Red Christmas Balls
Written by: paperwaster
For her the best part of Christmas had always been the decorations. She loved the decorated trees most of all. She hurried through the high end store knowing that someone like her didn’t belong in a place like this. It was the quickest way into the mall. Then the tree near the entrance caught her eye. It was filled with glass ornaments. Two bright red balls stood out in the center of the tree, side by side. Gazing at them she could forget how little cash she had in her pocket. The carols no longer seemed like dirges. Everywhere she looked she saw signs that said ,”Everything on sale” or “70% off.” She smiled as she stepped into the crowd of shoppers.
The bag she carried was heavier than she had hoped it would be. She headed back into the store that she had walked though earlier, eager to get to her car and place gifts under her own tree. The red balls caught her eye again. She still had a few dollars left in her pocket and she hadn’t gotten anything for herself, not yet, not even a cup of tea. She shifted her bag up onto her shoulder and carefully unhooked the two glass balls from the tree. It didn’t seem right to take only one, they were a pair. She walked to the first salesperson she saw behind a counter.
“I’d like to buy these.”
“I don’t think those are for sale.”
The disappointment must have shone on her face because the salesperson looked over her shoulder and then produced a white box and some tissue paper from under the counter. The salesperson wrapped them carefully and put them into the box before walking away from the counter.
Both her husband and Jamie were asleep when she got home. Sprawled on the couch together, Jamie on Phil’s chest, rising and falling slowly as his father snored. She unpacked the bag, putting everything under the tree. When everything was arranged she opened the white box that held the ornaments and hung them side by side on the tree. They were as she had first seen them. They brightened the room. She curled up in the wing chair and stared at the bright red Christmas balls. She couldn’t look away. She felt her eyelids begin to droop.
“Next year will be a very good year, “ she mumbled to herself as she fell asleep.
