A Chris Chambers Christmas
There was no Christmas at the Chambers' household. Other children got a Christmas tree and gifts and good food. Other children had loving parents and a holiday that looked like it came straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. At the Chambers house, there was no tree because no one would buy one. There were no gifts because they couldn't afford any and there was no food because—well there was never any of that. Most of all, there were no loving parents. After all, they weren't caring any time of the year, so what would change for December 25th?
And it was here that Chris Chambers sat for his twelfth holiday with his family. It was six o'clock in the evening and thankfully it was all almost over. He was the only kid there and his dad had been passed out since noon, but not after roughing him up a bit. Other kids got red and green lights on their Christmas trees; all Chris got was cherry red blood dripping out of his nose and green bruises splashed across his body.
The Lachance house had a similar problem. Young Gordon Lachance didn't get beat by his folks, but he was still deprived of the commonalities of every kid's favorite holiday. After Denny had died, his parents refused to celebrate anything. They sat in silence, just staring out into nothing and his mother got hysterical.
Gordie knew that Chris had it worse than he did. This was the year that he was determined to do something about it. The scrawny boy took what little money he could salvage from around the house (even the pennies in the couch cushions he had been saving for Vern) and retreated out the back door without as much as a call after him.
Gordie had decided on making a Christmas for Chris Chambers. He led his feet to the only tree farm in town, run by the infamous Milo Pressman who took it as a side job during the winter; when junkyard business was slow. Milo had long since been after all of the boys since they took their adventure for Ray Brower. This made the whole process very challenging; it meant Gordie would have to steal. If he was within three feet of the place, his dad would get a call and he would get hided real bad.
Gordie snuck in the back. He would have to go real small and easy to carry if he wanted to make it out alive. His eyes searched frantically for something, anything, to grab when he found something so small it looked like a branch sticking straight up out of the ground.
"HEY! HEY YOU, KID! GET BACK HERE!" Gordie saw Milo running out of breath towards him.
"Aw shit," Gordie whispered under his breath and ran as fast as he could. It was a good thing he was the fastest out of the gang; he might not have made it out alive if he ran like Vern or Chris.
Once he was down the street, he realized just how stupid it looked. It was the epitome of the sad tree in Charlie Brown Christmas; a branch with some pine needles off of it, wilting against the gray sky.
The more difficult task was at hand now however; what to get Chris for a gift.
Chris decided to go to the tree house. He shoved his hands into his pockets to protect himself from the cold as he walked up to the hillside it was located on. He didn't even have a solid winter coat and he lived in Oregon.
It was empty, unfortunately. Chris had had his heart set on Gordie being there to comfort him and he wasn't. Gordie and the guys were the only real family he had. Not even Teddy and Vern, it was really only Gordie.
What Gordie Lachance hadn't considered was that it was Christmas Day and that none of these Mom-and-Pop stores were open. Now he was left standing on the sidewalk in front of the meeting building of the Women's Auxiliary with $1.98 in his pocket and a sad excuse for a pine tree in his hand.
Gordie trudged through the snow drifts sadly to the tree house so he could get things together. He had let Chris down and it broke his heart. Gordie popped the latch on the wooden door and swung it open.
"C-Chris?" Gordie turned around in shock that his best friend was sitting here when all of this was supposed to be a surprise.
"Hey man. Where have you been? And what's that for?" Chris looked utterly confused.
Gordie plopped down on the hard, splintering floorboards. "I-I-I was trying to get you a good Christmas Chris. I stole this from Milo's lot and I went to all the stores trying to find you a present but they were all closed and I really wanted to try hard for you this year and-and-" Chris cut Gordie off quickly by pressing his lips to his. Chris was tired of hearing his best friend ramble on and on about how he hadn't done him any good when he was all Chris had ever asked for. The move was risky but Chris couldn't help it. He had been building up these feelings for Gordie for months and now was the time to finally let them out. He pulled away.
"C-Chris? But how did you..."
"Gordie, you've done more than enough. You're my best friend, man. But you're more than that to me because I love you. And I did get you something," Chris removed his hand from Gordie's shoulder and stuck it into his pocket, pulling out a journal that looked like something a real writer would use.
"My dad hasn't found out yet about the money I had to take from him to buy that," Chris laughed and paused. "But it would be worth a hiding," he said quietly.
"You didn't have to do that, Chris. Here's my money, I don't want you having to take anything from your dad because of me," Gordie rummaged in his pocket for his dollar bill and spare change.
"Don't even worry about it, man. I won't take it."
Gordie sat awkwardly for a moment before he kissed Chris softly again.
"I love you, Chris."
"Love you too, Gordo. Love you too."