The Watch

What began as a personal narrative, evolved into a short work of fiction. This piece is very close to my heart.

The beautiful white snow, reflecting the dawn, catches my eye as I look out the window into the front yard. The picturesque landscape entrances me, even as a child of five years old. We live in what our mum refers to as “The Hole.” Our old and beautiful house is placed at the bottom of a steep mile long driveway which twists and turns. Behind our home is a stable with a couple of horses and peacocks. There are bullmastiffs running around, no need for leashes as they protect us and themselves from anything that could harm us.

I walk through the loft upstairs and peek into my big brother’s room. Where did he go? I think to myself as I head down the stairs, playing the “how fast can you go without tripping” game with myself. I fail miserably, my eyes betraying me, as I miss the last two and slide down on my butt.

“Here you go.” Mum says to me, handing me a glass of orange juice as I rub the scuff on my backside. “We don’t need you antagonizing your brother this morning.”

I take a sip and the juice catches in my throat. It tastes funny. I eye it sideways and hand the cup back to Mum, shaking my head.

“It’s fine. I can’t get more today. You need the sugar.” I pretend to take another sip and she nods, turning around and heading back into the kitchen. I see the turkey she shot out the bedroom window yesterday morning sitting on the table. I edge closer to the pretty green tree that is in the hallway and tip my cup into the soil, watching to make sure that she does not see me waste the juice.

Seeing my big brother in the living room, reading a book, I climb up onto the couch and cuddle into him. The house is chilly, only heated by the stove, but he and the blanket are always warm. I look over his arm and try to decipher the words that are written there, but all I can make out are the letters if I really get close.

He pulls me in closer to him and starts reading aloud and I hear Mum start crying in the kitchen. I go to move, wanting to find out why she is crying, but he simply pulls me closer and shakes his head as he reads. our baby brother comes crawling over to where we are on the couch and pulls himself to stand. I scoot away from my big brother a little as he pauses to pull the little guy up onto the couch with us.

We all huddle together and sit content as he reads to us. The story, hard to understand with the sobs coming from the other room, eases the tension in my brother as he continues. After a while of listening, I feel myself falling asleep on my big brother and he squeezes me awake. “Look.”

My blurry eyesight, unable to really focus on any one thing, is drawn into the sight of a tiny box on my lap. I look over at my big brother and notice that him and my baby brother both have a little box as well. I look around, not understanding what is happening and see that there is another woman in the room with us.

Squinting my eyes, I can see a friend of Mum’s standing there. I look over to Mum and she nods to us. “She wanted to wish us a Merry Christmas.” The sadness in Mum’s eyes is making me want to cry and I don’t know why.

I look over at my big brother, not knowing what to do. “Open it.” He says with a nod. I pop open the top to the little box and see that there is a gold shape sitting on a cushion. “That’s so pretty. She got you a unicorn necklace!” He grins ear to ear and pulls it gently, fastening it behind my neck.

“What did you get?” I ask, wanting to see.

First helping the baby to open his little box, which is holding a car-key to chew on. My big brother holds the key to the baby's mouth and motions to bite it, smiling when he begins to gnaw on it. My big brother then looks at Mum with hesitation and with her permission to open his own box, he pulls out a watch.

There is a look of longing on his face that I don’t understand as I tell him how awesome it is. He nods. “Tell her, Thank you.” He says nudging me.

“Thank you.”

Mum's friend smiles and nods. “You are all so amazing. Are you ready for your gift?” She asks looking to Mum.

“I can’t take anything.” Our Mum says, walking towards the kitchen.

The woman follows her and whispers sternly to her. “You will let me do what I would like to do. You went above and beyond for the gifts I asked you to make, now get in my car.”

There was a moment of silence before Mum came into the living room and spoke to my big brother. “Can you watch them for a few minutes?”

My big brother nods. “I’ll read some more.”

Mum walks out the door, and the time ticks by slowly enough for my big brother to have to stock the stove a couple times and then freeze us with his cold body as he comes back to get warm again. Being nine, he is always the one who knows just what to do. In fact, without any uncertainty, he can always tell Mum what either of us wants or needs without asking us. He’s our safety.

Mum returns with her friend, having to make three trips to and from the house, all the warmth fleeing from the open door. I peek into the kitchen and see that there is food everywhere. The sight is overwhelming as I scan the kitchen with wide eyes. Mum puts the cold stuff out in the snow, so it won’t go bad and begins stoking the woodstove to cook.

“I don’t know how to repay you.” Mum says to her friend as she says her goodbyes.

The woman smiles and shrugs. “One day, you will see someone who is in need and will help them. That is how you can repay me.” Mum gives her a tight hug and nods, allowing the woman to make her exit.

I see my big brother shifting back and forth, eyeing Mum. It takes a few moments for her to feel his gaze. “Do you need something, bud?”

He walks up to her and removes the watch from his wrist, chin held high. “Sell this. We can use the money.”

Mum shakes her head, putting it back on him. “No. We are ok. We will get through this.”

“But this is not something that I need. There are things that we do need.

Not understanding anything that is going on, I reach up onto the counter and snag a banana. “Can I have this?

Mum nods, “I want you to keep that watch. I will worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.” Turning towards the bird that she was working on earlier, she finishes. “We will have a feast this Christmas. Sound good?

My big brother smiles at her, so I do too, fidgeting with the little charm on my neck and savoring the awesome taste of the banana.