Thursday, December 19, 2021
With the candy shelves stacked and the popcorn machine ready to go, I had a few hours to kill before I had to be in that gray suit that would turn me into Neal Page from Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Sara had been quiet for a few days. She was down because her parents had told her they were going to spend Christmas at the winter house they had bought in Spain. Her brother had divorced and was also going to spend the holidays out of the country, “probably Thailand,” Sara told me.
She put on a brave face, as always, and told me how much fun it’d be to have a scalde down Christmas with just me and Einstein.
“Except, that of course, your parents are here. And now Tina’s coming, too,” she said.
I didn’t know what to tell her. I was looking forward to Tina’s family’s visit. They had always had their own Christmas in Helsinki, and the family had celebrated Christmas together only twice since Chris Rea recorded “Driving Home for Christmas”.
“We should really decorate more here. Like Clark Griswold,” I said.
“I guess,” Sara replied. That was odd. Sara loved Christmas decorations.
“Let’s go buy a Christmas tree. Right now. I noticed that KP is selling trees at the square. Let’s get a tree and support the hockey team. What do you say?”
“A big one?”
“The biggest tree they’ve got. We’ve got the space!”
Sara smiled. She put on her coat and walked toward the side door.
“Let’s go then, eh”? she shouted to me. “Grab an umbrella,” she added.
I held the umbrella and Sara slipped her arm through mine as we walked to the square.
“You always know what to say or do to cheer me up,” Sara said. “Sometimes it’s like you know me even better than I do.”
“Who doesn’t like a Christmas tree?” I said, deflecting the compliment. But it made me all warm inside.
I recognized the giant of a man selling the trees. It was Antti, a friend of Dad’s, no surprise there. He worked at the lumberyard and had helped me with the renovation of Atlas.
“Hi, Peter! Need a good tree? I’ve got ‘em,” he bellowed.
Sara walked straight to the tallest tree and gave it a shake.
“Found it,” she said with a big grin on he face. I walked over to Antti and handed him a fifty.
“Say hi to your Dad, haven’t seen him in a while. He must be busy,” Antti said as he out the bill into his pocket. There was no change coming my way.
I grabbed hold of the stump-end of the tree, Sara took the top and we walked back to Atlas, singing Christmas carols. Or, Sara sang, I did a fake barbershop bum-bu-bum-bu-bum sound which amused her.
“We don’t have a stand for the tree,” Sara said when the tree was on the floor in the foyer. “I’ll go to the store and buy one. Anything else we need?”
“All the decorations?”
Sara laughed. “That’s right,” she said and slammed herself on the forehead. “OK, I’ll get everything.”
After she left, I walked over to Kim’s Basement, the record store run by now one of my dearest friends, Kim. Even though the store was not in a basement, the Kim part of the store name was correct.
Kim was sitting on a stool behind the counter, as always, arguing with a customer about David Bowie’s Let’s Dance album.
“It does not,” Kim said.
“It certainly does,” the man replied.
“For the last time, no. Peter, back me up here,” Kim said, and waved for me to get closer. “The question this, um, gentleman posed was this: Does Let’s Dance include Bowie’s finest guitar playing?”
I smiled. Kim had the poor customer exactly where he wanted. He was like a fat cat playing with a mouse.
“I’m afraid it is not. Uncharacteristically, Bowie didn’t play any instruments on Let’s Dance,” I said.
“Thank you,” Kim said, turned his back to the man, and began to talk to me.
“So, I was thinking a Top 10 Christmas songs, but that’s lame. So how about … What are you still doing here?” he said. The last part was meant for the other customer who promptly turned around and left.
“How about what?” I asked Kim.
“Top 10 songs that get you through the holidays and out of the funk. Ta-da,” he said and spread his long arms
“Funk?”
“You know, not everyone celebrates Christmas. Music, man, music helps you get through it.”
“That sound sad,” I said. “You don’t celebrate Christmas?”
“That’s right, man,” Kim said, and grabbed a pen and paper so we could get to work right away.
I accepted. It was the least I could do, I thought. We had nine of the songs after just 45 minutes but spent 30 minutes arguing whether Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration” was the perfect choice or the absolutely worst possible choice (as Kim said). Another ten minutes later, we had our list:
1. Beastie Boys – (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)
2. The Clash – Rock the Casbah
3. W.A.S.P. – I Wanna Be Somebody
4. Van Halen – Jump
5. Eurythmics – When Tomorrow Comes
6. Starship – Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now
7. Billy Idol – Mony Mony
8. Sabrina – Boys (Summertime Love)*
9. Run-DMC & Aerosmith – Walk This Way
10. Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell
* The asterisk denotes an ironic choice.
I glanced at my watch and realized that Sara must have come back already. I dashed out of the store, and opened the door with such force that I almost knocked down a woman who was passing by, sending her purse flying.
“It’s all right. This is my stop anyway,” she said, when I handed her the purse back. I didn’t quite understand how that made everything OK but I opened the door for her and waited until she was inside before letting go of the handle.
And then I sprinted back to Atlas.
➡️ More on Someday Jennifer (HarperCollins Canada 2019)