The Drumbeat Years (girlxgirl)

21

21

24th. December 2020

She was a traditionalist when it came to Christmas decorations. Where other people pushed back the decorating further and further each year, Tina followed what her parents had done all their lives. A wreath, hung on the front door twelve days before Christmas and then the bulk of it all on Christmas Eve. She preferred it that way. It made it all exciting for a short time, instead of becoming part of the furniture for most of the period.

Without children, it made little difference. Kyle, of course, had decorated his house from top to bottom on the first of December. He was a child at heart and she loved that about him. Tina had never felt much of a child. She enjoyed Christmas, but it had lost most of its appeal, years ago, when she lost first her father and then her mother.

Standing on a chair, she added the last decoration to the top of the tree. A homemade angel that she had made when she was three, that her parents had insisted would top the tree every year after. It looked tattered and old, now, much like how she felt. A little moth eaten. A little tired. Long past due for retirement.

Stepping down, she observed her handiwork. With strings of lights that looked like miniature Victorian lanterns, and simple, subtle things, like little Yule logs tied with a bow, wooden reindeer and snowmen. Only two strings of tinsel adorned the tree, draped in cascading loops, green and silver entwined.

She heard the front door burst open and knew who had entered. Kyle never knocked. From the sounds of the banging, the crashing and the cursing, he had tried to carry all the presents through the door in one, big armful. He did it every year and never learned, no matter how many times she told him to make several trips.

"I'm here! I'm here! Everyone's favourite Bubble-Buddy!" Falling through the living room door, he almost collapsed onto the settee, relieving the parcels and bags from his arms, before standing and removing his mask. "I'm so glad we have to wear masks! It's freezing out there."

For months, now, the pandemic had raged throughout the world. Countries falling into lockdowns. People having to distance themselves from each other. It made little difference to Tina, she spent most of her days indoors, writing. Kyle hated it, however. He had many friends, these days, coming a long way from the times where he struggled to find one.

"You should have brought the presents in over a few trips." From the kitchen, Dawn appeared, sleeves rolled up, a smudge of flour on her cheek.

"I tell him that every year." Moving to Dawn, Tina wiped the flour from her cheek and gave her a quick peck, as though that was what had cleaned it. "Finished yet?"

"The cake is in the oven. A few hours, let it cool and then I'll decorate it." Dawn kissed Tina back, on the lips, then turned to Kyle. "It's a good job, too. If we'd left the cake to Kyle, he'd have crushed it with all the presents."

"Oh, my god! Dawn! You're still here! You haven't run away. Again." Almost running across the room, Kyle gathered Tina and Dawn in his arms, kissing them both on their cheeks. "Will wonders never cease?"

"You know, if you say the same joke, every day, it becomes stale." Dawn gave Kyle's long hair a playful tug, causing him to yelp an exaggerated 'ouch'. "I'm not going anywhere."

Tina and Dawn had tried staying as friends. Tried for longer than Tina could have imagined. Until, one day, Dawn had broken down in the middle of the local supermarket, the trolley rolling away. She had, right there and then, declared that she couldn't stay friends any more. To hear that almost broke Tina's heart.

She had thought it meant that Dawn would leave once more. That she would disappear as she had before. Hesitating to say anything, she had stepped away, but Dawn had stayed with her every step. As shoppers shuffled around them, Dawn had declared her love. A declaration decades in the making, causing Tina to break down in tears.