Nobody Wants To Know Him

XIII - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

Monday 25th December 1972
Liverpool, England
5.58am

Christmas had come round way too fast for my liking.

My youngest sibling, Nancy, was up early, which wasn't surprising. She was always up early on Christmas, even though she had just turned sixteen.

And of course, with her getting up early also came with waking us up too.

She bounded into my room, flicking the lights on then hurrying next door to do the same to Charlie.

"Oh Charles..." she heard her coo from the other room, seemingly sweet, but her intentions were anything but. "My darling brother... do you know what day it is!"

I groaned, rubbing my eyes as I pulled the duvet up above my face. From next door, I heard Charlie groan too, followed by Nancy giggling as she bumbled back into my room, skipping over the curtains to pull them open.

"Nancy!" I exclaimed in exasperation from under the duvet. "Stop being a twat!"

"Ay-" she began, but was cut off shortly by my Mum storming into the room. She must've been up a while already since she was dressed.

"Uh, _____, language! Ye don't speak to yer sister like that."

"Well she's the one that's gone and p- annoyed me."

Mum ushered Nancy out of the room, muttering stuff under her breath as I swung my legs over the bed ready to change.

______

11.27am

We opened our presents once we were all up that morning before we headed down to Tim's.

My parents had got me that David Bowie album that had come out this summer: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

They knew I was a huge Bowie fan and that I'd been meaning to get my hands on this record for a while, but my paper round wages weren't really cutting it. I was beyond grateful.

We pulled up outside Tim's house, and the door was flung open as his younger sister, Kimberly, greeted us.

"Kimmy!" Nancy rushed over to her, giving her a hug. They exchanged a few words before Nancy disappeared into the house.

Although Kim was only a few months younger than Charlie and they were in a few of the same classes at school, she got on better with Nancy, which made sense. They were a good match. She was a nice girl, much more mature and well-mannered than Nancy for sure, but her and I never had much in common.

She politely said hello to Charlie, giving him an awkward side embrace before turning to my parents and I.

Tim's mum appeared in the doorway, grinning at us and welcoming us in.

"Come in, come in. It's chilly out there! Wouldn't want ye to catch something!"

______

3.34pm

Dinner was pretty much uneventful. We ate our food as we did every year, then the adults (even though all of us except Nancy and Kim technically were adults now, we didn't count apparently) sat back and had a drink as the rest of us played some games.

Although, me and Tim were allowed a drink or two since we were deemed old enough.

The two of us had grown tired of the constant squabbling as Charlie accused Nancy of cheating, so we headed up to his room. I'd given him his book earlier, and he got me a T.Rex poster for my room.

I was a little tipsy, but it was fine since it was Crimble after all. I think Tim was too as he was spouting incoherent nonsense as we both stumbled up the stairs.