Later Christmas Day
Petra was still nervous about going to the party at Paige’s, but Amber assured her it would be ok. Petra slipped her new knife in her pocket, put her new coat on with a smile joined her Silas and Amber on the road to meet her new military family.
It was not long until first wave of the new clan arrived at Paige’s house. Ivar and Sofia arrived with Jonas and his daughter Jennifer. Some of the group knew Jonas from work but others had not met him yet.
Ivar and Sofia walked in first and were greeted with hugs and mugs of warm cider. The Jenson were a bit overwhelmed. Jonas hung back a little with his daughter. She looked nervous and apprehensive around the big, loud group of people, most of whom she barely recognized. She was clinging to his leg tightly while holding on to the stuff platypus Sofia gave her the first night she was at the house. Jennifer had barely let go of it since that night.
Ivar finally persuaded Jonas to step forward to mingle. He moved towards the others with Jennifer connected to his hip as he moved around the group. Jonas tried to put her at ease, but he was a little twitchy himself. He was comfortable with Ivar and Sofia now, but he didn’t know the rest as well other than Paige and Sabine.
Jennifer was surprised when suddenly a very tall blonde woman seemed to practically pounce on her! Even as the woman knelt down, she was as tall as Jennifer was standing up! She started having an argument with her…she thought.
“Titus! You little imp! I see you’re back to work protecting girls. You better do a damn good job or I’ll sew your beak shut!”
Jennifer realized the woman wasn’t talking to her, she was looking at and berating the stuffed platypus she was clutching in a death grip to her chest! Jennifer saw the stern look on the woman’s face as she next looked up at her
“You let me know if he’s slacking off any!”
The woman reached forward and ruffled the fur on top of the stuffed platypus’ head like scratching a dog. Jennifer started to feel more at ease with this woman. Titus was ok with her so maybe she was ok. She started to loosen her grip on her dad’s leg and Titus.
“He won’t slack off. He’s good at helping. Did Mom tell you his name is ‘Titus? Can I tell you a story about him?”
, Jennifer wasn’t sure what to do other than quietly say “yes”
“I had problems with my ‘T’s and talked funny when I was little. Other kids made fun of me. It made me sad and I just wanted to hide so they would quit teasing me. I got very shy. Then one day Mom gave me Titus, telling me the story about how fierce a platypus can be. She showed me how he protects himself in water and on the land. She told me Titus would do that for me. When I was little and whenever I was scared or frightened or worried or lonely, I held on, hugging him. ‘Titus’ The more I squeezed him, the less I was afraid. That’s how he got his name. The two of you just squeeze each other as ‘Titus’ as you can, and everything is ok”
Jennifer giggled at the story the woman was telling her, thinking how many times she clung on to Titus the last few months. She sure was thankful for him and the fact Sofia shared him with her.
“You probably don’t remember me much, but I’m Veronica.”
Jennifer shook her hand timidly remembering her as the bad ass lady.
Veronica held her arms out gently and gave Jennifer a tentative hug. “You’ve been staying with my mom and dad, so they probably told you terrible things about me. Don’t believe them. More importantly, I know where she hid the cookies. Want to help me find them?”
Jennifer looked at her, then looked up at her father, who was watching. He gave her a small nod, telling her it was OK. Jennifer took Veronica’s hand off to raid the cookies.
Standing at the door taking one last deep breath, Petra waited behind Amber and Silas as they received a round of drinks and hugs. She waited her turn but received the usual looks at comments.
“Sorry no drinks for you unless you can show some ID miss,” was the first thing out of Andrea’s mouth, accompanied by a smile and a mug as she saw Petra pulling out an ID.
Petra tried not to show how much this hurt as she pulled out her ID showing she was 22 even as they handed her a mug.The others laughed, thinking it was all a joke. It never felt like a joke to Petra. She hated she looked 14 years old and probably would until she was forty or more if her mother was any gauge on how she would age.
Amber knew Andrea was just joking but she could see it hurt Petra and wished they hadn’t done it. Maybe they would just let it go now and no more jokes. It did not happen thanks to subtle as a bulldozer Violet. She should have known.
Violet definitely didn’t know her. She must have figured introductions were in order so, in her up-front head-on manner, she approached her parents arriving with the new girl in tow.
“Mamma, I know I’ve been gone from home a while but long enough for you to have another kid?” Violet joked as she walked up.
Amber was quick in spite of her laughing. “Don’t blame me on this one! Your dad had been out picking up strays again!”
This time Petra was giggling a little too. She was feeling like part of Silas and Amber’s family, and this was helping to confirm it was something accepted by this group. She had seen the pictures of Violet at Amber and Silas’ house and heard them talking about her many times.
“Isn’t that how we ended up with Veronica?” Violet shot back.
Amber nodded as she replied without missing a beat.
“And Paige, and Rex, and Andrea, and Jonas, and Sabine, and Jennifer, and Tommy, and Henrik, and… I don’t know. I’ve lost track, I know I’m missing at least a dozen.” Amber was grinning as she greeted her daughter with a big hug.
Silas scoldingly responded. “You two need to play nice otherwise you might hurt Elsa’s feelings!”
He could not hide the grin showing how much he was kidding. He would have continued but he stumbled into the room, with a little help from an added by a shove from the girl.
“You need to hush with that old man, otherwise I’ll sing another three hours of that damn song for you!” Petra at least knew how to interact with Amber and Silas. It was a start.
Maybe Violet was going to be ok Petra thought as started to feel more at ease. She found someone other than Amber and Silas she might feel at ease with.
Silas cringed in fear. “Oh god! No more! I yield! Three hours on the damn bus was four hours too many! I’ll drop it!”
Petra grinned at him again. “You mean you’ll ‘Let it Go’?” She laughed, as did Violet, Amber and Silas. The others trickled over to see what the laughing was about. Silas started up again when the others were there.
“Some of you know her, some don’t. This is Petra, our sole surviving motorpool mechanic. She has been helping me with my camper project and went with me and Kingfisher on our little foraging trips to get vehicles running so we could steal, I mean requisition them for our operations here.”
Petra was still embarrassed to be the focus of so much attention, especially since everyone here had at least two to six more stripes than she did. She needed to get used to first naming the command elements of the base. Not that it would matter soon anyway.
“Hi guys” She waved a little, unsure of what to say or do next.
Before the silence became awkward, Amber jumped right in.
“Yeah, don’t let that sweet little innocent 12-year-old fool you!” Amber paused when Petra interrupted.
“I’m 22!” At least she knew Amber was just teasing, but it was reflex, especially with Amber.
“I’m not buying it! Now where was I? Oh yeah, she is the latest Pirate convert of Silas! She’s like the evil little love child of Paige, Andrea and Veronica! Paige’s mechanical ability, Andrea’s sweet innocent fast talking, and Veronica’s analytical criminal mastermind!”
Andrea, Paige and Veronica all exchanged looks with Andrea speaking first. “I think we have just been insulted!”
The group made their way inside towards the main room, gathering around the tree. Henrik started speaking.
“Friends, both new and old, grab a drink, someone make sure that kid over there stays away from the alcohol, she’s too young and it will stunt her growth!” as he pointed to Petra.
Petra gave him a shake of her finger while everybody else laughed. She could see the theme of their interactions shaping up. It was beginning to hurt less now she knew it was an ice breaker of sorts. She still hated it but she had to let it go. They seemed to have no malice behind it. She never was much of a drinker. She prefer to watch people make fools of themselves or tell their secrets when they drink. She found out when she was young how much people will tell you when they drink and how harmless they think she is.
“Gather around the tree. I think there are still some presents to open under it that have been waiting for your arrival.”
She always hated this part when she was invited to people’s house for Christmas since she had joined the military. They were always last-minute invitations. Who was going to get stuck with the single person? Then it was some last-minute gift for them. Something off the table when you first enter the PX, perfume that stinks, a Marine Corp T-shirt, something really hokey. Then you don’t have a gift to give them, so things feel awkward for the rest of the day and the next time you see them.
If there were no gifts, she had to sit and watch. Watch everyone else open gifts and look like you are having fun. Why did she leave the dorm? Movies and scarfing food would have suited her fine.
It was ok to get gifts from Amber and Silas. They were almost like family. She was helping with the camper and spending long hours with them.
Sabine crouched down to start handing out gifts. She pulled the first one out. Looking at the tag, she announced it was for Elsa.
Petra was definitely surprised and shook her finger at Silas for another Elsa dig. She didn’t see them carry packages in, so she wasn’t sure what was going on. She opened the gift. Inside was a beautiful doeskin frontier style shirt with laces on the front. It looked about the right size even! Petra was speechless!
Petra looked around as she showed it off. One of the people she saw watching was Sabine with her arm wrapped around Andrea, pulling her close and whispering something in her ear. It must have been funny because Andrea giggled.
Petra wasn’t expecting this many presents for Christmas. Now she felt bad not having any to give everyone. She looked at her new frontier shirt. It would have been at home two hundred years ago out here. Her mind went to Kingfisher. She wondered why he wasn’t here.
More presents came out from under the tree in short order. Small boxes were handed to Amber, Ivar, Silas and Sofia.
Amber and Silas each opened their boxes. Each were surprised at what they found and what each other received. It was a pair of his and hers slim, steel Omega watches. Amber pulled hers out and was looking at it. She noticed engraving on the back.
“To Jeanne on your sweet 16th
Love,
Mom and Dad”
She looked up and around to find Sabine. She saw her far in the background being held by Andrea. She couldn’t quite read her expression, but it was a serious one, full of emotion. Amber thought she understood the trust Sabine was placing in her by giving her this watch. The name and the birthday all meant something. It must have been a happier time in her life. A time she wanted to remember before she had to be someone else. When she still believed in dreams. Or she was making too much of it and the watches just matched.
She leaned over and showed Silas the engraving. He showed the engraving on the back of his.
“Congratulations Son on your
16th Birthday
Love, Mom and Dad”
They looked over at Ivar and Sofia who were looking at an almost identical pair of watches, only in gold tone. They had a seriously confused look on their faces. When Sofia’s started to say something, Amber gave her a look and shake of her head while beckoning them over to her and Silas.
Sofia spoke once she got there.
“Amber, what the hell is going on? These are seriously expensive. Like 25th anniversary present level expensive!” Sofia started to go on but Amber stopped her.
“Can I see the back of yours?” Amber knew what she expected to find.
Sofia pulled it out of the box and handed it to Amber. Amber looked on the back of it.
“To Jeanne on your
21st Birthday
Love, Mom and Dad”
As she was looking, Ivar pulled his out and flipped it over.
“Congratulations Son on your
21st Birthday
Love, Mom and Dad”
Ivar was confused. He looked up at Amber. Seeing her expression, he had to ask.
“Do I want to know?”
Amber’s voice had a little tremor in it as she answered him. “These gifts were more from the heart than you may ever know. Don’t make a huge deal out of it, just be appreciative. Another time and another place. Let Sabine explain if she wants to. Otherwise remember we all do or have things we don’t talk about.”
The implications were huge to Amber. These were obviously Sabines and her brother’s watches. She didn’t know all the angles of what they meant though. She knew Sabine had a horrible relationship with her parents and a great one with her brother. Was it something about getting rid of things that reminded her of her parents and it’s a symbolic cutting of more ties, or is it a more heartfelt present passing on keepsakes from her brother?
‘Damnit Amber, just be appreciative and stop psychoanalyzing everything!’ She told herself. ‘A gift is just a gift sometimes. You don’t have to be a shrink all the time. Its Christmas. Let it be Christmas. A time for new beginnings.’
Silas fought back the tears in his eyes. Jeanne. These were Sabine’s and her brothers. How to explain to Ivar and Sofia in a way that didn’t give up secrets he promised not to share. Maybe Amber can figure it out.
... no... I was basing on his having played Ira Hayes (a Pima), who was one of the six US Marines to raise the American flag on Iwo Jima, in Clint Eastwood's 2006 film "Flags of Our Fathers." Adam Beach is just reaching 50... abt Kingfisher's age...
