CHAPTER 10: A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A NOTORIOUS NEW YEAR
Christmas morning. Jemeanii had somehow left during the night. Athena glanced out her window. No snow, no white Christmas. Not that she expected it to be; it was England. Nothing ever went the way it should.
Clambering out of bed, she got changed into her clothes and wandered off downstairs. She prepared herself for Doris with a sigh. Nearing the kitchen, Athena began to hear the once muffled voices become loud and clear.
“So that’s why Grettle was unhappy with the other two really. Why she even...” Doris cut off “oh hello Athena” she said with about as much interest as she had in bingo. Athena just wrinkled her brow briefly, before taking a seat at the breakfast table. “So rude that child of yours, never grateful...”
Before she started saying anything about Andreas, Athena pretended she hadn’t heard and said:
“Good sleep Doris?”
“It was of satisfactory quality, yes” she replied “what was I saying Hilary?”
“About Grettle and Mildred” Hilary sighed, glancing at Athena with sharp eyes as if to say ‘don’t be mad at her for what she didn’t say about Andreas.’ Auntie Doris always referred to Athena as rude, yet she was the one who blankly answered her questions without so much as a thought to throw it back.
You shouldn’t dread Christmas; it’s meant to be a time for cheer. But how gossiping-insults disrespect and immoral lies were part of a merry Christmas, she would never know. It’s not as if she even had the family part anymore, and she hadn’t for over three years. Silently, she ate her toast, making sure to block out Auntie Doris as she didn’t want another excuse to be unhappy. Athena had never understood what was so good about Christmas anyway. It’s not even the actual day Jesus was born, the presents were always predictable after the third pair of socks and once the meal was over everyone fell asleep. It was just like any other day of the year, if you take out the food and presents.
Soon enough Athena found herself amongst a small pile presents and a stocking. Auntie Doris had about three presents and Hilary had around six or seven. ‘Christmas must be even worse when you’re an adult, you barely get anything’ she thought. Not that she got a lot of presents anyway.
After tearing her way through all the gifts she had: four new pairs of socks, three CD’s, three films, five books, a poster, lots of chocolate, two new t-shirts, a pair of jeans, a hoodie and a hairbrush and a dress (which were from Auntie Doris). Four of the books were from Tom, one of the CD’s was from Leon and two of the films were from Mr and Mrs Noble. Greg had given her the other book along with an abundance of chocolate and everything else was from Hilary. This year was a pretty big haul, especially compared to normal, but Athena had actually paid half of the money for the clothes herself. At least it was better than nothing, it was a lot better than nothing, and even for that alone she was grateful.
Eventually, at 2pm, lunch was served and the three of them were seated around the dining room table. The turkey looked magnificent on their plates and one by one they spooned on an assortment of vegetables, potatoes and of course cranberry sauce. They said grace and then ate; no one said much until around halfway through the meal when Doris piped up, surprise surprise.
“This is a wonderful meal Hilary, love”
“Thank you” she answered
“Truly splendid eh, Athena?”
“What? Oh yeah, great mum, thanks” said Athena awkwardly. She knew she had been caught off guard and regretted her choice of vocabulary instantly.
