Mary’s Christmas Gift Chapter 2

Story posted by Chris Cade | Short Christmas Stories on Oct 7, 2008 in Inspirational Christmas Stories (If known, the original author is listed below)

Mary Chapman stood in the break room, indecisive about what to get from the vending machine. All of the candy bars and snacks tasted delicious and all of them, without exception, were bad for her and the baby. The trail mix shouted “healthy” in orange letters at the top of the bag. Unfortunately, it tasted like ground-up pine cones. Mary wished she had asked Jill to bring a sandwich back for her.

“That stuff’ll kill you, y’know,” a man’s voice said from behind her.

She turned. “Oh. Hi, Paul. I know it’s bad, but I had to stay in today to finish next year’s projections.” Paul Angstrom, a tall gawky man in his mid-twenties, wore thick glasses and had a full head of unruly, curly blond hair. Even though he was socially inept, he could make a personal computer do anything his coworkers wanted. Jill had teased Mary that Paul had a crush on her, so Mary was always careful about what she said to him to avoid hurting his feelings. He truly was a sweet, bashful man.

“You can’t please her, Mary.”

“Who? Elizabeth?”

“Haven’t you noticed that she’s been in a rotten mood for months? She didn’t used to be that way.”

“I try to give her the benefit of the doubt,” Mary answered. “I know she’s under a lot of stress.”

“I was talking to Kevin at the company picnic last summer and he told me they’d found out that there was no possibility of them ever having children. Apparently they’d tried a lot of different things.”

“And you think that’s why she’s been out of sorts?”

Paul shrugged. “Seems like that’s about when it started. I feel sorry for her and all, but why does she have to take it out on us? And especially on you.”

“Jill thinks the same thing.” Mary didn’t want to gossip, so she steered the conversation another way. “I suppose you’ll be seeing your family on Christmas,
Paul?”

He laughed and a bit of a snort came out. “Yep, the usual stuff-yourself -‘til-food comes-out-your-ears meal, then watching football on TV while half the men conk out in their chairs and snore like a bunch of chainsaws.”

“Well, it sounds nice, all the same.”

“How about you, Mary? You know, you’re welcome to come over to my aunt’s if you’d like. I know she’d be thrilled to have you. Everybody’s real friendly.”

She gave a slight shake of her head. “To tell you the truth, my due date is right around Christmas, and I think they might be right. I want to stick close to home, so if I go into labor, I can have my regular obstetrician.”

Paul pressed a little further. “You sure? ‘Cause I’d be happy to pick you up and take you home.”

“No, Jill will probably drop by. And there’s a nice couple in my apartment building who’ve offered to drive me to the hospital whenever this business starts.”

He looked disappointed. “Well, I better get going. I’ve got one more Christmas present to buy, and if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to get it and be back by one o’clock.”

He moved toward the door.

“G’bye, Paul. Thanks for asking.”

Mary had only three relatives—cousins in Nebraska, but it would be too far to drive there and back, and she was exhausted much of the time anyway. Her aunts and uncles had died several years ago. She didn’t look forward to spending Christmas home alone, but she knew she would have felt very out-of-place with Paul and his relatives, and besides, it might give him the wrong signal.

She sat down at one of the formica-topped tables and put her head down on her forearms. She could use a nap right now, and the day was only half over. She would get some coffee soon so the caffeine would keep her alert for the rest of the afternoon.

Mary offered a silent prayer, something she’d been doing more and more lately. God, I need to hang on for just a few more weeks until the baby is born, but I’m so, so tired. Would you help me get through this day and back home safely? Please make everything work out right. Forgive me for letting you down. Thank you for Pastor Don and all the women at church who have been so kind to me.

Amen.

When she raised her head, a familiar voice greeted her. “Ah, there’s nothing like a refreshing thirty second nap on a hard chair and a plastic tabletop.”
“Jill! I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I brought a sandwich back for you kiddo. I just went down to the deli. Roast beef okay?” She took two waxpaper-wrapped sandwiches out of a brown paper sack and put one down in front of Mary and the other by herself.

“You know roast beef is my favorite. What do I owe you?”

“Uh, a fiver will cover it.” Jill got up, went to the soda machine and got a diet cola.

“Would you get me a cup of coffee while you’re up, please?”

“Sure. Cream and sugar, right?” Jill laughed. The “cream” consisted of small foil packets of powdered coffee creamer, and Mary used the blue packets of artificial sweetener. Jill put the drinks on the table, opened her can of soda and poured it into a foam plastic coffee cup. She sat, picked Mary’s five dollar bill off the table, and put it in her pocket.

“Mmmm, this is great,” Mary mumbled over a mouthful of sandwich. “I’m so glad you did this.”

“Well, actually, there’s something I want to talk to you about.” Mary put her sandwich down and looked across her cup as she sipped her coffee.

“This sounds serious.”

“It is. More serious than any way I’ve ever fouled up before.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I…I’m not…going to be able to get you a Christmas present this year, Mary.”

“Why? We’ve always exchanged presents.”

“I’m about three steps away from bankruptcy.”

“What?”

“It happened gradually,” Jill confessed, her face reddening. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

“You know I never repeat anything we talk about,” Mary assured her. They were the only two people in the employee break room.

“No, it’s not that. I’ve been stupid. Really stupid.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Jill. Tell me what happened.”

“I got into this buying thing a couple years ago. You know, I’ve been looking for a decent guy for most of my life. I’ve been very…unhappy, Mary. Lonely.”

“How does that connect with the buying?”

“I don’t know, maybe it was some way to try to smooth over the hurt, or cheer myself up. I don’t know. It seemed to help sometimes, but then I started using it as a way to get myself out of depression, and I got out of control.”

“So you’re in debt?”

“Huh! Something over $12,000.”

“Oh, Jill. What did you buy for that much money?”

“Lots of small stuff. Clothes. Jewelry. Things for my apartment. Presents for my mom and my brother. Subscriptions to magazines I don’t even read, you
name it.”

“But you make good money here.”

“Not as much as you’d think. I don’t know how I got in so deep, Mary. What savings I had are gone. The credit card companies are on my back, I’m getting nasty letters from lawyers. I don’t want to declare bankruptcy, but I don’t know
what else to do.”

“Have you tried one of those debt consolidation places? I’ve heard they can work some sort of deal with your creditors, then get your payments down lower.”

Jill shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. “I just want to get out from under this. I don’t know what to do.”

“Maybe the company could give you an advance on your salary. Sort of a nointerest loan that you could pay off over time.”

“I don’t want to go to Elizabeth about this and have her gloat over me. Here I am working in Midwest’s finance department and my own finances are messed up beyond repair.” Tears were running down Jill’s cheeks now.

Mary reached across the table and put her hand on her friend’s arm. “I don’t have a lot saved, but I can loan you some of it. A couple thousand.”

“No, no, no! That’s not why I told you. I’m not asking for a loan, and I won’t take anything from you. I just wanted to tell you why I can’t buy you a Christmas present this year.” She picked up her paper napkin and dabbed at her eyes.

“How much time have you got?”

“I don’t know. ‘Til after the first of the year, I guess. It’s a lot harder to declare bankruptcy, now that they’ve changed the laws.”

“How about this…?” Mary asked. “How about after the holidays, you go to a lawyer and just see what your options are. They’ve seen all kinds of situations. He’ll be able to approach it with a cool, logical head.”

“That sounds good. Yeah, I’m too close to this thing. Every time I think about it, I start to panic.”

“I’ve got a good lawyer, an older man from my church. Pastor Don recommended him. I’m planning to do a private adoption with the baby, and he’ll be handling all the legal aspects. Why don’t I ask him—without mentioning your name—and see if he’d want to advise you or if he knows of another lawyer who handles this kind of stuff?”

“Okay. Okay, that sounds good. Could you call him this week and see if he’ll see me after the holidays?”

“Sure. I’ll call him this afternoon.”

“I’m sorry, Mary. I didn’t want to burden you with this. You’re the best friend I’ve got, but I was afraid of what you might think of me.”

“Oh, Jill. You’re my friend. I’ll stick by you no matter what. And besides, this kind of thing happens to lots of people. I’ll make you a deal. If you’ll stick by me through the delivery and after the adoption, I’ll do whatever I can to help you get through your thing too.” She reached over and clasped Jill’s hand.

Then Jill broke down in quiet sobs. “It’s a deal,” she managed to say.

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10]

- Jack Zavada
©2006 by www.inspiration-for-singles.com

This a just a chapter of a free ebook entitled “Mary’s Christmas Gift” which can be downloaded from http://www.inspiration-for-singles.com/mary.html

Jack Zavada’s new ebook, Single and Sure, not only shows single people how to rescue themselves, but how to become a happier, more confident person in the process.