as she scooped her new friend up off her feet and carried her to the door.
“Oh! Cold!” Nina giggled as she was set down in the entry. Karen handed her a towel and Nina dried her feet.
“That’s why you have boots for playing in the snow, silly,” Karen laughed. “Hello, Jeanie. Merry Christmas.”
“Thank you, Karen. Merry Christmas to you. Are these the children?” Jeanie asked as they moved to join the others in the sitting room. A huge fire was burning in the fireplace and the three children were mesmerized by it.
“Yes. Brother, Sister, and Littlest,” Gee called their attention. They turned toward him. “This is Jeanie. She is Nina’s friend. You remember Nina when she and Karen visited, don’t you?” Jeanie and Nina got down on their knees, a sign the children now recognized as an invitation to hug.
“They’re like little sisters and a little brother for you, Nina,” Jeanie said. “Wow! Look at all the decorations! Did you see the Christmas tree, Littlest?” Jeanie took the little girl’s hand and led her to the tree she’d helped decorate the day before. She began pointing out different decorations and Nina brought Brother and Sister to join them.
“Jeanie is a natural with the children,” Karen commented as the adults sat watching the them play Candyland.
“I wonder if she’d be interested in becoming a kind of au pair when she’s out of school,” Laura suggested.
“Are you thinking you might become a full-time nanny and need an assistant?” Karen teased.
“Uh… Karen, as head of the family, maybe you could help us,” Jude said. “We’d… We’ve been talking. We have all the papers ready to file to request custody. Would you and Gee support our request?”
“Of course we will,” Karen said. “What do you need?”
“We talked to Judge Warren and he said we’d need to be married before he could rule on a custody hearing, but that’s just a week away. And there will have to be inspections of our home and a background check on our criminal records. As if everyone in town wouldn’t know if we’d ever had so much as a speeding ticket,” Jude laughed.
“We don’t have a very big house, but with the record of the children and their care in the hospital, we should only need the two extra rooms. CPS will require a separate room for the boy and the girls, even if they never use it,” Laura said. We could have custody right after we’re married if you support it.” Laura looked at Gee.
“I’ll support it,” Gee answered. “Now tell me about Naomi.” Jude blushed.
“That was a slip. It’s another thing Judge Warren said. The children need names. We’ve tried a couple out and they seem to like them. We call Sister, Naomi, Brother, David, and Littlest, Esther.”
“Those are lovely names,” Karen said.
“Then we should adopt them,” Gee said. “The names, I mean. Everyone should address them by their given names. What did the judge have to say about a last name?”
“There was some talk about giving them yours,” Laura said. “Naomi, David, and Esther Evars. But we didn’t want confusion to arise, either in the minds of the children or the public. We did a lot of thinking and if you approve, we’d like them to have the last name of Woods. Naomi, David, and Esther Woods. Sort of a tribute to where they were found and lived.”
“At least it’s not Quarry,” Gee chuckled. “I agree. Karen?”
“If it is our choice, I think Woods is an appropriate last name. You didn’t want to name them Roth or Lazorack?” Karen asked.
“I don’t think we need to carry on Family names,” Jude said. “In fact… well, Laura and I asked the judge if we could both change our last names to Woods when we’re married.”
“Oh! That’s wonderful!” Karen squealed, getting a look from the children. As soon as they saw she was happy, they returned to their game. The four adults had a little toast and settled back down. “Now, about your living arrangement,” Karen continued the conversation. “As cozy as your house is, don’t you think it would be a little small for a family of five? Especially a family of five who wants a live-in au pair?” Jude and Laura nodded and sighed.
“We figure our biggest task after the first of the year will be finding a new place to live. We’d like to stay north of the river, but property prices are a lot cheaper down south. We haven’t found anything just right yet, but we’ve been looking around,” Laura said.
“Come with us,” Karen said as she stood. “Nina and Jeanie, we’re touring the house a little. Can you keep an eye on Naomi, David, and Esther? Just call out if you need anything.”
“Okay.”
“I’ve never seen your home, you know?” Jude said. “Your grandmother and great-grandmother were never very friendly to Mom.”
“We’re breaking down all kinds of barriers,” Karen said. “It’s about time, too. If we’re a Family, we’ll all be a family. I just wanted to show you how the bedrooms are laid out. We’re only using two of the rooms. This one is Nina’s. You can look through the door, but we don’t go in unless she invites us. It’s the room I gave Gee when he moved in but… Well, we don’t need it for the two of us anymore. These two smaller bedrooms share a bath and as long as I can remember have never been used. On the other side is our bedroom. It’s a full suite with a sitting room, fireplace, bedroom and bath. If you can believe it, there’s even a dumbwaiter from the kitchen. But it’s nothing compared to the master suite. Great-grandmother moved into it the day her father died, I was told. Prior to that, she’d been in my room. I’ve scarcely opened the door since she passed away, though I know Gee has been in to clean.”
The master suite was nearly twice the size of Karen and Gee’s suite. It included a bedroom, bath, sitting room, and a study with a deck that overlooked the garden in back. Large closets next to the bath still held some of her ancestor’s clothing.
“Good Lord!” Laura said. “It’s bigger than our whole house!”
“This is nothing compared to the mansion across the street,” Karen said. “This house has five bedrooms plus a small maid’s apartment on the first floor off the kitchen. Do you think this would be big enough to raise a family in?” The stunned couple looked at their cousin.
“Karen? Are you saying…?”
“Family custom says Gee and I have to occupy the monstrosity across the street. That means the cottage here will be empty unless I find a nice young family to rent it. Cheap,” Karen said.
“I thought you’d give this to Jo,” Jude said.
“Jo is still rattling around in a two-bedroom apartment. She doesn’t know what to do with all the room. This place would overwhelm her. Would you two be interested in moving in here with the children and maybe an au pair?”
Laura crushed Karen in a hug.
“They’re so precious,” Laura sighed. The four adults stood at the open door of the children’s room watching the three nestled together asleep.
“Are you sure it’s okay for us to use the master suite?” Jude asked. “We’ll be so far away.”
“Gee and I are right across the hall and we’ll have both doors open,” Karen said. “This will be a good test to see how well they do in their own room without an adult hovering.”
After another fond look at the children, Jude and Laura said goodnight and went to the master suite. Gee and Karen edged down the hall to Nina’s room. Karen pushed at the partially open door to check on the girls. Both seemed fast asleep. Once she nodded that they were decent, Gee looked over her shoulder. He wrapped his arms around Karen and squeezed her to him.
“Our own babies,” he whispered. “Merry Christmas, Darling.”
Holiday Memories
It was possible that the old house had not seen so much excitement and activity on Christmas morning since old Aaron had built it for his daughter after the war. Gee went to the kitchen while Laura and Jude got the children dressed. He found Nina and Jeanie sitting in their pajamas with cookies and cups of hot chocolate in front of them. Nina had a momentary start when she saw Gee.
“Is it… okay… sir?” she asked hesitantly. Gee stopped short and turned to the table. He knelt beside it and reached to softy touch Nina’s hair.
“This is you home, Nina. I’m not sir. I’m just Gee and you do not need permission to eat or to share with your friend.” She nodded slowly.
“Told ya so,” Jeanie said, patting her friend’s hand.
“This cookie looks good, though,” Gee said. He broke a corner off one of Nina’s cookies and popped it in his mouth, much to her surprise. “Mmm. I hope you saved one for me. Is yours just as good, Jeanie?” He reached for a corner of her cookie and she snatched the plate away, giggling at him.
“You’re a cookie thief! She squealed. Then she broke off a piece of sugar cookie and pushed it into Gee’s mouth. “We baked lots of cookies Sunday,” she laughed. “Nina made this batch herself.”
“What brilliant teens. Now, where was I? I think I was getting coffee ready for the old folks.” He returned to his task and listened to the two girls talk. Karen came into the kitchen unnoticed by the girls and wrapped her arms around Gee’s waist.
“I just remember always liking Christmas,” Jeanie said. “There was excitement and presents and food. Then after the accident, I got passed around to a bunch of foster homes. Some were nice and some were just a bed in a room where you slept and tried to stay out of everyone’s way. No one wanted to adopt a troubled kid like me. But when I was eleven, someone came to the agency and said Flor had room for me. The staff and other students at Flor del Día make a big deal out of all holidays. And birthdays. The first fall I was here, I found out about Harvest and fell in love with the Forest. The thing is, the longer I’ve been here and the more time that’s passed since I lost my parents—it’s been ten years now—the harder it is to remember them. I have pictures, so I know what they looked like, but mostly I just remember things like being happy at Christmas. I can’t remember an actual conversation, though sometimes I’ll start to do something and remember Mommy said not to or Daddy said brushing my teeth would prevent cavities. I guess you not remembering a mother and father make us a lot alike in some ways.”
“I remember Sir and Madam,” Nina whispered. “As long as I obeyed right away, they didn’t hurt me. If I was slow, I was slapped or spanked. The only time I ever said ‘no’, I was strapped down and beaten with a belt. I drank something they made and learned to behave properly. It wasn’t the only time I was beaten but the only time for being disobedient. But on Christmas, there were no punishments. I could eat all the sweets I wanted. And no one would come to my room at night. There were six Christmases before I was given to the next sir and madam. Eight until I was given to the next. And then I ran away when they said I would be sent to the kennel.”
“God, Nina! That’s terrible. Fourteen years? I’m so glad you found Gee and Karen!”
“Oh, this gravy is very good!” Jude said at the table. “Did you make this, Karen?”
“No. I barely survive in the kitchen. Gee did most of the cooking, assisted by the two young women here,” Karen laughed as they brought more food to the table. “They kept me out of the way by giving me coffee and cookies.”
“Jeanie was responsible for the gravy,” Gee said.
“It was Sarah, really,” Jeanie said. “She’s one of the cooks and is house mom for the older girls’ dormitory. I begged her to give me the recipe Sunday night and instead she took me to the kitchen and got out all the ingredients. Then she had me help make the gravy and packaged it in a plastic container to bring with me.”
“I know it’s made with turkey drippings. How did she manage that before the holiday?” Karen asked.
“Oh, we have turkey a lot,” Jeanie said. “There are two hundred of us to feed at Flor, so we have turkey and chicken often. Sometimes we have ham or pork and about once a week we have beef. It’s not like we sit around and eat steak all the time. They don’t skimp on making sure we have protein but it isn’t luxury cuts.”
“Well, make sure to eat plenty of roast, then,” Gee said. “I don’t know why I decided to do both turkey and roast beef, but I just knew I should stay away from ham.”
“I’m sure I could have found something to eat,” Jude said. “I know Karen is not Kosher and Laura only eats what I do to keep things simple.” He scooted the children up to the table. Lacking high chairs and booster seats, Jude had brought the car seats in and strapped them to chairs so the children were at the right height to eat. They were cautious about being seated at the table but Laura tucked the safety belts out of the way and they relaxed.
“I learned about being a picky eater growing up,” Laura said. “When I got to high school, I decided to become a vegetarian. That lasted for almost two years. I learned that I could choose not to eat whatever I wanted but the family wouldn’t be limited by my choices. And if I wanted something Mother wasn’t serving, I had to make it myself. I can’t begin to tell you how miserable I made myself by eating a veggie burger when the rest of the family were getting big juicy hamburgers off the grill!”
“Littlest… um… Esther, do you need help cutting your turkey?” Gee asked.
Gee helped little Esther with her meat and she grinned at him. Before she tucked into the food, she folded her hands and bowed her head, then gave Gee a hug.
“Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam shehakol niyah bidvaro,” Jude said.
“And thank you to the hands that prepared this meal,” Laura added.
“Thank you for the new friend I made this week,” Jeanie said, getting into the spirit.
“And for the love we share around this table,” Karen said.
“Thank you for new memories,” Gee said as he leaned over to kiss Karen on the forehead.
“Uh… Thank you,” Nina said. She looked at the little children who seemed to be fixed on her, waiting. “Thank you for giving us a home.” The children nodded and everyone ate.
“It’s not like we didn’t celebrate the holidays,” Jude said as they all sat near the fire watching the children play. “We did all the rituals and prayers for Hanukkah. We lit our candles and ate chocolate gelt and spun the dreidel. But then Dad would take us into Palmyra to the big department store and we’d sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what we wanted for Christmas.” They all laughed at the strange mix of traditions.
“I think we need to do the same thing with the children,” Laura said. “Winter holidays are to celebrate, no matter what religious background they might have. You know, Jessie and Jonathan profess to celebrate solstice but they are just as happy to sit in front of the tree and open presents as everyone else. I think they tell everyone it’s a solstice celebration so they have an excuse to pitch a tent in the Forest and… well, you know.”
“How about you, Gee?” What’s your favorite Christmas memory?” Jeanie asked as she sat on the floor with Nina helping the children build a Jenga tower.
“Well, this is kind of the first Christmas I remember,” Gee said. The two girls turned toward him. “I think it will be the first Christmas Naomi, David, and Esther will remember, too. We’ll have that in common.”
“You don’t remember anything, Gee?” Jeanie asked.
“Karen and I were talking the other day. Your senses have a memory that isn’t connected to your brain or something. I smell the tree or cookies baking and I automatically think, ‘Christmas.’ I find myself humming along with carols I hear in the store and think, ‘I like this one.’ I knew exactly how to season and bake the turkey. I think the decision to have a roast with it had some sensory memory associated with it. And even sitting around telling stories seems like the right holiday thing to do. But I can’t recall a face or remember a name.”
“That’s so sad,” Jeanie said.
“Oh, not really,” Gee said. “I am making new memories right now. From this point on, when I think of Christmas, I will think of you and Nina opening presents with the little ones. I’ll think of holding Karen’s hand and sharing stories with Laura and Jude. I’ll think of rocking Esther in my arms until she falls asleep. You will all become my memories of Christmas and they will be happy ones.”
The Slippery Slope
Nina accompanied Gee and Karen to the Forest Wednesday. Gee thought he was going to work. The kids thought differently. They met thirty or so kids from Flor and RHS toting sleds and inner tubes, accompanied by several adults, including the headmaster from Flor. Jonathan and Jessie met them with their own customized toboggan and together, they all trudged up to the cemetery.
“This is the best sledding place in town,” Alyson said. “With all the snow we got on Christmas, we have to take time to play!” Gee thought fleetingly about the work they needed to do in the woods but all children needed to play. For hours, sleds and inner tubes glided down the open area from the cemetery to the lumbermill.
Gee kept an eye on Nina as Jeanie introduced her to the other teens. Nina didn’t say much but smiled each time Jeanie told her something about a friend. The kids from Flor del Día were used to welcoming other orphans among them and treated her as one of their own. By mid-afternoon, everyone had marched back to Flor for cookies and chocolate.
“Do you think she’d be better off here?” Karen asked Gee as they watched the kids talking.
“That’s so hard to say,” Gee responded. “I don’t think she’s ready to just be cut loose without an anchor. It’s obvious she’s ready for more friends, though. We should facilitate that. If we can.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that.”
“Me, too,” said Mr. Nygard, joining them. “We will welcome Nina here when she can be here. There will be special events that she’s invited to and might even be invited to spend the night with her friend in the dorm. With your permission, of course. But we don’t have the facility for the kind of special education she needs. Jeanie’s told me a lot about her and I’m glad for both girls that they’ve become friends. But RHS is more likely to be able to meet her educational needs.”
“We have contacts there,” Gee said. “I’ll talk to Principal O’Reilly and Susan Parris, the counselor there. It has been too chaotic to do before the holiday.”
“Speaking of which, I haven’t had time since you started working with some of our kids to ask you to be a guest speaker for our senior forum,” Mr. Nygard said.
“Senior forum?”
“Well, a bit of a misnomer as it’s not based on grade level as much as subject matter interest. Each week we have a junior forum and a senior forum. The kids can choose for themselves which one they’d like to attend. It mostly breaks out by age, but also by topic. The senior forum has a wide variety of guests, most recommended by the students themselves. You are currently the most frequently requested guest speaker.
“I don’t know what I’d talk to them about. I don’t have either a philosophical stand or a technical expertise.”
“The students seem to believe that you could share something about what it means to be a good person. Conversations you’ve had with some of the kids working on your crews have filtered into the rest of the school. This is a typical age for kids to start weighing their beliefs and values.
“I…”
“Do it, Gee,” Karen said. “I think you might help them more than you think.”
“Well, I guess, I’ll try.”
Remembered Terror
Having had such a fun day sledding with the other teens on Wednesday, Nina promised to meet them the next day to help clear the fence path. At the foresters’ office, a more organized crew awaited them. Jeanie and JD took charge of getting Nina properly equipped for her first day with the crew, which mostly meant a hard hat, gloves, and vest. She giggled when she saw herself in the mirror.
“I’ll work with you today,” Jeanie said. “Helping load the sleds is the simplest of the jobs but it can be pretty exhausting, too. We’ll take a lot of breaks.”
“Okay,” Nina said as they stepped out into the Forest. The paths through the Forest were snow-packed and showed a lot of traffic. People in town loved to walk in the Forest in the winter as much as in the summer. At the edge of the Wild Woods, though, signs had been erected, saying, “Caution: Hard hat area.” As the branches began to close in overhead, Nina tried to stay as close to the fence and open field as possible. She helped load the sled as quickly as she could and pulled hard to get it out of the woods to the chipping pile.
“Hey! Easy there, girl,” Jeanie said. “Have a drink of water. We work steadily to accomplish things but we don’t try to kill ourselves doing it. Rushing like you were, we won’t last all morning. Are you okay?”
“It… My heart… I couldn’t catch my breath in there,” Nina gasped.
“Oh. I think I understand. The woods can be pretty spooky but we’re safe with the crew. At least working along the fencerow, we can see a field and open sky. When we were working on the little trails that lead to the Patriarch tree, you couldn’t see more than ten feet in any direction and the sky was completely blocked. It can be a little frightening and claustrophobic. Don’t worry, girlfriend. I’ll stay right beside you. Just grab on if you feel panicky.”
“I’ll try to do better,” Nina said. “I’m glad you’re with me.”
“If it gets to be too much, we’ll call it quits and go get hot chocolate or something. Ready to try again?”
The two girls got back to the Wild Woods and began working their way to the cutting team that was a good quarter of a mile into the woods now. Nina focused on picking up branches and loading them on their sled, studiously not looking around at the threatening woodland.
When they got to where they could see the rest of the team, Jeanie pointed.
“Look. They’ve found something. We’ve been trying to locate other trails into the woods. Maybe that’s what’s there. Come on. Let’s go see.” Nina followed Jeanie, still trying to keep her focus on the open trail and not on the dense woods.
When they reached the rest of the team, they saw Gee and Drake headed down a barely-recognizable side trail. They weren’t cutting the trail wider, just pushing through to see where it led.
“I bet it’s this one,” JD said as he held the geocache handset for others to see. “It has to be. We mapped it about three weeks ago.”
“Whose farm are we next to?” Viktor asked, pointing toward the fence.
“That information is not available on this device,” JD answered in a pseudo-mechanical tone. A couple of the nearer kids laughed at his clowning but most were intent on the trail. Nina was drawn to the front of the group as if mesmerized. Gee and Drake were scarcely visible.
Her heart began to race. Her breath came in gasps. Her eyes dilated as she stared down the path. And when Gee and Drake pushed some blocking shrubs aside, she screamed.
Her shriek took everyone so by surprise that they fell away when she pushed back the way they’d come. Karen tried to reach her but was on the wrong side of the group of kids. Nina fled up the path and Jeanie went rushing after.
“Nina! Stop! I’m here! I’ll help you. Please!”
Nina was blind in her panic, pushing into the brush instead of staying on the path that would lead her out of the woods. She flailed at branches. Her face was ripped by thorns. She spun with no sense of direction, hitting another path and following it blindly before she lost herself in the thickets again.
When Gee heard the scream, he forgot all about the cabin they’d just sighted and turned to run back down the path. Karen was still struggling to get through the narrow space between the teens so she could follow.
“Gee! That way,” she cried pointing up the path. “She panicked!”
“Watch out!” Gee yelled. Two kids fell on their butts as he pushed past them. “Alyson! Take charge. Clean up and get out of the woods. Now!” Gee ran down the path in the direction Nina had disappeared. In just a few minutes, he caught up with Jeanie, who had been following Nina as closely as she could.
“In there!” Jeanie yelled. “I don’t know how she got through but she went that way.” Gee ducked his head to take the bulk of the scratches across his hard hat and plunged into the thicket.
Nina’s trail was easy to follow but no less difficult to navigate. Gee found tears in his eyes as he thought about the punishment the girl must be taking to fight her way through this tangle and disappear. When he emerged onto another path, he examined the trail to determine which way she had gone. He turned right and fifty yards on, saw where she had plunged into the thicket again.
“Nina!” he called. “Stop, Nina. I’ll help you.” No response came as he followed into the next thicket.
Gee broke into a clearing and got his bearings. A hundred yards ahead he could see the yellow vest as she ran. He realized where he was and put on all the speed he could manage to overtake the frightened girl.
Steps from the edge of the quarry, Gee dove at Nina and brought her to the ground.
“Don’t make me! Don’t make me go back!” she screamed. “I’ll kill myself. I won’t go back!”
She beat on Gee as he struggled to get her into his arms.
“Shh. Nina. It’s Gee. I won’t make you go back. I won’t let anyone hurt you. Shh, baby. You’re safe. We won’t let anyone take you away.”
She continued to struggle for a few moments and then collapsed against him, sobbing. Gee managed to get his cellphone out and thumbed Karen’s number.
“By the quarry. Bring a sled,” he gasped, still unable to catch his own breath as he held the panicked girl.
He heard a tractor coming down one of the trails through the Wild Woods to the quarry. As it came into view, he recognized Gabe driving and pulling one of the larger sleds behind.
“How did you manage? So fast?” Gee asked as Gabe dismounted and examined the girl in Gee’s arms. “Karen called the office. The girl’s passed out. Let’s get her to the Forest. An ambulance is on its way.” They lifted Nina to the trailer and Gee climbed on, steadying her as he held onto the sled bouncing them around. At the edge of the Forest on a service road, an ambulance awaited. Nina opened her eyes as they transferred her to a stretcher.
“Gee?” she rasped, clutching his hand. “Please don’t send me back.”
“You’re safe now, Nina. We’re going to the hospital to make sure you aren’t injured. I’ll be right here with you.”
Nina did not want to let go of Gee’s hand as she was wheeled into the examining room, especially when she was introduced to Doctor Poltanys. She had nearly the same response as the children when she heard the word ‘doctor.’ If she had not been held down, she might have rolled to her knees. She was comforted, however, as Ellie came to her side.
“Adam won’t hurt you,” Ellie said, responding immediately to the situation. Adam stood back a moment and let Ellie take over. “He’s not really a doctor. He just plays one in the hospital.” Adam snorted off to one side. “Now, we need to look you over and see if you’ve been injured. You have some nasty scratches on your face and your hands are all skinned up. Does anything else hurt, Nina?”
Ellie had visited Nina at the house several times and the girl knew her. The panic receded from her eyes under the nurse’s gentle ministrations. Eventually, Adam got close enough to examine the girl and put stitches in one arm where a hawthorn had torn through her jacket and shirt. The other cuts and scrapes were shallow but were cleaned and antiseptic applied. From somewhere, Ellie produced Mickey Mouse Band-Aids to apply to a couple of Nina’s cuts.
While this was going on, Karen arrived and was shown into the room. She was in tears and clasped Nina in an embrace.
“Oh, Nina! I was so scared for you. So afraid you’d be hurt. Run toward me when you are scared, Sweetie. Run toward me and not away. We will always protect you.” After a moment’s hesitation, Nina returned the embrace and everyone began to relax.
Mead Oliver sat near the fire as he jotted down notes in Karen’s sitting room. The children’s toys had been cleaned up but the tree still stood proudly with its colored lights blinking. He’d been served cookies that Nina had baked along with a cup of Birdie’s coffee.
“It was where I woke up. He told me I was Nina and I would go to Sir and Madam that day. He said Sir and Madam would take care of me if I did what they said like he taught me.”
“How long ago was that?” Mead asked. Nina looked to Gee and Karen as her fingers fidgeted.
“Nina hasn’t learned to add yet but she can count,” Karen said. “From what we pieced together this week, she woke up fourteen Christmases ago.” Mead shook his head sadly as he wrote it in his notebook.
“Do you remember what else happened that day?” he asked. “Did this sir and madam come to the cabin to pick you up?”
“No. After Doctor made me suck him until he squirted in my mouth, he put a bag over my head and carried me outside the cabin.”
“He made you…! You couldn’t have been more than five!” Mead exploded. Nina shrank back. “I’m going to dig the bastard up and kill him again!”
“Mead,” Karen said softly. “Don’t frighten Nina.” She turned to the girl held protectively beneath one arm on the sofa. “Do you understand what that meant, Nina?” She shook her head. “What Detective Oliver said means that the doctor who did all this to you is dead. He can never hurt you again. Never.” The sudden relaxation of Nina’s body caught Karen off-guard. She thought her charge had fainted. Nina nodded her head.
“Sir’s dog is dead, too. I stabbed him with the scissors before I ran away. He can’t bite me or… anything anymore.” Nina spoke the words without emotion. She was lost in memories and Karen feared it was too much for her.
“This gets worse and worse,” Mead sighed.
“Nina, honey, what happened after Doctor put the bag over your head?”
“It had a funny smell and I went to sleep. When I woke up, I was still in a dark place, wrapped in a blanket. There were bounces and bumps for a long time and it hurt but I knew better than to make a sound. I did not want to be punished. I went to sleep again until someone lifted me and carried me to a car. When the bag was finally taken off my head, I was in a house. Sir and Madam led me to a bedroom. It was very nice. Not as nice as the one Karen gave me. It was all pink and frilly and had a bed with lace around the edges and a lot of toys on the bed. ‘This is where a good girl will sleep. Are you a good girl, Nina?’ Madam asked. I nodded. I knew not to use my voice unless told to. ‘We’ll see,’ she said. Then she led me to a tiny room with a blanket on the floor. ‘Until you show us how good a girl you can be, you’ll sleep here. Now, use the bathroom there and clean yourself thoroughly. Then return here at once to sleep.’ I did what I was told. I was a very good girl.”
“And this sir and madam… they did the things the doctor did to you, too?” Mead croaked. Nina nodded her head. “Unless there is something else you want to say, I think we’ll take a break for now.” He stood and left the room.
He could be heard retching in the hall bathroom.
Comments
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