December 24, 2008
There was nothing back home for him, nothing at all. If he was being honest he'd say that Australia felt less like home than ever, the only thing still there was his childhood home that he still hadn't the heart to sell, and his father living.
His father didn't like the idea of him moving to the States, New Jersey nonetheless, but that wasn't up to him. He lost that privilege when he didn't attend Elizabeth's funeral, or Robert's high school graduation…University graduation…medical school graduation. Damn, the man didn't go to anything.
On one of the rare occasions Robert heard from his dad, Rowan warned him that moving so far away would be ridiculous and that he would lose everything. He wouldn't have his family, his friends, nothing. He'd cut his only son off if he moved that far away but it's hard to cut someone off from the things he never had.
Despite his father's money, Robert accepted nothing from the old man. He sent himself to University and medical school with the money his grandparents left him upon their death, and he lived modestly. The threat of being cutoff was meaningless, insulting even.
So Robert did what he wanted and accepted a fellowship at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital studying under Dr. Greg House, world renowned for crazy ideas and terrible bedside manner. It was a change from the doctors he studied under in Melbourne, that was for sure, but it wasn't a bad thing. Moving to the states and working with Dr. House gave him something he'd been longing for for some time: a fresh start.
There was a lot to learn in America, and when Robert officially moved to New Jersey in September the first thing he learned was that people seemed to be obsessed with Autumn. Like, every house had a display of orange, yellow, and red leaves, hay bales, and pumpkins everywhere. When he'd go and get coffee in the morning from the café down the street he found that everything that could have sickeningly-sweet pumpkin-flavored syrup in it did…
He'd never had pumpkin flavored anything.
It wasn't too bad.
People in the states loved Halloween and embraced their most spooky, scary selves around the end of October. Dr. Cuddy, the hospital administrator, had the hospital set up with jack-o-lanterns and ghosts in every wing to boost the festive spirit and make the kids who sadly spent time there smile. Robert rather liked that tradition, it seemed simple and sweet enough.
Back home Halloween was a developing holiday and only those with a balloon on the post box were willing to invite trick-or-treaters to their front door for candy and treats. Robert's coworkers reminded him on the 31st to make sure he had a big bag of candy handy for any wandering children.
Time moved on, Thanksgiving passed and an old familiar sadness set into Robert's heart. He was living in a far away land, thousands of miles away from anyone he knew from his childhood. Christmas was a time for family and, well, he had none. While others were making plans with their relatives for get-togethers, Robert found himself feeling lonelier than ever.
His mum passed away on Christmas Eve not too many years before that, his grandparents gone from the world. He was alone.
He kept himself busy at work, offering to stay late and help out in the clinic without revealing why. It wasn't clear if Dr. House had figured out why he'd offered to stay, but if he did he didn't say anything. There was at least that to be thankful for.
Around nine o'clock Robert left the hospital and returned to his modest dwelling only a few blocks from work, changed into sweatpants and a thermal shirt (he hadn't adapted to the harsh winter chill of New Jersey yet), and sat before his TV, flipping through programs until he found some cheesy Christmas movie to fall asleep to.
He had one wish, one small request he'd asked God for.
His dad was his only family in the world. Please, just please let him call. It didn't matter the time, just one short call would do. He didn't even have to tell Robert that he loved him or that he was proud of him, just a few minutes to provide yuletide greetings and wish him well in his new job and new life.
Please….just one call.
The hours ticked on and on, but no call came through.
There were a few minutes where Robert wondered if he should make the first move and call his dad, but after toying with the idea he decided that the best thing to do was to go to bed before making things worse. If his dad didn't want to call him, visit him, know him than that was his problem. It made Robert think back to Christmas Eve those many years prior when he snuck to the top of the stairs and heard his granddad yelling at his father, telling him that if he wasn't careful, one day his only son would have a life of his own and Rowan would not be a part of that.
As was tradition in Robert's life, another miserable Christmas passed him by.
