Tuesday, December 24, 2021 — Christmas Eve
Sofie was standing behind the counter, getting everything ready. Sara, my perfectionist girlfriend, had made ham and turkey sandwiches and even baked some sweet pastries for the Atlas Christmas Eve show. Sofie refused to touch the ham sandwiches and Sara sent Pete out to get some hummus and avocados.
When Pete returned, he had a spring to his step that I hadn’t seen before. He didn’t seem to mind the fact that he looked like a snowman when he stepped into the foyer and stomped his feet to get the snow off his shoes and pants.
“Wow, feels like Christmas,” he said with a big smile on his face. A minute later, he was joking with Sofie as the two stood behind our long counter, making sandwiches.
Mom, Dad, and Antti arrived a half hour later. Mom’s nose was still red but not out of crying anymore. She was beaming as she walked from person to person, shaking hands with all of us.
“Oh, Peter, your father had arranged a wonderful Christmas present, did you know about that?” she asked me.
“What was it?”
“He had a storage space full of all kinds of presents to kids,” she said. “Although, sometimes I wonder what he’s thinking of. A snowblower to a kid? And–,” she said, lowering her voice, “I’m pretty sure what he thought was a chemistry set was actually a moonshine still.”
I laughed.
I was surprised how many people wanted to go to the movies on Christmas Eve. That was my dream, but I always thought I was the weird one. Turned out there were lots of weirdos out there.
I told Pete to get ready to go into the projection booth.
“Do you have the reels?” I asked him.
“Yes, sir… Peter,” he replied.
“And you’re confident you can handle the changes?”
“Yes, sir. Mr. Rexi was very thorough in his advice,” Pete said. “Oh, by the way, I asked my Mom to come to the show since Dad’s stuck somewhere, Helsinki, I think. I hope that’s OK.”
“Of course it’s OK! I should’ve thought of it myself,” I said.
Sofie made Pete a large hot chocolate and he disappeared upstairs. I stood at the door and ushered people in to the theatre. The snow was coming down hard now and I couldn’t see where the street ended and the sidewalk began anymore. Whatever footprints the moviegoers have left outside disappeared quickly.
Kim and Elisa kom just before showtime. They walked in hand in hand, dressed up as ghosts, Christmas past or future, I couldn’t tell.
“I think I may have been doing this Christmas thing wrong,” Kim said. “Quickly, both of you, Top 3 songs that aren’t Xmas songs but could be!”
“Caravan of Love,” said Elisa.
“Power of Love,” I shouted. “The Frankie one.”
“Too easy. I’ll say…” Kim began and rubbed his chin, “‘Waiting For A Star to Fall.’”
“Good one. Enjoy the show,” I said. I rushed them in because I had just seen Jennifer park her car and run toward Atlas.
I made her a large hot chocolate. Sofie gave her a danish, and me a meaningful look, but without a word. With Rexi not there, I showed Jennifer the way to the projection booth and let her sit there with Pete who handled Scrooged like a pro. Rexi would’ve been proud of him.
I didn’t see much of the movie because I stood mostly in the foyer, keeping an eye out for Tina and Tim. It had already taken the twice as long as usual to drive to Kumpunotko and the snow was now starting to pile up. The streets were empty as far as I could see.
Suddenly I heard Kim shout “Buster Poindexter” in the theatre and it made me laugh. Fittingly, right then, like a taxi driven by Buster Pointdexter in Scrooged, I saw a maroon Volkswagen Golf come skidding around the bend, and plowing the snow in front of it until it came to a stop in front of the Atlas doors.
Three doors opened simultaneously and Tina, Tim, and Mikke rushed out of the car and into the theatre.
“Somebody get me an eggnog,” Tina shouted and gave me a hug. Tim was two steps behind her, and Mikke another two behind Tim.
“Mikke is the hero here,” Tim said. “You should’ve seen him drive. He was like Doc Brown, he didn’t need roads, either!”
When Scrooged ended, and everybody got out of the theatre, the storm had reached Kumpunotko, and it was obvious that going home was out of the question. Dad made a brave run to Antti’s van to get some leftover bread, so that we could make some more sandwiches.
Atlas was the heart of Kumpunotko again.
I asked Pete and Sofie get my boombox from the basement so that we could have some music – and even dancing – in the foyer. Meanwhile, I noticed a lone walker on the main street, fighting the elements. It was Sami.
Jennifer was so happy she screamed. I let Sami in and handed him an eggnog, too.
“Pete’s been working at Atlas these past few days,” Jennifer told Sami. “It was so nice of you, Peter, it’s all he’s talked about at home, counting the hours to when he can go back to Atlas.”
I smiled. I noticed Sofie and Pete come out of the basement. They stood in the basement doorway, underneath the mistletoe Sara had put over the door.
“That’s nice to hear,” I said to Jennifer.
Pete and Sofie looked at each other. Pete put the boombox down. Sofie smiled at him and leaned slightly forward.
Right then somebody slammed me on the back so hard I almost fell down!
It was Rexi in a full Santa outfit. “Ho ho ho! What do you say we give the old girl in the projection booth something to do tonight. We can’t go home anyway,” he went on.
“That’s a great idea, Rexi,” I said. “Right, Sara? Let’s watch another movie.”
Sara tilted her head. “I thought we didn’t have any more Christmas movies,” she said.
“We don’t,” I said.
“What do you mean? We have Die Hard,” Rexi said.
Sara looked at Rexi. And then me. Then Rexi again.
“Fine,” she said. “Die Hard it is.”
“MERRRRRYYY CHRISTMAS!” Rexi shouted and I joined him, shouting at the top of my lungs:
“YES, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!”
➡️ More on Someday Jennifer (HarperCollins Canada 2019)