Christmas Novella - Chapters 7-8

A number of years back I wrote a short Christmas story set in one of my favorite towns, Bisbee, AZ. If you have never been to Bisbee it should be on your bucket list of places to visit. In the spirit of holiday giving I am sharing a number of chapters each week culminating the week of Christmas.

Copyright ?2003-2011 by Burton Smith Romney

7 Rain

The Saturday morning before Christmas, Samantha awoke to the sound of thunder and the rhythmic pattering of rain falling on the roof. The old house that her family lived in had a tin roof, and the noise from a heavy rain was so loud that it could even wake up the soundest of sleepers. A good rain basically shut down Bisbee. The major streets became rivers. Steep roads like the one up Brewery Gulch became hazardous, slippery slides, and the few parts of the town not covered with rock or concrete became mud pits.

Samantha glanced out her bedroom window at the dark gray skies and the growing puddles in the yard. "Rain! Why can’t it be snowing? I'm going Christmas shopping today and snow would be much more appropriate for the occasion," she thought to herself. It was a family tradition to go Christmas shopping in Tucson the last Saturday before Christmas. The annual shopping trip was something Samantha greatly looked forward to because her family rarely took trips out of Bisbee.

Samantha's mother's side of the family had a tradition of drawing names for Christmas presents. Everyone's names- uncles, aunts and cousins both old and young- would go into the drawing. Gift giving took place at an annual family party held on Christmas Eve. For each party, Uncle Jack dressed as Santa Claus and would make an appearance and pass out the gifts from the drawn names. This method of exchanging gifts helped keep the gift giver anonymous. It was a wonderful tradition and something to which all the family looked forward.

In reality, the annual Tucson trip was really less of a shopping excursion and more of a day set aside to do fun things with her family. They would only spend about two hours shopping. Afterwards the family would take time to see a movie, or go miniature golfing, or do something together that they couldn't do in Bisbee. In addition, they would pick a special restaurant, someplace they didn't have back home, and enjoy a dinner together. Samantha was especially excited because her father had given her the option to choose the restaurant.

Samantha laid her Tucson trip wardrobe choices on the bed to give them a second look before putting them on. "I have to look just right," she thought. "After all, I might be seen by some cute guy, and the last thing I want to do is look like some hick from Bisbee." As she fussed over her clothing decision, the phone rang. It was Lois. "Sam, I have to tell you the coolest thing! My dad just gave us our Christmas present."

 "Why?" asked Samantha.

 Lois explained, "Well he didn't really give us our gifts. It's more like he told us what our gift is. We're going to California for Christmas! We are going to stay at my aunt’s house. She lives somewhere by LA. We’re going to the beach, the amusement parks, and everything. I can't believe it! We're leaving tomorrow. Isn't it great?"

Samantha tried to hide the disappointment in her voice. "Sure, that's great, Lois," was her reply.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sam," Lois said, sensing Samantha's frustration. "I know we were going to do some stuff together during the break, but I'm sure you'll have fun with your family."

"Yeah, we will,” Samantha said, and then quickly changed the subject. "Hey, were going to Tucson today to go shopping."

"Wow. You'll enjoy that," Lois responded, and then added, "You know what? I've got a ton of stuff to do to get ready for this trip, so I better get busy."

Samantha tried her best to sound happy and said, "I am excited for you. You better get packing. Bring me a seashell or something. I'll talk to you when you get back." The two exchanged good-byes and hung up.

She was hardly off the phone when it rang again. It was Bill MacGuire, her dad's supervisor from work. Her father's conversation on the phone was brief, and Samantha could tell by the look on his face that the call was not good news. He hung up the phone and turned to her mother. "There's been a rock slide just the other side of the tunnel on Mule Mountain Pass. He says it's pretty serious and he's calling in the whole crew. Could take a good part of the day to shore up the canyon wall." He turned to address the rest of the family. "Kids, I'm sorry, there is an emergency and I have to go into work today. I hope it's just for a few hours. I know that you were all excited to go to Tucson, but this kind of puts the brakes on that. Tell ya what…When I get home we'll go into Sierra Vista and do our shopping there." With that, he went into his room to change his clothes and head off for work.

Samantha plopped down in the big arm-chair in the front room. "Talk about getting hit with a double whammy. First Lois announces that she's leaving me alone here in Boredomville for nearly the whole Christmas break, and then our family trip to Tucson gets canceled. I can't believe it!"

Samantha turned on the television and started watching the one channel that came in clear in Bisbee. The network was showing a program of Christmas celebrations from around the world. Among the segments there was a choir singing at the base of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, a holiday clam bake on a beach outside of Cape Town, South Africa, and theater patrons enjoying the Nutcracker Suite at an opera house in Moscow. It was about the worst program Samantha could have seen. She thought about how uneventful Christmas in little Bisbee, Arizona, was and, feeling sorry for herself, became even more depressed.

Again the phone rang. "Mom always says that bad news comes in threes," Samantha said under her breath. "What now? Is someone going to call to say that Todd Hatcher will be my new computer lab partner?"

Samantha's mother called. "Sam, It's for you. It's your Uncle Jack."

For a moment Samantha wondered what it was that Uncle Jack could want, and then she remembered. "The necklace!" She shouted out loud as she ran for the phone.

"Hello." said Samantha excitedly as if suddenly nothing bad had happened that day.

"Sammio, I have your necklace ready for you. I close up today at noon. Can you come by to pick it up?"

"Absolutely!" she responded quickly, hardly letting Uncle Jack finish his question.

"Great," said Uncle Jack. "I'll see you then."

Samantha hung up the phone and looked at the clock on the living room wall. "Twelve minutes to ten o’clock,” she thought. “In just over two hours, I'm going to turn this whole miserable day around."

8 Setting Things Straight

They seemed like the longest two hours in Samantha's life. She waited impatiently, drumming her fingers on the kitchen table.

"Calm down, Sam," her mother lightly scolded her.

"I can't help it," replied Samantha. "Uncle Jack has been talking about this diamond like it’s the best thing he's ever seen. I'll bet it’s going to be something huge and dazzling. I just know by the way he has been bragging that it will be an amazing necklace."

At 20 minutes to noon, Samantha noticed that the rain had let up, and she figured that she had waited long enough. Armed with an umbrella, she bolted from the front door.  The excitement over the diamond necklace and the threat of more rain significantly quickened her pace. The walk that typically took a good 15 minutes took less than 10.

"Oh, you're a little bit early, Sammio," said Uncle Jack. "I'm glad you're here now. I was thinking about closing up early anyway."

 Samantha was puzzled. She had expected the store to be quite busy. Instead, the store, and in fact, the entire downtown shopping area, seemed to be void of customers. "How come it's so slow the last weekend before Christmas?"

"Well,” he said, "the kind of things I sell like a nice watch, a ring, or an expensive pair of sunglasses are usually well thought out gifts. They're not the kind of things that you buy at the last minute. Most people who haven't finished their shopping are going to be at a mall someplace or at least a big department store. And the rain, well that never helps business!"

Uncle Jack walked over to the front door, opened it, took a couple steps outside and scanned up one side of the street and down the other. "Not one potential customer in sight for miles," he commented. He locked the door and flipped the window sign from “open” to “closed.” He made his way back towards the office, stopping at the register to collect the day's receipts and to remove the change drawer from the register. "Let me close out the day’s books and then ve shall get ze fabulous diamond neglace!" He said in a phony accent that Samantha couldn't quite put her finger on, but figured it was supposed to be French or German.

It only took Uncle Jack about three minutes to do the paperwork but it seemed like an eternity to Samantha. When he filed the last invoice, he went over to the big safe. From the safe he removed a green velvet covered necklace box. He handed the box to Samantha and said, "I guess I could have waited to give this to you on Christmas, but to be honest, I have been too excited."

Samantha waited for a moment gently rubbing the velvet surface and wondered, "Will this necklace be all that I anticipated? Am I going to need a safe to keep it in? Will it be too expensive to wear in public?" Carefully she opened the cover and looked in. Her heart sank. The diamond was small - or at least a lot smaller than she had imagined. It was just a simple gold link chain with a basic mounting holding the diamond. The diamond wasn't even round as she had pictured. It was long and rectangle. Samantha looked up.

Uncle Jack was beaming but quickly recognized the disappointment in her expression. "You don't like it?" he asked.

"No, I do." Samantha hesitated. "Its just that… The tears had started to well up in her eyes and before she knew it, she was crying.

All the frustration, discouragement, and the problems that had been building inside her for months, perhaps years, came to a head at that moment. She stood in the middle of Uncle Jacks store sobbing.

Uncle Jack reached for the handkerchief that he always kept in his pocket, tried to calm Samantha, and led her to the stool behind the counter. "Sit here for a minute and try to collect yourself," he said.

For nearly five minutes she bawled. Samantha was embarrassed. She couldn't ever remember crying that hard, that long. As soon as she could somewhat compose herself, she whimpered out, "Uncle Jack, I'm such a jerk. You try to do something nice for me and all I do is cry like a big boob." She began to sob once more.

Uncle Jack said nothing. He retrieved another chair from his office and sat down facing her.

As Samantha finished crying and began wiping the tears from her eyes, she looked at Uncle Jack. She figured that he would be angry or at least troubled by her display, but as she looked in his eyes she could tell that all he felt was true concern for her.

When it seemed like Samantha had cried herself out, he finally spoke. "This isn't about the necklace is it? Now I've made some bad jewelry before, but I know of no sane person who would react this way to a simple dislike for a necklace. Sammio what's wrong?"

Rarely had she ever opened up much to anyone, but with her emotions so high and with Uncle Jack as a willing listener, Samantha let out all her frustration. She told him about how she had so few friends and how she placed the blame on the fact that she had been teased so much by Todd and his buddies. She talked about how much she loved and admired her father but at the same time was so disappointed that he was willing to accept what seemed to her the lowly position of road crew worker. She talked about how she had become so disenchanted about living in Bisbee and how she wondered if her life would be better if she lived in a big city. For nearly an hour she talked, wanting to reveal every detail of why she was so frustrated. She even mentioned her feeling of disappointment over the lack of trivial questions on Mr. Lindstrom's chemistry exam.

All this time, Uncle Jack just sat and listened, only occasionally interjecting an "I see," an "uh huh," or "hmm."

Finally Samantha finished off with a few comments about the necklace. She explained that it wasn't that the necklace was ugly or bad, but instead it was that after seeing his insurance policy and the way in which he had built up the diamond necklace, that she had simply pictured in her mind something a bit flashier.

Uncle Jack got up from his chair and began pacing the floor. He said nothing. He had his arms folded across his chest with one hand extended up on his face and rubbing back and forth along his jaw. It was obvious that he was carefully constructing his response. Finally he turned to her and began, "Samantha."

"Wow," she thought, "this must be very serious. In all my life, I have never heard him call me anything other than Sammio."

Uncle Jack continued, "I'm not usually one to lecture, but I can see you need a talking to, and the information I'm going to tell you just might help to set you straight. As you are well aware, I prefer to tease or joke around to get my point across, but I am going to be serious so I want you to listen well to what I have to say. First, let me say that I don't think your situation is unique. You are certainly not the only frustrated teenage girl in Bisbee or anywhere else for that matter. I know that you are a smart girl. Maybe even the smartest student at Bisbee High School, but despite all you know I think it is time for you to learn a few more things.

"I want to tell you about Lunchy the Box. Lunchy the Box was a cruel nickname given to a 12-year-old girl one afternoon in the junior high school cafeteria. This nickname stuck, and soon all the kids at school started teasing Lunchy the Box. In fact, you yourself know Lunchy the Box because Lunchy the Box is your mom.”

Samantha looked surprised.

That stupid nickname came about when your grandfather won a third-place prize in a drawing at the P.D. Merc. The prize was a bright red lunchbox with big silver buckles and a rounded lid with a Thermos in it. My dad already had an old lunch-box that he was perfectly happy with, so he gave the new one to your mother.

"Your mom didn't really want the lunchbox but felt obligated to use it since my dad seemed so proud to give it to her. Back then, most kids just carried their lunch in a paper sack. So as you can imagine, her fire engine red lunchbox drew a lot of attention. Of course, children, being what they are, look for every reason to tease someone and so they used that lunchbox to tease your mom. For years she endured the ridicule of carrying that lunchbox. And do you know what? The teasing sadly had little to do with her lunchbox and more to do with the way your mom reacted. The kids teased her because she let it bother her.

"In reality the kids were jealous of her lunchbox. I don't mean the design or anything like that, I just mean that they were jealous that she had something new, something different, something that they didn't have."

"So what happened? I thought my mom had lots of friends in high school," Samantha asserted.

"Oh she did," replied Uncle Jack, and then explained, "One day your mom just decided that she was fed up with the teasing and wasn't going to tolerate it anymore. She decided to be proud of that lunchbox, so she took a black felt-tip marker and wrote her name across the lid in big, capital letters. When we got on the school bus the next morning, she passed some shrimp of a kid who said, ‘Look it’s Lunchy the Box.’ Your mom spun around, held up her lunchbox, and said, 'And how would you like to feel Lunchy the Box smack you upside the head?' She didn't let the big kids tease her either. If they called her Lunchy the Box, she would respond back 'Paper the Bag' or 'Boy that's original. Did you think of it all by yourself?' It took all of about three days and the Lunchy the Box name was dropped.

"So I ask you, Samantha. Do the others at school tease you because of who you are or do they tease you because of the way you react?”

"Are you suggesting that I go and threaten Todd and his friends with violence?" Samantha asked.

"Heavens no," responded Uncle Jack. "I'm just saying that you need to find a way to handle the situation. Some way that, like your mother, puts you in control of the situation. Trading insults with Todd is probably not the solution."

 Samantha tried to ask Uncle Jack another question but he shushed her and said, "Wait, I'm not done lecturing yet! You're absolutely wrong about your dad. He's an amazing person and I admire him about as much as anybody. Back before the mine closed, everyone in town had heard the rumors that Phelps Dodge might close down the Lavender Pit, but most people refused to believe it would happen. Our families used to get together after church on Sunday for dinner.  One Sunday, we were at your house sitting around the table and your father brought up the subject of what we would all do if the mine closed down. Your father was the only family member working at the mine but he knew that if the mine closed down that times would be tough for all. He turned to me and said, 'Jack, you are an apprentice jeweler. How many pearls and gemstones will people be buying when they are unemployed?' Next he spoke to your Uncle David and said, 'David you manage the hardware store.  Isn't it something like 60% of your paycheck that comes from commission sales? If the mine closes, how many people will want to paint their house or add a new deck?' Finally he said to Aunt Janet, ‘You might make out okay since Travis works for the Border Patrol down at Naco. But, Janet, you've been working part-time at real estate to make a little extra money. If the mine closes that could all but dry up.’

"Then your father leaned forward in his chair and put his elbows on the table so he could get close to everyone and said, 'The mine will close. It may be tomorrow or it could be 10 years from now, but it will and when it does money will get tight. We will have to rely on each other for help.’ He told us that he wanted his children to have aunts and uncles to look up to and cousins to play with. He wanted his kids to live in a town where the air is clean and you can see the stars brightly at night. He told us that he didn’t want his family to live where the topic every night is how bad the commute home was or how urban blight was ruining the neighborhood. Then he made us a promise. A promise that no matter what, he would do whatever was needed to help everyone out and keep the extended family together. Then each one of us at that table that day made the same promise. I even regretted that Uncle Jerry and Aunt Lisa, who live over in Las Cruces, couldn't be there to make the same commitment.

“Your father’s instinct was right. The mine closed within a year of that conversation, and things were very tough for a while. Did you know that for three years we shared two cars between our four families? Travis had to take one to work in Naco every day and that left the rest of us with one car. We walked to work or hitched rides and twice a week, all the women would drive together to the supermarket to do their grocery shopping. We finally got another car when I got married because my wife already had a car. Your mom teases me, saying that I married not for love but instead for an automatic transmission and bucket seats.

“Transportation wasn’t our only challenge. Have you ever noticed that highchair and box of baby toys in the corner of my office? I was the designated baby-sitter of last resort for all the nieces and nephews. Our family got very close during those difficult years, and although at times it was a challenge, it was wonderful! That’s when we started the tradition of drawing names and holding the Christmas Eve party. Some years the gift we got at the party was the only Christmas gift we got.

"Your father took that job with the highway department not because he had to but instead so he could keep his promise. And another thing, if you think that your dad is simply a road crew worker, then you are sadly mistaken. He might not spend most of his time doing it but he is first and foremost a brilliant engineering teacher. Why, just a couple of months back I had one of his students in the store. He went on and on about some lesson your father had given on the different properties of concrete. I didn't even know that there were different kinds of cement, but you should have seen the excitement in that student's face. A friend of mine in Sierra Vista who works with the university’s extension told me something that even your father doesn't know that I know. He was asked last year if he would like to join the Engineering Department staff at the U of A campus in Tucson as an associate professor.”

"He turned them down?" Samantha asked, stunned at this revelation.

"No." Said Uncle Jack. "He accepted with one stipulation: that they give him 10 years to report to work. That's when your youngest brother will be old enough to go off to college."

Samantha was feeling pretty foolish for the complaining she had done about being teased and was also embarrassed that she had misjudged her father. So when Uncle Jack started to talk about living in Bisbee, she braced herself for another round of constructive criticism.

However, all Uncle Jack said was, "I've lived in Bisbee my whole life.  I don't know anything about living elsewhere. Maybe somewhere else would be a nice place to live. Who knows?" Then he turned himself quickly and looked Samantha straight in the eyes and said, "But I do know about diamonds... lots and lots about diamonds…and now I am going to teach you!"

Uncle Jack went over to the safe, pulled open the door, and dug into the tuna fish box until he found the Insurance Policy. Then he walked up to Samantha and took from her hand the box holding the necklace. "Come here." He said. He placed the necklace and the diamond ring side-by-side on the counter. "Most people, when they look at a diamond, only look at one thing: how big it is. That's one reason why big diamonds cost so much. On the other hand a good jeweler, one that really admires these beautiful stones, looks at so much more than carats. I want you to look at this, Sammio."

He took from his pocket his jeweler's loupe. The loupe was a small magnifier that he used to look at gems. Folded up, it looked like a shiny gold teardrop. Samantha had seen Uncle Jack use it hundreds of times to inspect gems. He unfolded it and handed it to her. Samantha knew just how to use it. She loved tinkering with it and had used it dozens of times to magnifying things around the store, but, oddly, she had never looked at a diamond with it before. 

"Here, use this to look closely at the big diamond in the center of this ring." She focused onto the Insurance Policy’s diamond. At first she was distracted by the flashes of light that hit the different facets of the diamond, but when she pulled the diamond in closer to the lens she could see the stone's most minute details not visible to the naked eye.

"Look at the surface on top of the diamond. What do you see?" asked Uncle Jack.

Samantha pulled the loupe slightly away from the diamond to get a good focus on the surface. "I see a couple of lines," she said. "They look kind of like scratches." 

Uncle Jack continued, "Now look into the center of the diamond. Do you see any black dots?"

Samantha looked closely. "Yes," she said. Samantha counted out loud. "One, two, three, four, I see at least four."

"Those are called ‘inclusions.’ Nature’s imperfections. The more inclusions the less valuable the diamond. What else do you see?"

Samantha looked again. "I see one area below the surface and out near the edge that is kind of cloudy."

"We call that a ‘feather,’” said Uncle Jack. "Those are also bad. Now I want you to put down the loupe. Take a close look at the diamond. Do you see a color?"

"It looks kind of yellow," said Samantha.

"We also grade diamonds on color, with ‘no color’ as the best. The more yellow a diamond, the less valuable it is. This diamond’s color is not bad, but not great either."

"This diamond actually has lots of problems.”

I thought you told me that this diamond was worth thousands." Samantha said, puzzled.

"It is worth a lot of money! Remember most people only care about size. A skilled diamond cutter can hide a good number of flaws by choosing the right shape and cutting the facets in a way to distract the eye from the flaws. A round diamond like that one you’re holding is called a ‘brilliant cut’ and produces so many reflections of light that few if any people ever take the time to look past the sparkle. But I do! When I look at a diamond I want to know what is inside the stone.

"Now, Sammio, take the loupe and look at the diamond on your necklace. Tell me if you see any inclusions, scratches, or feathers."

She intently studied her necklace’s diamond, turning it every which way to see the diamond at all angles. The surface was smooth and clear. She found no bubbles, black dots, or cloudy sections in the center. Every edge was sharp and clean. Certain that there would be some flaw, she looked and looked.

Finally Uncle Jack spoke. "You can look all day and you will never find a problem with that diamond. I have a certificate here from a registered specialist in gemstones declaring it perfect in every way. It is graded F for Flawless, and a Flawless diamond is extremely rare. I know it's not big compared to other stones, but it is perfect. It’s not round either like most other diamonds. It's rectangular. They call it an ‘emerald cut’ and only the finest diamonds are cut into that shape because the large flat surface of an emerald cut diamond does not hide flaws very well. Now, hold it up to the light. You will notice that it has a slight blue tint to it, something else that is rare in diamonds. Sammio, I chose that diamond not because of its flashiness but because it is of impeccable quality. I think you deserve a little perfection in your life! Don’t you?"

Samantha threw her arms around Uncle Jack and gave him a big hug. "Thanks Uncle Jack! You're probably the most wonderful person in the world!"

Uncle Jack retrieved his handkerchief from Samantha. "Look who’s crying now." he said as he wiped some tears from the corners of his eyes. "I better get you home. Your mom tells me that you've got some shopping to do in Sierra Vista and if I don't get you home before your dad gets there, you might miss your ride. Besides, it might be my name you’ve drawn, and I wouldn’t want to miss out on my Christmas Eve gift."