A Callahan Carol (2 page)

Johnny heard his mother tell Uncle Luke, “No telling what we’re going to find in the library. I almost wish Mark wasn’t so handy picking locks.”

“Hey now,” Luke protested. “I’m just as good as Mark.”

“Neither of you are as good as me,” Johnny’s dad declared.

Aunt Maddie and Mom rolled their eyes. Aunt Annabelle sighed and said, “Somebody open the door, would you, please? We don’t have a lot of time. Chris called an hour ago to give me a heads up that the Cowboys game had ended. He’ll be back with Branch by five.”

The three brothers looked at one another, then Johnny’s dad said, “Luke, you’ve always been the fastest. Go ahead.”

“The Callahan men’s talents continue to amaze me,” Aunt Maddie said when the door swung open minutes later.

“So does their stubbornness,” Mom added.

“And Branch is the king of stubborn.” Aunt Annabelle shook her head. “If I ever had any doubts, this latest nonsense with the library would have convinced me. Leaving the Christmas tree up until John came home was a lovely gesture, but if he didn’t want it around anymore, he should have had it taken down.

Locking Christmas away solved nothing.”

“At least it was an artificial tree,” Matt observed, following the women into the room.

Aunt Maddie clucked her tongue. “Look at the dust in here.

We should have picked that lock weeks ago.”

“How long has he left it up?”

“Three years at least,” Uncle Mark said.

Uncle Luke added, “Maybe four.”

“We could count the presents and see,” Cousin Catherine suggested.

Uncle Luke said, “I think it’s time to store John’s gifts somewhere out of sight.”

The aunts and his mom shared a look, then Aunt Annabelle said, “Maybe it’s time to–”

“Donate them,” Mom finished.

Aunt Maddie added, “To charity.”

“No!” snapped all three Callahan men simultaneously.

Luke added, “Out of sight is fine. Then let’s get our gifts to Branch under the tree.”

The family went to work dusting and decorating and sprucing up the artificial spruce standing in a corner of the room.

Uncle Mark put Christmas music on the stereo at Aunt Annabelle’s request; Mom put the cookies she’d mixed up that morning into the oven to bake. Aunt Maddie put the spiced cider on the stove to heat, and soon the scent of apples and cinnamon filled the air.

When the cookies were done, the cider hot, and the decorating and cleaning complete, everyone got a snack and went outside. They took their traditional seats on the curb in front of the house across the street while Catherine and Samantha ran up and down the street, knocking on neighbors’ doors and telling them that the big moment was at hand. Finally, at his mother’s signal, Johnny’s dad flipped the main switch.

Callahan’s Christmas Wonderland came to life.

Lights blazed, the displays moved. The mannequins in choir robes started singing. Johnny and his cousins clapped their hands, jumped up and down, and shouted with delight. The Callahan men kissed their wives, and the neighbors cheered and called “Merry Christmas.”

Cousin Chris’s red car turned the corner at the end of the block a few minutes later and Aunt Maddie called out a warning.

Johnny could hear Grandpa Branch’s angry roar before the car came to a stop. Uncle Mark said, “Batten down your red noses, reindeers. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”

“Don we now our chain mail armor,” Uncle Luke sang to the tune of
Deck the Halls.

“Maddie?” Uncle Luke said to his wife. “Why don’t you be point man on this? You’ve always been able to twist Branch around your little finger.”

“Not hardly,” she replied as she stepped toward the car.

As Grandpa Branch threw open the passenger side door, he bellowed, “Christopher, get my damned walker out of the trunk.”

“Welcome home, Branch,” Aunt Maddie said. “How was the ball game? Did the Cowboys win?”

He ignored her question, ignored her, and shot an angry glare toward his sons. “Turn it off. Take it down.”

Aunt Maddie sent a “help me” look over her shoulder toward Uncle Luke. He and his brothers rose and joined her. “Let’s take this inside, Branch,” Dad said.

“No. I’m going inside. You are gonna take that crap off my damned lawn.”

“Watch your language, Branch,” Luke demanded. “The kids are here.”

Grandpa Branch scowled, yanked his walker from Chris’s hands, and shuffled toward his front door. Chris shut his trunk, rubbed the back of his neck, then grimaced. “I tried to soften him up about Christmas on the ride back, but he wasn’t hearing anything of it.”

“The old goat,” Uncle Mark muttered.

“Actually, make that the old Grinch,” Matt grumbled.

“He’s hurting,” Aunt Maddie said, her voice soft.

“Yeah, well, we’re all hurting,” Uncle Luke replied, just as the first cars full of Wonderland viewers arrived.

Mom clapped her hands. “Okay, kiddos, looks like the Brazos Bend grapevine has done its job. Santa hats and candy canes are in my back seat. Take your places.”

“Do you have any reindeer antlers this year, Aunt Torie?”

Uncle Mark’s son Tanner asked. “I like wearing antlers better.”

Johnny’s mom ruffled his cousin’s hair. “I have a pair of reindeer antlers with your name on it.” Then she looked at his dad and uncles and said, “Good luck, you guys.”

“We’ll need it.”

Johnny watched the Callahan sons follow their father into Callahan House before joining his aunts and cousins in the annual tradition of passing out candy to those who came to view the Wonderland. Cars passed by the house in a steady stream and soon, Johnny’s candy bag was empty. Holding it up, he called, “Mom, I’m going for a refill.”

She waved at him, then helped Aunt Annabelle’s one-year-old pass out a piece of candy.

After refilling his bag, Johnny paused. He needed to pee.

That presented a dilemma. Mom would have a fit if he peed outdoors, but she wouldn’t want him going inside, either. After a moment’s deliberation (and because he wanted to know what was happening inside) he headed around back toward the kitchen door.

As he reached for the knob, he heard Samantha whisper loudly, “Hey, Johnny. Did you come to spy on the grown-ups, too?”

He wasn’t about to tell a girl he needed to pee. “Yes.”

“I’m worried at Grandpa Branch. He looked really mad.”

And really old, Johnny thought. Really,
really
old.

Samantha continued, “Let’s go in. But be quiet!”

“You’re the one doing all the talking,” Johnny grumbled as he carefully turned the knob, then pushed the door open and stepped inside. Samantha was right on his heels.

Now he needed to pee even worse. Doing things he shouldn’t always did that to him.

Samantha moved around him to take the lead–as usual. He didn’t really mind because if they were caught, she’d catch the worst of it. They entered the kitchen, and he could hear the sound of raised voices coming from the far side of the house. The sound pulled them forward like a magnet. When they heard Grandpa Branch shout out a curse that would have grounded them for a month if they’d said it, Johnny and Samantha shared a round-eyed look.

“Give me back my gun!” Branch shouted.

“No!” Matt shot back. “You’re acting crazy, Dad.”

“Our kids are outside,” Luke added. “If you want to destroy more than seventy years of family history and tradition so bad, then take a golf club and do it.”

Johnny and Samantha crept forward until they stood just outside of the library. The door hung open wide. Samantha dropped down on her hands and knees and peered around the edge, then gestured that it was safe for Johnny to cross to the other side.

Holding his breath, he darted past the open doorway. He knelt and mimicked his cousin’s stance. Now he really, really, really needed to pee, but the showdown inside the library had him rooted to the spot.

“The Callahan family is more than a Christmas lawn display.” Grandpa Branch declared. “Our name is all over this town. Doing away with that nonsense outside won’t make any difference at all.”

“It’ll make a difference to our kids,” Uncle Mark fired back, his stance wide, his arms crossed, and his eyes angry.

“And frankly,” Dad added, his hands braced on his hips and his jaw jutting forward, “it makes a difference to us, too. The Wonderland is part of our lives. Part of our family and our home.

Part of our Christmas.”

“He’s right.” Uncle Luke leaned against one of the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, his legs crossed at his ankles. His arms were crossed, too, and he looked mad. “Those years when I was away from Brazos Bend for the holidays, I always made the effort to find some sort of Christmas display to visit. It helped me feel . .

. less alone.” He shrugged. “Some of them were bigger than ours, but none of them were better. It
is
important, Branch.”

“It’s a lie! That’s what it is. Think about the buzz words people spout this time of year. Peace on Earth. Joy to the World.

It’s all bull. There is no peace in Christmas. No joy. Certainly no hope. It’s all a lie and be damned if I’ll be a part of it any longer.”

Johnny’s eyes went even rounder when he saw him grandfather reach for his cane and then swipe the hooked end toward the Christmas tree.

“I want it gone!” Grandpa Branch shouted. “I want it
over
!”

The tree toppled and crashed to the floor. Glass ornaments shattered. Tears stung Johnny’s eyes.

Then Grandpa dropped the cane, clutched at his chest, and fell to the floor beside the Christmas tree.

Uncle Mark said, “Dad?”

Uncle Luke said, “I’ll call 911.”

Johnny’s daddy knelt beside Grandpa Branch, placed his fingers against his throat and spoke in a grim tone. “I can’t get a pulse.”

“He’s dead?” Uncle Mark and Uncle Luke asked together.

When his dad didn’t say anything else, Johnny Callahan’s heart broke.

Coma.

That’s what Mom and Dad said was wrong with his grandfather. They used some other big medical words that Johnny couldn’t understand or remember, but what really mattered was that Grandpa Branch was asleep and not waking up.

Sixteen days had passed since the ambulance roared up to Callahan House to take him to the hospital, five days since they’d brought him home and installed him in his bedroom because Johnny had overheard Uncle Luke say that Branch would want to die at Callahan House in his own bed.

It had been the worst two weeks Johnny could remember.

Mom couldn’t seem to stop crying and he’d hardly seen his dad.

Branch Callahan’s sons all but lived at the hospital. Samantha said that all the grown-ups felt guilty because even though the doctors said otherwise, they thought that decorating for Christmas had brought on the attack.

They hadn’t taken down the Wonderland, but the lights stayed off. In the library, the Christmas tree lay on the floor where it had fallen. Nobody felt like cleaning it up. Aunt Maddie had tried to go into the room and clean twice, but both times she’d started crying so hard she had to stop.

In his bedroom, Grandpa Branch lay against dark blue sheets, his face as white as the snow that had begun to fall. Any other time, Johnny would be thrilled to see snow in Brazos Bend, since it had only happened twice before in his whole life. Now he didn’t care about the snow. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve and the holiday was shaping up to be the worst Christmas ever.

He sat on the front stoop at Callahan House, watching the neighbor kids making snow angels in the yard across the street. He tried to work up the energy to go play with them, but he just didn’t have the heart. He sighed heavily, watching his breath fog on the cold winter air, and wishing he still believed in Santa. He’d make an emergency trip to the mall and ask old Kris Kringle to bring a get well gift for Grandpa Branch.

The door opened behind him and Samantha came out.

Tears slipped down her cheeks. Johnny tensed and swallowed hard. “Is Grandpa. . .?”

“The doctor just told my dad to . . .” Her breath caught on a sob. “. . . to prepare the family. He said Grandpa’s body is shutting down.”

“What does that mean?”

“He’s dying. The doctor said he probably has only a few days left.”

Johnny shoved to his feet. “Well, they need to give him medicine and make it stop.”

“That’s what I said. Aunt Torie said the doctors had done all they can.”

“They need to call different doctors, ones who know more.”

Tears stung Johnny’s eyes as he turned away from his cousin. His gaze landed on the manger scene and he thought about Jesus and the miracle of His birth. Samantha’s gaze followed his and a moment later, she murmured, “Maybe that’s it.”

“What’s it?”

“It’s the season of miracles, isn’t it? Maybe God will give one to Grandpa Branch.”

Hope flickered to life inside Johnny. “Maybe He will help us find the right doctor!”

His cousin frowned. “I don’t think the grown-ups are going to start looking for new doctors, Johnny. I heard your dad tell mine that Dr. Reed was the best in the business.”

“So what will we do?”

Samantha gave the manger scene another long look, her stare fastening on the angels that hung above it. “We’ll just have to do the work and find a doctor.”

“How are we supposed to do that? We’re just kids.”

Samantha rolled her eyes. “Well Google one, of course.”

Five minutes later, she sat at the computer in the family room with her hands paused over the keyboard. She entered three words: miracle, healing, and doctor. The search returned 185,000

results.

She clicked on the top result. The website loaded. A big Victorian house stood at the base of a forested mountain, a clear mountain creek bubbling in the foreground. “Angel’s Rest, Healing Center and Spa,” Samantha read. “Angels. That sounds good, don’t you think?”

“It doesn’t look much like a hospital,” Johnny said.

“We tried a hospital. It didn’t work. This says it’s a healing center. Grandpa Branch needs healing.”

She reached for the phone and dialed the number, then pushed the button to put the call on speaker. After two rings, a woman’s voice answered. “Angel’s Rest. Celeste Blessing speaking. How may I help you today?”