Moments with Michael

Dreams at Christmas- part 1

This one takes place october 24th 1986. Michael is 28 and you are 26. You met two years ago and fell in love immediately. After only a year and a half Michael proposed to you, and three months later you were saying your "I do" in the church. Two months and a week ago, you came back from an amazing honeymoon, and now you're just enjoying your life as man and wife, yet without any children. 

We lay in the bedroom in Neverland, watching a movie. Not a very interesting one, but it was the best we could find. Michael don't seem to pay much attention to it, he's playing with my hair. I just space out, thinking about nothing and everything. Suddenly, Michael takes the remote and turns off the tv. I look questioning at him, and he just shrugs.

"None of us were watching it anyway." He explains with a small smile, which I return. "So, what were you thinking about?" He asks.

"Nothing, actually. Well, I don't know. Nothing specific." I answer.

And then he just give me the not-a-good-enough-answer-look, until I laugh at him and ask:
"What are your dreams?"

"Right here beside me." He answers and kisses my cheek. I turn around to kiss his mouth, and for a moment there's just silence and the feeling of his lips against mine. Then I pull apart from him, and he just smiles.

"Very sweet, Michael." I say with a little giggle. "But I mean it! What do you dream about?"

"Well, tonight I dreamt that a giant tomato fell from outer space and landed in the lake..."

"You know that's not what I meant" I laugh. "What ridiculous things have you always wanted? A giraffe? To bathe in soup? A helicopter with lizards on it?"

"I don't know!" He laughed. "What about you?? What ridiculous things do you want?"

"No! I'm not gonna go first, not this time. You'll just trick me into talking the whole time and forgetting to ask you. Now you tell me!"

He shakes his head, smiling. "Well... when I was younger, I always wanted my own star! But I didn't want to take any of them from the night sky... When I got a little older, I wanted a fun pet. I thought about a lot of different animals - parrots, tigers, and yes, also a giraffe - before I decided that I wanted a chimpanzee. They're so smart and human-like, and I just found it really fascinating."

"That's great!" I say, pleased with his answer. But I don't get to be in peace for much longer.

"Now it's your turn! What do you dream about?" He asks, and realizing that I probably owe him that, I tell him:
"I've always wanted a butterfly-car!"

"A what?"

"A butterfly-car! A car with butterflies on it! Like, a normal, white car, with butterflies all over it! How awesome would that be!"

I realize I may be a little too excited, considering I'm 26 years old, and therefore actually have been an adult for eight years now...

But Michael don't care. He just looks at me and nods like it's a totally normal and rational thing to want.

"Paint it for me" he says softly and closes his eyes.

"Imagine a white car. Not a big, clumsy one, a smart, slim little one, with curves, that makes it almost look round." I begin, closing my eyes as well. "It's white and shiny. And there are butterflies all over it! Butterflies in all the colors of the rainbow, like the ones on my old bedroom-wall!" I continue, referring to an amazing wall in my bedroom in the apartment I lived in, before I met Michael and moved in at Neverland with him. It was covered in butterfly stickers.    

I open my eyes a bit, and see Michael sitting there, smiling like he can see something wonderful, even though his eyes are closed.

"Can you see it?" I ask

"Yeah, it's beautiful!" He answers, opening his eyes again. "It matches you perfectly! Small and cute and colorful"

I just roll my eyes at him, before kissing him on the cheek.

"What about your chimpanzee? Will you tell me about him or her?"

"Well, I've always imagined it as a little baby, that would wear diapers and clothes and have its own room and... all that kind of stuff."

"Michael, now you're just describing an actual baby!" I laugh.

"Yeah, maybe" he replies with a happy smile.

---Two months later---

I sit in the bedroom, busy wrapping up Michaels Christmas present. He's in the living room, I think. No matter what, he's not here. I have banned him from coming in here until I'm done.

I put on the last piece of tape and look at the work of art. I'm not exactly good at wrapping up presents... but it's what's inside it that counts. And that is something very extraordinary, something totally unique. It's a book I have written to him, 107 pages filled with small stories. Stories about animals, about kids, about magic. I have been working on it for more than a month, and a week ago it was finally done. Then I sent it to a printing company, and this morning I got it back. My totally unique book, for Michael alone to enjoy.

I quickly hide it on the top shelf in my closet, behind a stack of T-shirts. Then I walk out of the bedroom, intending to go to the living room to find Michael. But just as I'm about to step inside the room, he yells out at me:

"No! Stop! Don't go in here!"

"What? Why not?" I ask "Is it a spider again?" I add with a sudden concern in my voice.

"No, don't worry" Michael answers laughing. "I'm just... well, it's a secret. But since it's Christmas tomorrow, I assume you have a pretty good guess on what it's about."

"Yeah, probably" I answer "I'll just wait out here then..."

I decide to go to the kitchen and make us some tea, and after ten minutes I'm back outside the living room, carrying a tray with a Thermos with tea, two cups, and some cookies.

"Michael? Can I come in?" I ask.

"One moment!" He answers hurriedly.

I wait. Shortly after I hear a now you can come from the room, and I walk in with the tray. I put it on the coffee table, and sit down on the couch. Michael sits down beside me.

"So, are you ready to decorate the tree?" He asks and gestures towards the pretty little spruce, preparing to become a real-life Christmas tree.

"You bet I am!" I answer. In my family, it was always my parents who decorated the tree when me and my siblings were asleep. That way we got to see it for the first time on Christmas morning. And that was great, really. It is some of my most magical memories - coming downstairs Christmas morning to see the beautifully decorated tree. But no matter how much I loved that, I have still looked forwards to decorating my own Christmas tree, with my own family. I can't wait till we one day will have kids, who can come down and see it in the morning...

Michael gently takes my hand, getting me out of my thoughts. He smiles, and leads me towards the big box with decorations for the tree. I smile back at him, and opens the box.

First, he takes up a silver garland, and we put it around the tree. It's so long, we can twist it around the tree several times, from top to bottom. Then, I take up a smaller box with some pretty, red Christmas balls. There are ten, and so we hang up five each, all over the tree. Then he takes some small, cute angels, and we put them on the tree as well.

After 25 minutes, the box is almost empty, and the tree looks absolutely stunning, and only a tiny bit like it robbed a goldsmith. I then reach into the box and takes up the last thing. The star.

I smile at Michael, and he, as the gentleman he is, gets a chair I can stand on. Then I put the star on the top, and our tree is finally fully decorated, just as it should be. We both stand in silence for a moment, just admiring the beautiful Christmas tree. We then sit down on the couch, to drink some tea.

The rest of the evening goes with cuddling and small talk, and we go to bed early. Michael is so childlike, and I am too. We both can't wait for tomorrow!