Jovial Memories

Chapter 2

            Mandy was awoken in a startled manner, blinking light from her eyes. Her mother stood near the doorway eagerly, and Mandy sat up slowly, rubbing her tired eyes, swollen from tears the night before.

            "Mom, what are you doing?" Mandy groaned. Her clock read 6:00 in the morning, and she desperately wanted to go back to sleep.

            "You agreed to open presents this morning, remember?" her mother reminded her.

            "But this early?" Mandy complained.

            "The new semester is starting up today. You haven't forgotten about school, have you?"

            Mandy groaned, the very thought of school slipping her mind. Her birthday was in the very beginning of January. She was so anxious about her visiting family members that she had forgotten school would follow the next day.

            "Mandy?" her mother asked.

            "I'm coming," Mandy sighed, touching her feet to the cold floor. A warm sweater was wrapped around her body as she walked down the hall. Outside, a fresh layer of snow covered the ground. Secretly, Mandy prayed school would be cancelled.

            Coming towards the living room, the collection of gifts sat on the table, each one a different size with different colored wrapping paper and ribbons. Mandy sat down on the comfy leather couch, her eyes closing almost instantly.

            "Hey!" Her mother snapped her awake.

            Mandy reluctantly reached out for the smallest, a tiny blue box completed with a red bow.

            "Who's this from?" she wondered.

            "Your aunt and uncle and cousin," she explained. "Go on, open it." Her mother had pulled out a small silver camera, prepared to snap a picture as soon as Mandy unveiled the treasure.

            "Mom, no pictures," she groaned.

            Her mother ignored her, the camera flashing as Mandy took off the lid. Inside was merely a $25 iTunes gift card. Listening to music had never been much of a hobby for Mandy, and she placed the present away, planning to toss it into her pile of gift cards she barely looked at.

            "How nice of them," her mother thought.

            "Yeah, but I don't think I'll use it," Mandy muttered.

            Her mother eyed Mandy, opening her mouth as if she were to respond, but then she closed it, pushing towards her a rectangular gift.

            Mandy's fingers did what they had done since she was younger. She ripped at the wrapping paper, reminiscing on birthdays years ago. Life had been so much simpler back then...

            She revealed a lightweight white box. Clothes, she presumed.

            Taking off the lid and placing it to the side, she found a new winter coat inside. Mandy felt the fabric. To be honest, it was a nice coat. Her other orange coat had survived many winters, but there were tears in it, holes, and it wasn't even that warm anymore.

            "How perfect! You should thank your grandparents!" her mother exclaimed. "Why not wear the coat to school today?"

            "I--" Mandy began, but she had no stand in this argument. She only sighed and nodded, taking the coat from the box.