The Choir He Wanted, The LIfe He Had

Monday, December 25, 1934

Christmas Day! A child's favorite holiday! No surprise, I was no different.

I woke up early on that day. Earlier than normal anyway. I had no idea what time it was, but it was dark, so I assumed it was early. The minute my eyes were opened, I jumped out of bed and ran out of my bedroom. I ran down the hallway and then down the stairs, but I didn't run to the bathroom. Instead, I ran into the living room, where I saw about five or six presents under a small pine tree (for those of you who have never had a real pine tree in your house, they are messy at the end, but they smell amazing and look really good with decorations. Just don't put fire near them. That's a terrible idea. My mother learned that the hard way and my father will never let her forget the incident).

The small number of presents might seem like nothing to you, but to me at that time, it meant everything. It wasn't long after I reached the living room that my parents came downstairs. I picked up one of the presents and ran to them, then asked if I could open it.

"Did you go pee yet?" my mother asked.

"No," I said, suddenly noticing how badly I needed to use the bathroom.

"Go do that, then you can open them," my mother said. "Okay?"

"Okay," I said. I set the present on the ground and ran to the bathroom. I went as quickly as I could after I had finished and washed my hands, I ran to the living room and picked up the present. I started tearing into it as soon as it was in my hands.

Most of the stuff I got was similar to what I had gotten in the years before this, which didn't surprise me but didn't excite me either. I was hoping for one thing in particular, but after I had opened the last gift, I still hadn't gotten what I was hoping for.

"Did you get what you wanted?" my father asked.

"I guess," I replied. I looked around at the miscellaneous toys I had opened and sighed. My father gasped.

"Wait," he said, "I almost forgot." He stood up quickly and as he walked out of the room he said, "I'll be back in just a minute."

My father was gone for more than a minute, but when he came back he was holding two presents in his arms: one big one and one small one. He gave the small one to my mother and gave the big one to me.

I quickly unwrapped the gift, and I gasped as I uncovered the one thing I had wanted for almost a year.

"You got it!" I yelled. The "it" that I was referring to was a songbook with nearly every song I could ever sing and the lyrics to each. It was really expensive, and I never thought that I would actually get it.

I jumped up and ran to my father and hugged him and thanked him, and then I ran to my room and closed the door.

I had been in my room singing for about an hour when the phone rang. I ignored it at first, assuming it probably had nothing to do with me.

When my mother called for me to come downstairs, I was surprised. I ran downstairs, and my mother told me that the call was for me.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah," my mother said. She held the phone out to me and I took it.

"Hello?" I said.

"Jack?" The voice on the other end was that of a child, and although it sounded familiar, I couldn't tell who it was.

"Who is this?" I asked.

"It's me," the voice replied, "Ralph."

"Hi!" I said happily. "Did you want to talk to me?"