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December exclusive - "Christmas Time" - Part 2 đđȘ
🕑 Added 2021-12-24 15:23:20 +0000 UTC15th December
Mum drinks coffee, because thatâs what grown-ups do.
Katie eats a bowl of Frosties. Sheâs 15 years old but she doesnât have to worry about her diet, she doesnât dwell of getting spots or gaining weight. Because she is an agent of the Parkdale Parenting Association, and she is bullet-proof.
She asks her mother (because sheâs a special kind of 15 years old) what her day has in store.
âSanta supervision,â her mother replies. âThis oneâs been a little terse, I want to be sure that heâs giving the children a good experience.â She laughs. âI know itâs a lot of kids, but nobody wants scary Santa.â
Katie sees her mother at work sometimes, at the shopping centre. Going from shop to shop, talking with the managers. Schmoozing, she calls it. Katie supposes that there must be a director of operations at every shopping centre in England, but thereâs only one who is also employed by the PPA.
To keep an eye out for certain things. Infractions. Runaways.
Weâve done good here, Katie almost says out loud. Havenât we? I mean, mostly?
Instead, she asks a question she already knows the answer to.
âWhat are the kids asking for this year?â
Her mother sighs. âOh, itâs Switch this, PlayStation that.â She smiles, takes Katieâs hand. âI remember you at that age. âYou obsessed over something as simple as Silly Putty. Or the year you wanted the doll that ate the peas and the cherries.â
ââBaby All Goneâ.â
âRight. Just a doll. Simpler times.â
Katie nods, scooping the sweetened milk from her bowl. She does the math; 25 years since she asked Father Christmas for the magic, pea-eating, cherry-gobbling doll. If she thinks about it too hard, she will feel dizzy, she will feel sad. Instead, she wonders what Luke dreamed about for Christmas, a quarter-century ago.
Buzzy Lightyear, maybe. Furby? A Tickle Me Elmo?
They have similar timeframes, and Parkdale has given them even more in common. Still, Katie canât imagine what it might be like to go out with him. In real life. Away from here. Because what is Luke like, away from Parkdale? What is Katie like? She has no idea.
âYouâve got a funny look,â says Katieâs mother.
Katie pulls a silly face, earning a laugh, and then says, âSecond last job.â
âGetting sentimental?â
Because weâve done good here. Havenât we? I mean, mostly?
âNot exactly.â
Feeling sappy, for the tricks and damaged lives? Mostly good, what sheâs done here in Parkdale. Thatâs what Katie has told herself for all these years. But only mostly. A passing grade. No, sheâs sentimental for what they left, when she was the real fifteen, when she didnât know how the world worked. Sheâs sentimental for when her horse was the most important, only important thing in her life.
And how about when her family was intact, when her only worries were like that of the children of Parkdale â sitting on Santaâs lap, whispering the most innocent of secrets?
She misses being spoiled. Entitled, they call it these days. Absolutely, she misses that.
âBabysitting after school?â her mother asks.
âYeah.â Babysitting. When Katie thinks about it, her job really is mostly babysitting. With a little science thrown in. With a dash of impossible.
Today, sheâll babysit Paul. Look after him until his mother arrives to collect him.
How many times has Katie babysat? In the hundreds, if not cracking four figures. The PPA will know the exact amount, down to the last nappy.
Stopping looking back. Time to let go of childish things. Hell, maybe sheâll start drinking coffee in the morning.
She takes her cereal bowl to the sink.
âWonât be late,â she says. She swings her schoolbag over her shoulder and goes to the hall, checks her reflection in the mirror.
âDonât look in the cupboard under the stairs,â Mum calls from the kitchen.
âIâm not,â Katie calls back.
âDonât. Iâve got presents I havenât wrapped yet.â
Katie gives her hair a final brush. âI told you I didnât need anything.â
âAnd you donât get to spoil my fun. Itâs just a few little things.â
Katie glances at the cupboard door and imagines it bursting open with treasures.
Something she actually needs? Matching luggage? A guide to the rest of the world?
No, probably like last year. The wrong mobile phone, a jumper sheâll have to take back. Sometimes Mum forgets how long Katie has been 15 years old, sometimes she forgets that itâs not 2006.
From the kitchen, Mum calls after her, asking what exactly Katie does wants for Christmas, because thatâs what motherâs do.
Katie laughs. âYou know what I want,â she calls back.
Because itâs been fourteen years, three hundred and sixty days since they arrived in Parkdale. And itâs time to leave.
To be continued...
