The House Without a Christmas Tree by Gail Rock Page A

you of Helen. I guess I shouldn’t have done that.”
    I heard him coming toward the bedroom. He opened the door and called to me to wake up. I pretended to be asleep and finally rubbed my eyes and rolled over.
    â€œWhat did you do with that tree?” he asked.
    â€œI gave it away.”
    â€œYou what?”
    â€œI gave it away to Gloria Cott, because they don’t have one.”
    â€œWhen?”
    â€œLast night, when everybody was asleep.”
    He looked at me as though I were crazy. I thought he was going to yell at me for being out alone at night, but he said nothing.
    â€œI didn’t wake anybody up,” I went on. “I just put it on their porch and put a note on it that said, ‘From Santa Claus’ so they wouldn’t be mad that it was charity.”
    He looked out my bedroom window, toward the Cott’s house down the block.
    â€œIt’s not there now,” he said.
    I looked too. “I bet they got up early and found it!” I said.
    â€œThat’s the damndest thing I ever heard of,” he said, and went back into the kitchen and closed the door.
    He told Grandma what I had done, and then he left for work. I was afraid now that he was so angry he might not even let us go to Uncle Will’s house for Christmas. Maybe Will’s tree reminded him of my mother too.
    The Christmas pageant was that night, and after supper we all raced around getting ready. I had to put on warm clothes under my angel costume and find a way of carrying my cardboard wings so they wouldn’t get bent.
    Grandma was getting all dressed up, and I had to help with her shoes. When she dressed up, she wore high-heeled shoes with straps and buckles on them. She could never see the tiny holes to buckle them, and it was always my job to get down on the floor on my knees and fasten them for her. I would try one hole, and then she would throw her leg up in the air and wiggle her ankle around to determine if that was too tight or too loose, and then put it down for further adjustments, if necessary.
    Finally we were ready and we all piled into the pickup for the quick drive to the church. On the way we passed the Cott’s house, and we could see the schoolroom tree in their tiny living room. All the kids were putting paper ornaments on it, and at the top, still wired securely on, was the star Carla Mae and I had made.
    â€œSure looks nice, don’t it?” Grandma whispered to me as we passed, and I knew Dad had heard her. He didn’t say a word, and neither did I. I vowed I would never mention a tree in front of him again.
    When we got to the church, I met Carla Mae and the others backstage, and we milled around and whispered while the pageant began and we waited to make our entrances as angels and the animals in the manger scene. I could hear Billy Wild out on the stage, doing the narration, while everyone else shuffled on and off on cue.
    Someone dressed as a cow approached Carla Mae and me.
    â€œWho’s that?” I asked.
    â€œIt’s me—Gloria,” she said, and took off her cow mask.
    â€œI didn’t even recognize you! That’s a really great costume!”
    â€œYours too,” she said.
    â€œYeah. My dad says I’m miscast as an angel, though.”
    The three of us laughed.
    â€œGuess what we have, Addie? A tree!” Gloria said. “Santa Claus brought it.”
    We smiled at each other, and I knew she had guessed where it came from.
    â€œYou’re wearing your locket!” Gloria said, looking at the front of my costume.
    I quickly covered it with my hand, embarrassed. “Oh, I was just trying it on. I forgot I was wearing it!”
    She and Carla Mae giggled, and the three of us sat around whispering, waiting to go on. We took off our shoes to rub our feet, trying to keep warm in the drafty halls of the church, when Carla Mae and I got the bright idea of tying the toes of our long, heavy stockings together. We were both