Lost At Christmas: Part 2A vulnerable confrontation with an old crush.

Based on a post by Tx Tall Tales, in 2 parts. Listen to the Podcast at My First time.

Christmas

What

had started out with the potential for so much disappointment, my first

Christmas away from home, was actually quite wonderful. The family

embraced me and treated me as one of their own. Dinner was scrumptious, a

Christmas ham, with the full complement of side dishes. After dinner we

chatted, drank a little too much spiked eggnog, and told stories of the

last few years.

I

sat close to Sheri when I could, beside her at the dinner table, and

next to her on the couch while we had our eggnog. I tried to engage her

in some quiet conversation of our own, but the setting was all wrong for

that, and I eventually abandoned those attempts. It was nice enough

just to be near her.

Tommy's

step-father Dave, insisted I call Santiago, even though I knew the

price would be outrageous, and I did. I gave my family my Christmas

wishes, and told them how much I missed them and was looking forward to

seeing them in a couple of days. Everyone in the room took a minute to

say hello and share season's greetings. I had to spend a few minutes

trying to get my Mom to stop crying at the far end, before we finally

were able to hang-up.

The

small ones had to go to bed relatively early, and so we all got to open

one gift the night before, as was their tradition. I gave Tommy his

gift, and his mother opened the family gift and everyone acted pleased.

In turn, they had bought me a present which I opened. It was two books

for the trip, and they had a card for me. Inside was $50. I was

completely in shock.

"Dear Steve,

Your

short visit was a wonderful Christmas gift to us all. Thanks so much

for choosing to spend this Christmas with us. Here's some mad money for

the trip home. We all love you.

Dave, June, Robert, Sheri, John and Jean"

I

was deeply touched by the gesture. I went over and gave Tommy's Mom a

big hug, thanking her for the card and books. The kids jumped up with

presents of their own, and I got two new drawings for my dorm room, as

well as some mystery invention from John, which was supposed to be a spy

tool to stop people from breaking into my room. I thanked them

profusely, and they were put to bed shortly after.

Dave,

Tommy and I discussed the logistics of my morning bus ride back to

Charleston. It left at 7:30 am, but was only about 15 minutes away, so

we figured on getting a 7:00am start. We relaxed around the fire,

ruminating on the poor souls who had the job of driving that bus all day

Christmas day.

There

was a guitar in the corner, Greg's. I was surprised he hadn't taken it

with him. I went over and grabbed it, and finding it miserably out of

tune, I tuned it up.

"Play

something Christmassy", Tommy's Mom asked, and so I played a couple of

tunes. I'm a fair guitarist; I was studying guitar at the Eastman School

of Music since it was convenient, and ROTC was picking up the tab, and

had improved quite a bit from the days of our first band. I got rave

reviews from my small audience, and took requests for a while, before we

broke it up. The parents still had some work to do for the kids, and

Tommy and I wanted to hit the hay early, in order to catch that 7:30

bus.

More

hugs and kisses all around, with a firm handshake for Dave, and I

retired to my room to finish my packing. I got ready for bed, dressed in

boxers and a t-shirt, laid out my clothes for the morning, and

completed my packing. I had one last thing I wanted to do before hitting

the sack, so I went back into the bathroom, and knocked on the opposite

door into Sheri's room.

I

heard a muffled "Come in" or something to that effect, and opened the

door to find Sheri sitting up in bed, brushing her long blonde hair. She

was dressed in a nearly see-through pale green nightie that took my

breath away.

"Hi." I felt incredibly awkward, like I was 16 all over again.

She looked up at me, giving me a quizzically upraised eyebrow.

"I

had a gift for you, but I felt kind of silly giving it to you out

there. I hope you don't mind that I waited until now." I handed her a

small leather pouch.

She

took it, laying her brush to the side, and opened it, pulling out a

small cross. She stretched out the cord, and looked at me in surprise.

"But this is your mountain cross! You always wear this!" She said, looking at me with a strange look I couldn't quite fathom.

The

cross was one I had found mountain climbing several years earlier. I

had been in a small accident. I'd fallen into a glacier fed stream on a

mountain trip, while collecting firewood in a storm. I'd almost frozen

before I'd made it back to the cabin. Literally. I thought I was going

to die. I was staggering the last 20 feet to the building, in a daze,

when a friend returning from the outhouse ran into me, and dragged me

inside to warm up. The next morning I found a small ivory cross on a

rotted leather lanyard at almost the very place I had climbed out of the

stream, and I had worn it for years since then. Sheri knew the story. I

had told her the whole thing one evening when I had been giving her

driving lessons.

I don't know what had motivated me to give it to her, but I had had this urge, and I've always been a pretty impetuous person.

"I just want you to have it." I explained.

She

patted the bed beside her for me to sit down then she handed me the

cross to put around her neck and turned her back to me. I passed my

hands over the head, letting the cross dangle in the valley between her

breasts, and she reached back and pulled her hair up and out of the way,

so I could latch the necklace on her.

When I was done she turned to me, and fingering the cross she thanked me.

"I got the strangest call today." She told me.