IMAGINARY FRIENDS - Page39

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A storm of wrapping paper! Gold, silver, shimmering red, metallic green, floating through the air! Candy canes and nutcracker dolls! Tinsel-decked trees! Santas and reindeer! Bows, ribbons, unlooked-at cards!

Davey and Brian tore at their presents like cyclones through a Hallmark shop. For once, Brian’s sketchbook was nowhere in sight.

Granny Jobson sat with them on the floor in a housedress, up to her waist in ripped-up paper.

Grandmother and Grandfather Tanner sat in chairs, far above the din and muck, looking down on the proceedings in more ways than one.

Jeff sat on the couch, a long blue robe covering his pajamas. Tufts of his hair stuck out here and there in a minor case of bedhead. Next to him were Elise and her mother, Nana, both of them nicely dressed. Nana was a cute little bird, with a big smile and a somewhat perplexed look on her face.

“What’s the little one’s name again?” she kept asking Elise. “What about the sad one?”

Just then, Davey ripped into an oddly shaped package. When the paper was gone, he had to take a minute to register what he held in his hand: a Bubble Baby.

Davey collapsed to his knees and addressed the heavens like on old-time revival preacher, or maybe just a rock star.

“THANK YOU, SANTA! YOU DA’ BOMB!”

Nana blinked. “He’s very loud for such a little boy.”

Jeff laughed, and looked over at Elise. “Thanks for coming.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for anything,” she smiled back.

Davey and Brian reached for their next batch of presents, and tore them open to find…underwear. Tighty whities.

For once, Davey was speechless.

Grandmother Tanner gave an approving nod. “You can always use a fresh change of underwear.”

Grandfather Tanner chimed in, “In case you get hit by a car and have to go straight to the hospital.”

Davey and Brian sat there with the underwear in their hands, and stared at Grandfather Tanner.

He began to fidget.

They kept their gaze on him.

He shifted in his chair.

Still they stared.

Grandfather Tanner looked away.

But Davey and Brian didn’t.

Finally, Grandfather Tanner fished out two quarters from his pocket and tossed them to the boys.

“I really don’t think you should be giving the children money all the time,” Grandmother Tanner sniffed.

“That’s the only way we can buy presents we like,” Davey answered.

Grandmother Tanner glared at Davey. If looks could spank, one little boy in the room would have a very red bottom.

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IMAGINARY FRIENDS - Page 38

He looked in both directions along the side of the house, past the shrubbery that grew along it. The bushes were knee-high, and grew right up alongside the house. No one could hide there – and no one was. There was nothing.

He looked at the stubbly winter grass, hoping to see some kind of depression in the blades, some indication of a foot that had passed by. Nothing.

He looked at the trees in the backyard, the oak and pecan, and the few lonely pines. Only the oak tree was big enough to hide someone standing behind it. Jeff darted to the side suddenly, reindeer raised like a samurai sword, hoping to surprise whomever might be behind it –

There was no one behind the tree.

He backed his way up to the door, carefully looking all around as he went.

There was no one here.

He stepped back inside, took a final look around, and then shut the door. The locking deadbolt sounded loud and final in the cold December air.

The lights stayed on. And then, finally, Jeff’s footsteps retreated inside the house.

Next to the door, the two-foot-high shrubbery twitched a little. The leaves parted the tiniest bit.

Had Jeff been in the yard now, he still wouldn’t have been able to see. Only by crouching down, by squatting on all fours, could he have glimpsed the human eyes that squinched up in merriment deep within the branches. But he would have heard the giggles, soft and innocent, that drifted into the night air.

The branches rustled back into place, and the giggles died away. And everything was silent once again.

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IMAGINARY FRIENDS - Page 37

“Davey, there’s a pile of toilet paper in the bathroom!”

Brian looked over from his pillow. Davey bolted upright.

“I didn’t do it,” he said.

“Well who did?”

“…another little boy with my face.”

Jeff glared. “Well, tell him that if he does it again, another little boy with his face is going to get a spanking.”

Jeff closed the door.

Davey frowned. “That’s not very fair!” he called out.

***

Jeff walked back to the bathroom, and gathered the heaping pile of toilet paper in his arms. He was going to have to dispose of it in the garbage cans out back, and quietly, like a mobster with his cement shoes. All Jeff needed was for his mother to find it in the middle of the night. Boy, would he hear about that in the morning.

Waste not, want not. Jeff hadn’t imparted the correct values to his boys. Didn’t Davey know there were little kids in Africa who didn’t have any toilet paper to wipe with?

Actually, he doubted she’d say the last part, but why give her the chance?

He was out in the hallway, arms loaded with unspooled Angel Softness, when he heard the giggling again. It was down the stairs, on the first floor.

Jeff looked in the opposite direction, over at Davey and Brian’s room. The door was shut.

Again, he hadn’t heard anything open or close. How did that kid do it?

Jeff walked quietly over to the boys’ room, and wondered how he should go about it – stand there with the toilet paper in his arms, waiting for Davey to show up again? No, the kid might take forever to get back to bed. Better to go track him down, corner him, maybe make him take out the toilet paper himself.

Jeff opened the door. A sliver of hallway light fell on the bunk beds, and Jeff saw something he didn’t understand at first.

Both Brian and Davey were in bed.

A cold hand slowly closed around Jeff’s heart, and he had trouble drawing his next breath.

Someone was in the house.

The giggling, again. Ghostly and far away…

Jeff quietly closed the door, dropped the toilet paper, and ran for the stairs.

He got to the first floor and looked around wildly.

A giggle. Not that far away – it sounded like it was in the den –

Who was it? It sounded like a kid – a neighborhood kid? A thrill-seeker, someone here on a dare? Or a teenager? Someone robbing the presents under the tree?

Jeff looked around. A plastic reindeer sat on the foyer table. He grasped it by the head, brandished it like a club, and started for the den.

By the time he was in the room, the giggling was further away, back in the hall.

Jeff ran as fast as he could. As he got into the hallway, he had a clear view of the kitchen – and the open back door. The screen door slammed shut the second he looked, but Jeff couldn’t see anything but darkness beyond the wire mesh.

And outside, the giggling.

He ran through the kitchen, clicking the switch for the outside light on his way to the door.

When he burst through, the back yard was painted in long shadows thrown by the spotlights. He paused, breathing hard, and listened.

Nothing. Silent as a snowfall. No sounds anywhere, not even the wind in the trees.

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IMAGINARY FRIENDS - Page 36

Jeff looked at his reflection in the mirror. Was that the face of a man who couldn’t move on? Who was stuck? Who was letting life pass him by?

Maybe.

No…no, it wasn’t true. Life wasn’t passing him by. Life was all around him! Life was bowling him over! He had so much life, he couldn’t take it all! He hadn’t said anything at the time, but yes, he had considered possibly, maybe asking someone to do something sometime…

Hey, wait! He’d invited her to Christmas morning tomorrow, hadn’t he? And she was coming, wasn’t she?

Jeff immediately felt guilty, and stopped that train of thought in its tracks. He’d invited Elise because the boys liked her, because she was important to the family.

The boys. Right there. More life than he could handle. How could they not count? He had two wonderful kids, full of energy, full of life, kids he loved –

Something was wrong.

In the corner of the mirror, Jeff could see something white. And big.

He turned around…

There on the floor sat another mound of toilet paper. A good two feet high, at least.

Jeff’s hands tightened on the edge of the sink, and his teeth gritted together.

One wonderful kid. And another one with WAY more life than anybody could expect Jeff to deal with.

Suddenly, out in the hallway, there was a high-pitched giggle and the padding of tiny feet.

“DAVEY,” Jeff yelled, totally forgetting the hour. The only thing in his mind were visions of coal lumps in Christmas stockings. He flung open the bathroom door and stuck his head into the hall. “DA– ”

He stopped. The hall was dark and deserted. Brian and Davey’s door was closed.

“Davey?” Jeff whispered.

***

Jeff poked his head into Davey and Brian’s room. Both boys were under the covers.

Jeff tried to calculate how long it would have taken for Davey to run from the hall, into the bedroom, and climb up on the bunk. Surely longer than the five seconds that had just passed.

And he hadn’t heard any doors open or close.

And the padding feet…Davey didn’t pad, he stomped.

It was just about impossible…

Pfff. Davey had never let impossibility stop him before.

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IMAGINARY FRIENDS - Page 35

Jeff just waved half-heartedly over his shoulder, and entered the boys’ bedroom without looking at her.

“Jeffrey? Jeffrey, did you hear me?”

Jeff shut the door behind him without answering.

Grandmother Tanner humphed and “well I never”-ed for a second or two more, but elected not to follow him. That was just asking for more shenanigans from David. Plus, it was a little boy’s room, with two living inside. She could imagine the horrors within.

***

It was messy, truth be told, but it wasn’t especially dirty. All the laundry got tossed in the hall closet clothes hamper, and there was no food allowed upstairs, so what was left was mostly piles of Brian’s drawings and Davey’s beat-up toys. Jeff waded through them over to the bunk bed.

Brian, in the lower bunk, was still drawing by a flashlight he held in one hand. Jeff ruffled his hair and kissed his forehead. “Don’t stay up too late, okay?”

Brian nodded, and smiled.

Jeff stood up and looked in the top bunk. Wonder of wonders, Davey was already in bed and under the covers. And he was grinning like the cat who ate the canary.

Jeff sighed. “You’re really loud, you know that?”

“Sorry, Dad.”

“So…what did you win.”

“A wish. I can’t tell you, or it won’t come true.”

“Considering how much you yelled, I hope it was a good one.”

“Ohhhhh, it was.”

Jeff smiled, then kissed Davey’s cheek. When he spoke, he addressed both boys. “Good night, guys. Go to sleep so Santa can come.”

Jeff walked to the door, then paused. “Davey?”

“Yeah?”

“Remember our rule for Christmas?”

“There has to be light outside before I can get anybody up.”

“What kind of light?”

Davey rolled his eyes in exasperation. “The sun, the sun.”

“Good.” Jeff had added in that clause the year before, after Davey had pointed to the street lights atop the telephone poles outside. “And Davey?”

“Yeah?”

“When you go to get the first person up…make sure it’s Grandmother Tanner, okay?”

Davey’s smiling face popped up over his sheets. “Okay.”

“Goodnight, guys.”

Jeff walked out of the room and closed the door gently behind him.

***

He walked in the hallway bathroom and snapped on the light. Turned on the cold water faucet, splashed some water on his face. He had a long night ahead of him…and he was tired, very tired.

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IMAGINARY FRIENDS - Page 34

“What? What he said about you guys? Yeah…it was mean…but it’s not his fault. He can’t see you.

“What? Yeah, I wish he could see you, too, Modine. Huh? Hey – that’s a good idea, Petey!”

Davey pulled the wishbone out of his jeans pocket, and held on to one prong of it. The other end he extended to the thin air, as though offering it to someone.

“Who’s gonna pull with me? You are? Okay, you got it? Wait – make a wish. I wish…I wish Dad could see you. I wish he could see all of you!”

Davey screwed his eyes shut, and pulled back his hand.

Maybe, somewhere far overhead, a shooting star swept across the sky. Maybe there was an angel that flew by on silent wings, or some unseen fairy sprinkling pixie dust. Or perhaps it was just the power of one little boy's dreams, enough power to roll up all the magic of childhood in one sweet, short burst. Whatever the explanation, something incredible happened.

If only there had been no tablecloth. If only Jeff and Granny Jobson had been able to see.

Because as Davey pulled his end of the wishbone back to the breaking point, the other end stayed dead still in the air…almost as if someone were actually holding it.

***

Jeff looked up at Granny Jobson, and tried to inject some levity. “Well, if having a significant other is so great, why don’t you have a boyfriend?”

Seeing that the conversation had come to an end, and feeling that she may have pushed a little hard into sensitive areas, Granny complied. “When I want a hairy, smelly beast I have to feed all the time, I’ll get a horse, thank you very much.”

At that very second, the tablecloth in the next room exploded and Davey sailed through the air, screeching, “I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON!”

After Jeff scraped himself off the kitchen ceiling, he watched Davey madly circle the kitchen table then shoot into the hallway towards the front end of the house. “I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON!”

As the “I won’s” finally faded, and muted footsteps pounded the stairs to the second floor, Jeff turned to Granny Jobson. “Well, minus the hairy part, you’ve already got one.” He stood up with a groan and headed for the stairs. “Time to put somebody on Ritalin.”

As Jeff walked away, there was no reason he would have checked under the dining room table. So he did not notice the short piece of wishbone, still lying on the floor.

***

When Jeff reached the top of the stairs, Grandmother Tanner came out of the guest bedroom clutching her velvet bathrobe over her long silk pajamas. Her hair was done up in curlers.

“Good heavens, Jeffrey, what was that all about?”

“It was Davey.” Jeff walked on by, as though that were all the explanation necessary.

“Well could you please keep him down to a low roar? Your father and I are trying to sleep.”

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IMAGINARY FRIENDS - Page 33

“The boys are what I look forward to, Granny.”

She put a kind hand on his arm.

“Then why are you sending Brian away?”

Jeff was silent awhile before he spoke.

“…because he’s slipping away. All he does is spend his time in an imaginary world, and I can’t seem to pull him out of it. I don’t know what to do.”

“I think when he’s ready, he’ll come out of it on his own.”

“What if he doesn’t?”

Granny smiled. “He will.”

“But what if he doesn’t?”

“Jeff…I think you ought to be more concerned about when you’re going to come out of it.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. You don’t really have any friends…and God forbid you had any lady friends. Almost three years now, and I haven’t heard even a peep of maybe possibly considering asking a woman to a movie. The only people you do anything with are me and the boys. I know you love us, but you need someone else in your life, Jeff. Someone who can love you as much as Susan did, God willing.”

Jeff grinned ruefully. “This isn’t what I expected to hear from the mother of my wife.”

Granny paused. Finally, she said it.

“Your former wife, Jeff.”

He cringed, and looked back to the cup of tea.

“It’s painful to hear. I know, because it’s painful to say it. But life does go on. And it’ll go on without you if you wait too long.”

“You say ‘three years’ like it’s forever. To me, it feels like maybe a couple of months. Sometimes it feels like yesterday.”

“Well, that’s no wonder, since you’ve been doing exactly the same thing every day for the past three years. You go to work, you come home, you do it all over again. Nothing changes, because you don’t give it a chance to change.”

Jeff didn’t say anything.

“Susan would want you to be happy, Jeff.”

Jeff managed a little half-hearted chuckle, mostly for effect. “With another woman? I don’t think you knew Susan very well.”

“If you believe she wants you to be miserable and alone until you join her…I don’t think you knew her very well.”

Jeff didn’t know what to say to that.

***

Forty feet away, Davey could clearly see his father and Granny Jobson through the door joining the dining room and the kitchen. But they couldn’t see him.

He sat under the dining room table, peeking out from beneath the low-hanging tablecloth. He sat crosslegged in his pajamas, and spoke in a whisper to his left, then to his right, as though a semicircle of tiny fairies were badgering him with questions.

“Yeah, he’s nice now…I think he just had a temper tantrum…yeah, I know he tells me not to, but he’s sad about Mommy…

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