Chapter 13
Kevin and I both went to bed cleaner than we had been in days and when I woke the next morning, I saw that Lucinda had also enjoyed our windfall by the towels she had left scattered around the bathroom. Her de
pression over Jim’s incarceration hadn’t lifted, but I was relieved she was at least making an attempt to keep herself clean. I gathered her used towels and as many of our dirty clothes that would fit into one load of laundry.
I made Kevin go with me to the laundry room at the far end of the trailer park so he could get some fresh air. He followed behind carrying the jug of laundry soap and purposefully slid across the light dusting of snow that had fallen the night before while we were sleeping.
“Do you think Lucinda will let us open our presents tonight?” Kevin asked after a few minutes.
“I don’t know,” I said, shifting the weight of the duffle bag filled with our dirty clothes to my other shoulder. “I’m not sure she'll be joining us for Christmas. I’ll tell you what though, if she doesn’t come out of her room by nine o’clock tonight, I’ll let you open one.”
“Really?” he asked, skidding to a stop in front of me.
“Yeah really, but let’s hurry to the laundromat so I can stop freezing my butt-kiss off.”
He giggled at my choice of word.
“Besides, I want to get this laundry done so we can make Old Man Wither those brownies we bought last night.”
“Yum, brownies. Can we have one toooooooo?” he pleaded.
“I think that can be arranged if you’re a good helper.”
“I will be. I promise,” Kevin said, proving his point by holding the door of the small laundromat open for me.
Several hours later, Kevin held up to his promise as he helped me finish the laundry and prepare the brownies. By four in the afternoon, the trailer was spick-and-span and smelled heavenly from the double batch of brownies we had made up. I had felt massive guilt the day before, buying something as extravagant as brownies, but Kevin’s enthusiasm made it totally worth it.
We bundled up in our winter clothes and trudged back through the snow with the plate of brownies we had set aside for Old Man Wither.
The gas station was closed up for the rest of the evening and the following day so we headed around the building to Mr. Wither's cabin. Kevin knocked on the door and said
“Merry Christmas” when a surprised Wither saw us standing on his doorstep.
“We made you brownies,” I said, handing over the plate. “I know it’s not much, but we just wanted to say thank you.”
“Are you kidding me? This is the best gift I’ve gotten in years,” he said, taking an appreciative whiff through the plastic wrap that covered them. “Come in, come in. I got a few things for you guys too. I was going to bring them over later, but now you’ve saved me the trip.”
“Presents?” Kevin asked reverently.
“Yeah, presents,” Mr. Wither said, leading us in through the front door. “Those ones are yours,” he said to Kevin, pointing to a small stack at the far end of the coffee table.
Kevin squealed with glee when he saw his stack. “Can I open them?” he asked me pleadingly.
“Of course,” I said, feeling an odd tickle in the back of my throat.
Needing no further encouragement, Kevin tore through his packages with shrieks of pure joy when he discovered a Nintendo DSI and several games to go with it.
“Um, Mr. Wither, that is way too generous of you,” I said, mentally adding up the cost of Kevin’s presents in my head.
“Oh shush, I haven’t had this much fun shopping for presents in years. Me and my Marge would head to the shelter in Bozeman every Christmas and hand out gifts there. I haven’t been much in the mood to keep up the tradition since her passing until now. So don’t deprive an old man, okay?” he said with a twinkle in his eyes, making it obvious he was well aware of his nickname.
“Katelyn, look, it’s a Marvel Hero game,” Kevin said, stroking the package lovingly. Mr. Wither and I burst out laughing at the fawning look on his face.
“I guess you can tell he’s pleased,” I said, still giggling.
“Why don’t you open yours,” Mr. Wither said, handing me a present and a card. “Open the present first, though,” he added, smiling at me.
“Okay,” I said, suddenly uncomfortable. I couldn’t recall the last time I had gotten a present, much less from someone who barely knew me.