Summary:  This story was written for the 2016 Advent Collection.

Rating:  G  (780 words)

Glory Be…. by sklamb

Papa was singing his favorite Christmas song, eyes half closed and face tipped up to the ceiling as if to avoid seeing the scene around him. Or so, perhaps, I hoped–that he, like me, was remembering other Christmases, back where I still thought of as “home” even though it really was a mixture of houses and cities and places almost as far from each other as from Nevada.

Only of course this wasn’t his first Christmas here, the way it was for me. However much I’d like to pretend otherwise, I knew perfectly well he thought he was home. As if all the life we’d had together was some sort of exile. It wasn’t a thought I liked, and I wondered if Mama felt as hurt as I did. Very carefully, I tried to look around me without turning my head, to see everyone else as they listened to Papa singing.

Right away I could tell most of them were crying, which was very strange. I’d already learned Uncle Joe wasn’t ashamed of tears, but I didn’t think my grandfather felt the same way. And then there were the other old men, who’d come as guests–Doctor Martin and Mr. Coffee. The only dry eye in the room was Mama’s, and she was frowning as she watched.

Then I saw Uncle Joe lean over and whisper something in Mama’s ear, and she started tearing up. Even Hop Sing, standing in the doorway to the dining room, was watching with wet eyes. There was something I didn’t understand going on. Hop Sing could try and tell me, but this was important and I didn’t always understand his explanations. Besides, I didn’t want to embarass him by telling him I’d seen him crying, so I went and pulled at Uncle Jamie’s jacket instead. Uncle Jamie wasn’t exactly in tears; he had his face twisted up instead, like any little boy who doesn’t want to be caught being “soppy,” so he also knew…whatever. And he was the one who’d told me how the lopsided angel at the top of the tree had been made by Uncle Joe so long ago that grand-mère M’rie (who was not really my grandmother) had still been alive. He didn’t mind telling me things everyone else seemed to think I should already know.

“You know, Miss ‘Lizabeth, your pa used ta sing this at Christmas, at the big parties and all,” Uncle Jamie began.

I let the shortened form of my name pass–he’d used three of its syllables, after all. “Yes, but why–”

“After he left, Uncle Hoss sang it instead. Seems your pa once told him he could carry a tune just fine but it never was good for much afterwords…so Uncle Hoss always said if people didn’t like the noise it was all your pa’s fault for leaving. He made that sound so funny….” For a moment it looked like Uncle Jamie was going to get “soppy” after all, but he bit down on his lip and soldiered on. “Then when he was dying…they brought him to McNair’s Hotel because the hospital didn’t have a big enough bed for him and…and I was the only one who could get there right away. I was still going to school in Virginia City, you see. And I told him, ‘You can’t die, Uncle Hoss. Who’ll sing Uncle Adam’s Christmas song if you’re gone?’ Such a stupid thing to say, but it was all I could think of….”

By now he wasn’t trying to keep the tears from sliding down his face, but he swiped one hand across his eyes as he finished his story. “So Uncle Hoss whispered back to me, ‘Always gonna be someone to sing that at the Ponderosa,’ and then he…he winked at me. And somehow I felt better, even knowing he’d be gone, or maybe…maybe not really gone. Or something. It got hard to remember that, with everything that’s happened to us this year, but it’s Christmas again now, and Uncle Hoss was right, after all. And that’s why everyone’s…well. Well.”

Papa finally put an end to the last, long-drawn note of “Glory be to the Newborn King.” He wasn’t looking at the ceiling after all, but at the threadbare blond angel on top of the tree, and as he whispered, “Merry Christmas, Hoss,” he was smiling through his tears.

And so were all of us.

~*~*~*~

As an extra treat (especially for any Adamsgals out there! here’s the link to a YouTube video with seasonal images and the sound of Adam singing this song:

Season’s greetings and a Happy New Year to everyone at Brand!

Link to the 2016 Advent Calendar – Day 20 – Lights (by Sibylle)