CHRISTMAS 1985
“‘Twas the night before Christmas and
all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even the mouse…”
Smiling slightly, BA turned away as Murdock started his dramatic
recital of ‘The Night Before Christmas.’ He was reasonably surprised that the kids at
the centre were actually bothering to listen to the crazy man, but BA knew that
if anyone was able to keep them occupied for a few minutes, then Murdock was more
than up to the challenge. After all,
there were few things Murdock enjoyed more than getting in touch with his inner
child.
BA smiled more at that. As
much as Murdock annoyed him at times and although he would die before admitting
it, most the time he did enjoy the pilot’s antics. It certainly brought distraction and humour to long and tiring cases and BA knew that for the
most part it was all an act. An act that Murdock loved to play, loved to
indulge himself in.
After all, despite appearances sometimes, Murdock was as responsible as
the rest of them.
And talking about crazy, they all had their own brand of crazy,
especially when
Moving back to the main crafts table, he started to put away the
empty glue pots and used paints which had been used by the younger kids to
create a huge Christmas mural, now being left to dry. The kids had certainly appeared to have had a
lot of fun creating it, while Murdock had used it as an excuse to get in touch
with his creative side… again. The fool
had managed to get all the kid’s hyped about the project, even the kids who had
been reluctant at first. He’d got them
to throw out suggestions of what they could do and to expand their
imagination. Then, once they had gotten
the mural underway, he had got them all singing Christmas songs. Although BA was now sure he never wanted to
hear another round of Jingle Bells for as long as he lived. Of course, between the crazy fool and the
kids, the place now looked as if a paint bomb had hit it. Reds, yellows, greens,
blues, silvers, everything. It
was certainly a modern art kind of mess.
Walking to the cupboard, he started to put away the glue pots and
the paints, shutting the door in time to see a figure slink in the door. He would recognise
that walk anywhere.
“Hey, Abe.”
He greeted the teenager with the customary slap hand greeting of
respect, then stood back to get a better look at the kid.
“You ain’t been around here much,” he
said, keeping his voice neutral.
The kid just shrugged. “Got things to do.”
“You been helping your ma again?”
Abe didn’t reply, just looked away at where the younger kids were
still crowded around Murdock.
“Hey, BA,” he said suddenly, “what you doing for Christmas, man?”
“Spending it with my friends,” BA replied.
The two of them watched Murdock in silence for a moment.
“We always spend Christmas together,” BA explained, turning back
to the paints. “Then I’m gonna see my mama after New Year. What ‘bout you?”
The kid shrugged again. “Dunno. My ma always
does great Christmases, but my pa’s coming back this Christmas, and, and we ain’t seen eye to eye for a long time. Don’t see why he need come back.”
“What did your ma say?”
“Oh, she wants us all there, pa included, but I don’t wanna spend Christmas with him.”
“Family is what Christmas is all about, Abe.”
“But you’re not spending Christmas with your family.”
BA looked up as Murdock declared that ‘he had a broad face and a
little round belly, that shook when he laughed like a
bowl full of jelly’. “Yeah, I am,"
BA said. "Just ‘cause I ain’t
blood related to my friends, don’t mean they ain’t my
family.”
Pausing, he moved to place a hand on the teenager’s
shoulder. “Abe, I know what you going
through, man. I didn’t always get on
with my father, neither. But I always
thought I’d have time to spend with my blood family, with my mama, and even
with my pa, but that ain’t always the case. You gotta spend the
time now, ‘cause you don’t know when your pa will next
be round. That’s what ah found out, but
it was too late.”
The kid nodded slightly.
“Guess you’re right. And I gotta be there for my ma.
She gonna need me. I don’t want her handling my pa all by
herself. She don’t
need that, especially round Christmas.
Thanks, BA.”
BA nodded, slapping hands with the kid again before watching Abe
walk out. Behind him, he could hear
Murdock coming to the end of his story…
“But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, ‘Merry
Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight.”
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