“Well, my momma wasn't home when I dragged myself into the house. She was in town with my brothers buying groceries, afraid we would get snowed in without bread and milk. My daddy was home. He had just carried wood into the house. I explained what happened and expected my daddy to take off his belt and give me a good whupping. Instead, he hugged me in a way I've never felt before and then called up some of his friends. Before night arrived the next day, my daddy and his friends had the well I had fallen into clogged up to the top and boarded over in a way that a two-ton elephant could have danced on the boards.”
“Ayo, that's...nice of your old man.”
“My daddy's friend, Tom, brought his backhoe to the well and went to work,” Peppermint explained. “I had never seen so many dump trucks full of rock drive through the woods in my life. One after the other...the small dump trucks just kept on coming and coming until the well was filled to the brim. Turns out the well wasn't that deep. I was just a short fella at the time. My daddy never told me how deep the well was, but he assured me the well wasn't as deep as most wells. No matter. My daddy and his friends made sure that the well was filled with rocks and then boarded over.”
“Why are you telling us this story?” Ralphie asked in a confused voice.
“Well,” Peppermint folded his arms over his lumberjack-style shirt, “there's a reason to my madness, Ralphie. You see, there were no trespassing signs nailed to a whole bunch of trees up and down the road where I used to walk home from school. I knew better than to go into those woods, but I did anyway. God saved me, and I learned a mighty important lesson.”
“Is that the point of the story?” Ralphie asked.
Peppermint shook his head no. “The point of my story is that in life, we do stupid things even though there are a whole bunch of signs warning us not to. The way I see it...God put you here for a reason, Ralphie...right here on this little island that Candy is going to turn into a Christmas island. God took you from Brooklyn because you didn't belong there anymore. There are a whole bunch of signs telling you to stay on this road and stay away from Brooklyn. The walk home may take longer, but you'll arrive in one piece.”
Candy and Chris expected Ralphie to pop off. Instead, Ralphie just stared at Peppermint for a very long time. “Ayo...why did you tell me that?” Ralphie finally asked.
“Oh, let's just say I saw the look in your eyes when I arrived in the kitchen behind Sandy,” Peppermint spoke in a gentle voice. “I saw how you looked when I left you alone in your bedroom. You were a bit scared.”
“Ayo...uh...not scared...just...this is a big cave, you know?” Ralphie stuttered a bit over his words.
“Ralphie, I'm not calling you a coward. I'm just saying that maybe new places make you feel uneasy,” Peppermint kept his voice easy. “I take it you didn't have a lot of people who cared for you back in Brooklyn.”
Ralphie tensed up. “So, maybe...my Granny decided to look after me...and maybe she only knew I wasalivewhen I got in trouble. So, maybe the old lady only wanted me around because the state paid her to take care of me. Ayo, family is family. I said...what I said.” Ralphie stuttered over his words again.
“You got hurt a lot, didn't you, son?” Peppermint asked.
Candy and Chris kept silent. Candy had expected Chris to be the one to pry the lid off Ralphie's past. Instead Peppermint, to her shock, had stepped forward without giving Ralphie time to get settled in. Why? Candy wasn't sure.
“What is this...are you the fuzz or something?” Ralphie stood up. “I ain't—”
“I see the pain in your eyes, Ralphie. I know,” Peppermint told him, still keeping his voice easy. “I saw how you looked when I left you alone and I saw how you looked when I got down to the kitchen.” Peppermint stood up, walked to Ralphie, and placed a gentle but firm hand on his shoulder. “I swear to you, boy, that no one will ever hurt you again. I know that you don't know me from nowhere...but in time you will. I swear from this day forward to be your best friend...and I can...maybe even be a dad to you.”
“I...uh...yeah, I mean, we can be friends, right? I said what I said.”
Peppermint nodded. “We sure can. We can also be roommates. I want you to move your bed into my room. It'll be good to have a roommate. Blizzard snores, but you'll get used to it.”
“You want me to...bunk with you?” Ralphie stared at Peppermint with confused eyes.
“Sure.” Peppermint smiled and that put Ralphie at ease. “We can stay up late telling lame jokes and eating donuts. I can get us a television and we can watch reruns ofDragnetandBonanza.”
“Ayo, I like that showDue Southwith Paul Gross,” Ralphie burst out. “And I like the Game Show Network. I like watching the old game shows and, we can watch movies, too. Ever seeTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? It rocks!”
Candy felt her heartbreak. Ralphie was talking like an excited sixteen-year-old. That's when Candy knew Ralphie had never had a real friend in his life...or anyone to ever love him. Ralphie was alone in the world. “I'll get you two the best television money can buy.”
“Well, I have an old floor television up in the attic,” Peppermint told Candy. “The television is older than time but still works. I also have a VCR. All Ralphie and me will need is some cable to watch those game shows he likes.” Peppermint patted Ralphie's shoulder. “Being roommates with you is going to be great, Ralphie!”
“And with Thanksgiving right around the corner, maybe we can, you know...maybe have a Thanksgiving meal, too...with a real turkey and maybe some stuffing and cranberry sauce...and maybe some sweet potato casserole with melted marshmallows on top? And…if it's not too much, can we have pumpkin pie, too? You know, like you see in the movies?” Ralphie asked with eyes that seemed to desperately plead rather than ask.
Candy felt a single tear leave her eye. “You bet we can,” she promised Ralphie. Candy wiped her tear away before Ralphie could see, but Chris and Peppermint saw.
“Really?” Ralphie spun around to face Candy. “Ayo, like on television...with a real turkey? No frozen microwave dinner?”
“With a real turkey.” Candy had to fight back another tear.
Ralphie turned back to face Peppermint. “Can we move my bed into your room tonight, Peppermint?”
“I wouldn't have it any other way.” Peppermint smiled.
Relief flooded Ralphie's eyes. He sure wasn't looking forward to sleeping in a big, strange room in the dark all by himself. Why? Ralphie wasn't afraid of the dark—he was afraid of feeling lost. The bedroom he had back in Brooklyn was small, but Ralphie knew every inch of it by heart. The only problem was, his bedroom represented failure and misery. Ralphie knew he needed more. Strange faces and strange places scared him, but deep down, Ralphie knew if he had stayed in Brooklyn, he would have lived his life working in a miserable pizza shop. He wanted—and needed—more. “You hear that, Blizzard,” Ralphie told the dog, “we're going to be roommates.”
