Just before Christmas, Gus phoned and said the kids wanted to come for the holidays. Isa had some real doubts that it had been the kids'' idea, but whomsoever''s idea it was, it suddenly sounded very good to her."Are you and Cindy coming, too?" she asked, her voice carefully neutral."Nah, we''ll just put ''em on the bus and tell ''em to stay sat or else," he laughed."Aren''t they a bit young for that?""Nah, Darelle is Miss Common Sense herself They''ll be fine."Isa didn''t figure Darelle for much common sense, and said so to Carol, who shrugged and shook her head slightly. "Maybe compared to the rest of them she is," she suggested. "Whose bright idea was this? Why don''t we go down, pick them up, and head back with them the same day.
Just whip in, grab ''em, blurt out the sorry, no, really, not even one cup of tea, we''ve got to hit the road or we''ll miss our ferry connection and - zip - we''re out again. If the kids get tired or we get tired, well, the highway is lined with motels from Gibsons to Madeira Park."It worked. It worked so slick a person could have been excused for starting to believe in divine intervention. The kids were waiting, quiet but so eager, their packs by the door. Carol smiled widely, said a brief Hi, how are you to the adults, and lifted the packs from the floor. "Will you help me with these?" she asked, and both kids were up, opening the door, holding it open, fuss fuss fuss."Sure you don''t have time for a cup of tea? Gus seemed disappointed.
"I wish we did," Isa fudged, "but the way they have the ferries scheduled, if we miss the one we''re trying for there''ll be a long wait at Earl''s Cove."I thought they went every couple of hours." Cindy''s voice was tight and mistrustful."Oh, they do; from here to Gibsons," Isa explained, smiling. "But after Gibsons we have an hour''s drive to the next one and that''s where everything gets bizarre. Oh, here, I almost forgot, I picked up an extra schedule for you, just in case you change your mind and decide to bring in the New Year on the farm."Cindy looked at the card before tacking it to the wall above the phone, and Isa knew she was checking on what Isa had told her about the schedule. Isa also knew that she would be able to skate around the truth with this woman, but not too far from it.
Gus hugged Isa. "We put a couple of their Xmas presents in their packs. Nothing noisy, though.""Did you take pictures of them with the tree and all?""Yeah, I''ll send you copies when they''re developed."The kids sat quietly in the car, wide-eyed, caught somewhere between glee and uncertainty."Will we stop for pees?" Donny asked, his voice not quite shaking."Oh, you bet we will," Carol said, as she drove easily through the city traffic. "We''ll stop for pees and we''ll stop for hamburgers and we''ll stop for good looks at things.
We might stop so many times it''ll take us six years to get there. We might stop for so many things we forget where we''re going.""Did Santa come to your place?""Santa left a note on our tree. Wait until you see it. The tree, I mean, not the note. I bet you haven''t seen such an eensy-teensy ittybitty tree before in your life.""Does it gots lights?""It hasn''t got lights. There''s no room for lights.
Our tree isn''t even really a tree. You''ll see.""What did the note say?" Darelle demanded."The note said ''What kind of a joke of a tree is this? Those kids will make you get a real one''.""Did Santa leave you a present?""Just a note."Isa turned to smile at them in the back seat. "And the note also said, ''Nothing for you until you have a real tree''.""Las'' year we went to our auntie''s place and had a tree and everything but this year we didn''t go because my mom hates my auntie''s guts," Donny announced.
Darelle jabbed Donny in the ribs with her elbow. Donny glared. Darelle frowned. Donny slumped back and didn''t say a word for over half an hour.On the ferry they had hamburgers and yogurt. They wanted to go out on the promenade deck so Isa took them. But they didn''t stay long; the wind was cold and their jackets were not new. In fact, Donny''s jacket was about ready for the dog''s bed.
"It won''t be long now," Isa said. "And when we get home you''ll have lots to do. Eggs to gather and cows to feed and if it snows, which it looks like it''s going to try to do, we can rig up a slider for you tomorrow."What''s a slider?""It''s a thing that isn''t a sled but works like one." The kids took one look at the decorated spider plant and burst out laughing."No wonder he left you a note!" Darelle giggled, "You''re lucky he even came.""That''s what Carol said, too. Well, maybe tomorrow you can show us how to do it properly.
""You know how. Gus said when he was a kid you had a tree one time that touched the ceiling.""That''s true, we did. And we had to tie it to the back of the big chair so it wouldn''t fall over on us. We don''t want one that big again. ""Gus said you always have turkey," Donny said hopefully. "Will you have turkey?""Of course. If you want it.
""We didn''t get no turkey yet. Mom said if we were going to be up here the lef''overs would just go to waste so we only had some hot wings.""They were good!" Donny blurted. "But not turkey.""You just wait until you see the turkey," Carol laughed. She headed for the freezer. "It isn''t a great big huge one because, well, your mom was right about leftovers. But we got a fat one.
Small and fat. Yum yum.They stared at the frozen butterball, then looked at each other and grinned."We unwrap it, cover it with a tea towel and sit it here on the drainboard to thaw overnight. Then, tomorrow morning, we stuff it. And you guys have to help, okay? And when it''s stuffed, we put it in the oven to cook and . see about that tree we''re supposed to rig up."The kids were borderline exhausted after the trip, but trudged to the barn to help with the chores.
They brushed the mare''s flanks until even the thick winter fur gleamed and glistened. They weren''t nearly as afraid of the animals as they had been on their last visit.When the chores were done there was spaghetti with Paul Newman''s sauce, and then it was bathtime. Donny almost fell asleep in the tub, and Isa had to towel him dry so he wouldn''t fall into bed soaking wet. Darelle lasted maybe ten minutes longer, and then was asleep, her face finally relaxed.The next morning they were up at eight, and so excited their adrenalin kicked the day into overdrive. Everything had to happen at once, and their voices got increasingly shrill.Over at the next farm the kids were in Junior Forest Wardens and had been selling trees as a fund-raiser.
Luckily they had a few left over; the smaller ones, the scrawny or tatty ones with gaps in the branches. "Good," Carol pretended to sigh with relief, "it will fit. I was afraid they wouldn''t have one we could tuck in the corner.""Do you got dec''rations?""We have some. And we''re going to make more.""How?"They cut the cups out of egg cartons, crumpled up aluminum foil, then smoothed it out and fit pieces over the little cups. They painted other cups, they strung cranberries on a thread, they strung popcorn, and cut stars out of styrofoam cups. While Carol played overseer on the assembly line, Isa whipped into town to look for strings of lights.
She thought she''d have hell''s own time, but the hardware store had tables of surplus decorations, and at less than half price. Buoyed by her luck, she bought some glittery stars and plenty of icicles and tinsel. She also took half an hour to hit the kids'' clothing aisles where the prices were about half what they had been before the great day. When she got home with the booty, Carol looked so relieved Isa knew she had been starting to feel desperate."Oh, good on you!" she breathed."Aussie rules shopping," Isa laughed. "No helmets, no penalties for using elbows. Here, kids, have a ball," and she turned them loose with the decorations while she and Carol went into the bedroom, closed the door, hurriedly took off price tags, wrapped presents and, finally, blessedly, carried them out to stuff them under the tree.
The kids stared.Then it was into the kitchen, where Carol already had the turkey stuffed and in the oven, and before long the rich scent of roasting butterball was joined by the smell of fresh-baked cookies and mince pies."We''ll get the spuds and veggies on to cook, and then . it''s open-the-presents time.""I''ll peel," Darelle offered quietly. She looked at Isa, then at Carol, and finally at Donny, who was slowly and very carefully putting presents under the tree, his face glowing with excitement. "And thank you. He doesn''t really believe in Santa Claus.
Not really , but . ""Oh, I think that''s pretty normal," Isa lied. I don''t really believe anymore, myself, but . you never know."The clothes fit and the toys were an absolute hit. Donny sat on the sofa, togged out in new stuff from the skin out, putting on and taking off his Garfield slippers. It seemed to Isa his body language had changed, he was suddenly more confident, but maybe she just imagined that.She had forgotten how much food a couple of kids can put away at Christmas dinner.
The butterball wasn''t going to drown them in leftovers after all, thank heaven. They ate until she half expected them to open down the midline, and then, when they finally announced they were stuffed and couldn''t eat any more, they dove into the dessert.Darelle helped clear the table, Donny stood on a chair and washed dishes and Carol dried and put them away. Isa scraped the scraps into the dog dishes, poured gravy on the dog food, and mixed the mess together before putting it down for the mutts. Then she headed out to the barn to do chores, and when she came back in, the kitchen was dean and tidy and the kids were in the living room playing with their new toys and watching television at the same time.By the time the kids were in bed, wearing their new pyjamas and stuffed with food, Isa was closer to exhaust.