A Baker's Dozen of Christmas What-Ifs

The Perfect Gift

The Twelve Prompts of Christmas - Prompt #3

Sometimes the perfect Christmas gift comes as a total surprise. It arrives suddenly, without wrapping paper or ribbon, and it is given to you by a complete stranger.

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Harvard Square at rush hour, the last school day before Christmas. In the late 60's, all the bus connections west of Boston were funneled through Cambridge. My bus home from ballet rehearsals departed from an underground terminal right under the square.

It was a crisp December evening, midway through my junior year. I was surrounded by businessmen, students, and shoppers, all just trying to get home. Shouldering my ballet bag, overstuffed with school books, I raced from the Red Line train to the number 86 bus pick up spot. Despite the creeping chill, the air was pungent with the smells of bus exhaust, and leftover midnight urinations.

I was wearing a pale yellow shift over my pink tights, my hair still clipped up in a bun. I had misjudged the weather—again—and was shivering a little under my Fall jacket. My knees felt the cold the most.

I knew all the tricks of positioning myself so I could get on early and grab a good seat towards the front. Then the wait, shifting from foot to foot so my already tired legs could catch a tiny break.

There was a tap on my shoulder. I looked behind me, and couldn't connect what I saw with any reality I knew. A handsome young man in a fresh navy business suit, with warm brown eyes, only a few years older than me, if I had to guess, was standing there, holding out a single red long-stemmed rose. I looked at the rose, and back at his eyes, still uncomprehending.

"For the prettiest girl on the bus." He said. I took the flower.

Then he turned and rushed away, into the terminal.

I stood, blushing as I sniffed the remarkably fragrant rose. Suddenly I felt very warm. Around me people were smiling with kind, happy eyes. This was a story they could tell at home.

I never saw him again. If I was made of sterner stuff, if I had been unafraid of stepping into the unknown, I might have chased him down. But I was sixteen. I was shy. I was in the big city, far from anyone I knew.

He made my day. It was the best Christmas present a girl could ever hope for. I will not forget him. And I will always wonder.

THE END ... ?