December 23
Justin watched the timer on the computer screen count down to zero. As he did so, the price next to it kept steadily rising. Two hundred dollars was replaced by two hundred and twenty-five, which itself was replaced by two hundred and fifty dollars. The price kept surging upwards, higher and higher. It was a virtual feeding frenzy. He could almost smell the desperation of the eBay bidders as they clamored to see who could remain on top. The price was changing almost every second now as people kept "sniping" the bid. Finally it was over. The sell price had topped out at over four hundred dollars. He smiled sadly. It was no longer his action figure. Somebody out there in the world had just paid four hundred dollars for a first edition mint Captain Jim Bob Sherwood action figure still sealed in the original packaging. It was their possession. And his bank account would be four hundred dollars richer, after the percentage taken by the website.
He looked at the figure standing in its box on the shelf. It had been his first Captain Jim Bob Sherwood action figure. He had studiously saved the money given to him on his tenth birthday as well as every penny of his allowance. And when his mother had taken him to the toy store, he had proudly walked in with the exact amount of money necessary for the figure, down to the sales tax he had calculated beforehand. His mom had trailed behind him as he had made a beeline for the action figure section, having memorized precisely where the figure had been located. He had walked it over to the cashier, his mom discreetly trailing behind him. He even remembered the look of amusement from the young woman at the checkout counter at the fact as he had carefully pulled out his money and given her the exact change in meticulously folded dollar bills and a handful of change. The young lady had asked him if he wanted to open it in the store, and he had replied in gentle tones that this was never going to be opened. He remembered the look she had given to his mother, who had returned a "what can you do" look. Neither of them had understood that it wasn't a toy to him, but a piece of art to be admired. It was the plastic equivalent of a sculpture that you never touched but just looked at. You could even compare it to a trophy of sorts, signifying the painstaking effort of saving his dollars and pennies, sometimes from his little sister who fervently believed that anything that belonged to Justin, including money, was actually hers.
And now it was no longer his. After 8 years of careful maintenance and keeping it out of his sister's hands, it would go to some stranger who would get to look at it and admire it every single day. He printed out the packing slip and carefully packed it with the action figure in a cardboard box. He slowly sealed it shut; getting one last look at the object he had wanted more than anything in the world when he was young. To anybody else, his actions would have looked silly. He was treating what most people would consider a worthless bit of plastic with the reverence one would devote to a relic or artifact. Even his family would never understand how much giving up this figure hurt. It would essentially mean that he would never get to complete his collection. The toy company that had created Captain Jim Bob Sherwood had also created an accompanying Jessica Moon action figure but in a more limited release. They had rightly so understood that an action figure of a female love interest would be less of a seller than the main figure. It had already been sold out before he could even begin saving up for it. He had tried to get that Jessica Moon figure for years before finally giving up. It had taken him a few years but he finally had the wisdom to understand that sometimes things have to be sacrificed for the sake of a loved one. He had just given up something he cared about for someone he cared about more.
He went over to his closet and quickly put on a heavy jacket. It wasn't snowing out yet but he fully expected a "white" Christmas this year so there was no point in taking chances. He bundled himself up carefully, wore his boots designed for ice and snow , gathered up the sealed package as well as his checkbook and iPod and headed downstairs.
As he went down the stairs, he heard his little brother Max humming which was never a good sign. Max being busy was Max doing something that guaranteed trouble. He wished that he had time to deal with this right now but he really didn't. He knew the exact times the post office closed as well as the exact time the art supply store closed and he had already anticipated long waits for both locations as most people procrastinated their gift buying and sending to the last minute. He had already bought all the other gifts for his family members. Unfortunately he had to wait on Alex's gift because it had been a special order and they had none in stock at the art supply store.
After waiting patiently for an interminably long time in line at the post office, he walked over to the art supply store and headed to the customer service department. As he stepped up to the counter, he spotted it there. The perfect picture frame worth every penny of the four hundred dollars plus tax he was about to spend. Alex had painted what she and everybody else considered her best work. It was an absolute beautiful painting of two figures sitting together next to a fire in the middle of a jungle. Only he and Alex had understood that the two figures were supposed to represent the two of them that night in the Caribbean. Everyone else had just raved over the elegance of the painting. He had understood that she had created a masterpiece, but that masterpiece could not be put in any old picture frame. It would be akin to a beautiful woman walking around in a burlap sack. He had immediately wanted to buy her the perfect picture frame to showcase her stunning artwork. Unfortunately his father could be a little miserly about money sometimes. To the point of not actually paying Justin for the hours he worked at the Waverly Sub Shop which had led Justin to the desperate act of eBaying his prized possession to pay for the picture frame. But it would be worth it for the look on Alex's face when he presented her this frame for Christmas. It would show her how much that painting meant to him. How much she meant to him. He smiled goofily in anticipation.
December 25
His eyes popped open a full 15 seconds before the alarm would have gone off and he quietly reached over and hit the off button since it was no longer necessary. He could hear the stark beauty of silence in the house. Evidently no one was awake yet. He figured Alex would be awake soon though. This was one of two days she had off from school in the year when she didn't try and sleep until noon. The other being her birthday of course. He got up, grabbed his towel and his boxers and headed to the bathroom. With Alex getting up early, he'd better get to the bathroom before her otherwise no hot water for him. And while it still wasn't snowing outside, it was still cold enough that he definitely didn't want to subject himself to cold water.
It was on his way out of the bathroom, that he saw her stumbling out of her bedroom. Her eyes were still closed and she seemed to be walking on autopilot. If he hadn't grabbed her to stop her, she would definitely have bumped into him. That still didn't prevent her from grunting and taking a swing at him by reflex. Fortunately his monster hunter training kicked in and he managed to avoid the blow and still prevent her from falling over. He chuckled and said in a supercilious tone, "You might want to try that with your eyes open. The attempt at walking as well as the punching. Not that it would help." He knew that would wake her up and it did. She opened first one eye and then the other, glared at him and gave an annoyed snarl. He responded with another chuckle and said "And a Merry Christmas to you to, Alex." Gently letting her go to ensure she maintained her balance, he walked past her and entered his room to get dressed.
Half an hour later, while he was carefully making French Toast, he heard her make her way down the stairs before she gracelessly sprawled in her chair at the dinner table. "What's for breakfast? Is it scrambled eggs made by an egghead?" She snorted and laughed throatily. He turned around and gave her a look. She met his eyes for a second, before rolling her own and saying. "Merry Christmas Justin! Now what's to eat?" He sighed, took it for the closest thing to an apology that he would ever get and responded with "Your favorite breakfast. French toast with lots of sugar." She narrowed her eyes and asked suspiciously "Why are you being nice to me?" This time it was his turn to roll his eyes as he said "It's Christmas, genius. Peace on Earth, goodwill towards men. Of course that's based on a mistranslation in the Bible from the original Greek and Latin…" He stopped when he saw the glazed look in her eyes that indicated she wasn't listening to him anymore. "Anyhoo, I just felt on doing something nice for my… you."
He needed to be more careful of what he was saying. There was something between them. But he couldn't say what it was and she wouldn't. He made eye contact again and this time, they held it. There was some unspoken message in her eyes and he wished for the thousandth time that he understood women, because it felt like a cipher that he would never be able to crack and to which she refused to give him the key. The stare would have gone on longer, but he started to smell the precursor to something burning. He quickly turned around and tried to salvage the French toast as best as he could, but it already looked like it was beyond repair. He sighed again, said "Forget the French toast, you want some cereal?" and was about to dump the whole thing in the garbage, when her gentle touch on his wrist stopped him. He looked at her quizzically, but she smiled an enigmatic smile that reminded him of the Mona Lisa. Or the Cheshire Cat, he wasn't sure which.
She took the slightly burnt French toast, grabbed the sugar container and set it on the table. After sprinkling some sugar on the toast, she proceeded to eat it as if it was perfectly fine. As Justin watched her eat, he was again reminded that for all his knowledge of magic, physics and math, he would never be able to understand women. And more importantly he would never be able to understand one specific woman, namely her. He was sure he would be able to understand the underlying explanation for how magic affected the physical universe long before he would be able to explain why she behaved the way she did.
By the time she had finished her breakfast, their parents and brother as well made it down the stairs, just as Harper was coming up from her room and the next hour was lost in the unwrapping of presents and the exclaiming over gifts received. His father received a book of coupons and as well as the first shipment of a membership to a steak of the month club and was torn over which present he wanted to pay attention to. His mother had received a new lamp that Justin was sure would be broken within the month but decided not to point out. Various other gifts were exchanged before his mother turned to Alex and exclaimed, "Mija, what did I tell you about getting a gift for your brother? This year, I said something you could wrap and that did not include fire, explosions or magic in any way." Alex responded with an indignant look and said "I got him a great present this year. I just wanted to give it to him a little later." She turned around and stated "And no there was no magic or fire involved" at Harper who looked ready to simultaneously lunge for the fire extinguisher and do the "stop, drop and roll" maneuver.
She looked at him and said haughtily, "Come on Justin, I'm going to give you your gift, away from these people who don't TRUST me." She grabbed his hand, and led him upstairs. She was about to lead him into her room, when he stopped her and said "Come to my room, I'll give you your present at the same time." He walked into his room and smiled in anticipation. She was going to love this present. He picked up the wrapped picture frame and put it behind him while he waited for her. As soon as he came in, he reached behind and was about to present it to her but she said excitedly, "Open my present first!" Not ever being able to resist her, he let go off the frame behind him and reached for the gift she had in her hands. It was messily wrapped, which indicated that it was her who had actually wrapped it. Impressed beyond words, he tried to gently open it without destroying the wrapping. Impatiently she grabbed it from his hands, tore the wrapping off and presented it back to him. "Here you go, I know you've been looking for this doll for a while." "Action figure" he corrected automatically, because he was shocked past the point of normal conversation. It was a Jessica Moon first edition action figure, the companion piece to the very figure he had shipped off to its new owner two days ago. He looked up at her with open-mouthed awe and asked her, "How did you get this? It's incredibly rare."
She replied with "Don't worry, I didn't magic it up. I knew there weren't any available in the mortal world, but Hugh Normous from WizTech said he'd be able to find one among wizards. And he did."
"Even then it must have been expensive…"
"I didn't do anything illegal for this one. Knowing you, if I had you would have tried to return it. I just sold one of my paintings." She tried to relay that last part casually but he heard the inflection in her voice change.
"Which painting, Alex?" he asked softly.
"It doesn't matter."
"It matters to me. Which painting?"
"Jungle Fire."
"How very O. Henry" he murmured.
"What?"
"Never mind." He reached behind him and presented her the wrapped frame. When she opened it and exclaimed over it, he gently explained "That was to be the frame for Jungle Fire."
She stared at him with the widest eyes he had ever seen and asked how he had been able to afford this. He gently enfolded her in his arms and whispered in her ear how he had sold his action figure. She tilted her head back and said, "So I have an empty frame with no painting and you have one-half of a set of dolls."
"Don't worry about it." He kissed her gently on the lips, a move which should have shocked both of them. But for him it just felt right.
He saw it just outside his window, so he turned her around and held her by his side. And they watched the snow fall moderately outside.
"Merry Christmas, Alex."
"Merry Christmas, Justin."
(A/N – This was inspired by O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi" If you haven't read it, I recommend you do so immediately since it's freely available on the web. Also I started this right before Christmas but couldn't finish it in time. And since the last episode will premiere today, I had to post this ASAP.)