Welcome to the 90's!


1990

Nativity

December 20th 1990

5 days till Christmas

An anticipated hush settled over the school assembly hall as the parents of the kids in St. Brendan's pre-school waited nervously for the annual school nativity to start. The Reagans had arrived early and had bagged the front row seats as their youngest, seven year old Jamie was playing the main part of Joseph.

"This is gonna be so much fun," Sixteen year old Danny whispered with a smirk as he adjusted the lens on the video camera.

"Daniel put that camera away!" Mary hissed, "You'll distract your brother."

"Not likely," Fifteen year old Erin whispered smugly, "I've spent hours rehearsing with Jamie using all sorts of distractions just in case Danny tries anything tonight. I told him to just focus on me."

"So you sit next to the biggest distraction of all!" Thirteen year old Joe muttered with sarcasm, "Yeah. Nice technique sis."

"Hey! What do you take me for?" Danny murmured, pretending to be offended. "Like I'd ever publicly humiliate my baby brother at this age? What do you think the camera's for huh?"

"Capturing a wonderful memory of your little brother so you can reflect back on it in time and realize how much you all mean to each other?" Mary suggested hopefully even though her tone suggested it wasn't.

Danny snorted, "As if! Nope, this is gonna be used for blackmail when he's older!"

Mary sighed, "Of course. Why didn't I think of that?"

"If you think that's going to work then you should see the whole file of blackmail we have on you son," Frank mumbled without even glancing at Danny.

Danny's eyes widened in surprise. "You have an actual file on me?"

"It's alphabetized." Henry whispered.

Danny paused. Then his face broke into a grin, "Awesome! Get down with my bad self!"

"Ssh! It's starting!" Erin said excitedly.

The curtains were pulled back just as Danny hit 'record.' Jamie shuffled onto the stage with Casey Metcalfe who was playing the role of Mary and two other kids who were dressed up as donkeys. He looked so cute in his colourful robes, headscarf and make-shift beard which Erin had quickly scribbled on with an old eyeliner pencil, right before they left the house.

Jamie made a big show of walking around the stage a few times, leading the donkey and Mary to 'Bethlehem.'

"Joseph I'm sooo tired," Casey whined. She placed her hands on the pillow pretending to be a baby bump, "I need to lie down."

"Don't worry Mary. I'll go and see if there is any room at the inn," Jamie recited, watching Erin who mouthed the words back with pride. Danny rolled his eyes.

Jamie walked to the conveniently placed cardboard cut-out which was acting as the 'Inn.' He knocked on the door. A head stuck out of the open window and the innkeeper played by their neighbour Dean McGowan, said loudly "Can I help you?"

"My wife and I have been travelling for a very long time," Jamie said in a voice just as loud. "Can we please have a room to stay in?" Danny had to bite down on his lip to stop himself from laughing when Jamie said, 'My wife and I.'

"Sorry, there is no room pal, you'll have to come back later!" Dean said in a broad voice, grinning into the audience who tittered at the ad-lib.

"What does he think he's doing? That wasn't in the script!" Erin murmured hotly.

"Improvise kid," Danny muttered, watching through the narrow lens.

"Please," Jamie carried on bravely, "My wife is about to have a baby!"

"That's got nothing to do with me!" Dean said smugly, clearly enjoying the attention. A ripple of laughter sizzled through the audience.

"Well it's got nothing to do with me either so just let us in!" Jamie retorted crossly.

The whole audience burst into peals of laughter including the Reagans. Danny was laughing too hard; he tried to keep the hand which held the camera steady as he focused on the stage.

"Danny did you – did you get that?" Frank choked with amusement.

"Every single word Dad!" Danny answered brightly.

"Who told him to say that?" Henry choked.

"I – I sure didn't," Mary chuckled, wiping her eyes.

Jamie waited until the audience had calmed down before saying softly, "Please. We don't have much time."

"I don't have a room but there is a stable," Dean replied, "She can have her baby in there."

"It will have to do," Jamie turned to Casey, "We got a stable."

"Oh good!" Casey responded, a little too enthusiastically. The audience, still quite fragile, laughed at that.

Jamie proceeded to follow Dean when one of the kids who played the backend of the donkey, tripped and pushed the kid at the front end who pushed Mary, who in turn collided into Jamie who fell with Dean, off the stage and together they crashed into the entire band section.

The whole audience gasped. The Reagans were on their feet, trying to see if they were okay.

Jamie scrambled to his feet saying quickly, "And then Mary had the baby Jesus the end!" He rushed off, leaving his family and the rest of the audience stunned.

1 hour later

"You go in!"

"No you do it!"

"You're the oldest!"

"Well you're the girl!"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You're good with feelings and stuff!"

"You -!"

"How about we all go in!" Joe hissed. Danny and Erin effectively shut up. They were all gathered outside their brother's door, clutching mugs of hot chocolate at an attempt to cheer him up. After the play he hadn't said a word to anyone and had come running straight to his room.

Erin knocked on Jamie's room door gently, "Jamie?"

"Go away!" Jamie cried.

Erin sighed. "Jamie please can we come in?"

No answer.

"Jamie?"

"Geez if he's like this now, can you imagine what he's gonna be like in seven, eight years' time?" Danny muttered.

"We brought hot chocolate?" Erin sung, knowing that would do it.

"Fine." Jamie huffed.

Joe opened the door. They all traipsed inside carefully carrying the mugs. Jamie lay buried under his bed sheets with the covers pulled right up over his head. Danny set the mugs down on his bedside table and tried to tug the covers off Jamie.

"Stop it!" Jamie moaned, resisting.

"Jamie – you have to – stop this!" Danny gave one final tug and the covers came free.

Jamie scowled at him, clutching Fudge, "I messed up."

"No you didn't," Joe said in reassurance, "It wasn't your fault Jamie. Lots of things happen at school nativity plays."

"I fell off the stage," Jamie whimpered in embarrassment.

"Yeah…" Danny replied, trying not to laugh, "That – that was… unfortunate."

"And I said the wrong lines." Jamie added miserably into Fudge's fur.

"That wasn't your fault Jamie," Erin said soothingly, "Dean was just showing off and you had to do what you had to do. You can think on your feet. That's good. You should be a lawyer."

"Let's not go overboard!" Danny said seriously. He sat down on the edge of the bed. "Listen kid, I know I tease you a little – well okay, a lot. And you're probably never gonna hear the end of this one till you're like twen – ow!" Erin whacked his arm. "But – but I gotta say that I'm really proud of you. Erin's right, you can think on your feet and that's a good skill to have."

"So… do you think I should be a lawyer when I grow up?" Jamie asked curiously.

"It's not just lawyers that need that skill you know kid," Danny said with irritation, "Cops need it too."

Jamie's eyes lit up, "Really?"

"Really."

"Hey I know something that will cheer you up Jamie," Joe said with a small grin. "Look outside!"

Jamie turned to the window and gasped. Soft white flakes flickered down from the sky.

"It's snowing!" Jamie exclaimed, running to the window and pressing his small face up against the glass. "It's snowing!" He ran out of his room and down the stairs screaming, "MAMA! DADDY! IT'S SNOWING!"


Happy New Year: 1991