Love, Factually by Zig Zag Claybourne

Author:Zig Zag Claybourne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Obsidian Sky Books
Published: 2023-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

A lot happened at four. Lon didn’t try to explain why his butt hurt. He purposely didn’t hover around Jennifer, but gladly didn’t avoid her either. Vinn lost his natural mind at the sheer size and scent of the tree farm. Babs commandeered the bag of Jennifer’s fresh, warm balls Jennifer had very graciously provided (but Lon kept eyes on Babs to make sure she didn’t eat them all). Marlena’s smile while posing under the farm’s multi-wreathed open-air arch leading to the grounds—hayrides to the farm to the right, spruce and fir lot to the left—warmed everyone’s communal spirits. Douglas selflessly bought everyone hayride tickets. Jennifer took a selfie with Lon.

Busy, busy, busy.

The hayride moved along slowly. Part of the trick to getting people to wander the lot for as long as possible to spend for that perfect tree was to get as much sweet needle aroma and nostalgia into them as the human body could hold. With it being so close to Christmas there weren’t as many trees on the lot, but the farm remained stocked with more than enough lopsided trees, slow growers, over growers, and beauty shots (trees so gorgeous, buying a tree, a wreath, some handmade ornaments, a jug of cider, and more cinnamon sticks than anybody had a right to claim, was a given).

Charity Pine clearly didn’t play when it came to Christmas.

But there was little point to cynicism when the air bit just enough to make you want to sit closer to people and every scent was like wood floors, tree skirts, the inability to sleep on December 24th, mittens, and animated Christmas specials all in one.

Or maybe just being outdoors with good souls made each breath akin to Hanukkah, Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and hugging for longer than long enough.

Neither Lon, Marlena, Vinn, Babs, Douglas, or Jennifer took the notion as a question.

And the fact that the wind kept the tractor’s exhaust away from everybody was surely a sign of respite from the world’s problems. Bethany had yet to catch up with them for lunch, but in the scheme of joy did it matter?

Marlena was first off the hay wagon and pretended she didn’t notice Lon giving Jennifer a hand down. Vinn and Douglas instantly went on alert for ‘gram material, Marlena could tell. She glanced at Babs. Babs grinned at her. Babs could tell. Older folks ate memories on the fly. Younger folks froze theirs for later.

God, she sounded old. Marlena remembered Christmases with late husband John. Visits to tree farms. Visits to winter festivals. Getting in a warm car and riding out...somewhere. No children, and Lon and Vinn were grown men, but she hoped those two froze as many things of beauty as possible as their phones snapped away.

Lon. Lining up a shot of Jennifer posing with her arms hugging the sky.

The next moment, Jennifer was on Lon’s shoulders pretending to reach for the top of a gorgeous tree while Vinn snapped the picture.

The next shapshot: Babs throwing her head back with her eyes closed.

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