Making Spirits Bright

“Coming up, an end to the bribery trial of a U.S. Senator. A Hollywood actress claims she has pictures of her husband with other women. And the blizzard of the century is shutting down airports throughout New England. It's twelve noon, Christmas Day. Those stories and more when we come back”

His name was James Lesser. He lived alone in a second floor apartment. He was stretched out on the couch listening to the TV. His head ached. He had stayed up late last night, watching TV, and since it was Christmas Eve, he had decided to finish up the last of the eggnog. Of course, everyone knew eggnog was nothing without the rum. And since he lived alone, there was no one around to tell him to go easy with the stuff. That's what probably did him in, he figured. Come on, he knew it was. The empty rum bottle was sitting right there on the coffee table. It was almost full last night.

He sat up and slipped his feet into his shoes. At least he had sense last night to take off his shoes. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. What was the guy on the TV saying? Bribery trial, snow storms, something about a Hollywood divorce? It 's the same news everyday, he thought. All the sad things going on in this world. That's all the news was anymore. He wanted to lay back down and closing his eyes. Go back to sleep. On any other day, that's exactly what he would do.

He got up and looked out the window. The sun was out, but it didn't look all that warm. He thought if he took a walk, went outside, he would feel better. If he took a walk it might help cleared up his head. He looked back a the TV. The sports guys was talking now about a football game on later, and a basketball game, but neither of these games interested him. He was getting tired of sports. It was all the same to him. It didn't really matter much. There was no one around to watch with him anyway. No one around even on Christmas Day.

He tied his shoes, and went into the kitchen and looked in the refrigerator. He drank some milk from the carton, and again there was nobody to tell him to get a glass. He waited for a minute, but the milk didn't stop the upset feeling from the eggnog. A hot cup of coffee, now that's what he needed, he thought. That was a good plan. Take a walk and get some coffee. Maybe there would be others walkers along the way. It was noon so people will have finished opening presents.

Holding his jacket, he took one last look at the TV before he clicked it off. The TV the anchor was smiling? That was no surprising. He watched plenty of TV. The man looked like he was smiling while he reported on the storm. It didn't seem to matter to him what kind of news he was reporting. It was just a job for him. James Lesser sighed, but what can you do, he thought.

Throwing on his jacket, he walked outside, and stood at the top of the stairs. A car drove up and parked on the street below. A girl in the back seat looked out and stared at him, and then went back to to playing with some small game she held in hr hands. She worked it with her thumbs. Young kids are so fast with those things, he thought. A boy sitting next to her pushed her and tried to take the game away from her. They struggled for a second but he jerked it from her hand. The girl began to cry. Not wanting to watch any further or listen to the man in the front seat scold the both for the fight, he slowly moved down the stairs, and began his walk along the sidewalk.

At the corner he turned right. Up ahead the sidewalk narrowed. A small restaurant had three tables blocking part of the sidewalk. There was room for only one person to walk past at a time. He looked beyond the tables and saw a jogger coming toward him. She was a young lady, with a pony tail, in a jogging suit. She looked strong, thought James. No bouncing, her arms pumped smoothly, and she was looking right at him.He watched her approach. She had her eyes on him. The narrow space on the sidewalk was between them.

During past walks, when others had past him, most just pushed past. Head down, they just walked by. If they were two abreast, blocking most of he sidewalk, they would almost bump into him. And bike riders were the worst. They just rode right past, as if they owned the sidewalk. It was like nobody cared about anybody anymore.

And now the lady was there. Their eyes met. He didn't want a knock into her, so he slowed down and bowed to let her pass, but when she also hesitated slightly, he knew she understood, so he stepped off the sidewalk and into the street. She watched him, and as she passed, she waved her hand. Then there was a flash of a smile, and when their eyes met he saw this sparkle. It was like a little star. Then she was gone, jogging past, up along the sidewalk.

James Lesser smiled for the first time all day. She had said thanks to him. No one had said thanks for him like that in quite some time. They were together for a single instant. And he wanted it to last more than a split second, but she was gone. It sure wasn't like those TV people.

“Thanks for watching, see you tomorrow.” Along with a toothy grin.

No, her smile was different. Wow, he thought. It was like his entire body had been washed over. It was like he had changed, somehow. He was a new person. “Well, that was really nice,” said James Lesser. He looked back but she was gone.

He turned and walked down toward the corner to the 24 hour coffee shop. As he stood waiting for the traffic light to change, a fast moving delivery truck came close to him as it turned right around the corner. He jumped back to get out of its way. Any other day he would have yelled something, and told him how bad a driver he was. But he didn't. He didn't feel like yelling at anyone now. He watched the truck speed down the street. Having to make deliveries on Christmas Day would make anyone drive fast. Just be careful, he thought.

The light changed to green and he walked across the street and into the coffee shop. There were people inside sitting with their laptops. They looked up as he pushed through the glass doors. One sat up, and stretched his arms. One sat back in his chair and looked at him. Another pull a chair in so he could get by. Maybe it was his happy look that made everybody take notice. He wasn't sure, but walking in had somehow put a stir in the air. It was never that way in the past. Like the walkers, these people usually kept their heads down, either looking down into their coffee, or staring at their computer screens. Today, it was different. They had all of a sudden come to life.

James Lesser sipped his coffee. It was a good plan to take a walk and get coffee. A very good plan, he thought. As he walked home along the sidewalk, his steps felt lighter to him. Matter of fact, his whole body felt lighter. No more dull eggnog feeling. A lightness. That that's it was, a lightness. All because of that jogging lady. She had given him the best present, he thought.

As he got to the top of his stairs back at his apartment, he looked down and saw the the little girl again. She was standing on the grass in front . She was holding a new doll in her arms. She looked up and when she saw him, she held it out to show him.

“Isn't that wonderful,” he said.

The girl hugged the doll, and then ran toward the boy who was waiting for her at the car.

James Lesser opened the door, and went back into his apartment. He thought about calling his son. He sipped his coffee. And why not, he thought. It was Christmas Day.