OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS
OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS
“Hi, just one ticket tonight?” A sandy-haired counter-girl dispensed another ticket from the automated machine. McNeill Carey had the night off from his job in Westchester County, New York.
“Just one. Isn’t your name Marla?” McNeill put the ticket in his shirt pocket.
“No, it’s Marilyn. You really enjoy the movies, don’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah I really do. How’s ‘Valentines are Red’?”
“I heard it’s pretty sweet. In the end I guess it gets a little sad. Hope you enjoy the movie.” Marilyn took care of the couple behind him.
The movie ended with a young woman named Lauren losing her husband to an accident in Paris, France. McNeill cried a little during the movie, and he wanted to stay for a second showing. He decided against the idea and debated whether or not he should take a taxi back to his apartment. It was late so he took one.
The mornings were always the same in his studio apartment. It was up by three o’clock and into the shower before brushing his teeth, grooming, and putting on his uniform. McNeill worked for the Covingtons on their ten-acre estate as a curator for their collection of luxury automobiles. Several of the cars were worth over one million dollars. He had been a steady employee of the Covingtons for nearly twenty years. Mr. and Mrs. Covington were elderly and their mansion was filled with a lifetime of collected Persian rugs, furniture, art work, jewelry, photographs, and awards. They were happy that McNeill was single since his time could be dedicated to his job.
“McNeill, did you remember to clean the tires on the Bentley? Also, I want you to wax the Jaguar a second time. I expect you to finish by twelve o’clock. Then you may take your lunch break. Mrs. Covington and I will be at the country club all day. Do not dilly-dally.” Mr. Covington walked away with his pet dogs Fifi and Lassie, who were collies.
“I’ll get right on it sir, and thank you for pointing out what needs to be done.” McNeill picked up a few cleaning rags.
When his day was done, he took the train back to New York City and stopped by a neighborhood convenience store for five microwave dinners. Turkey was his favorite, and spaghetti was his second favorite. On his way out of the store there was a family with a small girl. McNeill always looked first at the woman, and then at the man which she had chosen as a partner. And he especially loved to look at small children. He was forty-five-years-old and he had never married, nor did he have any children. However, from the time he was a young boy, he had always dreamed of marrying a beautiful young woman, and having children. For one reason or another, marriage had always eluded him.
“Hello, that’s a beautiful child you two have. Mind if I ask how old she is?” McNeill did not mind the awkwardness of his conversations. He was after all a very lonely man.
“Excuse me? That’s none of your business.” The father of the young girl was indignant with him.
“I’m very sorry. I’m sorry if I intruded.” With that McNeill walked off into the night back to his apartment.
In his apartment were posters from old movies, framed pictures of models from magazines he had read, and framed pictures of young children from some of the same magazines. On the table by his bed were a stack of movie stubs, an alarm clock, a travel brochure, a few pens, and a box of unsigned Christmas cards. Christmas was one month away in the city, and the stores were already preparing for the biggest holiday of the year. Specialty toy stores had their displays set up, and the children were eagerly ‘cherry-picking’ the toys they wanted. Christmas wreaths were being set up throughout the city, and the frozen skating rinks were full of adults with their young children. It was tinsel time in New York, and McNeill was all alone as usual. Newspapers and magazines were proudly heralding the coming of the merriest time of year. Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and Nativity Scenes had sprung up all over the city.
One night, when a young mother and her small son walked past him near Central Park, he took out his wallet and gave a twenty-dollar bill to the child.
“Oh, that’s not necessary. But thank you very much. Look Alex, look at what the nice man gave you. Say thank you.” The mother pushed her son in front of McNeill.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll bet Santa’s going to bring you a new bicycle this year. Or maybe he’ll bring you a new hockey stick. Bye now!” With that he walked down to the subway on his way back to his studio.
Before he went to bed, McNeill took a look at his television and began to surf the channels. On one channel he saw a commercial for a roasting oven that featured a mother and daughter cooking a large chicken. On another channel he saw a program for the Make A Christmas Wish Foundation, which was a charitable organization bringing Christmas to disadvantaged children. He stared at the television and then at a picture in the newspaper which showed an orphanage in England. Suddenly, he crumpled up the newspaper and threw it against the wall. McNeill thought:
“Not this year! Not this year. This year I’ll have a family like everyone else. If I have to rent a family, then I’ll rent one. I’ll have a ‘wife’ and I’ll have a little girl. I’ll place an ad on the internet. Maybe I could offer one thousand dollars for a single mother and her daughter to spend Christmas with me. I have enough savings. I haven’t been able to spend my money on anyone or anything.”
With that he began to type a personal message on his computer. It read:
“Are you lonely this Christmas? Does your daughter have enough to eat, enough to wear, or enough presents to be happy with? Spend this Christmas with a loving ‘Santa Claus’ who will bring good tidings and good cheer to your household. I am a single adult male living in Brooklyn, New York, who has a fine career in Westchester County, and I would like to make a young single mother and her daughter happy this Christmas. In addition to an initial gift of one-thousand dollars, all expenses for a wonderful Christmas will be paid for. Inquiries can be made to the following email address.” When McNeill was done he set out his clothes in preparation for work the next day, and then he dozed off to sleep.
It took two hours by train to get to the Covington’s residence, and when he arrived at the mansion McNeill knew that he needed to ask his employers for four weeks of vacation time. He had never asked for that much time off before, even though he was entitled to it. By his estimation the interviewing process would take the better part of one week. After that, he would have the time of his life with his ‘new family’. Since he had no living relatives, McNeill had a plan that involved telling the Covingtons that his distant cousin from London, England would be visiting him in New York for the Christmas holiday. In reality, he did not have any distant cousins that he knew of.
“Good morning McNeill, I would like you to clean the interior of the Gullwing Benz. An appraiser will be here to inspect the car for auction.” Mr. Covington reached into his coat pocket for McNeill’s paycheck.
“Sir, I would like to request a four-week vacation. I have a distant cousin from London who will be visiting this Christmas.” He waited nervously for Mr. Covington’s response.
“I was not aware that you had any relatives. What is his name?”
“Oh, his name is uh…Arthur McNeill Connelly. He’s from…Twickenham…sir.” McNeill had read a book that featured Twickenham in the storyline.
“This is quite a surprise. I’ll have to check with Mrs. Covington.” Mr. Covington walked to the mansion to talk with his wife. Mrs. Covington soon returned to the showroom to talk with McNeill.
“McNeill, dear, what is this about a vacation. You have never asked us for a vacation of that length of time. Please explain to me why you need a vacation.”
“Ma’am, I have a distant cousin from London who made a sudden decision to visit me in New York. I know that it comes as a surprise, but since he is my only family member alive I thought that it would be best if I met with him.”
“Well, I suppose it would be alright. But only once, now. And only for four weeks, exactly.” With that Mrs. Covington left him alone.
When people read the advertisement on the internet, there were a number of inquiries sent to McNeill’s email address. Some were from single mothers, some were from single fathers, and some were from couples. All of them were interested in the one thousand-dollar ‘reward’. McNeill had to wade through the responses, and when he finally narrowed his choices down to twelve he arranged for meetings at a nearby café in Brooklyn. On his first set of interviews he wore a tweed jacket and a ‘holly-berry’ pin on his lapel. At the café he set out brochures of toys, holiday menus from restaurants in Brooklyn and Manhattan, schedules of Broadway plays, and a box of candy canes. When the first mother and daughter pair came in he noticed that the daughter looked to be around fifteen years of age.
“Oh, hello and how are you two this Christmas?” McNeill tried not to show his complete dissatisfaction. He wanted to pick a young attractive single mother and her small daughter. After all, he reasoned that if he was going to spend a fair amount of money, then he would select his ‘dream family’.
“Look here, if you’re going to give us one thousand dollars…in addition to providing us with all the Christmas trappings, then you’ll have to pay us the money up front. So, there it is…my daughter needs a new wardrobe, and I need my hair done, a manicure, a pedicure, as well as some new shoes. What’s your decision? We are the right ones, aren’t we?” Matilda Jackson looked indignant.
“Well, Matilda…ah…I really don’t have one thousand dollars…I only managed to save three hundred dollars. I plan to get a loan for the other seven hundred dollars. So perhaps you don’t really want to go through with my Christmas plan.” McNeill was lying through his teeth. He simply did not want Matilda and her grown daughter.
“Why you lying rat…you disgusting man…you cheapskate…you lying sack…you filth of the earth. We’re leaving right now!” With that Matilda and her daughter stormed out of the café.
McNeill survived the Jacksons and seven other pairs of parents and their children. One of the pairs was a very young man with two boys, while another pair was a forty-year-old woman, who was still married, and her daughter. When the ‘dream family’ walked through the café doors, he nearly dropped his mug of coffee. The woman appeared to be around twenty-eight years old, and she had a daughter who looked to be around four-years old. The woman had chestnut colored hair and very beautiful blue eyes. The small girl had a similar color of hair with wavy curls, and also had blue eyes. The mother wore an old wool jacket over a t-shirt, a cheap scarf, and a black-knit beret. Her daughter wore what looked to be two jeans, and a small boy’s thick cotton coat with stitched airplanes and trains.
“Hi! You the one who placed the ad?” Alice Parker took off her jacket and placed it on a chair opposite of McNeill.
“Why…yes. I’m he. It’s a pleasure to meet you and your daughter. My name is McNeill…McNeill Carey.”
“I’m Alice Parker…and this is Jenny.”
“Hi, Jenny. And how old are you?” McNeill could not believe that his dream family was there in front of him.
The little girl tried to form the number three with her small fingers.
“Jenny, sweetheart you’re almost four. She’s nearly four-years old. Not yet in daycare. Can’t really afford to send her right now. We’re really tight on money. Welfare doesn’t cover very much.” Alice grabbed one the candy canes for her daughter.
“Take as many as you want Jenny. Take the whole box if you want.” He was beaming with joy.
“Oh, you know what, could you buy her some cocoa? I guess I kind of forgot to feed her breakfast this morning. And would it be asking too much if you bought her a little sandwich?” Alice and Jenny were sitting at the table looking at the cooler by the cashier.
“Sure. Sure. Anything you want. Anything.”
“And that’s about it. A trip to the toy store, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, a trip to the beauty parlor, a few trips to the department store, a few movies, a Broadway play, ice skating, a horse-carriage ride around Central Park, and Christmas caroling.”
“You know something? We live a bit far away, and it’s a little hard to get here.” Alice tried not to reveal her dilemma.
“Well, there’s an inexpensive motel close to where I live, or you two can stay in my studio apartment. I’ll have a couple of cots sent up with a cloth room divider.” McNeill gathered the brochures, menus, and schedules together.
“The motel sounds terrific, if you don’t mind? We’re a little late on our rental payment this month. Oh, and about the thousand dollars? It is one thousand dollars isn’t it?” Alice bit her lip.
“Why yes…of course it is. Here.” With that he took out his wallet and gave to Alice ten one-hundred-dollar bills.
“You’re a real lifesaver. Really you are. Say thank you Jenny.”
Jenny just sucked her thumb and looked up toward her mother.
“Well, we’ll see you…?” Alice appeared nervous.
“Do you want to move into the motel in about three days? I’ll pick you up. How’s that?” McNeill softly patted Jenny’s head.
“Oh…well…could you pick us up tonight?”
“Tonight?”
“Well…our rent is late. And our stuff is sitting outside our door.”
“Why yes, yes. Of course, I can do that. Hey, why don’t I come with you right now?” He tried to hide his excitement.
“Jenny, go and give a hug to…what was your name again?”
“McNeill. It’s McNeill. Hi, Jenny!” Jenny hugged him around his legs.
At the apartment building, he and Alice lifted six trash bags full of belongings to the outside sidewalk. Jenny carried her blue plastic bucket with a toy mermaid inside, and told him, “This is Little Jenny and she has magic.”
“You know what? She’s as pretty as you are.” McNeill just smiled.
“Oh, wait one minute I’ve got to get the manager to open the door. I think the guitar is still inside.” Alice hurried back to knock on the manager’s door. The manager reluctantly opened the door to the apartment.
“An electric guitar? Do you play the guitar?” McNeill picked up the red guitar.
“No. A really close friend of mine does. He might come back for it sometime. Where are we going?” Alice sat with her daughter on the curb of the sidewalk.
“I think we should take a taxi to the motel. I think it’s called The Seaview Motel. I’m not sure why it’s called Seaview, there’s no way you could possibly see the ocean from here.”
“Oh, look! There it is. Over here, over here.” Alice waved at the taxi coming down the street.
“Hi! We need to go to The Seaview Motel. It’s on the lower side of Brooklyn.” McNeill helped the taxi driver load the trash bags into the trunk of the car.
“We’re going baby. We’re going to our new home. Aren’t you excited?” Alice stroked Jenny’s hair.
“We have a new home?” Jenny smiled at her mother.
“The nice man is renting a home for us honey.” Alice touched McNeill on the shoulder to thank him.
“Well, not exactly rent a home. I’m paying for a motel room. But thank you anyway.” He smiled at the two.
“Wow, this room looks really nice. It’s really clean. The bathroom is nice, but the shower curtain looks a little dirty. But I guess that’s okay.” Alice continued to inspect the room.
McNeill was playing with Jenny as she jumped up and down on the bed.
“Hey, guess what? Tomorrow I’m taking you and your mommy to the beauty parlor, the big store for clothes, a visit to Santa Claus and the toy store. And we’re going to eat till our tummies are full. How’s that?” He could not believe that his Christmas wish was coming true.
“Thank you so much. Jenny and I love this place. Are you going to pick us up tomorrow?”
“Nine o’clock sharp. Oh, here’s some more money. For food and whatever else you might need. I think there’s a convenience store close by. Oh, before I go I want to take a picture of you two. If you don’t mind?” McNeill took out his cellphone.
“No. No. Of course not. Smile baby.” Alice held her daughter close to her side.
The next day, McNeill put on his best holiday clothes in his closet. He wore his golden velour pants, his yellow button-down shirt, and his green knit sweater with a cheery Santa Claus stitched on the front. Before he left his apartment, he grabbed three stocking caps. When he finally arrived at the motel, Alice and Jenny were watching television with a half-eaten box of powdered doughnuts, a bottle of chocolate milk, a warm cup of coffee, and a tuna sandwich.
“Hey, we’re just watching some cartoons. You’re welcome to anything here. There’s a tuna sandwich, if you like.” Alice smiled at McNeill.
“Oh, I thought we’d wait a little while for a brunch. But I guess you two were a little too hungry to wait. By the way, I got everyone a Christmas cap. Here you go!” He passed out the caps.
“Mommy…is he our new daddy?” Jenny looked at her mother and then at McNeill.
“No baby. He’s just a good friend.”
“When the cartoons are over we can head on out to the beauty parlor. I’m sure that you’d like to get your hair done.” McNeill walk across the carpet to get a doughnut.
“Sure. Sure. That sounds great. Jenny, let’s grab our stuff and head out to the hair salon. It is a hair salon, isn’t it?”
“Well, it’s more a full-service beauty parlor. It’s not too far away. Why don’t we go now?”
“You know something, Jenny and I only have some dirty clothes to wear. We haven’t been able to do our laundry. Money is always tight. Most of the time we do the laundry in the shower. We just hang everything up around the apartment to dry.”
“Tell you what, when we’re in the city why don’t we go to the department store to buy some new clothes. How’s that?” He took a look at the tawdry clothes that they wore and felt saddened.
“Did you hear that baby? New clothes! Jenny, you’re going to get the best Christmas ever!” Alice hugged McNeill and then took the hand of her daughter.
Ambrosia Hair and Nails was one of the better parlors in Brooklyn, and it took a while before Alice was called to a chair.
“Hi. And what can I do for you today?” Willie, a stylist at the parlor, softly touched her hair.
“I don’t know. What do you think I should have done?” She looked over at Jenny who was playing on one of the chairs.
“Well, with such a beautiful face as yours…I suggest a page-boy cut, with the length on the back a little longer than usual. That goes well with your beautiful chestnut hair.” With that Willie shampooed Alice’s hair and prepared for the cut.
“Hi honey, what’s your name?” Claire, another stylist, walked over to Jenny to give her a ginger-bread cookie.
“That’s Jenny. Isn’t she the sweetest little girl you’ve ever seen? Absolutely the prettiest.” McNeill smiled with pride.
When Alice’s hair was done, the trio set out by subway to Manhattan and to Saks Fifth Avenue.
“You’ve got to be kidding! Don’t you know that everything here costs a mint?” Alice was in shock.
“I’ve been saving my money for some very, very special people. And you’re both right here with me! Don’t worry. Pick out whatever you like. Seriously.” He loved playing the father figure.
“Three beautiful sweaters, four blouses, two pants, lingerie, two dresses, gloves, a pair of boots, and a pair of flats. Okay, and for the little miss a cute pair of dresses, a gorgeous wool sweater, a suede jacket, two adorable jeans, three t-shirts, one pair of tennis shoes, one pair of ballet shoes, and a comforter with a magical unicorn. Well, that about does it. The total is three thousand one hundred and fifty dollars. We have special Christmas bags. There’re canvas. Really beautiful.” The saleswoman placed the purchased items into the bags.
“McNeill, are you sure you can afford this? I mean it’s a lot of money. Is it too much? We can return some of it.” Alice tried to hide her excitement. It was the largest and best selection of clothes they had ever received.
“Come on Alice…Merry Christmas! Remember, I’m Santa Claus this year! Tell you what, why don’t you two go back into the dressing room and change out of your dirty clothes. You can leave them on the floor. I’m sure the store won’t mind.”
“Great idea! Hey baby, let’s go and change our clothes. C’mon.” Alice and Jenny took the large bags into the dressing room.
The three took a taxi to a delicatessen with the shopping bags in tow. When they got to the restaurant, they ordered their sandwiches. Jenny, however, wanted spaghetti. When the cook saw the adorable little girl in her new suede jacket he made a make-shift recipe with cut pieces of corned beef, toasted French bread, and tomato sauce with seasonings.
“There sweetheart! Spaghetti. What do you say?” Alice then took a bite out of her pastrami sandwich.
“Th-a-a-nk…you.” Jenny began to eat her spaghetti, and then she accidentally dropped a spoonful of the sauce onto her new jacket.
“Jenny!” Alice took a deep breath and wiped her daughter’s jacket.
“I’m so sorry. She didn’t mean to ruin the jacket you bought her.” Alice weakly smiled at McNeill.
“Don’t worry. I’m Santa Claus…remember? Good cheer and good tidings! Hey, after dinner I thought we might take a carriage ride around Central Park. We have a lot of bags, but I’m sure they’ll fit into the carriage.”
“Are you sure? It’s a little late and we’re kind of tired.” Alice was fidgeting with Jenny’s jacket.
“I know. How about a Broadway play tomorrow? Jenny will love the The Mermaid and The Prince. Great acting, great costumes, great music…she’ll have the time of her life!”
“Now that sounds terrific! We’ll take you up on that one. Baby, we’re going to see a play. Mermaids, honey!”
“Really? Mermaids mommy?”
“Real mermaids baby! And lots of other animals!” Alice softly touched McNeill’s hand, and thanked him.
In the days following the visit to Broadway, McNeill took Alice and Jenny to two toy stores, two movies, a visit to a Santa Claus at the Plaza Hotel, a visit to the wax museum, a dinner at the fanciest seafood restaurant in the city, and to Christmas caroling at Rockefeller Center.
“McNeill, you’ve been the sweetest gentleman I have ever known. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you’ve done for my daughter and I.” Alice kissed him on the cheek.
“Well, you know something…everyone needs to be loved.” He returned her kiss.
“There’s something I need to tell you. Jenny and I have someone special in our lives. It’s Jenny’s father. He and I…well…we’re together. He’s in a travelling band, and he just might come back to our apartment after a while. I’m so sorry. I know that you must’ve had high expectations or something. Why else would you spend so much money on us?” Alice turned away from McNeill and looked wistfully out the window of the motel room.
“I ah…ah…well…well…I guess I didn’t mean to intrude or anything. I really didn’t have any high expectations. Well, I hope after this Christmas vacation is over, the two of you will have a great time reuniting. Before I leave tonight, I’d like to say that I’d love to take you and Jenny out for a yacht ride on the harbor.”
“Oh, no…I don’t think you ought to do that. Really, the two of us are fine. I don’t want to lead you on. Thank you so very much, McNeill.” Alice locked the door as he sadly walked out.
Roger McCallister arrived back at his old apartment, and he looked for Alice and his daughter. When he did not find them, he asked the manager where they had gone. The manager gave him the address to The Seaview Motel, and he took a bus there.
“Hey! How’s daddy’s little girl? Alice, what’s going on babe?”
“Oh, hey babe. We’re doing alright. Did you guys play a lot of gigs?” Alice walked over to Roger to give him a tentative hug.
“Same old, same old. A gig here, a gig there. You know, always the same. Boozing with the guys. Same old, you know that.” Roger took a look at the presents that McNeill had bought for Alice and Jenny.
“Where’d you get all this stuff from? How in the world did you get the money for this stuff?” Roger started to get mad.
“Well, there was an ad and we met a really, really nice guy who wanted to spend Christmas with us. We didn’t do anything. It was all very platonic. I swear.” Alice was nervous.
“Are you playing a whore or something?” Roger walked over to Alice and raised his left fist.
“I didn’t play a whore! We just went Christmas shopping and stuff. Why are you so mad?” She became very afraid.
“You damn bitch!” With that, Roger hit Alice across her mouth. He then tore some of the new clothing and stormed out of the motel room.
In time, Alice and Jenny moved back to their old apartment and used the money which McNeill had given them as security deposit and rent.
Nearly two months later, on Valentine’s Day, McNeill arrived back to his apartment after finishing work at the Covington’s estate, and took out a large manila envelope from his mailbox. When he got back to his room, he opened the envelope to find a sheet of paper. The white sheet was covered with hearts drawn with crayons. In the middle of the paper was a scribbling that read, “Thnks…will you be my daddy?” By Jenny’s name there were three red hearts drawn in a row.
Excitedly, McNeill called Alice.
“Hello?”
“Hi! Alice?”
“Yes…who is this?”
“Ah…it’s me! McNeill. Remember me?”
“McNeill? Oh, hey…hi! Jenny, come over here baby!”
“I got Jenny’s letter. Thank you. I kind of made a present for you and Jenny.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a red-leather photo album with pictures of the three of us during Christmas time.”
“Really?”
“Yeah…and on the front cover I had gold-leaf lettering done.”
“What does it say?”
“Well…it reads, ‘Our First Christmas’.”
“That’s beautiful. And I guess…well…I guess I have a gift for you too.”
“What is it?”
“Well…I…ah…I…ah…would like you to spend more time with Jenny. And…I.”
McNeill laughed as hard as he could and said, “Well, it was a very Merry Christmas after all. It was a very Happy New Year. And it is the best Happy Valentine’s Day ever!”
“McNeill…thank you so very much. And Happy Valentine’s Day to you too! And by the way, could you buy Jenny and I some food tonight? We’re kind of low on money. Thanks baby!”
THE END
Note: It is God alone who gives the inspiration for these tales of love and romance. For after all, He is the God of Love.
Comments