...And Other Stories, part 2

Ballerina Julio

The children's faces were starting to run together in Cynthia's mind. Most of them had the same copper toned skin and glistening dark brown eyes, lit up with the excitement of their Christmas wishes. Cynthia ran a hand through her thin graying hair as she set down her pen and placed the gift tag she'd just finished writing in the decorated box at her side. She looked up and smiled as the next child in line took a seat in the chair across from her. "Hello, dear," Cynthia said cheerfully.

"Hi," the young boy replied. He folded his hands on the table in front of him. Cynthia noticed the chipped pink nail polish decorating his small fingernails. She took a fresh gift tag from the stack and picked up her pen.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" Cynthia asked.

"Julio," said the boy. Cynthia wrote the name on the top line of the gift tag.

"And how old are you?"

"Seven," said Julio, "I'm going to be eight in January."

"Wow," Cynthia remarked, "Christmas and then your birthday so close together! Must be a fun time of year."

"Yeah," answered Julio. "I like my birthday best because we order cupcakes from the bakery and I get to pick whatever color I want. I like pink cupcakes. I like those ones better than the Christmas ones."

"That sounds lovely," said Cynthia, "But we need to talk about Christmas some more right now." Cynthia pushed the gift tag toward Julio for him to inspect. "Look here," she said, "I wrote down your name, age, and I circled 'boy' because you're a boy. Does that all look good to you?" Cynthia looked carefully into Julio's face for affirmation. He nodded and smiled.

"See all these blank lines at the bottom?" Cynthia pointed to the bottom section of the gift tag. Julio nodded again. "Now you get to tell me what you want for Christmas, and I'm going to write it down on the lines. Then I'm going to send your tag and all of your friends' tags up to Santa, and he'll know what to bring all of you for Christmas," Cynthia explained.

Julio smiled excitedly. Like most of the children in the overcrowded foster system, he hadn't had much contact with Santa. "Will he bring me exactly what I want?" Julio asked.

"Of course," said Cynthia.

"Last year, he messed up," said Julio. "I wanted a Cinderella dress. But he gave me a soccer ball. And a penguin. Well, I guess I kind of like the penguin. She has a purple hat. But I don't like soccer." He wrinkled his nose.

"Well, that must not have been fun," Cynthia said, "I bet your tag just got mixed up with someone else's. A lot of other kids live here with you, don't they?" She knew it was a poor excuse. "This year, I'll be sure to put your tag right on top, so it's the first one Santa sees when he opens the box."

"Okay," Julio said. "I know exactly what I want! I saw it in the big Toys R Us catalogue, and it's exactly what I want," he exclaimed. Cynthia nodded, her pen poised over the gift tag. Julio took a deep breath, then said, "I want a ballerina Courtney doll! More than anything else in the whole world!" Cynthia carefully copied down the wish and capped her pen.

"You got it, Julio," said Cynthia with a smile, "I got it all written down. I'm sure Santa will have it all ready for you on Christmas." Julio smiled, showing a childish gap-toothed grin. Cynthia tried not to let her own smile waver. Julio stood up, neatly pushed in his chair, thanked Cynthia, and danced away down the hall.

Cynthia listened to the wishes of the last three children in line, then began to pack up her things. She sifted through the gift tags in the decorated box so that, as promised, Julio's was on top. Then she put on her coat and scarf, picked up her handbag, and nestled the box securely under her left arm. Cynthia walked a little ways down the hall and knocked on the door to the director's office.

The director of the children's home opened the door, smiling. "All finished?" he asked.

"Yes, I've got all the wishes here." Cynthia gestured to the box under her arm. "Someone, it may be me, I don't know yet, will be back on Christmas Eve to deliver the loot." She smiled.

"You don't know how grateful we, all of us, are for you and everyone at Angel Tree. The kids always love their Christmas gifts best of all the donations we get all year," the director said. If only that were actually true, Cynthia thought, remembering what Julio had said.

"Well, I'll be off to get these wishes to Santa," Cynthia said with a wink, "I'd best not keep him waiting."

"Take care," said the director, "And thanks again."

"Same to you," said Cynthia.

The drive to Toys R Us wasn't long. Cynthia's car heater had barely begun to warm the vehicle by the time she pulled into the parking lot. She turned off the car, but didn't get out yet. She was still thinking about Julio. There was a good chance he wouldn't get his wish if she didn't do something. Most people wouldn't want to buy a little boy a ballerina doll. They'd think they were doing good by purchasing him more masculine toys. They'd think he needed to be taught the proper way to be a boy.

Cynthia looked at the decorated box in the passenger seat. She could steal out Julio's tag and purchase his gift herself. But that would that be helpful, or would that be affirming that there was something wrong with Julio. It would be Cynthia saying that his wish was too strange, to embarrassing, to share with the world.

Cynthia sighed and got out of the car, carefully tucking the box back under her arm. She entered the brightly lit store, which contrasted greatly with the dusk outside. After blinking bemusedly for a moment, she headed for the customer service desk. The young woman behind the counter was blowing her nose as Cynthia approached. The woman looked up at Cynthia, and, seeing the Angel Tree logo on Cynthia's badge, said, "Oh, we've been expecting you." Her voice was raspy, and she began to cough as soon as she spoke. The young woman cleared her throat and continued, "I just put up the tree. I can take the tags." She gestured to the box in Cynthia's arms.

"Sweetie," Cynthia said, "You look like you need a coffee break. Really more like a hot honey lemon tea break." The young woman behind the counter raised a fresh tissue to cover her chapped red nose and lips. "I can put the tags out," Cynthia offered. "You relax for a minute. Ask the boss if you can go home early. You seem like you need a good, long sleep."

"I really appreciate it," the young woman rasped. "Thanks." She smiled as she coughed again.

"No problem, hon," said Cynthia. She headed back to the front of the store where the bare Christmas tree stood waiting. Some of the branches were still squished together from being in the storage box. Cynthia bent down to straighten them before opening the box of gift tags.

As she bent the branches, Cynthia's mind returned to Julio. People could be so closed minded and cruel. His wish wasn't likely to be granted. Perhaps she could add a little curly tail to the "o" on the end of his name and turn it into an "a." Someone would certainly buy "Julia" a ballerina Courtney doll. But the word "boy" was already circled on Julio's gift tag. Maybe she should just buy Julio's gift herself.

That would be cruel of me, though, Cynthia thought, not to give society a chance. Cynthia knew perfectly well that she would probably still have the rigid "dolls are for girls only" beliefs if her nephew hadn't run away to Vermont last year to marry his husband and adopt their baby daughter. Maybe someone would want to buy Julio's gift. I'll keep thinking about it, Cynthia thought.

She began to place the tags on the tree. Although she'd promised Julio that his tag would be the first to be seen, Cynthia moved it to the bottom of the stack. She just needed more time to consider if she wanted to put it out and risk him getting a gift he didn't want.

Cynthia had three more tags in the box when the automatic door opened and a gust of cold air entered the store along with two people. There was a little girl, perhaps eight or nine years old, with a short bobbed blond hair and dressed in dark green athletic sweats. She was accompanied by a stern looking elderly woman in a deep purple sweater and a pearl necklace. "Oh look, Grandma, they're putting out the angel tree!" exclaimed the girl. "Can we do one, please, Grandma?" She looked up at the elderly woman for permission.

"Of Course, Samantha," said the grandmother. They approached the tree and began to examine the tags. Cynthia slowly put another tag on the tree. Now only one to put on before she got to Julio's.

"Lauren, she's three, and she wants a Sesame Street farm," read the grandmother.

"Or Josh, he's nine, and he wants a spy kit," suggested Samantha. Cynthia added the next tag. She paused for a moment before picking up Julio's. Now that she was being watched, she had only one choice. Cynthia took a deep breath, then added the tag to the tree.

"Marisol, who's five, wants Candyland," said the grandmother

"Sarah, she's four, wants a baby Rapunzel." Samantha wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

Cynthia retreated a few feet away and leaned against the counter at an empty cash register. She pulled a sheet of paper out of her handbag and pretended to be filling out paperwork so she could continue to watch Samantha and her grandmother. Maybe once they were gone she should go retrieve Julio's tag.

"Anthony, he's ten, wants a basketball. That could be a good one," said Samantha.

"Or Susan, who's seven, wants a tea set," said the grandmother.

"No, I don't want to pick out a tea set," responded Samantha. "Hey look, Julio, he's seven, wants a ballerina Courtney doll. That's--"

"A boy wants a doll?" interrupted the grandmother, "The person writing them down must have made a mistake."

Cynthia looked up from her paper. Her hands were sweating a little.

"Boys don't play with dolls," declared the grandmother. Cynthia squeezed her eyes shut, praying that the grandmother would let it go and choose another tag.

"Some of them do," said Samantha. "I was gonna say, that's neat. It's the same way I like to play with legos and basketball stuff, only backwards."

"But, Samantha, you don't actually want to buy a boy a doll," said the grandmother with a slight shake of her head. "We could get Candyland for Marisol."

"No, I do want to get the doll for Julio. That's the one I want. I bet he's a ballerina boy. I'm a basketball girl, and that's okay. It's okay if he's a ballerina boy. He'll be really happy to get a ballerina Courtney doll." Samantha took Julio's tag from the tree. "You thought ballerina Courtney was cool when we were looking at the catalogue," Samantha reminded her grandmother with a grin. The grandmother looked down at Samantha's excited face and reluctantly smiled back.

"I suppose you're right. If that's really what this little boy wants, he will be happy to get it for Christmas." The grandmother followed Samantha toward the doll aisle of the store.

Cynthia let out her breath in a great puff of air. She could barely believe what she'd just heard. Julio was going to get his wish after all. And this miraculous little girl was making it come true. I should have had more faith, thought Cynthia.

Cynthia crumpled the sheet of paper back into her handbag, then returned to the tree for a last straightening. She moved some tags around so they were evenly spaced, and she couldn't help smiling as she did it. When she was finished, Cynthia headed back to the customer service desk to let someone know that the Angel Tree was all set up. As Cynthia approached the counter, she noticed that a thin man with a manager badge was now manning the desk. She was glad to see that the coughing woman had gone home.

Samantha and her grandmother joined Cynthia at the counter, and Samantha handed over a plastic shopping bag with the ballerina Courtney doll peeking out from the top. The manager took the bag, stapled Julio's tag to it, and thanked Samantha and the grandmother for their donation. As the two walked toward the exit, Cynthia heard Samantha say, "I'm glad he's going to get just what he wants for Christmas."

"Me, too," Cynthia whispered.

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Enjoy!

And to whet your appetite for next week, here's the title of the next story:

The Christmas Train