Christmas Alone

Christmas Alone

Alvin Kane looked at the clock, it read 5:15. He looked at his monitor on his desk, it showed only an empty desktop. He was anxiously waiting for closing time. Alvin worked at an insurance agency in New Jersey. Fifteen Minutes he thought to himself.

“What are your plans for Christmas?” Rachel Croft asked him, peeking out from behind her computer monitor. Alvin hated that question. For years people would ask him that. He would always grumble and say “Just going over to my family’s place.” However this year he was alone. Christmas alone, what a beautiful thought. Alvin’s parents were in Europe this Christmas. His brother Jeff was with his family out of state and Alvin was in New Jersey, alone.

“Nothing,” He said, smiling, “Absolutely Nothing.”

“Oh. Why are you so happy about that?” She asked him, almost offended.

“Because, every year I go spend Christmas with my noisy family who wants to have large parties and celebrations, family reunions and massive gatherings. Dad gets irritated because he just wants it to get over with. Mom is kicking everyone out so he doesn’t snap. It’s the same every year, so much stress. Don’t get me wrong Rachel, I love Christmas. I just want a simple Christmas. Christmas alone.” Alvin explained.

“Ok, well, what do you do alone? It’s Christmas Eve, what else can you do but sleep?” Rachel asked him.

“I don’t know, I’ll figure it out, that’s the beauty. I don’t have an agenda, I can celebrate how I like.” He said.

“Well if you get bored, you're welcome to have Christmas with me and my mother.”

“Well. . .we’ll see.” Alvin said, knowing full well he wouldn’t take her up on that offer. He gazed down at his monitor, unknowingly dodging Rachel’s gaze. She sighed and looked away from him. The clock read 5:30 which meant it was time to go home. Alvin stood, put his coat on, slung his bag over his shoulder, clocked out and smiled.

“Well, Merry Christmas Rachel, may yours be as merry and enjoyable as mine.” He said still smiling. She smirked back and watched him leave. She too, donned her dark pink long-coat, applied her hat, and left the building.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alvin was walking down the street to his apartment. He started to plan the night out in his head. In previous Christmases Alvin would anxiously wait for things to start up at around eight o’clock, until then it was full of screaming nephews, attempts to start a board game and Alvin trying to watch a movie amidst the chaos. Not today! He thought. Tonight he was going to make himself some hot chocolate,, watch It’s A Wonderful Life, and read a verse from the Bible in peace and quiet. Alvin smiled and straightened his coat and hurried his pace. A street Santa stood on the corner with a bell, singing carols with a pail of change for charity. Alvin walked this street numerous times, but this time he caught Santa's eye.

“Young lad! Donations for the poor?” He said. Alvin at first didn’t realize Santa was talking to him, so he kept walking. Santa loomed over to Alvin smiling. Alvin strafed away, weirded out by Santa’s advance.

“Money for the poor?” he tried one last time. Alvin noticed.

“Um...no, sorry I have….” He started to reply.

“Are you sure?” Santa said, smiling and cheery.

“Yeah I’m sure.” Alvin said.

“Oh come on, have a heart!” Santa said loudly. People started to gather around him, Alvin noticed all the attention was focused on himself. He was discombobulated. Santa stood with his hand out,

“Um……..okay, yeah. Here you go.” Alvin said, hurriedly digging into his pockets for money. Alvin pulled out fifty dollars and handed it to Santa. He noticed the fifty and his mind exploded. He needed that.

“No….” Alvin protested.

“What?” Santa said. The people were still watching. Alvin couldn’t take back the

donation, he sighed.

“Nothing, nevermind.” Alvin said walking off with a brisk pace. The loss of the money greatly angered him, even if it was going to a good cause. He crossed the street and something caught his eye in the window next to him. It was a pawn shop and inside was a silver watch with a gold rim. It looked a little beat up, but it seemed so appealing to Alvin. What is a nice watch like that doing in a pawn shop like this? Alvin thought to himself. The price was only twenty dollars. He looked at his leather watch and back at it. He reached into this wallet for money but realized he only had pocket change left from the attack of Santa. He looked back down at his current watch.

“Guess you’ll have to do for now.” He said. He straightened his coat and suddenly a woman rushed by bumping into him. She tripped hit the ground, he fell backwards. His and her bag went flying, papers going everywhere.

“I am so sorry, miss. . .” He got up and noticed her dark pink long coat with the black buttons. It was Rachel. “Oh, Rachel. I am so sorry. I was just looking at this watch and wasn’t paying attention.”

“No I should have been more careful. I just have to rush over to get my mother a quick present and grab some stuffing mix for dinner tomorrow.” She said frantically. She quickly started grabbing the papers on the wet ground, they were ruined but she helped nonetheless.

“No, I got this, you better go get your gifts.” He said.

“Really?”

“Of course, go, I can take care of this.” He said. She paused, but gave him a quick hug and ran off. He quickly picked up his papers, stuffed them into his bag and stood up. He looked back at the watch and started off to his home. He passed more little shops and tried to be wary of possible Christmas icons demanding money.

Once he arrived at the apartment, he checked his mail. His parents had sent him a small gift which arrived today. He entered his quaint abode and put it under the tree next to his brother Jeff’s present. With two presents under the tree Alvin did as planned. He made himself a cup of hot chocolate and sat down for his movie, then the doorbell rang.

“What?” He asked, he waited. It rang again.

He stood up, and walked to the door, he opened it and there were carolers.

“Oh…” They started singing a rough version of Christmas Bells. “That’s nice.” he tried to say to make them stop prematurely but it did not work. They kept singing, and singing, and singing. When they finally stopped there was a long pause. “So. . .” He started but they bid him a Merry Christmas and left. He sighed in relief and sat down again. The movie started and he sat back, totally content when his phone rang.

“Seriously?” He said, half expectant of the interruption. He answered it.

“Hello?” he said.

“Hi honey, it’s Mom. We’re are calling you from the hotel here in France.”
“Oh, that’s lovely.” He said trying to mask his annoyance.

“I’m just checking in on you.” She said.

“Well, okay.” He said back. There was a little silence.

“Are you heading to Jeff’s tomorrow?”

“I may or may not.” Alvin said, trying to dodge the subject.“I got your present.” he said back to her.

“Well I know you’ll love it.” She said. She continued to tell Alvin of her plane trip and how it is so beautiful in France and how she wished that they could have taken everyone. Alvin stood at his counter propped up by his elbow rubbing his temples. She finally said goodbye and he hung up and turned off his phone. He sat back down at his chair.

He waited for just a moment to be sure that nothing was going to happen. Once assurance manifested himself he started the movie and sat watching it. He sipped his cocoa delightfully. About half-way through the movie there was a knock at the door.

“What now!?” He said, angrily. He put his drink down, stomped to the door, opened it and said, “I don’t need you to sing to me!” He blushed after that. In the doorway stood a very startled Rachel.

“Hello Alvin. I’m so sorry to bug you but I think our work reports got mixed up from our little run-in earlier. If I could just get mine back, that would be good.” She said.

“Oh, you didn’t have to come all the way here for that.” He said.

“Oh, I was just in the area, my mother lives down the street.”

“I see. Well, I’ll get them for you.” He walked out of the room, rather embarrassed at his outburst and hurried to comply. Alvin grabbed his bag and pulled out the crispy work reports and switched them back with Rachel.

“Thank you,” She looked around his apartment. “So this is what Christmas at your place looks like.”

“Yep, just Christmas. Just Christmas and Christmas alone.” Alvin replied, smiling. She nodded and looked at Alvin.

“Well, I’ll let you get back to George Bailey.” she said, walking out the door.

“Wait, Rachel….” he said. She poked her head back in.

“Yes Alvin?” She said.

“Merry Christmas.” He said. She scoffed a little and walked away. Alvin shook his head smiling. He sat on his chair and finally finished the movie. He yawned. He was awfully tired, though he didn’t have dinner yet. He thought to go pick something up, but something told him that that was a bad idea. He was running out of ideas though. He grumbled a little and put his coat on. He slipped out the door and down the sidewalk to get something.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alvin passed by a cathedral and couldn’t help but notice the choir singing from it. The sound was lovely. He had always wanted to sit in and watch them singing, but never had the chance on other Christmases.

“Well, that’s what Christmas alone is for.” he said to himself as he entered the chapel. The choir was singing I Saw Three Ships. It was one of Alvin’s favorites and as he sat there listening to the music in the dim, candle lit chapel he indeed felt something he did not feel all night, peace. He just happened to be too late because that was the last song that they sang that night. He was quietly urged out of the building. He slowly moved over to the grocer and picked  himself up something small, and then something of equal size for dinner tomorrow night. He didn’t need much. He finished all of that and carefully walked back to his apartment. It was about nine o’clock when he got home. He ate his little macaroni dinner and realized he should go to bed. He finished his nightly routine and laid down in bed. All through his house was silent, nothing was stirring, not even a mouse. He was content, and then his loud apartment’s furnace came on. He almost laughed at his bad luck. He waited for it to quit and then fell asleep. The small tree’s lights in his small living room shown slightly into his room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alvin woke and walked out to the living room. He made himself a cup of coffee and looked outside. It was mostly light, it had snowed overnight. The world was new. He smiled at that. He moved to his CD player and put in Christmas music. It was mostly choral stuff, things he couldn’t play around his family, they didn’t go for that type of stuff. He sat at this chair and reached for his presents under the tree. To his surprise a small red and white wrapped box was on his present from mother. Alvin almost screamed. He stood and just stared at it.

“How-but. . .” He was confused. “Santa?” He said puzzled. Alvin had treated Santa very awfully last night, it seemed almost reversely ironic. He checked the tag of the small box. It read:

To: Alvin Kane

From: M.C.

Alvin was so taken back from the initial shock that Santa had visited him. He assumed that M.C. stood for Mr. Clause, who else could it have been? Someone playing a prank on him? Alvin didn’t know at all. He set it down. He just stared into nothing, he was in awe. He picked up the other gifts. He would open those first. Santa knew what would be best, Alvin wanted to save that for last. He opened the gift from Jeff. It was a pair of argyle socks.

“Jerk.” Alvin said sarcastically, for Alvin had gotten Jeff the same thing. He opened the gift from his parents. It was a large rectangular flat box. Inside was a laptop. A card read,

“We thought you could use this for work. Maybe you’ll visit us more with the time you’ll save. :) Love, Mom and Dad.”

Alvin was genuinely surprised at that. He insisted they kept it a secret from him and it payed off.

He opened the laptop box and pulled it out. He ran his fingers on the cover. Alvin opened it up and turned it on. He pulled out the charger cable that came with it and plugged it in. It needed to charge. He set it down and stood up to have breakfast. He was dressed in his day clothing now, and treated himself to a small omelet. He ate it and sat at the table, sighing in content. He looked back out the window, it was still glorious white. The clock read ten o’clock. His eyes rested at his chair and saw the small box from Santa, still unopened. He forgot about it. Alvin resulted that whatever was in that small box that Santa had given him would not exceed the laptop. He crossed the kitchenette to the chair and grabbed the box. He shook it. No sound. It wasn’t too heavy, he knew something was in it. He unwrapped it and opened the box. Inside was the watch from the pawn shop, lying on a little bundle of tissue paper, a small card beneath.

Alvin didn’t know how but somehow he managed to be more surprised than before.

“What on earth. . .?” his voice trailed. He took off his own watch and replaced it with the new one that he so admired. The card generically read: “Merry Christmas”, he tucked it into his pocket. He then marveled at the watch on his wrist. He had forgotten about the laptop already. The whole entire day, he set up his laptop, watched more movies yet the whole time was spent with the watch. He loved the watch. Alvin took a quaint stroll down the street, to be in the wonderland outside. He passed the Santa Clause on the corner in his travels and happily donated twenty dollars, the price of the watch.

“Thank you.” Alvin said.

“No, thank you!” said Santa back. Alvin kept on walking. There wasn’t much else to do now that he had done most everything. He went back to his apartment and sat. Doing nothing, Alvin almost went to Jeff’s house a couple times, but resolved not to. But Alvin did admit to himself that he felt lonely. For a good fifteen minutes after frantically searching for what to do he sat in his living room, staring at the blank laptop screen. Eyeing his watch every so often. Then an idea struck him.

“Rachel.” he said. He picked up the phone and called her. She answered.

“Alvin?”

“Hey Rachel.”

“What’s going on? How is Christmas Alone?” She asked him.

“Well…surprisingly lonely, but I was wondering if. . .”

“Yes!” She said.

“You don’t even know what I was going to. . .”
“You can come over to my mother’s for dinner.” She said.

“Okay. . .where does she. . .” Alvin started.

“I’ll come get you at five.”

“Oh, well, Okay. See you at five.”

“Merry Christmas.” She said cheerfully and hung up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a knock on the door and Alvin answered it. It was Rachel as expected.

“Ready?” She asked.

“Yes.” Alvin replied, walking out of his apartment. They walked for a little and Alvin asked: “I can’t believe your mother lives this close to me, how have we never talked about this before?”

“I know, it’s funny. I have actually pass your apartment so much when I visit.” She said back. They walked to Rachel’s mother’s house. The snow crunching beneath their feet. They arrived at the house and Rachel’s mother led them in. Alvin looked around and saw pictures of Rachel and her parents. Her father had died in the military a couple years back. The table was set for three and they all sat. Rachel’s mother said a short prayer and they commenced the dinner. Alvin remarked about how delicious the food was and how it was better than the small meal he had bought himself. Deep inside, Alvin liked Christmas with others. Maybe the change of scenery was nicer than being alone. Dinner ended and her mother went to the restroom quickly. Alvin and Rachel stood alone in the living room. Alvin checked the time.

“Love the watch, where’d you get it?” Rachel asked, smiling.

“Yeah, it’s a funny story really.” He said.

“oh?”  Rachel gave him a questioning look.

“I’m going to sound crazy, but I am ninety-nine percent sure that Santa Clause gave it to me. It was addressed to me from ‘M.C.’ Who else could that be?” Alvin said.

“Well,” Rachel said, “Did it come with anything else?” She asked.

“Just another small card that said ‘Merry Christmas’ is all.” He pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to her. He then saw the back of the card. There was writing on it.

“Hold on, there is writing on it.” He said, he was too focused on the card to see Rachel’s panicked face.

“It says: ‘Dear: Alvin. Bet I freaked you out this morning huh? I saw you eying this last night and I thought you would appreciate a gesture of kindness for your Christmas Alone. You don’t need to spend it alone you know. Sincerely: M.C. [Ms. (Rachel) Croft) :)]’” Alvin said. He looked up at Rachel whose face was buried in her hands.

“I’m so sorry I should have just been more straightforward with it. I slipped it under your tree while you were getting my papers and, well I just should have given it to you straight up. I’m sorry for sounding so weird on the phone, I thought you read the back. I didn’t mean to ruin your Christmas Alo. . .”

“No, no, no. Thank you Rachel.” Alvin said, solemnly. Nobody had ever gotten him a perfect gift like that. He hugged her.

“Christmas alone was awful until now.” He said. They smiled at each other. Rachel’s mother walked back in and moved to the living room where they sat on the couch and visited. At the end of the night Rachel walked home with Alvin. They rounded the bend to his apartment and they stopped at the door.

“Alvin, thank you for coming.” Rachel said.

“Of course, I couldn’t have Christmas alone, that’s just not what it’s about. Thank you so much for everything Rachel.” He said, he gave her a long hug. There was a small pause and he turned to leave. She stood there, watching Alvin’s back as he then quickly turned around and gave her a kiss. He then slipped back into his apartment leaving Rachel behind smiling. Alvin had anticipated a perfect Christmas, but it did not come from being alone. Both Alvin and Rachel’s wishes for the perfect holiday had been fulfilled within the company of each other.

Lessons In Sign-Waving: A Pizza Shop Romance

Lessons In Sign-Waving

Sam sat in the back room of his local Papa Murphy’s pizza shop. He had applied a few months ago and  was hired nearly a day later and quickly realized that he was awful at pizza-making. Most attempts to try led to a heavy scolding by his superiors and a strict order to go back and do dishes. Sam hated dishes, it bored him and he almost always ended up completely sopping wet. Then he rode his bike to his house in the cold February air. Sam almost quit, but then he found something; something he was good at.

When the cold winter winds subsided and the warm glow of an early spring set in, the sign waving began. Sam had been told about sign waving and from what he heard, it was not something he wanted to do. But Sam fell prey to the onslaught of his prejudiced supervisors and he was quickly sent out onto the sidewalk, sign in hand and headphones in ears. It wasn’t too hot outside and the light breeze felt good. Sam straightened the hat on his head and planted his feet on the ground then proceeded to gently wobble the sign back and forth in his hand, barely advertizing the generously discounted pizzas. But a new pizza shop had opened doors just across the street.

Dominos began to take all the business on this side of town. Sam couldn’t really care less about which pizza was better, but the manager sure did. Strict policies were enacted to make pizzas better and faster, leaving Sam outside sign waving alone. Oddly enough Sam didn’t mind. he would listen to his music and even flip his sign up into the air as he spun catching it. The first time he did this a passing car honked in approval and that led to Sam doing something he had never really done at this job, tried and enjoyed.

Over the weeks he would watch videos on the internet to learn new skills and tricks about sign waving. His standard of just wobbling a sign evolved into a very dynamic and explosive routine filled with elements of break-dancing and baton twirling. More and more Sam began to bring in customer after customer with his routine. The store owner noticed the new revenue that was being brought in because of Sam’s sign waving. Because of this Sam was given a promotion and a raise, he no longer had to make pizza’s or do dishes. All he had to do was wave a sign around. Sam was excited about it now and he was soon biking home with a smile on his face and a hefty paycheck in hand. All was fine, until she showed up.

One day as Sam tightened his gloves and grabbed the sign, he noticed a blue and red square sign bobbing up and down across the street. As Sam approached the edge of the road he noticed that this new sign waver hailed from Dominos and she obviously didn’t know what she was doing. regardless Sam started his routine but the eyesore of a sign waver was causing him to cringe as this girl tried and failed, dropping the sign, chasing it onto the street, or falling down because the wind blew her over and the sign went sailing. Sam had half the mind to go help her up, but when he stopped waving his sign, his supervisor yelled at him from the store to continue. So he just waved his sign with his eyes averted away from the poor girl. When the sunlight started to fade he was called in, while the girl across the street had to stay out and wave her sign. Apparently all the employees in the store had witnessed Sam’s outshining of the girl and congratulated Sam for his performance and sticking it Dominos.

The normal luster of all this praise was gone, Sam felt terrible for the girl across the street and wished there was something he could do. Papa Murphy’s generally closed earlier than most pizza shops, so when they closed the store Sam rode his bike to the Dominos to see if he could identify the girl. He stood outside looking in through the window scanning  the employees for a girl. He couldn’t find her though, his efforts were futile. So Sam rode home, thinking only of the girl with the blond ponytail flooding out of the visor she wore and the embarrassed look on her face.

The next day he quickly threw on his sign waving equipment and ran out to see if she was there. She wasn’t, to Sam’s dismay. Sam started to wave anxiously waiting for her to come out, an hour went by and there was still no sign of her. What if she was fired? Sam thought. He went back inside the store for a quick break. His coworkers, (Though they were grateful for Sam), still didn’t want to associate with him. Sam didn’t have many friends anyways, but he wished he had some at work. In the silence Sam took a drink, went to the bathroom and rushed outside and this time she was there. She looked like she was doing a little better, but lacked the commitment to really try. So Sam thought he’d help her, but he couldn’t get her attention. he’d try yelling across the street but the rush of traffic absorbed the sound. Sam needed something loud, that’s when he spotted a semi truck careening down the highway. He gave the universal “honk you horn!” gesture and then spun the sign on his finger, tossed it up into the air, leapt back and caught it in time for the truck to witness the trick and let out a long series of honks.

The truck passed and Sam saw the girl standing there, hands down and mouth wide open looking at him. He smiled and held up his hand. She looked confused. How could he communicate? He gave her a series of hand gestures that she obviously didn’t understand, but finally got through with a combination of multiple gestures. She started to mimic him. He started slowly flipping the sign, starting with the basics. He would look back at the store to make sure no one else witnessed what was going on. For nearly half an hour Sam gave this girl lessons in sign waving. After that the girl checked her watch, gave Sam a gracious bow and waved goodbye, smiling. Sam’s day was made.

The next few days would go on and Sam would teach her more and more. In a couple of weeks she knew everything he knew. They soon became thick as thieves. Every day would consist of dance battles between the two, parades down the street, ballroom dancing  with the signs and a makeshift battlefield; using their hands as guns and the signs as barricades. They successfully brought in business for both of their pizza food chains but to the employees it just looked like competition between the two. But Sam looked forward to each day that he could wave the sign in front of the pizza shop.

The bad thing was that he didn’t know who the girl was though. She probably went to his school but he wouldn’t recognize her without the Domino’s uniform, and he had only really seen her from at least forty feet away, not enough to know her face. So many times Sam would almost walk into Dominos, but he feared the employees would angrily glance at him for being the business stealing mascot. Not only that, but Sam’s manager told him it was bad for business to be seen philandering with another pizza shop. So she remained a mystery to Sam for the time being.

One day it was pouring rain and Sam still went out to wave the sign, and she wasn’t there. Regardless, he started to wave anyways. Pretty soon he saw the girl come out, either her manager made her come out because they noticed Sam, or maybe she just wanted to see him as as much as he wanted to see her. They started to do their respective routines. They started to use the sides of their signs as canoes and pantomime rowing in the rain. They were both drenched but he could see, even from this far away, a smile on her face. That’s when he knew he had to talk to her. He stopped his routine, threw his sign down and started for the crosswalk. His manager didn’t like that. The manager stomped out, water splashing everywhere, and yelling to Sam. But Sam just kept walking, until he heard three words. You’ll be fired! Sam stopped, half infuriated and half disappointed. He turned to his manager, who had a smug look on his face, and Sam went back to his sign. The manager nodded in victory and went back to the store.

Sam just stood there, rain pouring on him, he wobbled the sign half heartedly. A car rushed by splashing frigid, muddy water all over him, he didn’t care. His head hung low, he felt the sting of embarrassment and defeat. He started to shuffle back and forth a bit but he wouldn’t get back into his standard today. Then he slipped as an insane biker passed by unseen, and he fell to the ground. He didn’t need to look but he could feel the sting of his coworkers staring at him through the window of his store. He heard footsteps nearing him. I’m getting fired. He thought.

“Hey.” He heard, looking up. There she was, her hand outstretched. “I’m Olivia”

“Sam. . .” He introduced himself as he got up, shaking her hand. “You know, I’m probably getting fired for this, but it’s really nice to finally meet you.” He said.

“It’s alright, I think I just quit by coming over here.” She said smiling. Sam saw his manager in the window with a deadly glare. He looked at him, smiled and waved.

“Me too.” He said gladly.

“Hey, I just want to say thanks for everything, you made work bearable.” she said. There was a little bit of silence as Sam then looked at his watch.

“Do you maybe want to - um. . .go get lunch?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, I have nothing to do.” She said, “I should probably return my stuff though.” “Oh, yeah, I should do that to. I’ll meet you back here?” Sam replied.

“Ok, five minutes.” She said reassuringly. Sam smiled and went back to his workplace to return his things. The shouting that ensued didn’t bug him, life seemed to have muted itself as he walked out of Papa Murphy’s while the Manager still spouted at him. His coworkers watched him with a serious glare as he happily waved back to them while going out into the rain, which was clearing up now. He walked back to the sidewalk for one last time, to go to lunch with Olivia.