CHAPTER 10: New Year's

The holidays came and went. Mom picked us up on the morning of Christmas Eve and took us back to the little house for the day, and we opened our presents. Andrew and I each got a new camera, the disposable kind, since the little box cameras we had just bit the dust. That evening, Mom took us back to the big house around dinner time.

On New Year's Eve, we had a party. This time, Andrew and Emily were actually able to stay awake until midnight. It was their first time to do so. In fact, the big-house family were the only ones at our party, and the first thing Emily did was look around and say, "Are you sure this is a party? Where's the music? Where's the dancing? Where's the neighbors banging on the door telling us to shut up?"

"Emily, I've taught you well," Sam said solemnly. He was also laughing, along with the rest of us.

"See, I told you!" David Michael exclaimed. "I knew you were gonna say that, Sam!"

"I bet you're glad you're finally able to stay up until midnight, huh?" Daddy asked.

Emily nodded. "I sort of remember my first New Year's Eve here. Of course, there was no way I could get any sleep with all the noise and cheering. To this day, I still wish I knew what a lang syne was."

"I've wondered that myself," Andrew said.

"Well, on the upside, I don't have to do the 'Never bothered you' bit from Inherit the Wind," Kristy giggled.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, we got a letter from Juan today," Elizabeth remembered.

"Oh, really?" I asked. "Do you think he's having a good New Year's?"

There was silence. We all thought about Juan, and how he didn't have a family to be with during the holidays.

"What did the letter say?" I wanted to know.

Elizabeth cleared her throat. "Well, he says thank you for the card and it really means a lot to him with being away from his mother and all."

I nodded. I also remembered hearing about their trip to Australia when the company that Daddy works for had sent him there to open a Sydney branch of his office. Kristy and David Michael had told me about the baby-sitting club there, as well as two sisters named Sara and Toni. According to them, Sara and Toni were very young when they lost their parents, and their grandfather took care of them until he got too old and sick, so he placed them in an orphanage. The story doesn't end there, though. When Kristy and her friends were there, Toni really grew to like David Michael, then before they left, she and Sara were adopted by a family that had a baby. I was hoping if Juan would have a happy ending to his story as well. I think we all were.

"Hey, ten more minutes till midnight," Charlie announced, and we all hurried into the den.

"I remember when Dick Clark hosted this," Daddy commented as he turned on the TV. "I was Andrew's age when I first stayed up late enough to watch the ball come down. It was raining pretty hard in New York that year, and Dad looked at me and said--and these were his exact words, too--'If any of those people think they're getting a hot meal from us, they're crazy!'"

"Did they?" Emily asked as we all laughed.

"Well, there was this one young couple whose car broke down on the way back to Hartford," Daddy answered. "Not only did Dad let them use the phone, he also gave them something for them to take home."

"That was nice of him," Elizabeth said. "I guess he took back what he'd said earlier, huh?"

"Yup."

Next thing I knew, we'd all started counting down the last ten seconds. Amidst all the cheering and noise, I thought, Happy New Year, Juan. I hope you're doing all right, and I just want you to know that we're all thinking of you.