The First Christmas without You
Cass Hamada knew this holiday season would be an extremely tough one for not only herself, but for her nephew Hiro as well as she busied herself with the traditional decorating of the Lucky Cat Café.
She just got finished putting up the garland and lights all around the shop windows.
Now, all that was left was putting up the Christmas Tree, which was usually a job for her older nephew Tadashi but sadly, he was no longer with the Hamada family.
Earlier in the year, there had been an accident at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology during the annual school showcase, a night that should have been the happiest night of the Hamada family's life, but quickly turned into a nightmare as a fire suddenly broke out inside the school's expo hall where the showcase was being held.
Tadashi, always willing to help other people in need, quickly rushed into the burning building without a single hesitation to rescue anyone trapped inside, only to have the building violently explode, killing him instantly.
With a heavy heart and fighting back tears, Cass began to take parts of the Christmas tree out of its box and placed them in color coded order onto the floor.
Once she had all the parts out of the box, she took a look at the instructions on how to properly assemble it.
"Hey Aunt Cass, would you like some help with that?" a voice came from behind her.
She turned around to find Hiro standing behind her, still wearing his pajamas and his hair a bed-ridden mess.
"Perfect timing, Hiro. I wouldn't know exactly where to start. I've never really set up a Christmas tree by myself before. Normally it would have been Tadashi's job to do."
"Yeah…it's no sweat really if you truly know what you're doing." Hiro kneeled down and began with the tree's stand, putting it together piece by piece, then he assembled the base of the tree and set it down on the floor.
Next he began to place the branches in their proper place, matching them up with the color code marked upon the base.
The tree really started to take shape as Hiro worked his way up to the very top, fluffing out the branches as he went.
Once the branches were in place, Hiro then picked up the final part of the tree, carefully stepping up onto a chair and placing it into the base before fluffing out the remaining branches to match the ones on the bottom.
"There, all finished! How does it look?" he asked as he carefully stepped down off the chair and stood beside his Aunt, inspecting his work.
"It looks…..great Hiro! You did a wonderful job for your first time!"
"Thanks Aunt Cass. I guess all those years watching Tadashi do it has taught me something…to think this will be our first Christmas without him."
"I…I know Hiro." Cass choked on her words as she wrapped her arm around Hiro, pulling him closer to her.
"Sure won't be the same without him. Christmas was one of his favorite days of the year." Hiro sobbed as he leaned into his Aunt's embrace.
They stood in front of the tree for what felt like an eternity, taking in what had just been said and letting the harsh, cold reality set in. This would be the first of many long years spent without their beloved Tadashi by their side to share in the pleasures and memories life still had to offer the two.
"I miss him so much Aunt Cass. I want him back! It's just so unfair."
"Tadashi is still with us Hiro, in spirit." Cass whispered, holding Hiro at arm's length. "He will always be with us, as long as we remember him."
"Aunt Cass, you keep telling me that but it's just…not….the…same. I want him here. I want him beside me. I want to feel his arms around me; I want to hear his voice…"
Aunt Cass pulled Hiro closer to her, caressing his back in a soothing gentle motion until the loud sobs slowly turned into quiet ones, then sniffling before finally silence filed the air.
She let go of her Nephew to grab a box of tissues, holding it out for Hiro to take a few so he could wipe his tear stained cheeks dry and blow his nose.
"Feel better now that you got your emotions out?"
Hiro nodded.
"Alright. Let's get to work on decorating this tree, the tree isn't going to decorate itself you know!"
"Unless I come up with some kind of invention that could decorate Christmas trees. It would save us from doing this job." Hiro replied with a laugh.
Aunt Cass smiled as she picked up a strand of garland and began wrapping it around the tree starting at the bottom and working her way up.
"Uh, Aunt Cass…I think it'll be much easier if you started from the top and work your way to the bottom. At least that's how Tadashi used to do it. Here…I'll show you." Hiro exclaimed as he took the garland from Cass' hand and began tucking it in around the branch behind the tree so it wouldn't be noticeable. "Take the garland and wrap it just at the base of the top branch like so….then slowly you begin to make your way down around the tree, ever so often tucking the garland into the branches…the same can be said for the Christmas lights, but we'll get to that soon enough. When you run out of garland, take the next strand and continue where you left off, starting on the branch beside where the garland ran out. Once you reach the bottom of the tree like so, just tuck the end of the garland into the back and you're done. Now try doing the same method with the lights. Start at the top and work your way around to the bottom, wrapping the wire around each branch in a loop fashion."
"Like this Hiro?" Cass asked after doing a few branches.
"Exactly…you're getting the hang of it Aunt Cass!"
Cass couldn't help but smile as she continued working on the lights, then a thought crossed her mind.
"Uh, Hiro, how do we know if these still work?"
"Oh…you haven't checked them yet? Just plug them in and make sure the wires aren't frayed or damaged. The last thing we need is a fire." Hiro shuttered upon saying the word.
"Not yet…Hiro, could you plug them in to see if they work?"
"Sure."
Hiro took the end of the lights and plugged them into the nearest outlet, filling the room with a vibrant array of color.
"Well what do you know? They still work! Might as well leave them on; it'll be easier to work with." Cass replied as she continued placing the lights up onto the branches one by one.
"Just be careful if you come across any frayed or damaged wiring; don't want you to get electrocuted, or worse. So…since we're putting up the tree in the café, how long before we'll put up our tree upstairs?"
"I was thinking maybe tonight we could put it up, and then tomorrow we could decorate it with the whole nine yards…now that I know how."
Hiro smiled.
"I'd like that very much Aunt Cass."
"Good, then it's all settled. We'll put the tree up after dinner…we're having hot wings tonight, your favorite with the hot sauce that makes your face go numb, some rice and green beans on the side…Ah, I think that aught a do it. What do you think Hiro?"
"It looks very good! Great job. You're not going to place ornaments on this tree?"
"Nope…we've never had ornaments on here…just garland and lights. Anyway, thanks for your help! I better get started on setting things up for the café here; we'll be opening in a few minutes. Are you going to stick around and lend a hand or do you have plans?"
"Actually Aunt Cass, I do have plans…speaking of which I better head back upstairs and get dressed. I just remembered Wasabi wants me to come over to his place and help him work on this project he's been thinking of for the past few weeks. I'd said I'd be over by eight o'clock and it's almost close to it now. I'm sure he'll be calling soon wondering exactly where I'm at! Sorry."
"Oh, well that's ok hon. School is important and it's good that you're helping out your friends with their projects! Have fun and don't work too hard. Don't want to tucker yourself out before dinner."
"I won't…and don't you work too hard yourself!"
With that, Hiro headed upstairs to get dressed leaving Cass to tend to the café on her own.