Shadows Have Gone (21 page)

Justin woke from his dream and sat up with a yawn. His internal clock told him it was early, but he wanted to get up. It was Christmas morning—at least it was according to the calendar they had all agreed to.

He slid from the bed and pulled on some clothes. Sam looked up from his spot on his cushion at the foot of the bed and seemed to consider whether he would follow or not, then dropped his head back down to his paws. Too early for the wolf, then.

Justin shrugged into a jacket after he put on his boots. It didn’t often get below freezing here, but it was cold enough to see his breath as he walked out to the barn. Shadowfax rumbled in greeting as he came through the door, and he went over to give her neck a pat. “How are you, girl?”

While he was petting her, Storm butted her mother out of the way and demanded attention of her own. Justin laughed as her soft nose butted under his chin. “Sorry I haven’t spent much time with you, Storm.”

She bumped him again and nearly knocked him off his feet. She was as big as her mother now. He thought back to that small filly with wobbly knees he had helped deliver during a blizzard.

Hamburgers shuffled his massive frame against the door of his stall and let out a snuffle of breath, as though to remind him there were others waiting in line for the human to pet. Justin went over and gave him a scratch between the ears. He glanced down into the bull’s trough and sighed.

“I think you’re half pig, buddy.” He knew Kaden had fed the animals last night, and they should still have had some left this morning. Hamburgers should have been able to get enough on forage alone, though they supplemented with hay. The bull ate it like he hadn’t seen food in weeks. Justin gave him a little more, trying to judge the amount stored in the hay mow. It had to last the winter for both horses and this hungry, hungry hippo of a bull. They were very reluctant to use any of their corn—that was for the humans.

Maybe Carly was right about the animals, he thought. Maybe they should be out looking for a cow to mate with Hamburgers to start their own small herd. That little awkward colt that had landed in his lap . . . the tiny puppy that Veronica was fostering . . . maybe one of their missions was to nurture life and help the world restart.

He shook his head. Maybe he spent too much time listening to Carly musing about all that fate stuff.

The animals watched as Justin dragged the box from behind the bags of corn. Like most people, Carly wasn’t very observant of detail. When he’d thrown an old tarp over it and tucked the box back into the shadows, it had remained there for a couple of months without her noticing. He stacked a smaller box atop it and carried them to the house.

He had it almost fully assembled when Kaden shuffled out of his room on the way to get a glass of water from the kitchen. He stopped and blinked at Justin. “Hey. What’s that?”

“This,” Justin said, “is a Christmas tree.”

“Well, yeah, I know that. Is it really Christmas?”

“As far as we can tell.” But who could blame him for forgetting? Without the month-long blare of holiday music, lights, and Santas ringing bells on every corner, the holiday had seemed to fade into the backs of most people’s minds. The only person Justin had heard mention it lately was the Reverend last Sunday.

The Reverend knew his Sunday services were attended by people of all faiths, and some of no faith at all, and so he confined his brief messages to those of love and community. He held Sunday evening Bible study for those who wanted more traditional Christian services, but Sunday mornings were mostly community gatherings. When the Reverend had mentioned the “spirit of the season” as one of giving, Justin had stared around at his neighbors in the pew in confusion, until he remembered it was December.

On the way out, Mrs. Davis had handed everyone a little package containing a pair of mittens she had knitted. Later, Justin had slipped over to their house with a jar of preserves from Carly’s pantry and left it on their doorstep, already crowded with similar offerings.

On the way back, he thought of the overwhelming generosity of their neighbors when Justin and Carly’s house had burned. Yes, the spirit of their community was giving. They didn’t need a special season to remind them of that, but holidays could bring out the joy of it.

“Are we doing Christmas celebrations now?” Kaden asked.

“We did Christmas last year,” Justin said. “Remember, Carly baked that ham?”

Kaden’s face split into a huge grin. “No one could
ever
forget that ham. What did she
do
to it?”

“Who knows? Maybe it went bad in the can.” He remembered her crestfallen expression when no one could stomach it, not even Sam.

“We didn’t put up a tree or anything last year.”

Justin shrugged. “Well, now we are. We can always use a bit of tradition, right? It will make Carly smile. Come on. Help me with this stuff.”

“What is it?” Kaden opened the package and held up the wispy, sparkling silver strands.

“That’s icicles,” Justin said. “That’s what we used to call it anyway. It was all the rage for tree decoration when I was a kid. I found it in the back of the store.”

The town’s sole operating store was large, but it was overflowing with boxes of stuff cleared out of the local houses when the residents couldn’t use any of it. It was operated by a woman named Pam. Grady was sweet on her, they said, but he couldn’t summon up the courage to ask her out.

Pam dug through all the stuff brought to the store, occasionally finding a useful item or two within, and traded with the community for everything from books to tomatoes. The rest of the stuff went into the back. “Some of it might be useful someday,” she told him. “Even the electronics. Maybe we can use some of the components, the parts . . . you never know.”

Justin just smiled and nodded, although he thought Pam’s perspective was mostly wishful thinking.

Pam had an orderly system, but she had to guide him through the piles of furniture, electrical appliances, boxes of clothing, and cookware to what he wanted. Justin had sorted through the useless strands of lights until he found a few boxes of ornaments and an ancient package of tinsel icicles that had been popular when he was a kid. He remembered how they used to glitter in the drafts and thought Dagny might be similarly fascinated by the sight. He’d paid a small basket of potatoes for the tree and ornaments.

Kaden turned the package of icicles in his hands. “What do you do with it?”

“You just drape it, like this.” Justin showed him, dropping a handful of the stuff on a branch. It fell in a fat, tangled, silvery glob.

“Wait, that can’t be right. Try using less and just, you know, draping it gracefully.” He pinched a few from the package and cascaded a few strands down a couple of branches. “There. Like that.”

They worked in silence for a few moments. “I used to decorate with my mom,” Kaden said.

Justin just nodded. He took it as a healthy sign that Kaden was talking more about his parents now.

“Every year, she picked a color theme, and we had to go out and buy new ornaments. Drove my dad crazy because we had huge stacks of boxes in the garage, but she always wanted something fresh and different, and he never said anything because he knew it made her happy. But man . . . everything had to match, and you had to space out the two colors just right on the tree so they would balance.” Kaden laughed. “I got so frustrated one year, I threw a bulb at my brother, and she made me sit on the couch in time-out while they finished. But looking back, I really enjoyed it, you know. It’s weird, but it’s silly little stuff like that you miss.”

“That silly little stuff is what stands out because that’s the best part of life. That’s why I want to do this for Carly and Dagny.”

“Do you have presents for her?”

“Dagny? Yeah. They’re in the gun closet.”

“Did you wrap them?”

“No. Should I have?”

“Oh God, yes. Tearing off the paper is the most fun part.”

“Shit.”

Kaden thought. “It’s okay. I know what we can do. Be right back.”

Justin stepped back and eyed the tree. It was absolutely coated in that silver tinsel. Maybe they should have used it more sparingly. It looked more like a melted robot than a Christmas tree.

Kaden returned with a roll of wallpaper. “Remembered this was in the garage,” he said.

“Good save,” Justin said. “I’ll go check the chickens and get breakfast started while you wrap.” He took the toys from the closet. Dagny seemed to like building things, so he had gotten her a set of oversized LEGO bricks and interlocking wood puzzle blocks. There wasn’t much selection in the local store for a kid her age, but he had done his best.

“Why do I have to wrap?” Kaden looked a little sullen.

“I’m pulling rank on this one,” Justin said with a grin. “Like in your books, you’re gonna have to wait until I’m old and weak so you can overthrow me. Then you can order others to do the wrapping for you.”

He whistled as he strolled into the chicken coop. Five eggs this morning. He felt like celebrating. He went down the street to Mindy and Stan’s house and put two eggs wrapped in one of the mittens Mrs. Davis had made him inside the screen door. They would find it as soon as they woke and Stan went out to get the firewood for the morning.

He headed home and found Kaden swearing as he fumbled with the tape and thick paper. Justin held down a corner for him. “Carly would have a fit if she heard you using those words, you know.”

“I’ll just tell her I heard you say it,” Kaden muttered, giving him a dark look.

Justin grinned and patted the boy on the back and went to the closet again.

“You want me to wrap yours?” he asked.

“Wrap my what?”

“Your gift.”

“I got a gift?” Kaden gaped at him.

“You must have been a good boy this year,” Justin said.

“No joking, please.” Kaden blinked hard. “You really got me something?”

Justin felt like an ass for teasing him when it apparently meant a lot more to Kaden than he’d realized. Or intended, actually. “Yeah, I got you something.”

“Thanks.” Kaden’s voice was soft. “You . . . you don’t have to wrap it. Just put it under the tree for me when Dagny opens hers, okay?”

“Okay.” Justin took the gift over and tucked it below Dagny’s gifts to conceal it. Really, it was no big deal, and he hoped Kaden wasn’t disappointed when he saw what it was.

“Do you have something for Carly?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to wrap it. I’ll give it to her later.”

Carly came upstairs just as he was finishing up breakfast, Dagny on her hip. Dagny saw the tree first and let out a soft, “Ooh!”

Carly’s smile when she saw the tree was what he’d been hoping for all along, and her kiss made him feel like one of those guys in the movies who picked the girl up and spun her around just from the sheer happiness of it.

Dagny, of course, didn’t want to eat before going to the tree, and Carly had a devil of a time coaxing her into it. Most of the egg ended up being eaten by Sam. Justin ended up having to feed her himself or she wouldn’t have eaten a bite.

As Kaden had predicted, it seemed Dagny had more fun shredding the paper than she did with playing with the toys.

Justin strolled over to where Kaden sat in the chair watching Dagny fling bits of paper in all directions. Justin handed Kaden the book he’d been holding behind his back. “For you.”

Kaden took the leather bound volume with reverence. “Oh, wow.”

“I know you like that old stuff,” Justin said. He had looked for a copy of
Beowulf
but couldn’t find one. He hoped Kaden might like this, but he wasn’t sure. It wasn’t mythological, after all.

“It’s all of Caesar’s books!” Kaden leafed through it. “It’s got all five of them!”

“Well, only two of them are formally attributed to him,” Justin said.

Kaden shot him a look. “You’ve read them?”

“Don’t look so shocked. Yes, I’ve read them. Well, listened to them as audio books, anyway. Lewis thought any military man ought to read Caesar.”

“Thank you, Justin. Where did you find it?”

“Library in a nearby town had a rare book section. I figured it ought to go to someone who would appreciate it and take care of it rather than sitting there on the shelf at the mercy of rodents and the weather once the building starts crumbling.”

Carly wouldn’t follow him outside to see her gift until she had picked up every one of the tiny bits of Dagny’s shredded paper. She bundled up in a jacket, scarf, and hat before following him outside.

“It’s amazing. I used to live in Alaska where forty degrees was considered pleasant, and now I’m freezing my tail feathers off.” She rubbed her hands together as she followed him around the side of the barn.

He pulled the tarp off the wagon. “Ta-da!”

“Books!” she cried in delight, though she had to know what she was getting after she’d seen Kaden’s present. But it didn’t seem to diminish her happiness one bit. “I had almost finished everything in the shop. Thank you.”

“Welcome.” He kissed her back, picking her up off the ground so their faces were level. She wrapped her arms and legs around him with a girlish giggle, and he backed up until they were leaning against the barn. Their breath mingled in small clouds on the cool air.