Saturday, December 23rd
Jessie rose later than she had intended. She glanced out of her bedroom window as she rushed to get dressed and saw that it had begun to flurry again. The ice from the previous morning had not melted, so she knew that the falling snow would make the already icy ground pretty slippery.
She hurried down the stairs to join the rest of the family already at breakfast. Her mom would not be arriving until that afternoon, but Jessie had wanted to make sure that her room and the rest of the house was perfect, so she knew that this morning would be a hectic one. On her way to the kitchen, she passed the remnants of the previous night's party—giant boxes overflowing with tissue paper still sat on the floor, empty tree light packages lay on the couch, and pine needles already littered the carpet. Jessie rolled her eyes as she continued down the hall to the kitchen and pushed open the swinging kitchen door. Race looked up from his coffee and newspaper when Jessie entered the room.
"Morning, Ponchita," he said. Jessie pulled up a seat between Hadji and Dr. Quest. She reached for the box of Honey Nut Cheerios and poured herself a bowl, thinking sardonically that the first morning of Mrs. Evans' vacation, the Quest family has cereal.
When Jessie failed to respond to his greeting, Race continued, "I'm going to pick up your mother at the airport this afternoon. I'll leave around noon, but before I go," he turned to Jonny and Hadji, "will you two help me bring those Christmas ornament boxes back into the attic?"
"Of course we will help, Race," Hadji replied, as Jonny simply nodded and chewed a mouthful of Cheerios. Suddenly Jessie felt as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.
"I'll vacuum up those pine needles on the floor," she piped up, more cheerfully than even she had expected. Why had she ever thought that she would have to clean the entire house by herself? In fact, the house was pretty clean—Mrs. Evans had finished all of the laundry already and had tidied up most of the rooms, including the guest room in which her mother would be staying. Even Jessie's room looked pretty decent, with the exception of some rogue clothes, and she could easily remedy that problem.
In those brief moments her morning brightened considerably, and suddenly she realized that she was smiling. How long had she been sitting here lost in her thoughts, and how long had her family been staring at her? She looked up to see all eyes at the table on her.
"What?" she asked, pouring herself a glass of cranberry juice. As everyone returned to their food, Jessie realized how excited she was for her mother to arrive that afternoon.
The grandfather clock in the front hall had just chimed eleven o'clock when Jessie came down the stairs wearing a heavy red ski jacket and a white knitted hat. Jonny looked up as she passed the living room.
"Where are you going?" he said. The snow had picked up a little and was quickly collecting on the ground.
"I'm going into town to buy a Poinsettia for Mom's guestroom, so she'll see it when she gets here." She was pulling on her gloves, when Jonny came to stand in the doorway to the hall. "Do you want to come?"
"Sure," he replied, turning to retrieve his coat from the hall closet. "We should pick up some soda and chips too. I think we're out, and Dad'll be busy working in the lab for a few hours." They told Hadji where they were going, but he said that he would stay behind, to finish up his physics project. As they left the house, Hadji heard Jonny say, "Only Hadji would do homework on the second day of a two-week vacation."
Two hours later Hadji sat in the living room reading, having completed his project an hour before. He glanced at his watch and thought that his friends should have been back a while ago. The snow had stopped falling, he noted, but the roads might be really bad. Just as he turned to look out the window he saw Jessie's car coming up the driveway. Hadji walked over to open the front door and stood in the doorway as Jonny and Jessie walked from the garage.
"The roads are horrible," Jonny yelled to Hadji, as he hurried across the lawn. "There was an accident on Bradley Street. Traffic was backed up for miles." Just as he approached the front steps, he saw Bandit push past Hadji and tear off across the yard toward the cliffs.
"Oh man!" Jonny yelled, setting his shopping bag on the porch. Jessie handed Hadji her Poinsettia and chased after Jonny, icy snow crunching loudly under her feet.
Jonny was the first to reach Bandit, who had chased a squirrel up a tree. Jessie began to slow down as she approached, but when her right foot made contact with a patch of ice on the sidewalk, she lost her footing and fell backwards, hitting her head hard on the pavement. For a moment she did not move, and Jonny and Hadji both ran to her. She opened her eyes and muttered an obscenity before reaching up to touch her head. "Ow," was all she said, and she made to sit up, but Jonny stopped her,
"No, don't move. I'll go get my dad. Hadji, make sure she does NOT move." He ran away toward the lighthouse on the cliffs, where the computer lab was situated on the second floor, two floors below the light.
Hadji knelt down on the sidewalk next to Jessie. He had expected her to protest to Jonny's order, but instead she just lay quietly. Her head was throbbing, and she felt like crying. She could not remember the last time that she had cried. What would Hadji say? Would he think that she was seriously hurt? I'm fine, she thought to herself. I'll have a bad headache for a while, but after a couple of Aleve I'll be as good as new. But Hadji knew something that Jessie did not. He knew why Jonny had been so concerned. The snow beneath Jessie's head had turned red with blood. A moment later Benton and Jonny arrived and joined Hadji next to Jessie.
"Jessie," Benton said quietly, but urgently, "can you feel your hands and feet?" Jessie responded after a couple of seconds,
"Yes. I'm okay, really. My head just hurts..."
"Jessie," Benton interrupted, "you hit your head pretty badly. The snow is probably helping to numb it a little, but I'll have to call an ambulance. Head injuries are very serious." As Benton disappeared from her side, Jessie was sure that her heart rate must have increased significantly at that moment. She knew she was not paralyzed. She could feel her legs—but what if she had a concussion? She gazed up at Jonny, who looked scared, and she asked the question that had been plaguing her,
"Is my head bleeding," she breathed. Jonny took hold of her left hand.
"Yes, a little," he replied, "but your hat is acting like a gauze." I don't want to lift her head in case of a spinal injury, he thought to himself. But Dr. Quest came back that moment and told them that the ambulance was on its way. Jessie shut her eyes. Her mom would be there in a few hours. Why did this have to happen now? She thought she heard sirens in the distance. Then she felt a pressure on her stomach. She opened her eyes and looked down to see Bandit lying across her coat. If she didn't know better she would have thought that he felt bad for her.
It was five o'clock before Jessie, Jonny, and Benton returned to the Compound. Estella Bannon and Race had arrived at the compound around four o'clock after braving the treacherous roads. Hadji filled them in on Jessie's accident and said that she was all right. Race and Estella had wanted to go to the hospital, but when they called Benton on his cell phone, he said that Jessie was almost done and that they would be home soon.
Jessie had needed seven stitches on the back of her head. She had not lost too much blood-the hat that she had been wearing had soaked up some blood, and the snow had helped in slowing the blood flow. Jessie greeted her mother when they met in the entrance hall.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here when you arrived, Mom," Jessie said, hugging her. Her head still ached, but she did not feel the stitches. She just felt very worn out.
"It's okay, sweetheart," Estella said soothingly. "I'm just so glad that you're all right. I wish that I had been here for you." She turned to Benton and said, "Thank you so much for taking care of her." Benton shook his head and said,
"It was my pleasure. Jessie is the daughter that I never had. Why don't we all sit down in the living room? I'll bring some apple cider." As the group made its way out of the entranceway, Jessie whispered to Hadji,
"Where did you put the Poinsettia?" Hadji smiled and said,
"Do not worry, my friend. It is on the night stand in the guest room."
"You're the best Hadj!" Jessie whispered before joining her mother on the couch facing the tree. Benton joined them a few minutes later and handed around hot cider. Estella accepted her mug and said,
"Benton, you five did a great job decorating. And this tree is fabulous." Race laughed and said,
"I had to twist Benton's arm to get the spruce. He thought it was too tall."
"Well, I think it's perfect," said Estella. "Oh," she sighed, "it's so nice to be up here for the holidays. When Race and I were first married, we lived in Virginia for two years, and we actually had a white Christmas one year, just like in the movies. I miss that in Colombia. I miss the snow and pine trees. It's not the same singing Christmas carols in Spanish under a palm tree in 80 degree weather."
The others smiled. They agreed silently that they were lucky to live in such a beautiful place. Jessie thanked God that they could all spend Christmas together that year.