“I get that. I usually just did those turkeys from a handprint at Thanksgiving and that was the extent of it. Aster’s were always nicer looking than mine.”
“I don’t think it’s about looking nicer,” Tane’s voice went a little dreamy, like it did when he was explaining the concept behinda song. “I think it’s about having made something yourself, something that no one else in the world has. Then, next year you can dig it out again and remember how you made it, that’s pretty magic.”
I leaned my head on Tane’s shoulder, loving him a little more every moment. “It is. We’ll have to get Aster to make one too, when he gets home.”
“When’s he due back?”
“I think he said the twentieth.”
“What was it like, Christmas I mean, when you were kids?” Tane’s hand stroked my upper arm, a calm, repetitive movement he knew soothed me.
I thought back. “Well, my folks were always so busy with the store, right up until closing time Christmas Eve, so we didn’t do a lot of like, home baking or making decorations, obviously. But Dad would bring home whatever seasonal stuff hadn’t sold on Christmas Eve and we’d have this big feast. They always went all out on our presents. Bikes, big action figure playsets, whole series of books at once, that kind of thing. It was a lot of fun.”
“That’s cool.” Tane kissed my hair.
“How about you?”
“There used to be this awesome Christmas parade,” Tane said. “We were pretty rural so Santa rode on a tractor, but we loved it. They’d give out lollies, er... candy. The whole community came together at Christmas, made sure no one was going hungry, or going without presents. Even if it was just a cheap K-mart teddy bear, we always got something, you know?”
“I love that.”
A buzzer went off in the kitchen and Tane got up to cut the pizza.
He’d got me thinking about Foggy Basin and our community here... Foggy Basin Grocer’s was, in some ways, the main purveyor of food for a lot of people. I didn’t think there were exactly a lot of homeless folks in their small town, but there had to be some families doing it rough.
Maybe there’s something I can do to help. But what?
Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Tane
The next day I took the car and drove to Hartsville to go shopping at the Target there.
I went in thinking I'd get a couple of festive supplies.
Instead, I went overboard.
Something about the conversation from the night before, thinking about being poor as kids, I just started stuffing things into the shopping cart. Teddy bears, Christmas print super-soft blankets, Oodies, Christmas cookies and chocolates...I picked up some basics as well, new towels and socks, long johns and other warm layers. I didn’t even know if Dillon or Aster needed them, I just grabbed them. Truth be told, I went a bit mad.
It was great fun and I had no trouble paying for it, whatever else was going on I had no shortage of money now.
Maybe I was honouring my young self, giving him everything he didn’t have back then. Well, whatever the reason, I enjoyed it.
When I got in the queue, there was a woman in front with a big stack of toys. She was frowning at her phone, and then at the total displayed on the screen.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought some of these were on sale. I’ll have to put some of them back, but... which ones?”
The cashier rolled their eyes. “Okay, what do you want to remove?”
I didn’t need to hear any more.
“Nothing.” I sidled around my cart and offered my credit card. “I’ll pay.”
“Oh!” the woman’s eyes widened and she instantly teared up. “No, really it’s okay, you don’t have to—”
“It’s fine.” I pressed my card into the cashier’s hand. “I can afford it, and you need it. Use your money for a big dinner, okay?”
