London Calling

Chapter 7

“Okay, Bree, we’re here,” Ben said as he helped Bree out of the back of the SUV.

“This isn’t where my daddies usually come,” Bree said. “They have hot chocklet where we go.”

“We’re here to get a tree, not hot chocolate,” Drew replied.

“But you get the hot chocklet when you’re done finding the tree. Don’t you know nothin’?” Bree asked with a frown.

Drew looked at Ben who merely shrugged and smiled. Drew wondered if he knew nothing in Ben’s eyes too.

“Where should we start?” Ben asked.

“Haven’t you done this before?” Drew asked.
“Maybe … I don’t remember. I thought you knew what you were doing. Michael and I have an artificial tree.”

Drew snorted. “Emmett has a pink one at the loft.”

“Pink?” Bree asked. She had been listening carefully.

“Pink?” Ben repeated. “That’s no color for a tree.”

“It’s Emmett’s color for a tree.”

Ben shook his head, when he felt a tug on his leather jacket. He looked down into Bree’s violet eyes. “Yes?” he said.

“Can we get started?” she asked.

Drew chuckled and said,” Sure, Bree, but what do we do?”

Bree heaved a weary sigh at having to work with these two inept men who seemed so incapable of getting the right Christmas tree. “You go over to the booth and they give you a walkie-talkie, and then we can ride the wagon out to the trees, and then we pick one we like.”

“Is that right?” Ben asked.

Bree bobbed her head. “Come on, Unca Ben, it’s cold out here.” She took his hand and dragged him towards the booth.

Soon they were seated on the wagon which transported them out to the trees that were available for cutting. Ben lifted Bree down from the wagon when it stopped, and asked, “See anything you like the looks of?” He hoped they could quickly find a tree and get back home. His toes were freezing already.

“Nope,” she said looking around. “Let’s go.” She took his hand and started down the row of trees.

“What about this one?” Drew asked standing beside a tall tree. Bree shook her head. “Why not?” he asked.

Bree studied the tree. “I don’t know. It’s just not the one.” She kept walking down the row of trees.

Drew followed them looking at this tree and that tree, trying to find the perfect one. It was extremely difficult to know how they would identify the right tree. Bree seemed to be the keeper of that wisdom and she couldn’t explain what it was she was looking for.

As Drew looked up at a tree, he stepped to the side and felt his foot slip on some snow. The next thing he knew, he was sitting in a puddle of half melted snow. The ass of his jeans was soaking wet.

“You okay?” Ben asked as he hurried over.

“Fuck! My ass is wet,” Drew griped as Ben hauled him up. “Let’s get a fucking tree and get out of here.”

Ben nodded. “Bree, we need to pick a tree right away.”

“Shit,” Drew said as he took a tentative step and almost fell over. “I turned my damn ankle.”

“It’s not broken, is it?”

“I don’t think so. I can walk, but I’ll have to be careful.”

“Why don’t you stay here, and I’ll go with Bree to find a tree?”

“Okay, I’ll hobble back to where we catch the wagon.”

Ben nodded and turned to get Bree to pick a tree in a big hurry. The little girl in the pink snow jacket was nowhere in sight. “Bree!” Ben called trying to keep panic out of his voice. “Bree, where are you?”

“Shit! Where could she be?” Drew asked turning and starting back.

“You head for the wagon,” Ben ordered. “I’ve got the walkie-talkie. If I don’t find her in a few minutes, I’ll call for help. They probably have this happen all the time.”

“Fuck!” Drew said. “Brian’s going to kill us.”

“Bree!” Ben shouted. “Bree!”

“Over here, Unca Ben,” Bree called.

Ben let out a sigh of relief and then he sprinted towards the sound of Bree’s voice. He caught a glimpse of pink on the other side of the row of trees and pushed branches aside to get to the little girl. One branch snapped back hitting him in the eye and knocking him to his knees. “Shit!” he cried.

“Unca Ben, you okay?” Bree asked coming through the trees.

“I think so,” Ben said getting up. The knees of his jeans were soaking wet. His eye hurt like a bugger. It was probably going to swell up and turn black and blue.

“I found our tree,” Bree said proudly. “It’s perfect.”

“No shit!” Ben said as he shook whatever snow he could from the legs of his jeans. He was afraid they would freeze and he wouldn’t be able to walk. He took out a handkerchief and pressed it to his eye. “Which one?” he asked.

Bree took his hand and led him carefully through the trees to one particular tree. Ben looked at it through his one good eye. It looked to him like every other tree in the row.

“Why this one?” Ben asked.

“I don’t know. It’s just the right one,” Bree said.

“Okay, if you say so,” Ben agreed. He wanted to get the fuck out of there. “So what do we do now?”

“Use the walkie-talkie, Unca Ben. Call the man and tell him we are in Row 29 and we want tree number 3-8-1.”

“How…how do you know that?”

“I know my numbers and I see things.”

Ben shook his head. He pulled the walkie-talkie from his pocket and called in the information Bree had given him.

“Is Unca Drew okay?” Bree asked.

“I think so. Do we have to stay with the tree?”

“Not unless you want to cut it down. Sometimes Dada cuts them himself, but usually he lets the men do it for him. They put it in a big bag and tie it to the top of the car,” Bree explained.

“Then let’s find Uncle Drew,” Ben said. Bree took Ben’s hand and led him back in the direction of the path where they could catch a ride on the wagon.

 

*****
 

“They’re back,” Emmett called seeing the SUV pull up in front of Edna’s Treasures.

Bree came racing inside. “We found the perfect tree, Dada,” Bree crowed as she ran into Brian’s arms. He picked her up giving her a warm hug.

“Good girl! Did you have fun?”

Bree shook her head. “They didn’t go to the right place, so I got no hot chocklet.”

“Daddy will make you some,” Brian said kissing her cheek.

“Oh my fucking God!” Emmett exclaimed.

He and Brian stood in amazement as the cold, wet, battered and bruised he-men made their way into the house.

“What the fuck happened to you two?” Brian demanded.

“It’s a long story,” Drew said. Ben merely nodded as he held his hankie over his sore eye.

 

*****
 

“And then Unca Ben fell down too!” Briana was telling her version of the tree picking story to Patrick and her Daddy while sipping her hot chocolate in the kitchen. Brian and Gus thought it prudent to help the he-men bring the tree into the sun porch and set it into its stand before the he-men hobbled off to get cleaned up. Neither man wanted to admit being bested by the little six year old.

“Sounds like you had a busy day so far,” Justin said. Bree nodded her head. “Maybe I should get lunch started before...” Justin began just before they all heard a loud crash coming from the porch.

“Whoa!”

“Hey, look out!”

“Help!”

Everyone in the conjoined cottages converged in the sun porch. Under the toppled over tree were Michael and Teddy. At least they thought it was Michael and Ted, all anyone could see were three arms and one leg sticking out from under the thick branches. Bits of tree, garland and broken ornaments littered the floor.

“Schmidt! What the hell are you doing?” Brian bellowed as he, John and Gus worked to right the tree and move it into its corner. Justin and Bobby helped to pick up the injured Christmas fairies.

“Well, the tree was sticking out too far and we were going to turn it around,” Ted tried to explain.

“And I think my shirt got stuck on a branch and when I moved...” Michael took over the story.

“I get the picture, Mikey. Are you guys okay?” Brian tried to ascertain the extent of their injuries. Then a thought got into his head. “Bobby, does our homeowners insurance policy cover injuries to Christmas fairies?” Brian whispered into his brother-in-law's ear.

“Considering we now have four injured fairies, maybe I better check,” Bobby said as he excused himself.

“Brian, maybe this is a good time to herd the fairies into one place and serve them lunch,” John strongly suggested.

“I agree. You two, sit!” Brian commanded Michael and Ted. “Sonny Boy, help me clean up this mess.”

“Sure, Pop,” Gus replied as he went off to get the broom and dustpan.

“Sunshine, lunch?” Brian asked Justin. Justin nodded with a crooked smile.

“Let me get you guys some water,” Brian said as he went into the house. Brian took out a few bottles of water from the refrigerator, opened one and took a good long drink. “We survived a lotta shit together, Justin, but I’m not sure if I’m going to survive the year the Christmas fairies invaded our house.” Then with a sigh he retreated back to the porch with the remaining bottles of water for the fairies.

“Not sure, either,” Justin mumbled to himself as he went back to preparing lunch.

 

*****
 

“I think we’re right on schedule!” Emmett cheerfully announced to the crowd having lunch in the sun porch. He was checking off the completed tasks on his list.

The whole family came back to the conjoined cottages to eat their lunch together and to report on their various assignments. Michael was trying to eat his sandwich but was finding it difficult. He had somehow twisted his wrist trying to deflect the falling tree. Bobby had wrapped it in an ACE bandage. Ben was sitting next to him with an ice pack on his eye. Drew was enjoying his lunch from a chaise. Bobby wrapped his ankle which had begun to swell and turn all sorts of interesting colors.

“I’ve had worse injuries,” Drew grumbled as he bit into his sandwich.

Ted’s face was peppered with little band-aids that were covering the small cuts he received from the pine needles. It was only the ‘mothers’ who could report positive results from their endeavors, stating the various dishes that they had prepared and that were going to be frozen or refrigerated until needed.

Bobby leaned over to Brian as he passed a bowl of potato salad. “We’re covered,” Bobby reassured him.

“We have two more days of this,” Brian growled. “And they’ve only managed to decorate one third of the house. Think of the trouble they’ll get into when they try to decorate the porch and your side of the cottage.”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll quit,” Bobby said with hope.

“You know how stubborn Mikey is; he won’t quit unless he’s hospitalized.”

“Well, we can take over from here. We can tell them what a great job they’ve done and suggest the next shift take over.”

“Sounds good to me. We’ll try it after lunch. I want to get a good look at Emmett’s list. It seems to be growing.”

Bobby nodded in agreement then the co-conspirators dug into their sandwiches.

 

*****
 

“Hmm, the food prep seems to be going very well,” Emmett mumbled to himself. “But I’m not sure about the decorating,” he murmured looking around the sun porch. The Edna’s Treasures families had become known for their simple but elegant decorations. Both office balcony rails were usually donned with garland as was each rail of the twin spiral staircases. Someone had tied a few ornaments to Brian’s balcony rail but it still looked a bit cold.

“It’s not right,” Emmett murmured.

“What’s not right, Auntie Emm?” Bree asked her favorite uncle. Emmett picked up his favorite princess to sit her on his knee.

“I’ve just made an inspection of your end of the cottage and the decorations appear to be right.”

“They look nice, Auntie Emm.”

“Thank you, sweetie, but I don’t remember how the porch was decorated.” Emmett was disappointed with himself. He really wanted this Christmas to be as normal as it could be. He knew the boys were nervous about the London trip, especially Brian. Emmett wanted them to have a carefree holiday.

“I have pictures,” Bree said with a bright smile.

“You do?”

“Uh huh. In my alabum.”

“That’s album, honey. May I see your album? I think it will help.”

“Sure! Come with me,” Bree said as she slid off Emmett’s lap then held out her hand for him to take. Bree led him into her room then pointed to a gilt album on her bookshelf. Carefully, Emmett flipped through the pages. Briana had quite the collection of photos and special mementoes in her book, including Christmas pictures.

“Thank you, Miss Briana. You have been most helpful,” Emmett said with a big smile. “I know exactly how to decorate the porch.”

“What about the tree?”

“What do you mean?”

“I meeaan, when are we going to decorate the tree?”

“We?”

“Yes, my daddies and my uncles and my Patrick and me, we all help to decorate the tree. It’s fun! We have hot chocklet and sometimes fruit and cheese with crackers and healthy snacks and stuff. Daddy plays Christmas carols and we sing and my Dada lets me put the star on the top.”

“Sounds beautiful, Miss Bree. How about I ask your Dada if we can all help to decorate the tree tomorrow night? The tree needs to rest in its stand so the branches relax a little.”

“Okay, but can we finish the porch today? I don’t like it yet.”

“Now that I know how it should look, we’ll have it done in no time,” Emmett beamed. Emmett put Bree’s album back on the shelf then went back into the porch to continue the chores on his list.

When Emmett returned to the porch, his workforce was nowhere to be found. Brian and Justin were snuggled on a chaise. Beau, who had wisely made himself scarce for the first half of the day was now sleeping peacefully on his pillow.

“Where is everyone?” Emmett asked.

“I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?”

“Um, the bad.”

“Drew’s ankle was starting to throb so he, John and Bobby are watching the game in there,” Brian said pointing toward the Anderson-Morrison end of the cottage. “He has his ankle up on a pillow. Debbie called to say she needed a few more ingredients from the store. I gave my keys to the Jeep to Allen. He’s going to drive Michael to the store. Mikey’s wrist still hurts. Ted and Ben went down to your cottage to rest for a while. Ben’s eye is still a little blurry and his knees are bruised. And Teddy thinks he’s getting a reaction from the pine sap.”

“And the good news?”

“Jennifer has several casseroles done. My mother made her figgy pudding and a chocolate, chocolate chip cake. And Debbie has three pans of lasagna finished. She wants to make some baked mac and cheese, but she ran out of pasta, hence the trip to the store.”

“But we’re not done decorating,” Emmett said disappointedly.

“Emm, we have two more days. Why don’t you give the fairies a break? The porch is easy; we can have that finished in less than an hour. You’ve been up since the crack of dawn. It must be after five somewhere on the planet. Mull some wine, and give it a rest,” Brian gently suggested to his friend.

Twenty-five minutes later the family was enjoying some mulled wine and each other’s company.
 

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