Adelaide's Gift - Part 1

Adelaide Tirion had been good all year. And all the good girls and boys got a present from Santa. So, it was a surprise on December 23rd when her father got home from the factory just before her bedtime and sat her down.

“Addie, I don’t think Santa’s going to be stopping at our house this year,” he father said, scratching at his elbow. His watery eyes glanced around her small bedroom.

She followed his gaze. There was some dust in the corner. A stray shirt on top of her ramshackle dresser, with a missing handle on the second drawer, that was squeezed behind her bed in the tiny room.

“I can clean up my room!” she said. “I’m sorry it’s so dirty.”

He quickly waved his hands. “No, no it’s not that sweetie. You do a very good job keeping this place clean while your mother works.” He wrapped her in a hug. “Next year he’ll come, I promise.”

She got her pajamas on, pulling at the too-short sleeves when they caught on her elbows. Climbing beneath her covers, she bunched them up so the cold air wouldn’t sneak between the small holes worn through. She laid her head on her pillow, but she couldn’t sleep.

Out in the main room, her parents listened to the radio, talking quietly. She closed her eyes and strained her ears to capture the conversation.

“It’s gonna be the coldest Christmas in three decades,” her mother said, referring to the radio. “We’ll freeze without coal for the stove.”

She was referring to the pot-bellied iron stove in the main room, which heated their small apartment and was a convenient cooking surface.

“It’s gotten so expensive, and the foreman said that because Christmas is on a Friday, we won’t get our pay for another week.”

Her mother tutted. “First they don’t give you a Christmas bonus, and now this. What are we going to do?”

“Maybe I can sell something.” Silence as her father looked around the room. “Even a few dollars should get us coal to last through the cold snap.”

Addie stared at the ceiling. The radio had said it would be below zero for the next few days. Glenn Rollins, who was two years older than her, said that hot chocolate would freeze in under a minute.

Addie had never drank hot chocolate, but she knew it was as hot as coffee. They needed coal for their stove, or the whole apartment would freeze. And she knew how to get it: if she could do enough bad things to get on the naughty list, Santa would bring her coal tomorrow night.

Addie awoke early, before her father had left for work. She hugged him after finishing her bowl of weak porridge, and then headed out the door. She’s been taught to be kind to her neighbors, so she knew her first bad deed would be to be mean to her neighbors.

She could find Glenn and throw an ice chunk at him, but that might hurt him. She wanted to be bad, but hurting her friend was too much. Instead, she’d picked out the perfect victim: Old Man Beasley.

The grouchy old man sat in the lobby of their apartment building, complaining to anyone who came in about the sorry state of the world, and especially his son, Robert. If Addie could make him feel bad, that would surely put her on the naughty list.

“What are you looking at?” Old Man Beasley sneered at her.

She took a deep breath and clenched her fists. “A grumpy old man.”

Old Man Beasley’s eyes widened. He pressed a hand against his chest. Addie’s heart pounded and her brain told her to run, but she locked her quivering legs in place.

“You dare speak to me like that?” The old man shouted. “What a bratty little girl!”

“Yes, I am a brat,” Addie said. “And you’re mean!”

“Humph!” He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. “A spoiled child, just like my son. ‘cept he’s too afraid to even talk to me.”

“He probably doesn’t want to talk to you because you only say mean things!” Addie thrust her chin forward. This was getting easier.

“Serves him right. And you, I oughta…” Old Man Beasley trailed off. He stared at the peeling wallpaper in the corner of the lobby. He shook his head, as a fly was buzzing around it. “You don’t know anything, you brat.”

Addie felt her chest lighten. She was doing it. She was being bad. Santa would bring her that coal for sure.

“I know that you’re going to be grumpy and alone this Christmas.” That was it she thought. The meanest thing she could wish on a person: to be alone at Christmas.

“I’m alone every year,” he said. His scowl softened. He blinked. She was waiting for more words, so she could keep being mean to him. But he just looked off into the distance in silence.

“Mr. Beasley?” She stepped forward, reaching out a hand instinctively.

“You’re right, Addie.” He knows my name? I thought he ignored all of us. “I’m never going to reconcile if I sit here being grumpy.”

The old man pushed himself up, tottering slightly. She ran forward to offer him an arm for balance. He steadied himself, pulling his coat off the back of the chair and over his shoulder.

“I’m going to go see him at work, right now.” The old man pulled a hat over his white hair. “It might not make a difference, but I’ve got to try.”

“But, I…” All of the air fled from Addie’s lungs. The room spun.

He smiled down at her. “Thank you. You’ve given me the push I needed to make things right.” The old man grabbed his cane and tottered out into the bitter cold wind.

How had that gone so wrong? Addie collapsed into Old Man Beasley’s chair. Now I need to find something else bad to do!