Margaret Mann Eppes didn't expect much for Mother's Day.
She knew that their finances were strained, and she remembered how hard it was to save any money that first year of school.
But she wasn't greedy. A card or a phone call would be sufficient. Maybe breakfast in bed, too.
She heard Charlie moving around in their kitchenette and wondered if he was actually planning to serve her breakfast in bed. She looked around her tiny bedroom and decided to spare him from trying to serve a meal in there.
"Good morning, Charlie," she said as she walked into the living room/kitchenette.
"Happy Mother's Day!" Charlie said happily. "I was just about to see if you were up!"
"Thank you, dear!" Margaret said with a smile.
"Your presents are on the tray already," Charlie said. He indicated a tray with some packages and a pink rose in a white vase.
Margaret grinned when she saw the small pile. She'd guessed that the lack of cards in the mail meant that Charlie was hiding her Mother's Day gifts from her.
The pile consisted of a fist-sized cube that she guessed was from Charlie (geometry being his thing), a slender box that she guessed was from Don and a large, round package that was probably from her husband.
"Here you go," Charlie said, as he served up pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and orange juice.
"The coffee is still brewing," he added.
"That's all right," Margaret said. "Charlie, this is all lovely! Thank you so much!"
"Open your presents," Charlie urged.
"And let my breakfast get cold? I think not, little man," she teased. She knew that Charlie-the-ever-curious hated to wait to find out what was in any wrapped package, even if they weren't for him.
After breakfast, Charlie took a hostage. "No coffee until you open your presents!" he insisted.
Margaret laughed. "Very well, Mr. Nosey," she said.
She soon found out that she was wrong about all the packages. The long, flat package turned out to be from Alan. It held a silver chain with a small globe charm on it. The note read: "To show my charming wife that she means the world to me."
Charlie boggled a little at the sentimentality of that, something he wasn't used to hearing from his father. However, he helped Margaret put the bracelet on.
The cube was from Don. It contained an autographed baseball. ("My first college home run! Everybody signed it! I even managed to get a signature from Tommy LaSorda!") Margaret had to laugh, but she had to admit that she liked having the autograph of the Dodgers' long time manager.
This left the big package. Margaret looked at Charlie quizzically.
"Well?" Charlie demanded. "Open it!"
Margaret looked again. The round box made her think of a hat box, but it wasn't deep enough to hold a hat.
She pulled off the tissue and discovered that she was holding a koi pond.
It was her turn to gape. There were three koi swimming in a cellophane pond. Floating on the pond was a lily pad and a frog.
Everything, even the box, was made out of carefully folded paper.
"How?" was all Margaret managed to get out.
"Do you like it?" Charlie asked anxiously. "I thought you might miss our koi pond. So, when I found this book on the mathematics of origami…"
"I love it!" Margaret carefully put her koi pond down and hugged her son.
"MOM! EWWWW!" Charlie wailed. "Just say 'Thanks!'"
"Thank you, Charlie," Margaret said primly. "But you need to see something." She pointed at the ceiling.
Naturally, Charlie fell for it, giving Margaret a chance to plant a kiss on his cheek.
"Mom, you're impossible," Charlie said.
"It's a Mother's prerogative," Margaret said.
"Happy Mother's Day," Charlie responded.
Author's Note: Yes, it's a real book, and chapter seven has koi in it!