DECEMBER 25, 2005
“Santa Claus was here!” Little girl lips pressed against Reesie’s ears in what Aunt Tish called a “stage whisper,” which meant it wasn’t a whisper at all.
“Jazz, the sun isn’t up yet!” Reesie mumbled. But her cousin rushed to the window and yanked the blinds open. Reesie pulled the covers over her head, wishing that there had been some other sleeping arrangement besides sharing a room with a kindergartener.
It felt like she’d just gone to bed. After staying up till all hours baking with Mom and Aunt Tish, she’d helped Uncle Teddy, Junior, and Orlando assemble both a bike and a tricycle with Japanese directions. In between, they’d played a rowdy Monopoly game and acted as judges to Daddy and Jimmy’s oyster stuffing cook-off.
“Pleeeese! Reesie, pleeeese!” Jazz threw Reesie’s covers off. Reesie moaned. Then she remembered how she used to do the same to Junior, practically dragging him out of bed on Christmas Day.
“Okay, okay.” She blinked her sleepiness away and looked at herself in Jazz’s pink princess mirror. Her hair was wild—she’d been too tired to wrap it with a scarf. Orlando couldn’t see her this way! She grabbed Jazz’s hairbrush.
“Come on!” Jazz was pulling at her. “You’re already pretty!”
“Thanks, Jazzy.” Reesie pulled jeans on with the oversize T-shirt she’d slept in. She could hear little Jason shouting downstairs already, and Uncle Teddy’s good-natured grumbling.
At the foot of the stairs, Jazz caught sight of the tree and forgot all about Reesie. Reesie dropped to sit on the bottom step, taking everything in.
Jimmy, wearing a loud red velour robe, shouted names as he scooped boxes from underneath the Christmas tree, each time causing it to shudder dangerously. Junior was showing Jason how to set up his train set; Mama and Aunt Tish were laughing over how they’d gotten each other the same scarf.
Reesie hugged her knees. She hadn’t expected that everything would be so normal, but she didn’t want it any other way.
“Merry, merry, baby girl!” Daddy ruffled her hair through the stair rail as he came from the kitchen with a mug of strong coffee and chicory. Reesie inhaled deeply. Yes, this was normal.
“Same to you, Daddy!” She jumped up to kiss him on the cheek, and bounced into the living room looking for Orlando.
“Hey, Merry Christmas, Peanut Butter.” He was behind her.
She turned in surprise and grinned, thinking of Dré. She’d never noticed before how much they looked alike. Orlando pushed a clumsily wrapped package at her.
“Wow, thanks!”
“Well, I hope you have a gift for him too!” Daddy raised his eyebrows and passed by them.
Reesie shook herself. “Uh, yes! Course I do, Daddy!”
“Wait. Open yours first,” Orlando said. He leaned against the wall, watching her. She was strangely aware that everyone else was watching her now too.
Reesie tore open the paper with one rip—she’d never been a careful gift opener.
There was a folded length of bright purple cotton fabric. Her mouth dropped open, and she looked up at Orlando as if seeing him for the first time. His face lit up.
“I was thinking, you know, you’re a designer, and all your—what you call it? Your stash was underwater!” He was talking fast. “And—and I know your favorite color is purple. You got purple shirts and a purple backpack and—”
Reesie dropped the fabric and threw her arms around his neck.
“Thank you! Thank you!” she said.
The family clapped as if they were in a TV show audience. Reesie let go of Orlando.
“Okay, y’all. Now you’ve embarrassed me in front of my boyfriend.”
“Oohh! Boyfriend?” Uncle Teddy teased.
“What?” Junior said.
“When did this happen?” Mama asked.
“Somewhere around second grade, I think.” Aunt Tish winked at Reesie, and Reesie wondered how aunts managed to remember every silly little detail you ever told them.
“Jimmy, you’d better keep this boy in line, now,” Daddy said.
Orlando ran his hand over his hair. “Mr. Reesie’s Dad,” he said with a straight face, “is this okay with you?”
“I’m not the one to ask, Mr. Knight. It’s got to be okay with Teresa.”
Orlando blew a sigh of relief, and Reesie picked up her fabric, holding it tight as she went to search for his gift. It wasn’t much, only a New York Yankees shirt, but she knew he’d wear it.
“Do you spell Orlando with an O?” Jazz asked, holding up the right package.
“Yeah, thanks!” Reesie said. And then Uncle Teddy rolled in the bikes, and high-pitched squeals and riding lessons took over.
“Reesie?” Aunt Tish was holding a gift bag. “Here’s another one for you.”
Reesie tipped around toys and stepped over boxes to get across the room. There was something heavy in the bag. Reesie lifted out the yellow tissue paper and saw a book. She looked at her aunt for a moment, then into the bag again.
“Woman Everlasting! Thank you so much!”
Aunt Tish hugged her tightly. “It was out of print, but I lucked out yesterday at that bookstore I know in New York. I thought you’d like to have it.”
“Yes,” Reesie said. “I—this Christmas—is the best I ever had.”
Aunt Tish nodded. “Life can surprise you, kid. Katrina was one of the bad surprises. But then those are the ones that make the good surprises so sweet.”
A few hours later, once the feast was eaten, kids were calmed, and a football game was blasting in surround sound, Reesie and Orlando tried to sneak out of the house. She really wanted him to meet Dadi. Unfortunately, Orlando’s struggle with a pair of Uncle Ted’s snow boots slowed them down, and Reesie’s mother materialized at the top of the stairs before they got to the door.
“Hey!” she said pleasantly. “Where are you two going at this hour on Christmas Day?”
“Mom, it’s only five o’clock!” Reesie tried not to whine. The day had been wonderful so far, and she didn’t want to ruin it.
“It’s already dark, though.”
“We’re only walking up the street. The diner is open. I’m introducing Orlando to Dadi.”
“Ah. The old friend meets the new.” Her mother twisted her wrist to look at her watch. “Be back by seven.”
Orlando straightened up, grinned, and saluted. “Yes, ma’am, Mrs. Sergeant Reesie’s—”
Reesie jerked him out the door. Even after it was shut, they could hear her mother laughing. They held hands while tromping through the snow. It was almost too cold to speak, but Orlando managed. He filled her in on Jimmy’s stubborn search for a new space to open up Blue Moon Two, on who was back in town and who was still MIA. He told her how both Dré and Eritrea had found work and an apartment uptown.
“Okay, so when are you coming back to New Orleans?” he asked.
“Spring break—April.”
“I mean, for good.”
They rounded the corner onto busy Bloomfield Avenue, and the glare of the streetlights and headlights made the new snow so bright that it almost seemed like daytime. Reesie looked over at Orlando and realized that she actually had to look up. He’d grown at least two inches taller since August.
“Depends on my mom,” she said.
They stopped at the traffic light across the street from the Silver Diner. Reesie could see Felicidad watching from inside. She raised her arm to wave furiously. Dadi waved back, and it looked like she was saying, Nice!
“Yeah, you’re right!” Reesie said under her breath as she ran across the wide street with Orlando Knight beside her.