Chapter 21: Gratitude - 2030
Tali waited until her parents retired to their bedroom for the night to hang her surprise for the family. She signaled to Anthony to join her as she passed by his bedroom with the roll of paper under her arm. He grabbed the large cork board that he and Tali bought at the office supply store earlier that day from his closet.
"You got the stapler and push pins?" he asked his big sister.
"Oops, thanks for reminding me; here hold this a minute," Tali handed her brother the rolled white craft paper and returned to her room. She opened the bottom desk drawer and retrieved the bag with the new package of push pins, bright green sticky notes, and assorted gel pens. She grabbed the stapler from the desktop.
"Okay, let's go," she led Anthony to the empty wall in the dining room. "Hand me the two plastic things for the screws so I can put them in the wallboard."
"How are you gonna do that without Ima hearing a hammer or something?"
"See those two spots on the wall?" Tali aimed the flashlight beam at two spots that were slightly different in color from the rest of the wall. "I made the holes while Ima and Abba were shopping and then covered them over with a small amount of school glue. All we have to do is pull it out of the holes with a pushpin. The plastic thingies will slide right in."
Tali poked the pieces of glue with the pin, both fell into the wall, which was okay. She slid the screw holders into the wallboard. She took the two screws from the package with the corkboard and used a small screwdriver to turn them until about a quarter of an inch stuck out from the wall.
Anthony helped mount the corkboard on the screws and then adjusted it as Tali stepped back to make sure it was straight.
"Okay, do you want to hold the paper or staple?"
Anthony thought a minute, "I'll hold the paper; you staple." He held the paper so the corners aligned with the upper corners of the cork. Tali placed staples in the corners and across the top.
"Now unroll it a bit at time; I'll smooth it down and staple," she instructed him. In five minutes, they had the unrolled paper, showing the image of a bare tree with many branches, stapled to the cork and ready for the next step.
"Grateful tree," Anthony read the words on the bottom of the paper. "Add a leaf to tell for what you are grateful." He looked at the green sticky notes, "I get it, the green stickies are the leaves. Do we have to write our names on the notes?"
"Only if you want," Tali replied. "After all that went down last month, I think we all need to focus on the good things and the things that matter."
Anthony nodded, "I agree. It's been rough." He got quiet and seemed lost in thought. Tali reached over to her brother and pulled him into a hug.
"This is for you, bro. You will be okay, especially with all of us having your back, always." She hugged him closer and whispered, "At lo levad."
Anthony nodded and hugged his sister tighter. "Toda," he whispered. He pulled from the hug and grabbed a gel pen and the pad of sticky notes. "The first leaf is mine."
He wrote his note carefully, tracing the letters of the single word in multiple colors: 'FAMILY.' Tali handed him a clear pushpin and he tacked the green paper on the highest branch with a smile.
The two eldest DiNozzo offspring headed back to their bedrooms for the night.
LJ was the first one awake in the morning; he even got up before his Ima. He moved silently to the kitchen to find something to eat. With a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a glass of orange juice in hand, the boy walked into the dining room. He noticed the addition immediately.
Grinning, he took the pad of green notes and the blue gel pen and wrote a single word on his paper. Then he drew a fancy heart around the word. He pinned his creation to the tree. Satisfied he looked over his note that read simply: 'Anthony.' He sat at the table to eat his snack with a grin.
"Boker tov," Ima called from the kitchen. "We will have a farmer's omelet later when everyone is awake." She entered the dining room to give her son a hug. "Did you do that?" she nodded in the direction of the tree image.
"No; it was there when I got up. I thought you and Abba put it up," he replied. "I did put a leaf though."
Ziva smiled as she read the two leaves; she added her own to the tree. 'Caring about others.' "I think this is a wonderful idea," she commented to LJ.
Tony was in the kitchen pouring a cup of coffee for himself. "What idea?" he stumbled into the dining room, still not quite awake. Ziva tried not to smirk at his porcuswine hair. She pointed to the wall with the tree. Tony walled closer to inspect the paper and corkboard.
"I like it; you do it?" he looked at Ziva and then at LJ. Both shook their heads. "I wonder who then?" He put his mug of coffee on the table and sat down with the pad of green notes and a pen. He scrawled on the page and pulled it from the pad. With a pushpin, he placed his note next to Ziva's: 'Love and family.'
Over the three weeks between when Tali and Anthony hung the tree and Christmas Eve, many notes were added to the leaves on the tree, not just by DiNozzo family members, but by extended family as well. In all, seventy-four leaves appeared on the tree. On Christmas day, before the traditional family meal of lasagna and salad with garlic bread, Gibbs read every one of the notes to the extended family that gathered around the table for celebration of the holiday instead of a blessing over the meal.
"Amen," chorused the group after the last leaf was read.
A/N For more about the abuse Anthony revealed earlier in 2030, see "Twin Trouble."