Note: I've had a wonderful year on fanfiction, and talked with many wonderful individuals. Here are just a few special people who have been a blessing to me this year, and who have my utmost respect.
Austra-You are a fabulous friend, fun to talk to, and fun to read. I can always count on you to review. You are amazing, and I hope to talk to you more! I can't say what my year may have been like without you.
King Caspian The Seafarer- You aren't really "into" Newsies, but we both share a common interest in Narnia. I enjoy our conversations, they can be so simple, about books and such, or so deep and good, talking about our spiritual lives, and how every day we long to become closer to our Lord. I'm glad I've had the opportunity to talk to you this year.
Eruanna Undomiel- You were the one to get me interested in Newsies, whether you know that or not. I've had a blast working on a story with you, and just talking to you in general.
I hope all of you will have a very wonderful Christmas. And also, thank you to all my wonderful readers who have shown their support throughout the year. Ya'll are amazing! God bless, and enjoy the story!
Christmas With the Jacobs
Jack Kelly straightened his striped shirt, and tied his worn out bandanna for the sixth time. He nervously raked his fingers through his ear-length hair, staring at his reflection in the smudged lodging house mirror. Was he presentable?
Ctuchy hobbled in, and was soon nodding his head in approval. "Ya look good Jack," he commented with a wide grin. Jack returned a slight smile.
It had been several months since the strike, and Christmas time was here. Initially, the newsie leader had been surprised when the Jacobs family extended to him an invitation to join them for Christmas dinner. Next, he had agonized over what to get Sarah. Even if he couldn't afford to buy gifts for the entire family, he quickly decided she deserved one. After all, didn't men always give their girls a gift on Christmas? After much consideration, Jack had finally delved into the hard-earned money meant to buy his ticket to Santa Fe. With it he had purchased a shiny purple ribbon that Sarah could tie around her hair. What money remained, Jack returned to his hiding place.
A lot of fellows would probably think the young man was crazy for havin' a girl like Sarah Jacobs as his doll. When Jack's big chance finally came, the one he'd been waiting on for years, when he was finally going to Santa Fe…he'd blown it. Maybe he'd chickened out. But Jack knew exactly why he stayed. He stayed for Sarah-and the boys-but mostly…Sarah. He just couldn't care about anyone else, or even his biggest dream anymore. Yet they called him crazy. "There are plenty of goils in New York," they'd say, "And more in Santa Fe, too." In their minds, girls were "a dime a dozen," to coin a phrase. If he wanted to go steady there would be plenty of lovely ladies wherever his dreams took him.
But he didn't want just any girl. He wanted Sarah. She was the only girl who had insisted on courtship. Jack thought Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs were not particularly happy about the idea, not knowing how Jack's past-and present-situations might affect their daughter. Still, they didn't put up too much of a fuss-only insisting that Jack find a good job, and…something else which the paperboy had yet to learn.
Jack lit a half smoked cigarette nervously, trying not to spill any burning ashes on his clothing. "Thanks Crutchy," he said in response to his friend's earlier compliment.
"No worries." The lame boy hobbled forward a bit. "Just make this the best Christmas
"Thanks," Jack mumbled, stuffing the small, brown package containing the new hair ribbon into his pocket. As he began to descend the stairs to the first floor of the lodging house, he listened to the THUMP of Crutchy's crutch following him.
The front room of the lodge had been decorated sparsely with a few things set here and you've evah had."there, including a newspaper nativity scene one of the young boys had carefully crafted with some paste and a pencil. Some of the boys were sitting in groups on the floor, eating some of Kloppman's popcorn balls. The sweet old man always pinched his pennies just so he could provide his boys with a little Christmas.
To tell the complete and honest truth, Jack felt slightly guilty that he was leaving the boys to their meager meal, while he was on the way to Christmas with the Jacobs'. He knew David's family wasn't even near to being wealthy, but at their home, he would be in a real family atmosphere. The kind of family atmosphere so many of the boys dearly missed.
Jack grabbed his thinning wool coat off of a peg near the exit, and when he left, stepping into the biting chill of December, David was waiting ever so patiently on the steps. He stood hurriedly, and gave an almost awkward wave. Jack soon reached his level.
"Are you ready?" David asked, rubbing his hands together.
"Yep," the dreamer replied, stepping to street level. He took another puff from the cigarette clenched between his teeth. They walked in the chilled morning, silence between them.
Jack looked at David, and the other boy quickly glanced away, but not before his friend had seen the troubled expression growing on his face. "What's wrong?" Jack queried, shivering as he stepped over a dirty, melted pile of snow. David shrugged, nervously licking his chapped lips. Jack flushed, and tossed the cigarette to the ground, stuffing it out with his foot. "Sahrry," he drawled, placing the cowboy hat hanging by a string around his neck onto his head.
"It's just-you know…" he gestured helplessly towards his friends burning cigarette.
David shrugged, rubbing his face with his cold fingers. "It's okay."
Jack looked at his shoes with interest, noting the scuffmarks standing out plainly. Wish I had some polish, he thought vaguely. He felt an incredible desire for another smoke, so he stuffed his hands into his pockets. He had been trying very hard to quit the smoking habit, (Racetrack thought he was crazy) because Sarah really disliked it, and was always insisting that it must be bad for a body's health.
"How can inhaling smoke," she would say, "Be good for you?"
Jack knew her thoughts might make sense, and he was sure she had a good head on her shoulders, so he made an effort to avoid cigars, cigarettes, and the whole lot of smoking tools. Sometimes though, especially when his nerves were on edge, he found he had such a problem saying no. And his nerves were certainly on edge this breezy Christmas morning.
David wasn't talkative, but instead seemed to be thinking of the upcoming Christmas dinner. Jack didn't mind the silence, and it didn't take them long to arrive at the apartments where the Jacobs family resided.
David pushed open the door, and at that moment, the wind seemed to blow harder, and helped to open the door, causing it to slam loudly against the inside wall.
"David!" Mrs. Jacobs exclaimed, sounding quite perturbed indeed as she sat out table settings.
"Sorry mama," the boy said without reservation, hurrying forward to give her a quick kiss on the cheek.
She smiled, and smacked him playfully. "Go help Les- he's trying to wrap a gift, but he was having some trouble with the paper." David nodded, and hurried away to one of the adjoining rooms, leaving Jack to feel slightly awkward. Mrs. Jacobs turned her cheerful smile to him. "Hello Jack," she said, "We're happy you could come!"
"Thanks," Jack mumbled, wiping his feet on a mat in front of the door. "I'm…happy to be here."
She merely nodded, and asked him if he'd like to take a seat while she left to check on food cooking in her small kitchen area. As he sat, Jack found himself wondering where
"The Lord is good to us," Mrs. Jacob's said. "Now, I must get this cooking for dinner this evening!"
When the three men of the family re-appeared from the bedroom, everyone except for Esther settled down to play some games. Jack found he couldn't help but enjoy being Mr. Jacobs and Sarah were. His silent question was answered but a moment later, when the door was flung open once again.
Mr. Jacobs stepped in, grinning cheerfully, and stomping his boots on the aforementioned mat. After him came Sarah, her eyes dancing, and a smile going with her rosy cheeks.
Esther Jacobs returned from the kitchen, placing her hand on her hip in a pretend show
of displeasure. "Maher, how can I chide the children if you can't even stop from slamming the door!"
He just laughed, and quite unexpectedly, threw his arms around her and kissed her. Jack immediately felt like he was intruding on the family's private moment, but Sarah just smiled shyly at him. "Ah Esther, don't worry about the door, it's Christmas, there is
much to celebrate!" His wife smiled and shooed him from the dining room.
"Go check on your sons," she said, holding back a laugh. On his way to the room, Mr.
Jacobs greeted Jack quite cheerfully, and then disappeared. The boy noticed that Sarah
was holding some sort of parcel, and he watched with much curiosity as she handed it to her mother.
"The butcher gave us a good price, mama. And it's just big enough for all of us." Esther pulled back the wrappings to reveal a turkey.
with this family, and he wished his own family had been a bit more like them. back, clutching his hands together. Would Sarah like the present?
When Mrs. Jacobs had everything cooking, she joined the rest of the family and Jack to open gifts. Mr. Jacobs carried out a large sack, and sat it among the family who were sitting in a circle on some chairs. Jack tried to slip in his gift inconspicuously and sat
Mr. Jacobs reached his hand into the sack, and pulled out the very package Jack had just inserted. The boy felt beads of sweat prickle on his forehead, and he resisted the urge to wipe them away, instead squeezing his hands tighter.
Maher squinted at the messily scrawled letters on the little package, and at last a smile stretched slowly across his face. "Well Sarah, looks like this one is for you," he said, holding out the gift.
She took it curiously. "Who's it from Pa?" She glanced at the names on the package, and immediately her face flushed a deeper pink, and she smiled softly. "Jack," she uttered in a voice barely above a whisper.
At that precise moment Cowboy felt like covering his face from embarrassment as all eyes turned to him. Sarah however was too busy eagerly opening the package. When she had it open, for a few seconds (though it felt longer to Jack) she just seemed to stare, and the boy shifted uncomfortably. "D-do ya like it?" he asked nervously, twiddling his thumbs.
The corners of Sarah's mouth curved up, and she lifted the ribbon, rubbing the silk-like fabric. "I love it." Without further ado, she replaced the green ribbon already adorning her hair, replacing it with Jack's purple one. She appeared to be glowing. "Thank you Jack."
He nodded a little sheepishly. "You're welcome."
Mr. Jacobs plunged his hand into the sack again, and removed a nice set of three embroidered handkerchiefs for his wife, who loved them. Les received a slingshot, which he was immensely pleased with, while Sarah was given some pretty thread and needles from her parents, and David a novel. Even Mrs. Jacobs had managed to scrape together some coins to purchase fabric to sew her husband a new shirt.
"There's one more gift here," Maher said, giving his family significant looks. He lifted out a smallish package, and turned his gaze to Jack. "We've known you since the summer," he said slowly, "And I'm convinced that you are a fine young man, and will do something with your life. I like you a lot Jack, and the family and I picked this out for you. We hope you like it." He handed the package to Jack.
The boy stared at it, not realizing right away that his fingers were trembling. He touched the paper softly. When was the last time anyone had gotten him a present?
"Open it!" Les exclaimed, barely able to contain his ten-year-old excitement.
Jack smiled, and carefully pulled open the paper, trying his very best to avoid ripping it. Once he saw what it contained his blood turned cold, and his fingers froze.
"Dontcha like it?" Les asked with a note of disappointment in his voice that was probably produced because Jack did not act elated over the gift.
"Yeah," Jack said slowly. "It's real nice…" He lifted a bright, new, and clean red bandanna from the package.
"We saw that your old one was getting faded, and we thought you might like a new one," Sarah explained, looking worried. Esther and Maher exchanged looks.
"I-I," Jack stuttered. Quickly he stood, the package falling rather unceremoniously from his lap. "I can't." He turned and fled towards the door.
Tears stung his eyes as he ran down the street. What was happening to him? Why was he having this emotional breakdown?
"Jack!" David called. "Come back!" David's feet slapped the pavement behind him, running quickly. Jack felt a hand on his shoulder, and realized that he had been running slower then he would normally.
"Just leave me alone, Dave," Jack cried, feeling mortified as his voice cracked.
"What's the matter?" David persisted, crossing his arms, as if to say that he wasn't going to leave until he got his answer.
Jack groaned in frustration. "The bandanna…"
"If you didn't like the bandanna you could've just said so," David said, "Instead of rushing out here."
"It's not that I don't like the bandanna," Jack replied, feeling awful. "It's just…" He fingered the fabric around his neck, which now appeared almost pink because it was so dreadfully faded. His voice grew soft when he spoke again. "When I was real young, I used ta like all the stories bout cowboys and Indians, cause I found a dime novel somebody threw away, and uh, my muddah, she saved up her change just to get me this bandanna, and I've worn it every day since. David listened in silence. "Sometimes it's almost like she's here with me, ya know? Like when I put the bandanna up ta my face, I can almost smell her, ya know?"
"Yeah," David said quietly, putting a hand on Jack's shoulder again. "And that's fine Jack."
"She was the only one in my family that evah loved me," Jack whispered, clutching the full part of the bandanna. "This is all I have left of her. I'm afraid."
"What are you afraid of?" David asked, wondering what had caused Jack to be so open about his past in a way he never had before.
"I'm afraid that I'll forget her," Jack said, covering his face.
"You won't forget her Jack," David said confidently.
His friend looked at him, unconvinced. "How do you know that?"
"Because," David replied, pulling his friend's hand from the old bandanna. "You remember her here," he said, using Jack's own hand to touch his heart. "And you have memories of her here," he continued, pointing at his head. "This bandanna was just a tool that you used to remember her, but now your memories will carry you farther then an old piece of cloth ever could."
Jack shrugged, "I guess you're right."
"And you've told me many times that your mother was a Christian, so if you come to Jesus too, you will see her again. Now, are you ready to come back?" David asked.
"Yeah, Jack said slowly. "I am."
David reached into his pocket and removed the new red bandanna, and wordlessly held it out to Jack. The boy paused for a moment, and then began untying the cloth around his neck with numb fingers. He tucked the old bandanna into his own pocket, and put the new one in its place.
The two young men walked back together, and entered the apartment. Mrs. Jacobs looked relieved to see Jack with her son, and all of them expressed their unhappiness at having upset him.
The evening continued with the small, but delicious dinner Esther had so wonderfully prepared, followed by a reading of the Christmas story that left Jack wondering if maybe the God his mother had believed so strongly in was real after all.