Page 41 of A Not So Quiet Christmas
Tears welled in his eyes. “It needs an angel to keep it company.”
“It needs something,” Jason said.
I hastily joined them at the coffee table, eager to divert the seven-year-old’s attention. “Why don’t we have a go at making a snow globe instead?” I said. Desperate, I reached down and picked up the relevant box. “This looks much more fun.”
“I want to make the tree happy,” the little boy said.
“But if I don’t have any decorations,” I replied, hoping he’d see reason, “what can I do?”
“I bet there’s a stash of them here somewhere,” Jason said. “There has to be.”
The man wasn’t helping.
“How about some colouring?” I said, reaching for the crayons. I looked from Jason to Seb, but neither of them were impressed. A tiny sob escaped Seb’s mouth and taking in the little boy’s heartbreak, I couldn’t understand how a discussion about a tradition that took place thousands of miles away in Toronto could have deteriorated so quickly. I felt at a loss. Having scoured the house for toys and puzzles, I hadn’t seen anything at all that might help me turn the situation around. I began to panic. Lizzie hadn’t been gone five minutes and I’d already made her son cry. If I didn’t do something, goodness knew what state he’d be in by the time she returned.
“The loft,” Jason said, somewhat randomly.
“What about it?” I replied.
“Isn’t that where most people keep their Christmas stuff?”
I stared at Jason, hoping he didn’t really expect me to climb all the way up there.
He looked at me expectantly, his expression telling me that yes, he did.
My gaze went from him to Seb, and with both willing me to at least go and check, I realised I was never going to get any peace unless I did just that. I sighed. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s go and have a look. But if we can’t find any, we make the snow globe instead.”
My two guests smiled. “Deal!” they both said.
They were right behind me as I headed out into the hall, trudged up the stairs and grabbed a chair from Aunt Lillian’s bedroom. I placed it on the landing under the entrance to the loft, but before I’d even tried to stand on it visions of Fotherghyll Fell flooded my mind. I hesitated and my hands shook as I steeled myself for the task at hand. I lifted my foot onto the seat before, much to my relief, Jason put his hand out to stop me.
“Let me,” he said, clearly recognising my plight. He climbed up onto the chair, opened the hatch, and pulled on the ladder above. Forced to keep hold of the bottom rung with one hand, he easily leapt off the chair and manoeuvred it out of the way to make room for the ladder to extend downwards. “Do you want me to do the search as well?” he asked.
I nodded, grateful, as Jason made the ascent.
“It’s a bit dark up here… Hang on a minute. I think I’ve found a light.”
“What can you see?” I asked, as the space above illuminated.
“Lots of boxes.”
I wasn’t surprised to hear that going off the rest of the house.
“But they’re all labelled.”
The sound of cardboard being slid around the loft floor filtered down, as Jason shifted box after box, while Seb stared upwards, his expression hopeful.
“Found them,” Jason said, at last.
“Yay!” Seb clapped his hands as he hopped from one foot to another, while Jason began climbing down the ladder, expertly negotiating the packed Christmas decorations through the hatch above his head.
I stepped forward, my arms upstretched to ease the box down and once his feet were safely on terra firma, Jason pushed the loft ladder up, returning it to its original position.
“I won’t bother locking it,” he said. “So we can put the box back when we’re done.”
“Now the tree will look happy,” Seb said, as we all made our way downstairs.
Jason placed the box on the lounge floor and his and Seb’s eyes were full of anticipation as they waited for me to open it. Reaching down, I surprised myself by feeling the same. Jules’s aunt had so many wild and wonderful trinkets and souvenirs from her travels, I could only imagine what treasures were waiting to be revealed.
