Home and Away by Dean Hughes

Author:Dean Hughes [Hughes, Dean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Published: 2015-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

The war news was the same on Sunday. Dennis tried to remember the comfort he had felt the night before, but it was hard not to wonder whether something might happen to Glen. After all, he was not just away at war; he was surrounded. And he was out in the cold. Even if everything turned out well in the end, Dennis could only think how lonely and maybe afraid his brother must be on Christmas Eve.

After the girls went to bed that night, Dennis could hear them giggling and talking. He kept wondering, if the worst news came about Glen, what would happen to them, to the family? Glen had always seemed to be the glue that held everyone together—the one they all loved. First son. Big brother. If he didn’t make it home, maybe one of those fights between Mom and Dad would end with Dad leaving.

Dennis didn’t go to bed until very late. He tried to read but couldn’t concentrate. Finally he just lay on his bed, and eventually he did drift off. He woke up later and got under the covers. He was finally sleeping soundly when he heard Linda and Sharon squeal as they charged to the Christmas tree. Dennis got up, pulled on a pair of corduroys and a flannel shirt, and walked out to the living room, still barefoot. He saw his presents, the ones that weren’t wrapped, lying on the couch by the tree. There were an Argyle sweater-vest and a white shirt and tie. It wasn’t a lot, in a way, but it was too much, considering what Mom had already spent on him.

Everyone had placed gifts under the tree for one another, and there were presents from grandparents—sent from Wyoming. Mom told the kids not to open anything until Dad came out. So Linda and Sharon ran after him, screaming wildly and telling him to come out “right now.”

Finally Dad came out dressed like Dennis—no shoes and an old shirt—and he had on some worn-out dress slacks. He hadn’t shaved, and his thinning hair was tangled. But what Dennis noticed most was that he seemed lifeless, as though this whole Christmas morning business was some sort of ordeal he had to pass through. He walked straight to the couch and sat down. Then he looked at Mom and said, “All right. Go ahead.”

Dennis knew what that did to Mom. She had tried so hard to make this morning as nice as possible for everyone.

Dennis said, “I’ll tell you what, Mom, ol’ Santa has me pegged. He knew exactly what I wanted.” He laughed, tried to sound happy. He wanted the girls to have a real Christmas.

“Just a sweater and shirt?” Linda said. “You only wanted clothes?”

“Good-looking clothes.”

Linda and Sharon both had Betsy Wetsy dolls. They wanted Mom to fill the little plastic bottles with water so they could feed them.

Dennis watched Mom. She must have gotten up really early, even before Linda and Sharon had made their charge. She had built a fire in the kitchen and had put on a flowered wraparound dress.

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