over, but then I decided to go home instead because Mum and Dad promised to take me bowling. Actually Mum’s calling me now, so gotta go.
Have a Coooool Christmas.
Hope you like the card,
Elma
LUKE
He lifted the custard tin down from the shelf in the wardrobe and eased off the metal lid. When he held it upside down over his bed, a shower of coins and notes tumbled out. He made separate bundles of the five and ten euro notes, and arranged the coins in neat towers on top of his chest of drawers.
Then, pretending he didn’t know exactly how much he had, he counted it all carefully.
Four hundred and ten euro. One euro more than the washing machine cost – and tomorrow, Monday, was Christmas Eve. Luke was going in first thing in the morning to buy it. He wondered if they’d be able to deliver it tomorrow, or if he’d have to wait till after Christmas.
Not that it mattered really. The main thing was that he’d made it. He’d saved enough to buy the washing machine that was going to make his mother happy. He couldn’t wait to see her face when she saw it.
Pity he wouldn’t be able to buy anyone else anything, though. He’d just have to tell them that their presents would be a bit late this year, that’s all.
Not that they’d gone in for making much of a fuss at Christmas, since the accident. The first year, when Dad was still in the hospital, they hadn’t even got a tree. Uncle Jack and Aunt Maureen had invited them all out to the farm for Christmas dinner, but Mam said no, they’d be better off at home.
So she cooked a turkey like she always did, and Granny, who had been coming to them at Christmas for years anyway, made mince pies like she always did. And they pulled crackers and watched the same films they always watched, and Luke wondered if he was the only one who missed Dad desperately.
In the afternoon, Mam and Helen and Granny went to the hospital with presents. Helen’s eyes were red when she came home.
Luke didn’t think Helen would be buying anyone any presents this year. She still wasn’t really talking to anyone in the house, except her grandmother when nobody else was there. If Luke walked into theroom, she’d stop straightaway.
She still wasn’t allowed out during the week, and she had to be in by ten on Friday and Saturday, and nine on Sunday. She told nobody where she was going, or who she’d be with. When she was at home, she still spent most of the time in her room.
She never talked to her father these days, or sat with him like she used to when he came home first. The only time she saw him now was at tea, and then she ignored him like she ignored everyone else, staying just long enough to pick at what was on her plate before disappearing upstairs again.
Anne would hardly be getting presents for anyone either – as soon as she got the five euro that Granny gave her every Friday, she spent it on comics that kept her busy till Monday, and then she traded them at school for more comics that looked exactly the same to Luke, with a picture of some teenage pop star on the cover, and headlines like ‘Make Your Own Bracelets’ or ‘Ten Signs of a True Friend’ and sometimes a free packet of stickers or a lip gloss attached to the front.
Anne read each comic from cover to cover, and filled in all the puzzle pages, and read everybody’s horoscope out loud at teatime, even Helen’s.
Anne was still a bit wary of Dad. She didn’t likebeing left in a room alone with him, even if he was only sitting in his armchair looking out the window, or gazing at the television. She’d shoot quick glances at him across the table at tea when she thought nobody was looking, when he was opening his mouth to let Mam’s fork in, or chewing noisily, or lifting his water glass with a hand that shook so much you were waiting for it to come tumbling down.
Of course Granny would buy Christmas presents – or make them. Last year Luke got a blue scarf and gloves, and Helen and Anne both got hats with
Have a Coooool Christmas.
Hope you like the card,
Elma
LUKE
He lifted the custard tin down from the shelf in the wardrobe and eased off the metal lid. When he held it upside down over his bed, a shower of coins and notes tumbled out. He made separate bundles of the five and ten euro notes, and arranged the coins in neat towers on top of his chest of drawers.
Then, pretending he didn’t know exactly how much he had, he counted it all carefully.
Four hundred and ten euro. One euro more than the washing machine cost – and tomorrow, Monday, was Christmas Eve. Luke was going in first thing in the morning to buy it. He wondered if they’d be able to deliver it tomorrow, or if he’d have to wait till after Christmas.
Not that it mattered really. The main thing was that he’d made it. He’d saved enough to buy the washing machine that was going to make his mother happy. He couldn’t wait to see her face when she saw it.
Pity he wouldn’t be able to buy anyone else anything, though. He’d just have to tell them that their presents would be a bit late this year, that’s all.
Not that they’d gone in for making much of a fuss at Christmas, since the accident. The first year, when Dad was still in the hospital, they hadn’t even got a tree. Uncle Jack and Aunt Maureen had invited them all out to the farm for Christmas dinner, but Mam said no, they’d be better off at home.
So she cooked a turkey like she always did, and Granny, who had been coming to them at Christmas for years anyway, made mince pies like she always did. And they pulled crackers and watched the same films they always watched, and Luke wondered if he was the only one who missed Dad desperately.
In the afternoon, Mam and Helen and Granny went to the hospital with presents. Helen’s eyes were red when she came home.
Luke didn’t think Helen would be buying anyone any presents this year. She still wasn’t really talking to anyone in the house, except her grandmother when nobody else was there. If Luke walked into theroom, she’d stop straightaway.
She still wasn’t allowed out during the week, and she had to be in by ten on Friday and Saturday, and nine on Sunday. She told nobody where she was going, or who she’d be with. When she was at home, she still spent most of the time in her room.
She never talked to her father these days, or sat with him like she used to when he came home first. The only time she saw him now was at tea, and then she ignored him like she ignored everyone else, staying just long enough to pick at what was on her plate before disappearing upstairs again.
Anne would hardly be getting presents for anyone either – as soon as she got the five euro that Granny gave her every Friday, she spent it on comics that kept her busy till Monday, and then she traded them at school for more comics that looked exactly the same to Luke, with a picture of some teenage pop star on the cover, and headlines like ‘Make Your Own Bracelets’ or ‘Ten Signs of a True Friend’ and sometimes a free packet of stickers or a lip gloss attached to the front.
Anne read each comic from cover to cover, and filled in all the puzzle pages, and read everybody’s horoscope out loud at teatime, even Helen’s.
Anne was still a bit wary of Dad. She didn’t likebeing left in a room alone with him, even if he was only sitting in his armchair looking out the window, or gazing at the television. She’d shoot quick glances at him across the table at tea when she thought nobody was looking, when he was opening his mouth to let Mam’s fork in, or chewing noisily, or lifting his water glass with a hand that shook so much you were waiting for it to come tumbling down.
Of course Granny would buy Christmas presents – or make them. Last year Luke got a blue scarf and gloves, and Helen and Anne both got hats with
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