So today is Toby Ziegler's birthday, so I decided to write a story for it.
So this is a story of Toby's twelve birthday.
Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
I hope you like it.
It was December 23rd again, for most people it was the day before Christmas Eve, the last day of shopping. But for the Ziegler family it wasn't, not just because they were Jewish but also because it was the birthday of their older boy.
Toby waked up earlier as ever, it was one of the characteristics that he shared with his mother, they both waked up with the sun, unlike his brother or his sisters that always slept as long as they could (just like his father had done before going to jail). By window, he saw Brooklyn covered in snow. Next he went to the kitchen wanting to find his mother by the counter, but she was out and he knew that if she was out this early during a day that she wouldn't have to work (she always tried to not have to work when it was her kids birthday), it meant she had gone to the best bakery to buy the best flour to make his favourite pie.
He made his breakfast and he was eating it when his mother entered their small house, she put the bags on the counter and came to the chair where Toby was sitting, Toby stood up and smiled as his mother smiled at him, he was already as tall as her.
"Oh, Tobias, you look so handsome, such a grown boy. Happy birthday, sweetie. Can't believe you are already twelve." She said in her English marked with a Yiddish accent and kissed his cheek.
"Thank you, mama."
"Are your sisters and David still sleeping?"
"Yes. Sheila was working until late yesterday."
"I know. They have today off; they are both working on the 24th and on the 25th."
"Mama, I'm twelve now. On the new year I'll start looking for a job."
"Toby, you don't need. You are still a kid."
She looked at him, and she knew that he was decided, he was like his father in that matter, nobody could change his mind.
"It won't be much money. And I really think I should pay for my letters and my phone calls to Ohio."
"Okay. But you need to concentrate on school."
"I will, mama."
And she knew he would, he was a kid who believed that the best weapon on the world was knowledge, maybe that's why he didn't liked his father so much.
"Son, pass me the cabbage."
"Mama…" Toby knew what that sentence meant, it was the way his mother was telling him that they were going to see his father.
"Toby, he's your father. He deserves to see you on your birthday." And Toby knew that voice, it was the voice that told him 'It's like that and it's not worth fighting for', it was also the voice where the accent was ticker. So Toby shut up and played with the food in his plate.
When his siblings entered the room, and saw Toby silencing playing with his food they were questioned why was he so quiet in his birthday, but the cabbage in the counter gave it away, they were visiting their dad. Toby was the one who took it the hardest, David was too young to understand, Julia and Sheila thought it wasn't like he was killing innocent people, but Toby didn't forgive or forget that a death was a death, and that was what he was taught at temple. It wasn't that Jules was a bad father, he wasn't, he didn't hit his kids (like the fathers of some of the kids that Toby went to school with), he was there for David's first game, Sheila's graduation, Julia's violin recitals and to explain to Toby any question he had, so Toby didn't believe he was a bad dad, but he did believed that Jules Ziegler was a bad man, a man that killed people for a living, that took parents from other kids, a man that deserved prison. And a man who did this without thinking that he had kids and a wife, a family to take care of, couldn't be a good husband or a good father. And Toby knew that he didn't care how much he grew he would never put his kids in a position where they would have to go see him jail.
"Happy birthday, squirt." Sheila said tousling with his hair.
"Happy birthday, Toby." Julia said and then kissed his cheek.
"Happy birthday, Toby." David said giving him a giant hug; nobody admired Toby more than his younger brother.
The breakfast was eaten, the showers taken, the people dressed, and the cabbage pie cut him small pieces and put in a box, ready to be searched by the guards.
The trip was short, two buses, changing in the 13th stop, one trip that his mother knew by heart. The visit wasn't that long either, they never were, Toby sat there hearing his father wishing him a happy birthday, only that time did he looked up from the table but not giving the pleasure of a smile; his brother telling him about his first home run only a week ago, and his sisters sharing any other news they might have, like it was a normal table, a normal conversation, like there wasn't a guard outside listening to every word. The guard knocked on the door, this meant it was time to go, Toby took a deep breath and when it was time to go, Toby only extended his hand to his father, not saying a word.
This visit was followed by going to Toby's favourite restaurant, after eating, there was no desert, never was, but Toby always got apple pie, his mother's apple pie, it was the best, it made a name by itself, it was his mother's dream to open a bakery just like the one her family had at home before the war started, but for now it was just apple pie for Toby, chocolate pie for David, raspberry pie for Julie, blueberry pie for Sheila and cabbage pie for Jules. And when they came home, there she went to prepare a pie for him.
The pie was made and dinner on the table and there they were at the table, eating and talking and after the birthday pie, it was time for the presents.
Toby never wanted much, he knew that they weren't rich and that everything they had, they worked for it, and that nothing came easily.
It was just them, the rest of his family stayed in Poland or any other places they had run to (this is, the ones that didn't died), so there they were, his sisters gave him a gift, he opened it and found two new notebooks for him to use and then his mother's present, it was the book he brought home from the library so many times, that he read in any mood he was.
"Thank you so much, mama. This is great."
"We know it's not much but…"
"Mama, it's great. You know how much I love this book, and how I need to write. So thank you." He stood up and kissed the cheeks of the three women in front of him, he went to sit next to David and Julie stood up and picked up a package.
"Sheila went to pick this up from the post office. It's from Ohio."
"Claudia."
Toby took the package, and opened it, inside he found an Agatha Christie book and a letter since they met last year, they have shared numerous letters and phone calls, this was the first present, he looked at the book and then let his family see it and opened the letter.
Toby,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY (I really hope that this gets there in the right day)
It's Claudia, you know the only girl that talks to you and the only person that writes you letters or calls you (sorry had to mock you there).
I really hope you had fun today, and were a normal twelve year old boy, I also hope you had pie and had a slice for me.
I know the book is not much, but I wanted to give you something. I chose this book for two reasons, even if I know this is not what you normally read, and those reasons are:
- You need to read something from this century, something that twelve year old kids read (the few that read);
- Secondly, I have read a lot of the books you advise me, and you haven't read the ones I advised you so this is a good start. (Thanks to you I'm a 9 year old girl who reads Shakespeare).
Now you need to go call me, so I can sing happy birthday to you and for you to tell me what you did today.
So this is your bestfriend saying talk to you soon, and really hope we can see each other soon before we are old and grey (it doesn't seem such a long time for you).
But really, I miss you. (CALL ME NOW)
XOXO (I know you hate this expression so I'm using it),
Claudia Jean
Toby after reading the letter kept in his pocket, he never let anyone read it, he and she shared a lot in those letters.
"Mama, can I use the phone."
"Yes. But then go to bed."
"I will. Right after I talk to Claudia."
"Okay."
Toby left the room, and Marlee Ziegler knew that her son was growing up, he was finding a job soon, he was finding a way out, a way of becoming someone big, and she knew he would, just like every other of her three kids.
Here it is.
I hope you enjoy it
The Claudia on the story is CJ, I like the idea they knew each other since they were kids (in my other story "When Love Goes By", I tell a little bit of that story), and I know that in "Access" Toby says he met her in a campaign in New York, but I think he meant when he met the working CJ because he doesn't believe that the public needs to know anything about his personal life.
Sorry for any mistake, English is not my first language.
Please leave a review, they make me very happy.
A Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it, and Happy New Year to everybody.