Post by Bella on Jan 5, 2008 14:26:13 GMT 1
Hi everyone,
Thank you all so much for your kind comments, glad you liked my writing! I've come up with a bit more of the story... it's seasonally a little late (well almost, unless like George and me you've still got your Christmas decorations to take down this afternoon), but I certainly wasn't expecting to be asked to write more. However, for all of those of you who did ask for more, here it is...
Bella
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George opened the empty cardboard box and began picking the Christmas decorations off the tree, wrapping the baubles in tissue paper and unthreading the tinsel. Ronnie was out doing boys’ stuff on this Saturday afternoon and Bracken was at a friend’s birthday party at the nursery, so George had the house to herself for an hour or so, enough time for the ‘season of goodwill’ to be packed away for another year, and the house to be put back to normal.
Tomorrow, Sunday, was the last day of the holiday, she reflected, and then she would be back at work. It had been a long break, probably too long, she thought. She and Ronnie had been bickering at each other on and off over the past two weeks, probably due to the fact that were not used to spending so much time together at home... at least that what was George tried to convince herself. It would be much better once they were back into a routine again and for that reason alone, George was looking forward to going back to work… that is, if it wasn’t for one thing. Nick. She sighed as she removed the Christmas fairy from the tallest spine. It was alright for her, just a lifeless, plastic doll who had nothing else to do but look down from the top of the tree onto real people’s lives, and the mess they made of them, George thought, a little sadly.
George still didn’t have a clue what to do about Nick. She wondered if she should have phoned him, to at least ask him how his Christmas was. It was probably a bit too late now, as she’d be seeing him on Monday. But she still shied away from the idea, feeling sure that it would have been one of those awkward conversations, full of stilted talk, and uncomfortable politeness, with neither saying what they were really thinking. The trouble was that George still hadn’t made up her mind what she was going to do, and she was running out of time. No, it was best that she hadn’t called Nick. She pulled off the string of fairy lights, sending a shower of green needles to the carpet. George looked down at the floor beneath the tree, recalling the pile of presents that had been heaped up there, ready for Christmas morning and the festivities of the Woodson household that day….
George opened her eyes and turned her head to have a squint at the bedside clock. It was still early.. too early even for getting up on a normal working day, only this wasn’t a normal working day, this was Christmas Day. She turned her head back again to stare upwards towards the ceiling, not that she could see much, as the bare winter light hadn’t broken through the curtains yet. She hadn’t slept very well, not only that night, but the preceding few nights as well. She knew why and sighed inwardly. There were now fourteen days to go before she went back to work on 7 January. That was fourteen days to come up with.. come up with what.. a plan? Or was she just going to be able to pretend that what happened last Friday didn’t happen at all? She very much doubted however that Nick was going to agree to go along with that. She tried unsuccessfully to push all thoughts of Nick out of her mind, not being able to help wondering what he was doing right now. No doubt in bed, still fast asleep.
At this point, Ronnie stirred and rolled over. George glanced in his direction and couldn’t help but smile to herself. At least, unlike Nick, she didn’t have to wake up every morning to find the other half of the bed empty.
“You awake?” she asked him.
He wasn’t really, but he grunted in acknowledgement.
“Fancy a cup of tea?”
“What time is it?”
“Early.. sorry, I couldn’t I couldn’t sleep.”
Ronnie turned to look at his own bedside clock. “What?!” he exclaimed. “God almighty, it’s the middle of the night!”
George laughed and affectionately patted the mound next to her. “Don’t exaggerate. It is not the middle of the night. Now, do you want that tea, or not?”
“Yeah.. OK,” he muttered, knowing that further sleep would be hard to come by now, but he was going to have a damn good try.
George got up, slipped on her silk dressing gown, and after checking on Bracken, headed downstairs. Whilst she waited for the kettle to boil, she put the light on in the living room and looked at the Christmas tree, with its pile of presents below, a large percentage of which were for Bracken. George smiled to herself. It was good to be part of a family at this time of the year.
George crept back upstairs and placed a mug of tea by Ronnie’s bedside, received another grunt in response, and climbed back into her side of the bed. It was, by now, beginning to get light outside. Ronnie didn’t stir and soon began to snore. Never mind, it wouldn’t really matter if his tea went cold.. it was Christmas after all.. the time of goodwill, and all that… not a time for picking arguments with one’s partner….
George sipped her own tea and found herself thinking about Nick yet again. She wondered if he was up yet. She hadn’t asked him about which of his two brothers he would be spending the day with, but she knew that they both lived some distance away. She presumed that the brother in question would have to drive to Nick’s house and collect him. Otherwise, it would be impossible for Nick... it would be too far to go by taxi, and there would be no trains running today. She also supposed that Nick would be staying over, as it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect his brother to celebrate a family Christmas day without consuming a few beers. George wondered if staying over in someone else’s house would be difficult for Nick from a practical point of view... it was something she felt sure he hadn’t done since the accident, and that he would probably feel far more comfortable on his own home territory… still, no doubt his brother would have taken this into consideration when inviting Nick over….
No, no, no.. she must stop this right now.. she must stop thinking about Nick and concentrate on her own family and their needs, especially today of all days. As if on cue, she detected the sound of movement from Bracken’s room.
“Ronnie.. you awake?”
“Mmmm.. sort of…”
“Bracken’s awake.”
“So?” came the unhelpful reply.
“I was wondering if you’d like me to get her and bring her back in here, so that she can open her Christmas stocking in bed with us?”
There was a pause. “If you must,” said Ronnie, wearily, still objecting to be woken so early.
George got up and went into Bracken’s room, scooped their daughter up and out of bed, dressed her in a pink fluffy dressing gown, before bringing her back into her and Ronnie’s bed, not forgetting to pick up the stocking full of presents at the end of Bracken’s bed. With George helping the little girl to unwrap the gifts, accompanied by lots of oohs and aahs from George herself, Bracken was too absorbed in the proceedings to be the slightest bit aware that her father was not paying her any attention. Ronnie did his best to feign sleep to begin with, but eventually, with all the paper rustling and the fact that most of the cheap, plastic novelties that George had insisted on buying for Bracken’s stocking all seemed to include some kind of annoying sound effect, he had to admit defeat. He sat up with a sigh, and tried to appear interested in the new toys that Bracken was eager to show to him. Looking at the happy scene, George slipped out of bed, leaving Ronnie in charge while she went to get showered and dressed.
After she had also got Bracken up and dressed in a new, red velvet frock that George hadn’t been able to resist buying, the family sat down to breakfast together. Ronnie seemed to have got over his early, rude awakening, especially after a strong coffee or two, and with no newspaper to bury his nose in, he helped with the tidying up afterwards. Breakfast was followed by present opening. George’s gift to Ronnie was a pair of cufflinks that she had picked out a couple of weeks ago. From Ronnie, she received a small box, which she opened to find a beautiful and unusual silver necklace with inset beadwork in shades of warm browns and blues. It was absolutely gorgeous. Ronnie was generally pretty good at buying George the perfect present, but this time, she thought to herself, he had excelled in his choice of gift, and she felt quite touched by the amount of care had obviously put into selecting the item.
“Do you like it?” Ronnie asked. “I thought it would go with that velvety dress you’ve got.. you know the one with a blue top and lacy sleeves. You’ve worn it quite recently… one day last week, perhaps?”
“Oh? Have I?” George frowned slightly, giving the impression that she was trying to remember when she last wore that particular outfit. Inside, she was surprised and perhaps a little uncomfortable about Ronnie being able to remember anything about the clothes she had been wearing last week… it seemed unusually observant of him, and she suddenly wondered what if there was anything else about her that he might have observed.
Ronnie looked thoughtful. “Yes… In fact I think it was on Friday. When you went out for a drink after work and came home a bit later. I remember that you were wearing that dress then. That’s when I realised that the necklace matched it perfectly.”
“Wow. I had no idea that you paid that much attention to my clothes.” George managed to keep her voice neutral.
“Of course I notice what you wear.. sometimes,” he added this last word in jest. “I like it when you look nice.” He paused. “So, do you like the necklace?”
“Yes of course… I love it, really I do. It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
George shut the box and stood up. “Right then, time to start preparing Christmas dinner.”
“Can I help?” asked Ronnie.
“Oh no… I’ll be fine…” George said quickly. “Just keep an eye on Bracken will you... make sure that she doesn’t get the lids off those finger paints, will you?” she added as an afterthought. Somehow, she just didn’t want Ronnie hovering around in the background whilst she tried to apply herself to the task of cooking dinner.
George stood at the kitchen draining board, shoving stuffing into the turkey. It was not her favourite job, but for her, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without all the trimmings. She had only bought a small bird, thankfully, just enough for the three of them. She reflected on how it was a good thing that none of their relatives were visiting this year. Much as she loved both her own family and Ronnie’s, some of them were a little too sharp-eyed for her liking, and there was a risk of them picking up on any hidden tensions in the household.
“Cheers!” George jumped suddenly on hearing Ronnie’s voice. She was startled to find him right behind her, having been unaware that he had come into the kitchen. He was holding two glasses of red wine.
“Ronnie!” George exclaimed. “Don’t do that to me.” She gave a little laugh to try and disguise her jumpiness. “I had no idea that you were right behind me,” she explained.
“No? So who did you expect to see standing there, then?” Ronnie teased.
George felt herself beginning to flush and hoped that her make-up would cover her pinkness. It crossed her mind that, ironically, whoever else might have been standing there, it couldn’t have been Nick. She pushed the thought away and turned away from Ronnie. “Sorry.. no-one.. you know what I meant…” She hoped that Ronnie hadn’t noticed her general edginess, or if he had, that he wasn’t going to comment on it.
“Here, you’d better have some of this.” He held up the glass of wine that he had poured for George.
She raised her hands, covered in stuffing. “Sorry… not a good moment.”
Ronnie smiled and placed the glass of wine next to the sink. “I was also going to ask you if it was a good moment for a Christmas kiss… but I can see that it isn’t really..”
“No… I’m afraid that you’ll have to make do with just a peck on the cheek for now.” They leaned towards each other, lips touching briefly, George thinking that this was both the most and the least she could do for now. There was a wail from the sitting room. George looked at Ronnie. “I thought I asked you to keep an eye on her.”
“Yeah.. sorry.” Ronnie left the room.
George took a deep breath. ‘Get a grip of yourself, girl,’ she told herself. She really must try and not be so tetchy or on edge. She looked at the glass of wine,. That wasn’t necessarily going to help either, after all, look what happened the last time that she had got drunk, she reminded herself grimly.
Christmas dinner passed without event, George managing to keep up the illusion of being part of one big happy family. Having the distraction of Bracken was a huge help, as George felt sure that she would not have been able to do it if it had been just her and Ronnie. After they had finished dinner, and tidied away, George sat on the floor in the living room, helping Bracken with her new toys. Ronnie sat on the sofa, and looked down at George.
“Is this a good time to remind you that I still haven’t had my proper Christmas kiss?”
“Er…” George wavered, then realised that Ronnie might question her hesitation. “You know, I think it might be.”
Ronnie patted the sofa next to him. “So…?”
George got to her feet and sat down next to Ronnie. He put his arm round her. “Come here… gorgeous.”
With mixed feelings, George snuggled up to him. He stroked her hair and she smiled. Perhaps he wasn’t a bad husband, really, she reflected. She’ll find a way through this mess, she had to. George and Ronnie looked down at Bracken who was sitting on the floor, unknowingly mirroring Ronnie’s actions, as she stroked the long, floppy ears of a new, soft bunny toy that George and Ronnie had picked out together as a present for their daughter.
“Aaahhh,” said George. “She really loves that rabbit already.”
“Mmmm… and I love you. Happy Christmas, sweetheart.” Ronnie kissed George tenderly.
George comes to, from her reminiscing. She sits down on the sofa, and notices that the cuddly bunny, which has been left sitting on a chair in the corner, appears to be staring back at her. She looks at her watch. It’s nearly time to collect Bracken from the party. She closes the box of decorations, and, with the thought that the next time the box is opened, another whole year will have passed, she seals it with a strip of parcel tape, for Ronnie to stow away in the attic.
Thank you all so much for your kind comments, glad you liked my writing! I've come up with a bit more of the story... it's seasonally a little late (well almost, unless like George and me you've still got your Christmas decorations to take down this afternoon), but I certainly wasn't expecting to be asked to write more. However, for all of those of you who did ask for more, here it is...
Bella
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George opened the empty cardboard box and began picking the Christmas decorations off the tree, wrapping the baubles in tissue paper and unthreading the tinsel. Ronnie was out doing boys’ stuff on this Saturday afternoon and Bracken was at a friend’s birthday party at the nursery, so George had the house to herself for an hour or so, enough time for the ‘season of goodwill’ to be packed away for another year, and the house to be put back to normal.
Tomorrow, Sunday, was the last day of the holiday, she reflected, and then she would be back at work. It had been a long break, probably too long, she thought. She and Ronnie had been bickering at each other on and off over the past two weeks, probably due to the fact that were not used to spending so much time together at home... at least that what was George tried to convince herself. It would be much better once they were back into a routine again and for that reason alone, George was looking forward to going back to work… that is, if it wasn’t for one thing. Nick. She sighed as she removed the Christmas fairy from the tallest spine. It was alright for her, just a lifeless, plastic doll who had nothing else to do but look down from the top of the tree onto real people’s lives, and the mess they made of them, George thought, a little sadly.
George still didn’t have a clue what to do about Nick. She wondered if she should have phoned him, to at least ask him how his Christmas was. It was probably a bit too late now, as she’d be seeing him on Monday. But she still shied away from the idea, feeling sure that it would have been one of those awkward conversations, full of stilted talk, and uncomfortable politeness, with neither saying what they were really thinking. The trouble was that George still hadn’t made up her mind what she was going to do, and she was running out of time. No, it was best that she hadn’t called Nick. She pulled off the string of fairy lights, sending a shower of green needles to the carpet. George looked down at the floor beneath the tree, recalling the pile of presents that had been heaped up there, ready for Christmas morning and the festivities of the Woodson household that day….
George opened her eyes and turned her head to have a squint at the bedside clock. It was still early.. too early even for getting up on a normal working day, only this wasn’t a normal working day, this was Christmas Day. She turned her head back again to stare upwards towards the ceiling, not that she could see much, as the bare winter light hadn’t broken through the curtains yet. She hadn’t slept very well, not only that night, but the preceding few nights as well. She knew why and sighed inwardly. There were now fourteen days to go before she went back to work on 7 January. That was fourteen days to come up with.. come up with what.. a plan? Or was she just going to be able to pretend that what happened last Friday didn’t happen at all? She very much doubted however that Nick was going to agree to go along with that. She tried unsuccessfully to push all thoughts of Nick out of her mind, not being able to help wondering what he was doing right now. No doubt in bed, still fast asleep.
At this point, Ronnie stirred and rolled over. George glanced in his direction and couldn’t help but smile to herself. At least, unlike Nick, she didn’t have to wake up every morning to find the other half of the bed empty.
“You awake?” she asked him.
He wasn’t really, but he grunted in acknowledgement.
“Fancy a cup of tea?”
“What time is it?”
“Early.. sorry, I couldn’t I couldn’t sleep.”
Ronnie turned to look at his own bedside clock. “What?!” he exclaimed. “God almighty, it’s the middle of the night!”
George laughed and affectionately patted the mound next to her. “Don’t exaggerate. It is not the middle of the night. Now, do you want that tea, or not?”
“Yeah.. OK,” he muttered, knowing that further sleep would be hard to come by now, but he was going to have a damn good try.
George got up, slipped on her silk dressing gown, and after checking on Bracken, headed downstairs. Whilst she waited for the kettle to boil, she put the light on in the living room and looked at the Christmas tree, with its pile of presents below, a large percentage of which were for Bracken. George smiled to herself. It was good to be part of a family at this time of the year.
George crept back upstairs and placed a mug of tea by Ronnie’s bedside, received another grunt in response, and climbed back into her side of the bed. It was, by now, beginning to get light outside. Ronnie didn’t stir and soon began to snore. Never mind, it wouldn’t really matter if his tea went cold.. it was Christmas after all.. the time of goodwill, and all that… not a time for picking arguments with one’s partner….
George sipped her own tea and found herself thinking about Nick yet again. She wondered if he was up yet. She hadn’t asked him about which of his two brothers he would be spending the day with, but she knew that they both lived some distance away. She presumed that the brother in question would have to drive to Nick’s house and collect him. Otherwise, it would be impossible for Nick... it would be too far to go by taxi, and there would be no trains running today. She also supposed that Nick would be staying over, as it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect his brother to celebrate a family Christmas day without consuming a few beers. George wondered if staying over in someone else’s house would be difficult for Nick from a practical point of view... it was something she felt sure he hadn’t done since the accident, and that he would probably feel far more comfortable on his own home territory… still, no doubt his brother would have taken this into consideration when inviting Nick over….
No, no, no.. she must stop this right now.. she must stop thinking about Nick and concentrate on her own family and their needs, especially today of all days. As if on cue, she detected the sound of movement from Bracken’s room.
“Ronnie.. you awake?”
“Mmmm.. sort of…”
“Bracken’s awake.”
“So?” came the unhelpful reply.
“I was wondering if you’d like me to get her and bring her back in here, so that she can open her Christmas stocking in bed with us?”
There was a pause. “If you must,” said Ronnie, wearily, still objecting to be woken so early.
George got up and went into Bracken’s room, scooped their daughter up and out of bed, dressed her in a pink fluffy dressing gown, before bringing her back into her and Ronnie’s bed, not forgetting to pick up the stocking full of presents at the end of Bracken’s bed. With George helping the little girl to unwrap the gifts, accompanied by lots of oohs and aahs from George herself, Bracken was too absorbed in the proceedings to be the slightest bit aware that her father was not paying her any attention. Ronnie did his best to feign sleep to begin with, but eventually, with all the paper rustling and the fact that most of the cheap, plastic novelties that George had insisted on buying for Bracken’s stocking all seemed to include some kind of annoying sound effect, he had to admit defeat. He sat up with a sigh, and tried to appear interested in the new toys that Bracken was eager to show to him. Looking at the happy scene, George slipped out of bed, leaving Ronnie in charge while she went to get showered and dressed.
After she had also got Bracken up and dressed in a new, red velvet frock that George hadn’t been able to resist buying, the family sat down to breakfast together. Ronnie seemed to have got over his early, rude awakening, especially after a strong coffee or two, and with no newspaper to bury his nose in, he helped with the tidying up afterwards. Breakfast was followed by present opening. George’s gift to Ronnie was a pair of cufflinks that she had picked out a couple of weeks ago. From Ronnie, she received a small box, which she opened to find a beautiful and unusual silver necklace with inset beadwork in shades of warm browns and blues. It was absolutely gorgeous. Ronnie was generally pretty good at buying George the perfect present, but this time, she thought to herself, he had excelled in his choice of gift, and she felt quite touched by the amount of care had obviously put into selecting the item.
“Do you like it?” Ronnie asked. “I thought it would go with that velvety dress you’ve got.. you know the one with a blue top and lacy sleeves. You’ve worn it quite recently… one day last week, perhaps?”
“Oh? Have I?” George frowned slightly, giving the impression that she was trying to remember when she last wore that particular outfit. Inside, she was surprised and perhaps a little uncomfortable about Ronnie being able to remember anything about the clothes she had been wearing last week… it seemed unusually observant of him, and she suddenly wondered what if there was anything else about her that he might have observed.
Ronnie looked thoughtful. “Yes… In fact I think it was on Friday. When you went out for a drink after work and came home a bit later. I remember that you were wearing that dress then. That’s when I realised that the necklace matched it perfectly.”
“Wow. I had no idea that you paid that much attention to my clothes.” George managed to keep her voice neutral.
“Of course I notice what you wear.. sometimes,” he added this last word in jest. “I like it when you look nice.” He paused. “So, do you like the necklace?”
“Yes of course… I love it, really I do. It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
George shut the box and stood up. “Right then, time to start preparing Christmas dinner.”
“Can I help?” asked Ronnie.
“Oh no… I’ll be fine…” George said quickly. “Just keep an eye on Bracken will you... make sure that she doesn’t get the lids off those finger paints, will you?” she added as an afterthought. Somehow, she just didn’t want Ronnie hovering around in the background whilst she tried to apply herself to the task of cooking dinner.
George stood at the kitchen draining board, shoving stuffing into the turkey. It was not her favourite job, but for her, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without all the trimmings. She had only bought a small bird, thankfully, just enough for the three of them. She reflected on how it was a good thing that none of their relatives were visiting this year. Much as she loved both her own family and Ronnie’s, some of them were a little too sharp-eyed for her liking, and there was a risk of them picking up on any hidden tensions in the household.
“Cheers!” George jumped suddenly on hearing Ronnie’s voice. She was startled to find him right behind her, having been unaware that he had come into the kitchen. He was holding two glasses of red wine.
“Ronnie!” George exclaimed. “Don’t do that to me.” She gave a little laugh to try and disguise her jumpiness. “I had no idea that you were right behind me,” she explained.
“No? So who did you expect to see standing there, then?” Ronnie teased.
George felt herself beginning to flush and hoped that her make-up would cover her pinkness. It crossed her mind that, ironically, whoever else might have been standing there, it couldn’t have been Nick. She pushed the thought away and turned away from Ronnie. “Sorry.. no-one.. you know what I meant…” She hoped that Ronnie hadn’t noticed her general edginess, or if he had, that he wasn’t going to comment on it.
“Here, you’d better have some of this.” He held up the glass of wine that he had poured for George.
She raised her hands, covered in stuffing. “Sorry… not a good moment.”
Ronnie smiled and placed the glass of wine next to the sink. “I was also going to ask you if it was a good moment for a Christmas kiss… but I can see that it isn’t really..”
“No… I’m afraid that you’ll have to make do with just a peck on the cheek for now.” They leaned towards each other, lips touching briefly, George thinking that this was both the most and the least she could do for now. There was a wail from the sitting room. George looked at Ronnie. “I thought I asked you to keep an eye on her.”
“Yeah.. sorry.” Ronnie left the room.
George took a deep breath. ‘Get a grip of yourself, girl,’ she told herself. She really must try and not be so tetchy or on edge. She looked at the glass of wine,. That wasn’t necessarily going to help either, after all, look what happened the last time that she had got drunk, she reminded herself grimly.
Christmas dinner passed without event, George managing to keep up the illusion of being part of one big happy family. Having the distraction of Bracken was a huge help, as George felt sure that she would not have been able to do it if it had been just her and Ronnie. After they had finished dinner, and tidied away, George sat on the floor in the living room, helping Bracken with her new toys. Ronnie sat on the sofa, and looked down at George.
“Is this a good time to remind you that I still haven’t had my proper Christmas kiss?”
“Er…” George wavered, then realised that Ronnie might question her hesitation. “You know, I think it might be.”
Ronnie patted the sofa next to him. “So…?”
George got to her feet and sat down next to Ronnie. He put his arm round her. “Come here… gorgeous.”
With mixed feelings, George snuggled up to him. He stroked her hair and she smiled. Perhaps he wasn’t a bad husband, really, she reflected. She’ll find a way through this mess, she had to. George and Ronnie looked down at Bracken who was sitting on the floor, unknowingly mirroring Ronnie’s actions, as she stroked the long, floppy ears of a new, soft bunny toy that George and Ronnie had picked out together as a present for their daughter.
“Aaahhh,” said George. “She really loves that rabbit already.”
“Mmmm… and I love you. Happy Christmas, sweetheart.” Ronnie kissed George tenderly.
George comes to, from her reminiscing. She sits down on the sofa, and notices that the cuddly bunny, which has been left sitting on a chair in the corner, appears to be staring back at her. She looks at her watch. It’s nearly time to collect Bracken from the party. She closes the box of decorations, and, with the thought that the next time the box is opened, another whole year will have passed, she seals it with a strip of parcel tape, for Ronnie to stow away in the attic.