“Jack, your mum told me what happened! How are you, any after-effects?”
I had to grin; this was Harry, my best friend since I was an eight year-old prep at Kingsland, looking as handsome and friendly as ever. Subjectively, I’d only seen him a couple of days ago, when we’d arranged to have him and Sai Fong over for dinner; it was weird to think that had been six months ago, at Midsummer, and now it was a couple of days shy of Christmas. The strangeness and sudden disorientation was a little disconcerting, but I guessed I was going to have to try and get used to that. A small sound behind me, someone shifting in their chair, and I remembered I’d heard Grandad’s voice, so I turned, and there was the old man, looking suddenly, shockingly older, his face lined and worried, his eyes rimmed with tears.
“Hello son, I… I…!” he faltered, the tears spilling over, shocking me even more; I’d never seen him give more than a wry grin, and now…
Wordlessly, I held my arms out, and he embraced me, pulling me to him strongly, still no hint of frailty in his tough old frame.
“It’s good to see you son, I thought I’d… I never… I was so… oh Jacko, I thought we’d lost you…!” he faltered, his voice thick with emotion, and for once I didn’t object when he called me the same name as his foul old dog, caught up in his emotion as I was. He continued to hug me, wordlessly pounding me on the back, and I was immensely glad, and immensely comforted, to have my Grandad here, along with my mum, the only constant in my life as I grew up. I glanced up, to see mum and Harry slipping out of the kitchen, giving me some time alone with him.
At last he let go of me, turning his back to mop his eyes, and then turning back to me to take me by the shoulders.
“Let me see you, Jacko, let me look at you!”
He looked long and hard at me before sitting back down at the kitchen table, motioning me to take a seat, his gaze flicking over me, subjecting me to the closest scrutiny, his sharp old eyes not missing a thing. He poured me a coffee, and handed me the toast-rack and the butter-dish.
“Your mother will do you a cooked breakfast in a minute, you and Harry both; he deserves another one, he’s a good lad; he came with me this morning after breakfast to Ludlow to help me cut and load the tree, the two of you can put it up later. How are you feeling, lad? Honestly?”
I was so glad he wasn’t fussing around, that he was just being himself, a little more talkative than his wont, but not intrusive, just friendly and concerned.
“I feel fine, Grandad, just weird; six months have just vanished, and suddenly I look like something out of ‘Nosferatu’; I’ve had better awakenings, believe me!”
He grinned at that, and passed me the marmalade pot.
“A couple of weeks of your mother’s cooking should take care of that, don’t you worry! There’s no rush to head back down to London, Harry has to go back just before Christmas, give him your keys and he’ll check on the flat for you, and pick-up any bits and pieces you want; he’ll bring them up when he comes back to spend Christmas with that lovely little girl of his. In the meantime, rest, eat, sleep, get your strength back. If the weather’s still acting-up after New Year, take the Trooper back down to London; I’ve still got the Land-Rover to cope with whatever the weather throws at us up here. Otherwise, your mother will take the pair of you back down when you’re ready to go.”
He poured himself another coffee.
“Thing is, though, why do you need to go back any time soon? You’re on the binnacle list, and will be for a while yet, Teruko’s already deferred university until March, you could stay here a while and let us look after you; Harry is going to be spending a lot of time at Woolwich over the next few weeks, so he’ll keep an eye on your place, actually, it was his idea, so you can rest, relax, and recuperate here at home, and you don’t have to worry about anything except getting back to normal. More importantly, Teruko needs to stay here, near her mother; she needs some serious care too; I look at that little girl and all I can see is exhaustion and fear; she needs her home, and she needs her family. Think about it, son.”
I already was; that was probably the longest speech I’d ever heard him make, and he was making all sorts of sense; I’d talk to Teruko when she came back from this mysterious shopping trip to Telford.
At that point, mum came in, with Harry in tow, asking what I wanted for breakfast. I plumped for the full English, Harry’s eyes lighting up at that, so we adjourned to the sitting room to sit in front of the fire and enjoy the smell of fresh pine needles from the wrapped Christmas tree leaning against the wall while mum set about making my favourite breakfast.
To occupy ourselves, we set up the tree in a corner, Harry and I lifting the tree, an eight-footer, while Grandad slid the tree-jack into place and tightened the clamps. Mum and the girls had already brought down the lights and decorations, so Harry, Grandad and I whiled away the time untangling and testing the lights while we waited for breakfast.
Mum called us in to eat, and it was as good as the best of all the breakfasts she’d ever cooked; sweet-cured bacon, butcher sausages, none of your supermarket rubbish, fried eggs, grilled Irish White Pudding, mushrooms, crisp fried bread, and a jug of coffee, the food of the Gods!
Once we’d finished breakfast (my first and Harry’s second, but he’d earned it…) Harry and I cleared the table, loaded the dishwasher, and joined mum and Grandad in the sitting room to start decorating the tree, just as the girls returned.
I was quite surprised they were back so early; Sai Fong is a well-known shopaholic, and Teruko can’t resist trying on every single garment in a store; Harry had speculated that we might have to send in a search and rescue team and sniffer-dogs, as he was all too aware of what our girls were like when they were out shopping, collectively or individually; he’d stayed behind this morning expressly to avoid subjecting himself to that particular form of Chinese Water-Torture. He was also of the opinion that Shopping Malls were actually huge predatory creatures that sucked you in, turned your brain into pancake batter by a combination of sensory overload and brain-softening background music, sucked all the money out of your bank account, then kicked you out into the street penniless and brain-dead, clutching shopping bags full of cheaply-made expensive crap. It was a theory, I suppose, but it certainly fitted a lot of the known facts…
Once the girls had shown us all the purchases they were prepared to, with a few they said would have to wait until Christmas morning, we set about trimming the tree. The very act of doing so sending me back to my childhood, mum and Grandad putting the tree ornaments in the places I pointed out but couldn’t reach, and a set of ornaments for me to put anywhere I liked. Once they’d finished the tree, Teruko and Sai Fong began putting up the Christmas decorations around the room, the Holly wreath made with Holly from mum’s garden, and twining the green and gold glittery stuff around the stairs and along the picture rails.
Mum hadn’t put any decorations up this year; with me in hospital and Teruko refusing to leave my side, she’d had no inclination to celebrate Christmas; now she was back in the swing, especially with Harry and Sai to help.
The last thing they hung was the Mistletoe, a large bunch clipped from the apple tree in the garden, and I was the first lucky one, as Teruko pulled me under the bunch to give me my Christmas Kiss.
“Welcome back, Onii-san!” she whispered, her face wreathed in smiles while everyone else clapped and cheered.
Harry and Sai Fong declined lunch as they had a lunch planned with their father, so we walked them out to their car. As they were leaving, Teruko called them back, reaching up to kiss Harry on the cheek and turn to hug Sai Fong.
“Thank you for all you do, thank you for be best friends of Onii-san!” she murmured, reaching behind her neck to unclasp her jade pendant and place it around Sai Fong’s neck.
“This is present from Jakku san and me, and from mummy, too. This is symbol of good things happening, it is good luck and bring good fortune. Wear it always, it bring you much luck and happiness!”
Sai graciously tried to decline it, saying it was a family piece, but Teruko was adamant.
“I already have my happiness, and all my wishes, now it time to pass the luck on. Please to wear it and enjoy!”
Sai Fong smiled, her eyes sparkling as they filled with tears, giving Teruko and me a big hug each before climbing into the car, wiping her eyes and smiling at us.
Harry reached into his jacket pocket handed me an envelope.
“Almost forgot, this is for you!”
When I opened it, there were two tickets inside for the school Old Boys Association New Year’s Eve dance at a hotel just outside town.
“You be there, Jack, everyone’s asked if you’re coming, all our friends will be there, and it’s time to have a little fun! If I don’t see you before, have a fun Christmas, and we’ll see you Boxing Day before we head back down to London!”