Last Christmas Together

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Christmas 2002. They all sat in the room and one by one opened presents. A mother, a father, a son, a daughter, and a grandson (son of son). A civil coldness in the air. The son was handed a box and opened it. It was a chess set, something he had actually wanted and he exclaimed so. The son handed the daughter (his sister) a box. She opened it. It was a purple skirt suit, with Joan Crawford like shoulder pads. She pulled it on over her PJ’s. and it fit! The father exclaimed to the son, “It fits her, how did you know it would fit her?” The son replied, “I tried it on.” It was an unusual civility between the father and the son, a bit of humor. Equally unusual was the son giving the daughter, his sister 10 years his junior, a present. That was the last Christmas they were all together.

Moira Levant © December 24 2018