Adeline

Chapter 10 - Boom

It was just under a week before Christmas, the 19th, a Friday, and Arthur had just arrived home from work. He had worked late, trying to finish all of his work before the holidays. He went on break from Christmas in only four days and he had almost finished everything that he had needed to do on his list. He threw his briefcase down on the floor beside the door and took his coat off lazily. All he wanted to do was sit down and have some tea before he had to leave again for dinner out with Heather. His Christmas tree was already up and in the corner of the room with unlit candles sitting amongst the strong smelling pine needles, and china ornaments hanging from the outward-sticking branches. He never used to have a tree when he was younger, but it was something that his friends persuaded him to do – and his sister.

He sat down, sighing loudly, the seat side lamp beside him already turned on. Pat poked her head from the kitchen door and, not having realised that Arthur was already home, hurried over to him with a warm cup of tea.

"Good heavens, Pat!" Arthur said, looking up at the pale girl standing before him in her grey dress, "What are you still doing here? It's so late!"

"I wanted to make sure that you were seen to and feed when you got back, sir." She said quietly.

"I think I'm going out for dinner tonight, Pat." Arthur said, picking up his tea.

"Oh."

"Did you already cook something?" He asked.

"Well... you don't normally go out for dinner on Fridays... I thought..." She began looking desperately around the room to avoid his gaze, her white fingers twisting around themselves in front of her.

"Don't worry." Arthur smiled, standing and resting a hand on her shoulder, "You have it. Take it home to you and your sister."

Pat fumbled her words in frantic refusal for a moment before Arthur shushed her, "If I'm not going to eat it, why should it go to waste?" He laughed, "Don't be silly, love."

"A-Alright." Pat said, calming herself and collecting her things to leave, "I'll leave you to it, then? You'll be okay?" She said as she put the meal into a box and dropped it into her bag.

"I'll be fine." Arthur laughed, "I'm a grown adult."

Pat smiled at him before slipping on her coat and disappearing from the door. Arthur stood in the living room for a moment before coming to his senses and placing his tea cup down on the coffee table and marching into his bedroom to go and change for dinner. He had planned to go a little bit early, before 8 pm, so that he could drop by the shops in Oxford street and find some Christmas gifts for his friends and family – which, with his unorganized nature – he still hadn't gotten around to yet.

After changing into a white bow tie suit with a long black dress coat and his most shining pair of shoes, he plopped on his hat and coat and went out the door to head into town. It was already night, and snow fell heavily in the street, sprinkling down onto the roads and melting into sludge by the gutters. He strode down the street in one of his best suits and kept his head down to avoid the cold snowflakes from landing on his nose. Arthur sniffed in the cold and his nose turned pink along with it, and he could feel his warm breath disappearing into the icy wet air. People passed him on the street, some huddled away from the cold as they headed home from work – women coddled in their shawls and men holding their coat collars up around their cheeks, it certainly was a cold evening. Others who were heading into town for a night out passed too with a different attitude, their face beaming and happy as they enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere. Gentlemen walked hand in hand with their ladies, brand new scarves around their necks and black velvet top hats atop their heads. Tonight would be a good night for Christmas partying before London's peoples returned to the warmth of their houses to spend the holidays with their families. Jolly music played from every pub, restaurant and shop window that he passed, and golden light streaming out upon the snow. The sludge crunched underneath Arthur's feet and cars chugged by beside the pavement, their drivers smiling and happy from the good atmosphere of the town. The best thing about Christmas was that the shops and services kept open especially late for night-time shopping. Heather raved about it whenever he and her went out together, and she always managed to go into a shop and find at least 5 things that he could buy for her.