By: CNJ
PG-13
6: One More Year To The Millennium
Kristy:
SHS's production was a full
house. Abby had a part in the production (her character had a long robe,
so her cast was covered) and Anna played her violin in Holiday Wish.
Stacey, Shannon, and Jessi are going away for the holidays tomorrow afternoon
after school and won't be back until New Year's day, so all of us BSC ran
back to my house after the play, Anna included. There, we exchanged the
gifts. I put on a tape of holiday music. As we were gushing and thanking
each other, the song, Do They Know It's Christmastime At All was
playing and it made Mary Anne cry. The song had been part of a relief effort
way back in the eighties to ease hunger in Ethiopia. "They're all s-so
hungry..." she sobbed. I held her, but she couldn't stop crying.
"She's right..." Stacey
whispered, then her eyes filled up and she started bawling, which started
such a chain reaction that the whole BSC ended up in tears. We cried until
we were limp. Then the doorbell rang. I wiped my eyes, struggled to my
feet, and went to pick up the pizzas we'd ordered.
"Goodness, is everything
all right?" Mom asked as I came downstairs, still a bit unsteady.
"Oh...yes." I told her.
I paid the delivery woman.
"Your eyes are puffy." Mom
peered at me. "Were you crying?"
"Yeah...we all were..."
I told her. "We're all feeling sentimental...we'll survive." I took the
pizzas back up and Claudia pulled out sodas and we dug in, feeling a bit
better. As we ate, a dog barked and we laughed when we realized it was
coming from the radio. It was playing "Jingle Bells" to a dog's barking.
The whole thing sounded so funny that we ended up laughing.
"I think th-the holidays..."
Mary Anne tittered, wiping her eyes. "B-br-b-bring out...sadness...and
h-happiness-ss in all...us..."
"M-me too..." Abby was catching
her breath.
"We can hope Christmas starts
off a great new year," I added.
"Nineteen ninety-nine..."Stacey
whispered. "The coming year is the last year of the old millennium."
"Wow, I can't believe it,"
Mallory added. We sat thinking about that a while as we devoured our feast...in
another year, 2000...wow!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary Anne:
"MARY ANNE!" Dawn was up
early, shaking me awake. "We got more snow! Look outside!"
"Ohhh, Dawn..." I groaned,
half-awake, my dream about being somewhere in Moscow slowly shattering.
"I know, it's cold here in Russia...it's been snowing about a month..."
I rubbed my eyes.
"Russia?" Dawn was puzzled.
"Mary Anne, welcome to the waking world, we're in Connecticut...and it's
Christmas day."
"Oh..." I came awake and
pulled my hands away. Sleepily peering out, I saw Stoneybrook was covered
with what I guessed to be a foot of snow. "Oh, Dawn, it's beautiful!" I
whispered.
"Merry Christmas!" Sharon,
Verna, and Dad peered in.
"Merry Christmas," Dawn
and I responded.
"Quite a holiday gift,"
Sharon looked toward the window. "All that snow..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Claudia:
"JANINE!" I called. "Look
outside; it's SNOWING. There's a FOOT already!" Janine groaned from her
bed, then rolled over. "Merry Christmas, happysnowday..." I sang. Janine
slowly woke up, then sat up, peering outside.
"God..." she whispered,
then yawned. I figured she'd sleep late during her break from the Navy
Academy, which is way down in Virginia. "Down in Virginia, they usually
don't get snow 'till January..." The academy Janine goes to is a smaller
one in Virginia, not the big one in Maryland. Hard to believe it was Christmas
1998. One more year before the turn of the millennium. What a thing to
live to see.
I know these chapters are kind of short; after their holidays, the BSC runs into real trouble with the In clique that is threatening to take over SHS; stay tuned!
