Christmas wouldn’t be the same for Dave this year. It was his nal year in college and he was trying hard to nish up his studies that spring so that he could graduate in June. His folks had tried hard to convince him to take the bus home, but they lived in Florida and he felt that he just couldn’t aord to spend the money. He had secured a job as a clerk in the department store in the heart of the country music capitol of the world and he would spend this Christmas making a little money instead of blowing it all as he usually did on presents for everyone.
He was proud of himself for his grim resolution to make this Christmas profitable and as all of his friends bade him goodbye at the student center the last day of classes, he felt grown-up and responsible. Christmas, after all was for kids and the first time in his life he was going to do without it. The campus was alive with activity as he peered out the window of the student center over his cup of coffee. It was clouding up and the wind was blowing the now naked branches of the beautiful old oaks and elms and students were hurrying toward their dorms, turning and wishing each other hurried goodbyes as they retreated.
Dave, unlike the others, strolled leisurely toward the old one room apartment that he rented from old Mrs. Sisson, wishing his departing friends Merry Christmas as they hurried on. Dave felt a twinge. It would be nice, he thought, to go home, to the good food, the gifts…No, no, he had made up his mind now, and he just had to live with it.
The old Victorian house owned by Mrs. Sisson was at least forty years away from its last moment of glory; its gingerbread gables, funny railings, and crumbling red bricks were now the splattered haunts of courthouse pigeons whose cooing and apping were a constant reminder of the decadence of the old house. Dave’s room was nice, though, with a kind of gold orentined aqua wallpaper that reached up to its fourteen foot ceiling. There was an oil burner jammed into a once functional replace and when, on a cold night, the wind whistled through the heavy red velvet drapes, the little stove added warmth to the room.
The wind was cold as it bit through Dave’s brown summer suit as he walked the two miles down Division Street to Sears. There were no shoppers in this part of town, only a few industrial workers; so it didn’t seem much like Christmas here. There were few decorations in the printing shops and metal fabricators’ windows, and there were no Salvation Army bell ringers. As he rounded the corner onto Nolensville Road, however, he saw the green wreaths and red lights of the department store and he looked forward to work. The people here were poor, and they looked worried and shopped carefully and slowly as if they had to be careful about how they spent their money.
Dave worked in the men’s furnishings department and many people bought ties, handkerchiefs, and underwear for presents and they spent a great deal of time deciding exactly what to buy before they bought it. Dave was helping an old lady in a threadbare coat select a tie when a man came up to him and said, “Here’s the $1.03 for this tie. That’s right isn’t it?”
“Uh, yes, sir, uh that’s right. I’ll be with you in a minute, sir. I’m helping this lady.”
Dave knew he was supposed to ring up the sale right away for the man. Apologizing to the lady, he turned and the man with the tie was gone.
“I think I want this one,” the lady said.
“Uh, yes, ma’am,” Dave replied. “Let me ring up this man’s tie and I’ll be right back.”
“No,” she said. “Come help me choose one over here,” she said.
Dave didn’t even think as his left hand with the four quarters and three pennies went into his left coat pocket and he bent over to help the lady.
He didn’t think about it, that is, until one hour later as he walked back to his apartment embarrassed, cold, lonely and…red. Yes, the two customers had been a team hired to try to catch salespeople who were stealing from the company and Dave had had to sign a confession in front of a slick haired, taunting junior executive who tried to make him confess to numerous other thefts, Dave was honorable, educated, and a generous guy and right now, he was furious over the way he had been framed.
He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t tell his parents. He had too much pride to admit that his whole “mature” plan had gone wrong. And he couldn’t go home now; he just couldn’t.
It had begun to snow as he rounded the corner onto ‘Adelicia Street and headed toward is room. The thought of spending three weeks alone without a job or anything in this deserted town was about to kill him.
On a chance there might be somebody still on campus he turned around and made his way across the street toward the student center.
“I’ll check my mail,” he said to himself.
The campus was beautiful as the sky darkened toward evening. The wispy snowakes fell crazily in the light of the lamp posts along the brick walkway. In a wistful sort of way, he still felt like Christmas but he didn’t know why.
“Hi,” she said.
Dave hadn’t seen anyone as he rounded the corner, but as he looked p, he was greeted with a smile by Mary, one of the nursing students who was in his archaeology class. He couldn’t believe she was still on campus. He had wanted to ask her out many times, but he could never get up the nerve. But here she was.
“Uh, hi, Mary. What in the world are you doing here?” Said Dave.
“Oh, I was just checking my mail. What are you doing here?”
“Same thing. Are you not going home for Christmas?” Dave asked.
“No, my parents are in Europe and I don’t particularly want to go to Baltimore anyway. I thought I’d work on some of my classwork and see if I could get caught up. What about you?”
“Oh, I’m working at Sears and I was going to try to save a little money over the holidays. So, I was just going to stay here, but, then, oh look, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “You look so sad. Did something happen?”
“Well, yeh, I got red.” Dave said.
“Oh, that’s too bad,” she said. “I know how you must feel. Listen, is there anything I can do? I mean, you look so sad and all…”
Dave was looking at her and feeling sorry for himself. And then, looking at how sad she looked, and how pretty she was, he got tickled.
“Hey, look,” Dave chuckled. “Here we are in a dark, old musty mail room feeling sorry for ourselves and we could be having fun. Would you like to go to Ireland’s and get something to eat?”
”Oh, Dave I’d love it!” Said Mary.
Arm in arm they strolled down the brick walkway with the snow making little wet places on their cheeks, laughing and hugging. Somewhere o in the distance chimes were playing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” The gold light and the laughter from Ireland’s made a warm glow in Dave’s heart as he looked at the snow filled air and hugged Mary.