There was a note of panic in Virginia’s voice when Dick checked his voicemails – “We don’t have any water!!” There was more, but Dick got the point.
From Dallas, more than 900 miles away from Johnsburg, IL, there wasn’t much Dick could do. He tried calling home but Virginia didn’t answer and he received a message stating that her mailbox was full. So, Dick made one more call and hurried to the plane – the 777 he would pilot to Chicago’s O’Hare Field.
Virginia didn’t receive Dick’s call because, at that moment, she was down in the basement pounding on parts of the well equipment hoping that would somehow make the water flow again. It didn’t and she had no idea that Dick had called in the meantime.
As the sun fell below the horizon this Christmas Eve, Virginia reassured the kids – Billy, 3; and Missy, 4 – that everything would be OK. Mostly, Virginia was just trying to reassure herself, though.
Then she sent the kids up to the playroom to play and watch television while she went downstairs to poke, prod and pound some more. If she had stayed upstairs, she might have heard the knock on the door. She didn’t.
After a while, resigned to the futility of pounding on the well equipment, Virginia came back upstairs and turned on the television in the living room. Time passed – maybe even an hour. Suddenly, she heard the children coming down the stairs like a pack of wild animals. As they ran, she heard them yelling, “He’s out back! He’s out back!”
Virginia met them at the bottom of the stairs and finally quieted them enough to ask, “Who’s out back?”
“Santa,” said Missy as Billy nodded in agreement. “Santa’s out back.”
Virginia gave the children a skeptical frown. Seeing the doubt in her mother’s face, Missy took her by the hand and pulled her towards the kitchen. Reluctantly, Virginia followed.
Standing in the darkened kitchen, Virginia was alarmed to see that, indeed, someone was out in the backyard. The kids were yelling, “See, it’s Santa.”
She quieted the kids again and told them to go up to their rooms. Turning to sneak up by the window, she didn’t even notice that the kids stood rooted in their spots totally ignoring the order. Virginia didn’t notice the kids because she was focused on the shadowy figure moving around out back.
The person had a thick winter coat with its hood up over the back of the person’s head. With the heavy boots at his feet, Virginia could see how the kids might think this was Santa.
She noticed that the figure kept bending over as though they were doing something out there. As Virginia thought to take out her phone and call the police, the shadow stood upright in the backyard and turned towards the house. Virginia stepped back deeper into the shadows.
When she looked again, she couldn’t see him. Then, there was a knock on the backdoor. Virginia jumped a little and then went to the door. When she opened the door, she looked into a familiar smiling face, though she couldn’t place where she knew him from.
“Hi, I’m John,” he said. “Dick called and told me you didn’t have any water. I knocked before, but I guess you didn’t hear me. I wasn’t sure if you had left.
“Anyhow, I thought I’d take a look. Good thing I did, too. One of the wires to the pump motor broke loose.”
As if she hadn’t quite grasped what he was saying, Virginia suddenly said, “Oh, you’re the well guy.”
John smiled again, “Yes, I’m the well guy. When Dick called, I figured you didn’t want to go Christmas Eve without water so I came over. Do you want to check the faucet?”
Just then, the kids stepped forward and, in unison, asked, “Is it Santa, Mommy?”
Virginia was lifting the faucet handle when she heard the question. She also heard a cough from the pipes and then … the water began to flow. Turning the water off, Virginia turned to the kids and said, “Yes, in a way, this is definitely Santa.”
John smiled again, tipped his hat and as he turned to leave, he said, “You folks have a Merry Christmas.”
No comments:
Post a Comment