Tane
I cleared the apartment top to bottom, which didn’t take too much time since Dillon kept things neat anyway.
Then I made my way over to the firehall. The fire fighters had done a great job, despite the rain. The entrance was decorated with strings of cheery Christmas lights, and the fire truck was parked to one side of the driveway. A large woodfire barbeque was smoking away, ready for sausages and whatever cuts of meat would be eaten that night.
The large garage doors were open, and inside were trestle tables each dressed with a white tablecloth, decorated with garlands of tinsel and laden with beautifully wrapped gifts. To the left of the hall there was a stage set up with an amp and a microphone.
“This is incredible!”
Morris, the fire chief, came forward. He was wearing a Santa costume although his face was bare.
“Hey Tane, the guys just went and got the last of the haul from the shop. There’s plenty of donations coming in from other places as well. We’ve had volunteers from all over to help with the gift wrapping. The gifts are organised by age, and the guys took charge of sorting the food into parcels in those boxes there.”
I followed his gesture to see the large stack of cardboard boxes on the far side of the hall to the stage. There were so many, it felt like more than enough to give one to every person who lived in Foggy Basin.
I pressed my hand to my chest and took a breath. “That’s incredible, Morris, thank you.”
I went to shake his hand but he pulled me into a hug. “No, thanks go to you, and Dillon, for the idea. I feel like I should have been doing this for years, and we’re definitely going to do it next year as well.”
Hugging him tight, I teared up. This was what I was missing, this feeling of coming together as a community.
Morris tactfully looked away while I dabbed at my eyes and busied myself pulling out my phone to take photos. “You did great, really.”
Morris cleared his throat, it could have been my imagination but I thought perhaps he was getting misty eyed, too.
“Come on in, I guess you’ll want to do some sound checks and so on. I’d better get my beard sorted out.”
I walked towards the stage area, greeting all the fire fighters, giving and receiving hugs. They all seemed super excited.
Maybe it wasn’t just me who needed this? Maybe the whole town did.
Sending thanks up to the stars and the universe and whatever divine power existed that we’d been able to pull this off, I stepped up to the amp and flicked it on.
My music students would be turning up soon, and I needed to be ready.
Dillon
“I’m going to run home and change,” Aster said. “Need me to get you anything at home?”
I glanced down at myself. “I’ll come too, I want to change my shirt and get these gifts for Tane home.”
We loaded up with bags, including the last of the hams, one for us and three for the food drive. We could carve them up tonight to serve. As soon as we stepped outside I could feel the chill in the air. The rain had stopped thankfully, but it was icy cold. Maybe it really would snow?
Aster pulled out a tiny harness he’d found for the kitten and wrestled it on him, tucking him into the pouch of their thick hoodie.
“I don’t want him to miss out.”
“Fair enough. We've kind of stopped calling him Ginger, haven't we?"
Aster nodded. "It's too basic a name. He's a complicated soul, he needs a name that reflects that."
Chuckling, I pulled on gloves and made sure Aster had a warm hat on, grabbed one for Tane as well, just in case, and we walked over to the firehall, carrying hams and a couple of other goodies.
"How can you say he has a complicated soul when his favourite passtime is trying to climb the Christmas tree?"
Aster snorted. "He's an explorer. To him, that tree is Mount Everest. Imagine if you were a toddler and you tried to climb a mountain? That's complex thinking."
I shook my head, not convinced but very amused, and then we turned the corner to the firehall.
