In Time for Christmas
Dez was good to her word about getting to the boxes the next day, and planned to get to the workbench toward lunchtime. But work had been halted. When she got out to the old garage the next morning, she saw Samuel talking with someone. She skirted around them, excusing herself and was about to busy herself in the garage when he called to her. “Miss Dez, don’t get started.” He introduced her to Mr. Johnson, from Pest Control. “When we saw all those mouse droppings yesterday, and the holes where they get in, I called him as soon as I got back to my place. Known him for years. We got into a couple of scrapes when we were brainless teenagers.” Both men laughed. Keeping their distance from each other, masks on, Dez and Mr. Johnson said hello. “I did see your van and guessed why you were here.” It still felt odd not to shake hands but the pandemic still threatened outside the Estate, making introductions awkward.
That was a week ago. Dez had been all ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work. Back at the house, she found her sister in the kitchen having tea with Cook and Martha. “Well, ladies, I need to think on my feet and find out what I can do for the next while.” Cook set her mug down. “So Samuel’s stopped work on the garage, did he? I knew he’d called Ed Johnson out here. Pretty sure that old place was full of vermin.” Her sister, dressed in her sky blue jogging outfit and looking ready to take the day off, said. “We can still walk everyday, starting with today and check on progress. We could even start clearing away some of the debris that’s collected in that old hedge.” They were to stay out of the old garage while the Pest Control people were disinfecting and clearing the place of any nests and dead rodents. Hopefully, there weren’t that many. “Excuse me, I need to talk with Digby before I sit down for tea.” She wanted to know if he knew about the kind of Christmas things there may be. At first, he didn’t think he knew, but recalled an old file labelled Christmas. It had been in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet with several older files. When he opened it there was a list of things “Stored in the Garage”. Most of it was just things like wrapping paper, bows, and ribbons. 'Christmas tree ornaments and handmade Christmas ornaments’ was scribbled in at the bottom in red. “I don’t know if this will do you any good, Miss Dez but at least it’s a start. If I remember correctly, Michael Beaufort’s grandfather made some of those handmade Christmas ornaments.” He had given her the file. She brought it out to share with the three women. “Oh, I remember some of these!” Martha, after looking through the file, sat back and smiled. “It was when you and I first came here, Elizabeth. Old Mr. Beaufort was here one Christmas. He was always carving little animals. The one I remember ~ you remember, Elizabeth ~ was a little horse. No saddle, just a rope bridle. Mr. Michael wanted to hang it on the tree, but it didn’t have a place for a string. So his grandfather just set it up on the mantle piece. The very mantle piece that’s in the living room upstairs.” She stood and, rather dreamily, poured herself more tea from the earthenware pot sitting on the counter. “Those were good days, weren’t they, Elizabeth. It was long before you came here, Miss Emelina - did Mr. Michael ever show it too you?”
“All I know about any decorations is that I got rid of them. I wasn’t on my best behaviour or in the best of moods then. I didn’t know where any of them went, I just wanted things my way. I think I told Michael I wanted them destroyed? I am so ashamed of myself for much of that time.”
Quiet settled over the kitchen table. Emelina sat with head down, a tissue prevented her mascara from smearing. Dez put her arm around her sister. Cook just changed the subject. “I’ll take more tea, please Martha. When is Brigitte moving to the University? We’ll have to get your place cleaned and fixed up for Miss Dez.” Dez’s attention was pulled away from her sister. “I’m ok, Dez. Just a few old memories. I’ll get us more tea.” Emelina stood, picked up their tea mugs, and went to the counter. “Cook, I haven’t even talked with Martha yet!” Dez was almost taken aback when she heard about her move into Martha’s duplex. “Well, Martha and I got to talking one day and I let it slip that you might be moving into her place. I suppose I overstepped my bounds, Miss Dez ~ I’m sorry.”
“You’re all right, Cook. No need to apologize, but thanks. I’m glad it’s been dealt with. Martha, you’re probably ready to get your office back!” Dez laughed. “I’ll be sure to take my bed with me. But on a serious note, just getting that old garage taken care of will take longer than I thought it would. For now, I’ll concentrate on what needs doing out there. I’ll sent Brigitte an text to see when she’ll be out here again. We can get together and see when she’s moving out and I’m moving in.”
~~~~~
“I’m glad we got out here, Dez.” The sisters had finished lunch, the afternoon was clearing and warm. Even the birds were settled for the afternoon. Just an occasional calling gull, or twitter of junco’s. The morning’s wind had calmed to just a breeze warmed by the sun. Any puddles had dried up, leaving the ground still soft and a bit muddy. “We’ll retrieve those decorations, Em. Don’t know how many, but we’ll clean them all up. Maybe even in time for Christmas.”
“Christmas is the day that holds all time together.”
~ Alexander Smith
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