Chapter 47

Gus and Lucy walked through the door about an hour and twenty minutes later. John and Macy were seated in the kitchen exactly where they were before putting the twins to bed. However, now they were wearing pajamas and matching plaid bathrobes. Gus was talking excitedly about the floor of the library in Paul and Andi’s house. During construction in the basement, Gus had discovered that the library floor was a sprung floor, meaning that the floor was self-supporting and mounted on springs to the frame of the house. This is something that only happens in the entertainment industry, where the floor is built to absorb the shock of dancers. “ ... so, the staid and stately library in the prim and proper house on 23 Howard Avenue probably started its life as a polka parlor.”

“That is probably why Miss Veronica likes to practice dancing here,” said John. “Lord knows there’s a shortage of Polka Parlors.”

“Polka Parlor? There’s no such thing!” laughed Lucy.

“Well if there isn’t, there should be,” smiled Gus, “The polka can be fun.” Lucy gave Gus a playful backhanded swat on the chest and grinned. “What, what did I say?” he asked, shrugging.

“Out for a walk in the snow?” asked Macy.

“We did that, then we stopped into Worzils for a hot buttered rum and wished Ayato and Julissa a Merry Christmas.” Gus was speaking of Ayato and Julissa Tanaka, owner operators of Worzils Bar & Grille, a watering hole that has been in Springville for generations. Every time the business changed hands, the name remained, but occasionally the final E on the word ‘Grille’ would be removed, only to be restored by the next owner.

“Was Julissa there?” asked Macy. She enjoyed the chats she had with Ayato’s wife, Julissa.

“Yes, she was behind the bar while Ayato was cleaning the tables. I invited them both to Christmas dinner, I’m sure that will be ok with the new Mrs. Jarecki.”

“Her new husband has always had an open table on Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving, I think she would adore that custom,” said Macy. Then she accidentally said, “I wonder what she is up to now...”

“Probably the same thing we were about 20 minutes ago,” said John between slurps of coffee.

“Jean Matthieu Jarecki! Sois gentil! Vous êtes un révérend, agissez comme tel! (John Matthew Jarecki! Be nice! You are a reverend, act like one!) Macy cried, grabbing a wrapped package off the table and bopping her husband on the head. She settled down and placed the package back on the stack and smiled. “Then again, j’espère bien qu’ils le sont” (I certainly hope they are)

Gus smiled. “We were still in our tuxedos from the wedding and Ayato got all bent out of shape.” He handed Lucy a cup of coffee.

“He said that we were turning his nice little hole-in-the-wall into a classy joint fit only for the ruling elite,” added Lucy.

“I told him to be careful or we’ll do a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers number when the bar flies arrive and drive them all away.” Gus pulled out his cell phone and showed them a picture that Ayato took of Gus and Lucy in their tuxes at the bar. Both looked happier than they could imagine.

“Enough with the alcoholic revere, we have work to do. First you have to ditch the tuxes...” John put a small stack of Christmas gifts in front of each. “Fred, these are for you, Ginger, these are yours. The new Mrs. Paul Jarecki requires that you open them up now, and when you see what they are, you’ll know what to do.”

Minutes later, Gus and Lucy were wearing new Christmas pajamas, Gus in men’s green flannel PJs and green slippers, Lucy in an ankle length green flannel nightgown with fuzzy green slippers, both were wearing matching plaid robes that were primarily green. Both John and Macy were wearing green based pajamas, his were men’s green linen pajamas, Macy was sporting a sexy green babydoll. “Ok folks, Gus, you’re on assembly duty, Macy & Lucy, you’re with me hauling stuff up from the basement,” said John.

“Wait, who put you in charge?” demanded Macy.

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s in the blood. The king of this castle is my brother so obviously the weight falls on my shoulders to manage this undertaking,” he said in a tone of voice that projected complete innocence.

“So what? I’m tallest,” said Macy.

“And I’m fastest,” chimed in Lucy, who got a high five from Macy.

Gus, who stood by innocently, said, “I’m just the guy with the toolbox who is enjoying this show immensely.”

It was past midnight by the time all the boxes were carried up from the basement and distributed between the living room tree and the parlor tree, then arranged by size and recipient. Andi had pre-stuffed the stockings and there were stockings to be hung from the fireplaces in the parlor, dining room, and library, and the gifts were divided between the living room and the parlor. John took great care in arranging the stockings; his first inclination was to arrange them in alphabetical order, but that just didn’t look right as he stood back and looked at the end product, so then he arranged them by size, smallest at one end, growing in size from left to right. He stood back and looked, and still wasn’t satisfied.

It was finally time for the “Walk Through” inspection led by Macy to insure the house was ready for Santa’s visit and the twins’ first Christmas in “Madeline’s House.” She and John couldn’t wait to see the look on the twin’s faces in the morning. “This house is so different from years gone by,” said John as they reviewed the Library. It was decorated sumptuously in holly garlands and evergreen boughs. Books had been cleared from the eye level bookshelves and a model Christmas village was set up, the tiny buildings lit and decorated, scenes depicted snowball fights, selling Christmas trees, a Christmas parade, while tiny skaters spun and twirled on a frozen pond and a little trolly trundled through the scenery.

“Oui,” agreed Macy, “It truly is different.”

“Looks the same to me,” said Gus as they moved from the library into the living room, making sure the decorations are perfect, the fireplaces full of wood, stockings hung, and the gifts are stacked in some semblance of neat order. “But I will admit that there are more gifts than usual,” he conceded.

“It’s not the gifts,” said John as he fiddled with the Lionel train that ran under the aluminum Christmas tree. He removed the New York Central Flyer train from the tracks where it ran faithfully year after year and replaced it with an exact copy of the train that Paul and John’s father had when he was a young boy, the Union Pacific M10000. This was John’s gift to his nostalgia crazed brother Paul. Year after year, they’d go through the family photo albums and they’d see pictures of Dad as a little boy playing with his M10000 and Paul would always remark how much he would have loved to see that run.

“It is the love,” Macy completed for her husband as she helped him build a tunnel of brightly colored packages for the M10000 to emerge from.

“There certainly is a lot of that going on around here,” said Gus as he looked around the room.

“This place was an echoing tomb until recently,” said John. “The only sound here was the sound of Gus’s hammers and saws as he rebuilt this place.”

“Yeah, I was avoiding an echoing tomb of my own,” said Gus with a sigh. Then, seeing the questioning look on Lucy’s face, he said, “My wife had passed away, the girls had already moved out, so I filled the void with work. Non-stop work, I spent a couple of Christmas Eve’s and Christmas Days right here with Paul rebuilding this place.”

Turning off the lights, they proceeded into the parlor, where the fire in the parlor fireplace was burning low. Macy and John made sure that everything was as it should be, then they lit a couple of oil lamps and turned off the electric lights in the room. “This is a Jarecki family tradition that goes back ... I don’t know how far it goes back to be honest, I just hope it continues,” said John, “through the lean years it meant a lot.”

“I’m sure Paul will remember,” said Macy with a smile.

“Really? On his wedding night?” John was aghast at what his wife said. He and Macy had several small silver plates that clipped on to the tree branches. Each silver plate had a small silver cup soldered to the center of the plate, and in each cup, they placed a white, four inch tall candle.

“Lucy and I put the candles on the tree, and I left a note for him,” Macy had a radiant smile as she and John lit the candles. The natural candlelight was more beautiful than any ornament on the tree, and the shuddering flames made the tinsel shimmer.

“You are so wise,” smiled John as they kissed, then he turned to Gus and Lucy. “All right folks, years ago when my dad lost everything, and he couldn’t find work, when Paul was feeding me from a dumpster, our Christmas was pretty lean, but we had each other. Mama used these candle holders and candles from St. Timmy’s to light our tree and to get our minds off of the commercial aspect of Christmas, we joined hands and told each other what the greatest presents God has given us was this year. We weren’t allowed to name pets or toys, so I’m just little, maybe 4, I know I wasn’t in school yet, so I don’t remember what I said. But I remember the look in Paul’s eyes when he said, “I got a job at Mama Giardino’s so you don’t have to worry anymore, dad.” He was so happy to provide for the people he loved...”

John stopped there for a moment, fighting back the tears, but with a deep shuddering breath he continued and his voice cracked with powerful emotions. “My greatest Christmas present from God this year was to see that look in my big brothers eyes again. His eyes, they were so dead for so long ... when he stepped out of the truck at church that Sunday, with Andi and those beautiful babies...” He broke down with tears of joy, unable to continue. He wanted to say how he saw that look in Paul’s eye, literally glowing from his eyes at the wedding, but he couldn’t form the words. All he could do was hug Macy as he fought to contain the tears of joy.