Special thanks to L. M. McCleland – author and contributor of this story!

Grandpa and I sat silently for a moment, while I drank it all in. “Wow, that all sounds like a fairy tale,” I said, a little awestruck.
“Well, I did say it was the best Christmas ever,” said Grandpa.
“What made it the best for you?” I asked.
He smiled and shook his head. “I thought that would be obvious to you,” he said. “That year I became conscious of how much we all loved each other.”
“Wish I could say that about my family,” I groused.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean that nobody in this family cares about anything but themselves. It’s as if I didn’t exist.”
Grandpa rocked back in a large, long belly laugh. It seem to go on forever. When it subsided, he was out of breath and had tears running down his cheeks. “Ooh, I Haven’t had a laugh like that in years, that’s a knee-slapper,” he said between puffs.
“I don’t see what’s so funny,” I said, “It’s true.”
“You’re serious aren’t you? Oh, if you could only see what I’ve seen, you’d know differently,” he said, shaking his head.
“I’d know what differently?”
“Your whole family loves you a great deal, even though you don’t return it much… Remember the time you went water-skiing with your friends and stayed out at the lake till late that night?”
I sat up. “Yeah, I got home and Mom yelled at me for hours, Dad wasn’t even home. I was never more sorry to come home than that night. They grounded me for weeks, I’ll never forget that.”
“Now, why do you think they did that?”
“They were mad at me, as usual. They want me to be this perfect little boy, and always jump when they say so. Well, I’m not a little kid anymore,” I grumbled.
“All right. You need to see something. Just sit back and close your eyes. That’s it, my boy. Let’s go back to that day…”
Again my mind was filled with a clear vision. It was the warm summer morning of the day we went to the lake. Peter and all my friends were in front of our house in his car with the boat in tow, honking the horn. I was halfway out the door when Mom stopped me.
“You have everything?” she asked.
“Yes Mom, we’re only going skiing.”
“What time will you be home?”
I yelled over my shoulder as I walked away from her. “We have to get the boat back to the rental shop by 7 o’ clock, so it shouldn’t be long after that. Okay? I promise we’ll be back by 9.”
“Okay honey. Have fun,” she called. I didn’t hear her.
We had a blast at the lake. Lots of skiing, fun with girls, and I got sunburned.
Peter was driving the boat and we were speeding around, trying to flip canoes with our wake, when one of the guys said, “Hey Peter, it’s quarter after six. Shouldn’t we be getting the boat back?”
Peter shouted, “Nah, I know the shop owner. I’ll drop this off in the morning and square it up with him then. No problemo.” We kept riding around until we were the last ones on the lake. The park was supposed to close at sunset, but no one ever checks at night.
We beached the boat next to some dunes on the far side of the lake and built a fire in a secluded spot. The party was just getting started. Around midnight, I was standing on the top of a hill, when I saw some headlights pull into the parking lot across the lake. We put out the fire, and a couple of us hid the boat among some trees. Sure enough, about a half-hour later, a ranger motored slowly by us in a boat. I didn’t think he saw us, but a little while after that, a cop walked into our group from the land side and said, “Okay kids. Party’s over, time to go home. A lot of people are calling about you.”
The scene shifted to home. I could tell it was right at the same time of our beach party. Mom was crying and carrying on, and Dad was on the telephone. He looked terrible but kept his composure, “Okay… okay. Right officer. I’m going down to the lake. My wife will stay here. Right. Goodbye.” He hung up.
Mom clutched his arm. “They haven’t found them yet have they? What should we do?” She was getting frantic.
Dad held her and spoke softly. “Their car and trailer are at the lake, but they haven’t found the kids or the boat. They’re searching the lake and all the area around it. I’m going down there to see if I can help.”
Mom buried her face in his chest and sobbed. “Oh Jim. What if Greg’s hurt? What if… what if… I could…”
Dad squeezed her close. “I know… I know. He’s a good kid. I’m sure he’s fine, you’ll see. Stay here by the telephone.” He grabbed the big flashlight and left.
Mom just sat in the kitchen looking lost when Susan came down in her pajamas.
“Still not here, Mom?”
Mom just looked at her and sniffled. “Their car is still at the lake, but no sign of the boat or them.”
Susan began to look worried too. “Oh Mom.”
They sat together for a long while, and Susan said, “Mom, you’ve always told us to pray at a time like this. Could we have a prayer? Would you please say a prayer?”
Mom straightened and seemed to swell as she looked at Susan.
“Of course,” she said. “I don’t know why I haven’t said one yet.” They went into the living room and knelt side by side. Mom spoke softly and tearfully.
“Heavenly Father, we’re praying for Gregory and the others tonight. Please protect them all. Guide the searchers to them. Please don’t let anything happen to them. I don’t know what we would do if we lost Greg, Father. He’s brought so much joy into this house… I love him… Please bring him back. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
After a few seconds of silence, Susan looked up and whispered, “Thanks Mom.” They hugged while still kneeling.
The vision faded from my mind. I was surprised to find my eyes a little wet, too. Grandpa was still at my side and said, “You’re not getting off that easy. Lean back and close your eyes again… that’s it.”
Now I could see my locker at school. I recognized it as last September. I’d dropped a pass in the end zone the previous Friday, but we didn’t score on that drive. We’d lost by twenty points, and everyone ragged on me all week, as if it was my fault.
I was pulling a pile of books from my locker, when a group of guys surrounded me, and backed me up against the wall. When I turned around, the biggest one got in my face. He’d had let his head pierced so many times, he looked like Swiss cheese. Smelled like it too! He stuck his finger in my face, as he said, “Well if it isn’t Old Butter Fingers. You’d  better hang on to those books. You wouldn’t want to drop them know, would you?”
I was fascinated by his tongue ornament that clinked against his teeth as he talked. “Back off jerk,” I said. I figured that ought to scare them away, but it didn’t.
“Why don’t you just quit right now, and spare us the rest of the season?” he said.
I shoved him away and yelled, “I said, back off!”
He bumped the books out of my hands. I lunged forward and threw a punch at his nose ring, but I’d swung too wide.  My shoulder went into his chest and we went down together. We were rolling and twisting on the floor when a teacher broke it up and told us to get to class. The crowd dispersed as we stared each other down. Finally they left and I picked up my books.
None of this was news to me, because I was there, but the scene left me and followed the gang around the corner. They ran right into Susan, who stood in the middle of the hallway and blocked their path. Her mouth was set and her eyes shot lightning bolts. She stepped forward to the leader and poked him in the chest, backing him up slowly. She said, “You leave my brother alone! He did his best, and he doesn’t need a bunch of losers like you on his back!”
Whoa, Susan! I had no idea! Cheesehead was so surprised that he just looked at her with his mouth open for a second. Then he said, “Hey, the Lautner chick has guts. Maybe even more than her lame brother.” The others began to laugh.
Susan cut him off. “Don’t try me, metal mouth! You’re real tough with your dogs around. What a useless bunch of…losers! Get out of my way. You’re stinking up the place.” She pushed him aside, and strode through the group. They watched her leave, laughed, and shrugged their shoulders at each other.
I came back to the present. “Boy she’s pretty when she’s mad,” I said.
“One more time”, Grandpa said. “We can’t forget someone important…”
Now, it was just an hour or two earlier, before I came up to the attic. I saw myself walking away from the Monopoly board. The Squirt called out, “Let’s play again!”
“Now way, Dude,” I said. Just find something else to do, I need some time alone.” I turned my back on him and left the room.
The image in my mind stayed with the Squirt. The look on his face cut me deeply. He was crushed. He looked back in my direction blinking back some tears. Finally, he got up and went into the kitchen.
“Mom, Greg doesn’t want to play with me anymore,” he said as he entered.
Mom stretched out her arms toward him and said, “Oh come here honey. I heard you two play for quite a while.”
Jeff went into her embrace and said, sadly, “But he always acts like he’d rather be doing something else. I don’t think he likes me.”
Mom stroked his hair and softly spoke to him. “Greg is getting older now. He loves you, but he has other things on his mind.”
Dad watched with a smile. He put his hand on Jeff’s shoulder. “Hey, Sport, would you help me out in the basement for a second? I think the water heater is acting up. Then, maybe you and I can have a round of Monopoly over some popcorn. Whaddya say?”
Jeff brightened up. “Okay, Dad.”
I snapped back to the present and looked at Grandpa.
“What are you, some kind of modern Charles Dickens?” I asked.
There was his chuckle again. “Well, I did steal the idea from him. Tell me, did you learn anything?”
I paused and thought for a moment. “I do cause a lot of trouble for everyone.”
“But why do they care? Why is it so much trouble for them?” he asked.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess I do a lot of dumb things, and they get annoyed.” Grandpa just looked at me, with a keep-going look. Finally I said, “You’re going to make me say it aren’t you?” He nodded.
“Okay, they love me…a lot. I never knew,” I added.
“Yes you did Greg. You just don’t want to accept it. You’re important to each of them individually, and to this family as a whole. They couldn’t imagine life without you. Do you have any idea how lucky that makes you?”
“Yeah, yeah. But sometimes they bug me, you know? I need some space.”
“Greg, someday soon, when you’re on your own, you’ll have all the space in the world. You get a lot now, but you just waste it thinking only about yourself. Stop putting up walls around you. Why are you trying to avoid everyone? Even this emphasis on friends and presents at Christmas are just ways to hide from your family. People today try to do so much at Christmas, except make time to share. Why not let the birthday of the most loving person of all time be an occasion for us to simply express our own love? Jesus said that to everyone who believes in his family…then he gave his life for them. Can’t we start by showing our real families that we love them? You know something? If you’d just give a little back to those people who love you so dearly, you’ll find you have all the space you need. They need to know how you feel about them too.”
I sat, feeling chastened. “Well, when you put it that way, I guess it has been a long time since I old them I love them.”
“Don’t just tell them, Greg, show them. It’s not about money. It’s not about store-bought presents. It’s about giving them something directly from your heart. They’ll remember that a lot longer than the most expensive gift you could buy. Think about it, okay?”
“Yeah, Grandpa, I will…Thanks for showing me all this.” He slapped me on the knee. “My pleasure, my boy. You’re growing into quite a good man, you know? I’m really proud of you…I miss you,” he said, looking me in the eye.
“I love you too Grandpa, I always knew you loved me.”
“Still do, still do. Look, I’ve got to go now,” he said looking around the room. “Remember what I said. This could be your best Christmas ever.”
We stood and shook hands, then he grabbed me in a big hug. He felt so warm, so real. “I’ll be watching,” he said, and walked through the wall of clothes hanging from the line. His chuckle faintly echoed. I couldn’t resist looking behind the clothes…No Grandpa! I closed the trapdoor, went into my room, and lay on my bed. What a trip! I was exhausted and fell asleep right away.

Also read   | Chapter 1  | Chapter 2 |  Chapter 3 |   Chapter 4 |   Chapter 5 |  Chapter 6 |  Chapter 7 |
–by  L. M. McCleland