Chapter 2

Christmas Cards and Old TV Movies

The low winter sun had set and the temperatures were dropping quickly from the frigid wind off the bay by the time Jordan found the antique shop Woody was talking about. She gingerly peeled her gloves off her half frozen fingers and ran her hand through her wavy hair the second she walked into the dark, dusty shop, dislodging a fine dusting of snowflakes from its length.

Christmas was a time for giving and New Year's a time for fresh starts. At least that's what she read on the Christmas card Emmy gave her earlier. Thinking about it, she figured that maybe, just maybe, she could convince herself that what she was about to do wouldn't be considered a desperate bribe in most feminist circles.

Through the darkness she heard a voice that sounded as old as the goods it was surrounded by. "May I help you?"

Squinting, she saw an older gentleman standing behind a long glass counter like the kind used in jewelry shops. Only this one didn't showcase diamonds, it was lined with everything from discarded tourist trinkets from a generation ago to those little matchbox cars she remembered Jimmy Connelly use to play with.

"Hi, good evening...I understand you have a 1930 toy robot..."

"Ah, yes, the 19876FT Roby...in good condition including box. A fine, fine specimen."

"I'd like to buy it."

"Wait, don't you want to inspect it first?"

Jordan shook her head. She had no idea what she'd be looking at anyway. "...Oh...Do you have a payment plan?" she added charmingly.

Jordan had to admit at first she was a little under whelmed by the pressed-tin throwback from a scene from the silent movie Metropolis... but than again Jordan's idea of an investment had more to do with an end-of-the-season sale at the Gap. Not that she'd be shopping for herself anytime to soon. A thousand dollars was going to set her back a little...over the next 90 days.

She had to remind herself that this was something Woody would appreciate it. The dirty, lightly scratched surface didn't seem to make sense at first. That was until she really looked at it.

Running her hands over the cool surface Jordan wondered about its history. She wondered how the slight indentation on the body got there or the rust spots on the soles of the feet. She knew forensically all those questions could probably be answered...

...but what about the ones that couldn't?

Here was this child's toy that could have very well been opened on Christmas morning by a little boy that dreamed of a world so far away from the cold reality of Depression Era New England. Turning it over, she wondered if it was loved. Did the dent come from taking its owner to adventures he only heard about in old radio shows and movie serials? Was the rust from playing in the rain or getting too close to the bathtub?

...or was it locked in its box somewhere hidden away, until it was unearthed in a side street antique shop by a boy from Kewaunee who had his own set of adventures and realities to deal with.

If there was any doubt in her mind it was gone now. The little tin man with a dent where his heart would be and a detached look on his face was going to be going to a new home as soon as she could get it shipped.

"It's perfect. What'll you take for it...?"

Jordan let herself into her apartment with a small self- satisfied smile on her face. If she ever left her job as a medical examiner she felt she could find a second career as agent for Sotheby's. The dealer had listed the Roby Woody wanted at $1200. Jordan was able to talk him down to an even grand and include shipping.

The price was still staggering for her budget. The payment plan she signed had a hefty finance charge added if she used the full 90 days to pay it off. If she could come up with the cash in the next 72 hours... She'd have to figure out something later. Maybe about the same time she figured out how to admit—if she ever had to – she was the one that anonymously had it shipped to Woody's address.

If the shop keeper was curious why she didn't include a card when it was offered he didn't show it. Jordan didn't know if Woody would accept a gift from her. She had an idea of what his reaction would be. After all, she'd be the first to argue it was too much if the roles were reversed. She had a history of it.

Jordan tossed her keys on the counter and tossed a TV dinner of mystery meat into the microwave trying to ignore how quiet her apartment was. She had to remind herself to be careful what she wished for.

It took Woody breaking her heart to remind her she had one...and how very lonely it was. Jordan couldn't help but think about the path her life has taken over the last year.

It was easy to fall under JD's spell. He was handsome, intelligent, he believed in the same things she did and she had to admit he filled a physical void she had been denying herself for far too long. Most of all, he never pressured her to open her heart the same way Woody had. On paper he was perfect. Maybe that's what went wrong. He made a token attempt to ask her to come with him when he accepted a job offer away from Boston. She suspected deep down he knew she'd turn him down.

He knew he'd never have her totally.

Jordan had to admit she shed a tear or two in the days and weeks that followed ...not because he was leaving, but because she didn't feel anything one way or the other. He left her with a cold bed and the same problems. Only now they were peppered with regret. After self analyzing herself to death she came to one conclusion...Woody still had her heart and that elusive little thing wasn't in any hurry to come back to her.

She carried her dinner over to her dining room table and sat down with what was left of her Christmas card list and turned on the TV for background noise. They were playing an old made-for-TV Christmas movie on the local channel. 'Tis the season. She left it on.

It wasn't like she had a long card list by any shape or form...a friend here, an acquaintance there, most of whom she only corresponded with once a year. Christmas card people. That's what her father used to call them. People who you don't think of 364 days of the year but feel guilty if you don't tell them you are at least alive every Christmas. Dad could be a sentimental SOB every once in awhile.

Jordan just had a habit of procrastinating to the last minute to fill them out. It was almost tradition to get a holiday card from Jordan around Valentine's Day. They were going to be early this year. Christmas was a time for giving and New Year's a time for fresh starts ...and it's not like she had anything else to occupy her free time.

She was a dozen or so names into her address book she came across Woody's name. She twisted the pen in her hand and debated on what to say in the card. "Merry" just didn't seem like the right word. Neither did the words "Happy New Year's". She toyed with just saying "Ho,ho,ho" but ended up simply writing "I miss you." She set the card aside.

With a sigh, she flipped to the next page in her address book. The first name to jump out at her and brought a warm smile to her face...

Louis Jeffries

Jordan set her pen aside and looked at the original she had hanging on the wall. Louis gave it to her on a scalding summer day over a year ago. He personally brought it over, which was a big step for him. He called it a thank you for all Jordan had done for him. The sunny colors were not his usual dark palette. Louis explained it was because he in a good place in his life. Of course his art would show it. Everyday he was able to trust more and more and because of that he was able to accept a new love in his life.

He told her that the dark, somber print Jordan treasured represented a time and place that either of them seemed to fit in any longer. They were changing, evolving, and chasing long-lived demons away. With some half-hearted protest on Jordan's part he took away the old and hung the new. An original Louis Jeffries. She joked saying she would end up becoming a collector. For the first few weeks she would spend hours just looking at it. Then she slowly stopped seeing herself in the splash of color. Her journey of moving ahead of her life's problems was running into more then its fair share of road blocks. By the time JD had entered her life it almost didn't feel right hanging there anymore.

She still loved it though, but not for the original meaning.

Out of the corner of her eye Jordan caught young overly mellow-dramatic Marie Osmond bravely having her hair cut off on her TV screen. She half forgot she had the TV on and decided to give up on her cards for the evening and curl up on her sofa to watch the last few scenes of the movie before calling it a night.

It didn't take long for Jordan to place the story. Gift of the Magi. A totally Hollywood version...but the theme was still there.

She could remember the first time she read the short-story of love and sacrifice. It was in high school English class and not her usual taste. She could remember thinking it was some kind of punishment laid out by the nuns for her own self-centered life. In spite of them it secretly became one of her favorites. Not because of the romance of the poor lovers and they forfeits they made for each other. She didn't believe that a love like that could exist. No, Jordan related to the irony of the whole situation. At fifteen, it only justified Jordan's ultimate outlook on how unfair life really was.

O. Henry's Della and Jim were young, poor and in love. A young Jordan couldn't help but think that Della could have done better for herself. She was pretty in an era when women could only bank on their looks or who their family was. Nobody cared if she could connect two thoughts together. Maybe she could have been an important man's wife. But no ...she fell in love with a man like the man her own mother fell in love with. A good man. A working man. A man that loved her for who she was and not just her pretty hair. Della and Jim's love for each other is so all consuming that they give up their most cherished worldly possession to prove it thus being compared to the selfless love of the Magi.

Through the years her attitude had changed about the story. Personal sacrifice for the happiness of another wasn't such foreign concept to her anymore...even though the happy ending of eating a simple pork chop dinner with the one she loved still seemed to elude her.

Jordan watched the last few minutes of the movie rolling her eyes at Marie's overacting and Timothy Bottom's Botox-like expressions but she had to admit there was some charm there. Enough to keep her wrapped up in the drama all the way to the final kiss.

Jordan snorted as the magic of the moment was broke by a split-screen of credits and a cutesy Christmas ad for a credit card company.

"Oh Jimbo my boy, you were the one screwed." Jordan said turning the TV off with a flick of her wrist. "Della's hair will grow back. Your watch is gone forever. Too bad they didn't have instant credit back in the day..."

Just saying it out loud Jordan remembered the hefty payment agreement looming ominously in her purse. She didn't regret her purchase at all, even though it was going to stretch her budget tight. She needed to ask Garret for an advance or...

She looked at her Jefferies again.

She couldn't sell it. She didn't even know how to go about even trying to. No. It was a gift...a very special gift from a special friend.

That didn't stop her from picking up the phone.

"Louis? Hi, it's Jordan...I have a favor to ask you...I need some advice."