Hmm, this didn't turn out nearly as well as I had hoped, but...it is Christmas, and well...T’was my night before Christmas…
…and all I keep asking myself now is, “Was this a dream?”.
I want to hope it was a dream at least, otherwise I some how, how do I say this, saw something I would never ever imagined in my whole life that I would.
Here, let me explain…
It was Christmas Eve here on this planet we call home. For me anyways, some parts of the world were already opening up their presents and going to church, and some parts, well they were still asleep awaiting the dawn with the greatest of hopes and expectations. For me though, it was still Christmas Eve, and I was very restless for some reason, so I decided to go for a walk in the snow. I hadn’t planned on walking too far anyway, but lets just say, where I ended up, was the farthest place from my home and my Mom and Grandma I could of ever thought possible. Thinking about that now, I’m not so sure I just shouldn’t have gone to bed and read a book or something. Oh well, I can’t change the past now can I?
I had only been walking for about 10 minutes, when I saw this person sitting on a park bench under one of those lantern style light posts. He had his head tilted back, and was letting the snow hit his face.
“That’s kind of odd.” I thought to myself, but not nearly as odd as the fact that he was only wearing a shirt, and it was freezing outside right about now.
“Hmm, he must be one of those homeless people.” I then thought, and as I looked down at my coat I wondered if it would fit him, since I could easily make it back home and not get hypothermia as I was beginning to feel he might if he stayed there too long.
“Umm, hello there.” I said, as I got a bit closer to him.
“Hello.” He replied flatly, still with his head laying back.
“Umm, are you ok?”
“Yes, quite.” He replied as he then sat up straight, “Why do you ask?”
“Well, it seems to me it’s quite cold to be sitting here in only a shirt, and I was, umm, I…I was going to suggest I leave you my coat so you don’t freeze to death or anything.”
“Death?” he then asked me as he stared straight into my eyes, “What would you know about Death?”
“Huh?” I replied now slightly nervous, “I wasn’t saying I did. I was just concerned you might be cold, and I was…”
“I am not cold thank you.” He replied as he tipped his head backwards again, “I rather like the cold actually, it’s refreshing.”
“Oh, well please forgive my intrusion then.” I apologized slightly taken back by his monotone reply; “I’ll just be on my way now. Merry Christmas to you.”
“Don’t you have a warm home to be in, and a family you should be with right now?” he asked as I was passing by him.
“Yes I do, and that’s funny, I was going to ask you the same thing actually.” I replied as I stopped walking and turned around to look at him again, “I couldn’t sleep and thought a brisk walk might make me tired.” I added as I also asked myself why I was even telling this guy anything at all.
“Oh, well good luck with that.” He said in that monotone way again.
“And why are you here if I may ask?”
“I told you already,” he said as he lifted his head up, and looked at me once again, “I find it refreshing.”
“Yes you did actually. But…don’t you have a home and family to be with though?”
“…”
“Well?”
“If you must know, yes, I do have a home.” He replied as he sat up straight for once, “…family however, well…I lack in that department it would seem.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” I replied as I walked back towards the bench, “May I?”
“May you what?” he asked blank faced.
“May I sit?” I replied asking again somewhat surprised he didn’t know what I meant, “surely this isn’t your bench now is it?”
“Haha…no, it isn’t.” he said with a chuckle, “and if you wish to sit, then so be it.”
“Thank you.” I replied with a smirk.
“You’re rather brave for one so young aren’t you?” he asked me in a very peculiar way. “Do you always go about talking to strange men on park benches?”
“No I don’t actually,” I replied a bit nervously, “and since I have a gun in my coat pocket, you really aren’t all that much of a threat.”
“Hahaha…ok, if you say so.” He laughed as if he could see right through my rouse.
“So…” I started to say but he was quick to interrupt me.
“…you want to know why I am sitting here don’t you?”
“Well, yes, that’s sort of the idea.” I replied slightly full of wit, “I see you, I ask to sit, now you’re supposed to tell me some heart felt story as to why you are all alone tonight on a park bench, we talk for a bit, I make you feel better, or change your life somehow, I leave, go home, and wonder what will happen to you, and if by some miracle you will be ok on Christmas Day.”
“Hahahahaha…you seem to have the cliché down pretty good.”
“Yup…all those sappy Holiday movies I was forced to watch as a child.”
“…”
“What’s that look for?”
“ ‘As a child?’ ” He replied rather sarcastically.
“What?” I said in a very defensive kind of way, “I may be young, but I am by no means a child thank you very much.” I added as I folded my arms in a slight huff.
Stifling back his laughter as he folded his arms in a very mocking kind of way
he said, “No, of course not.”
I just stared at him and a few seconds later, we both burst out laughing.
The next couple of minutes were those, quiet awkward moments every one has every now and again. I mean, I wanted to talk to him, I wanted to know why he was here, but I had no idea what to say, or how to for that matter. Then, as if he was reading my mind somehow, he …just started talking.
“There really isn’t much to say you know?” he began, “I am not ‘homeless’ as you may have first thought.”
“…”
“Haha…I saw that much in your eyes little one.”
“Little?” I said with a slight glare.
“Ok fine, my young friend then.” He said with a smile, “Better?”
“Yes…quite.”
“Haha…sure.” He added smiling again, “I live in a very large home, very warm, it has everything I could ever want within it. I have a very important job I suppose, or at least some people think it is anyway, and I never want for anything ever.”
“But…” I began to ask.
“But…I find peace here at night sitting on this bench, and letting the snow fall upon me.”
“Well you know, there is a church just down the street if you are looking for some kind of ‘inner’ peace or something.” I then suggested, “Everyone around here goes there. The Priest is a very kind man, and very understanding one as well, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you going in at this hour.” I added as I looked at my watch, “Actually, midnight mass will be starting in like an hour, so…the doors are already open I suspect.”
“Ah yes…the church.” He said as he reached inside his shirt and pulled out the cross that was hanging around his neck. As he held it, he just simply added, “…Yes, I suppose.”
“I would offer to have you go with us now, but since it’s harder for my Grandma to go at night then during the day, we go to Mass in the morning, and not at Midnight anymore.” I said, again, not believing what I was actually saying.
“No, that’s quite alright my young friend.” He said with a half smile, “thank you all the same though. Some other time maybe.”
“Yes, maybe.” I replied as a looked at my watch again. “Speaking of time, it’s getting late and I really should be going home now. If I am much later, my Mom is likely to call the police to go looking for me.”
“Oh yes of course.” He said in that flat monotone way again, “thank you for the company, and please…don’t let me keep you.”
Standing up I said, “You’re welcome.” Then he just flung his head backwards again, and let the snow fall on his face again.
“Umm…are you sure you don’t want my coat?” I asked noticing the cold breeze.
“No, I am quite comfortable thank you.”
“Hmm…well, here anyway…” I said as I removed my coat and rolled it up into a ball, “At least use it as a pillow or a neck support or something. I would feel bad if I didn’t leave it.”
Raising his head again, he looked at me in a very weird kind of way, then reached around and undid the chain that held his cross.
“Here then” he said matter-of-factly, “I can’t accept your coat unless you take this in exchange.” He added as he held the cross and chain out for me to take.
“What?” I all but gasped, “I can’t take that, that’s…your cross, your symbol of faith.”
“You’ve given me all the symbols of faith I need for one day my young friend.” He smiled as he grabbed my hand gently, and dropped the cross in my palm.
“Umm…thank you.” I said as I started to feel the cold winter air against me now, “I have to go…have a Merry Christmas, umm…I didn’t catch your name actually.”
“Nope, you didn’t now did you.” he replied, “ It’s a very hard name to pronounce in your tongue, but you can just call me Gabe.”
“My tongue?”
“Umm, your language I meant.”
“Oh, of course.” I replied not believing a single word he now said. “I’m Annie, and Merry Christmas Gabe.” I added as I then began my walk home.
“Merry Christmas to you too Annie.” He said as he put my coat behind his head, and stared straight up into the sky again.
***
The next morning I woke to the Christmas tree, and all the festivities that surrounded it. After we opened our presents, we ate breakfast, then I went to shower before we all left for church.
I had placed the cross Gabe had given me on my night table when I got home last night, and after I got dressed, I decided I would put it on. Funny, it felt very warm for a cross that belonged to a guy who seemed like he was part snowman or something. But, that wasn’t the strangest part. Not by a long shot. The strangest part was when we actually got to church.
It seemed rather noisy for a Christmas morning. Usually everyone whispers, or just doesn’t speak. But not this Christmas morning. As we walked in, the first thing I noticed was that there were several people wearing the exact same cross as me, and if that wasn’t strange enough, there was a pile of coats and jackets at the front of the church next to the alter, mine on the top of the pile, and a whole lot of people wearing the same dumbfounded look I was very certain I was now wearing as well…
