Claire

Christmas In August

The morning came and I was more excited than I had ever been. Christmas Eve had nothing compared to the anticipation I felt in these moments. Still, as I packed a bag of essentials, my mind wandered to life in Tarry without me. Would anything change? Sure it would.

Some other kid would have to take the mean boys’ beatings, and there would now be only nine full beds at home. My teachers would have to beg the class to participate. Still, there was nothing major. I held no important role in this town, but I did hold a role in a very special girl’s heart. If no one ever smiled at me again, that would be alright. I shot down the stairs and out of sight before anyone could even tell me good morning. Someone in the world was waiting on me.

The walk from my house to the creek was a blur; my mind spun with thoughts of adventure and companionship. My plan was uncertain, but my dedication was fiery. Today, my feet didn’t drag; I skipped between each step and let a smile rest on my face. I didn’t dream of faraway lands. I didn’t distance myself from my current life. In fact, I relished in the opportunity that I was given. Every child dreams of something unattainable, and at seventeen, I too was dreaming of something impossible. I was dreaming of love from a mermaid, but this dream was almost attainable. I had someone. Even if we grew to nothing more than friends, I still felt a warmth in my heart when I remembered being asked to be her friend.

I slid down the muddy embankment and hit the water a bit quicker than normal. My sneakers got wet, but I made it under the bridge without getting soaked. I yawned and closed my eyes, but was met with quite the surprise when I opened them again. There were two ocean eyes staring at me again, and I suddenly lost the ability to speak.

“What, you never seen a mermaid before?” She joked with a laugh. “Sorry to startle you. How are you feeling today?”

“Oh, I’m feeling great! Really great, it’s great to be back, really.”

“Well, that’s really great, but I was sorta asking about your side,” she said as she placed gentle fingertips in the area I had been hit the day prior.

I laughed, feeling a bit stupid.

“My side is fine!” I assured her. Truthfully, it did hurt a bit, but I knew it would heal quickly. Six brothers and a sister that acted like a brother had taught me a lot about resilience; I was used to getting banged up, as most everyone in town was. It was a fact of life, regardless of your willingness to participate.

Claire looked worried when I met her eyes.

“You know, I can wait to go home. We can go once you feel better.”

I wanted so badly to agree. I wanted to tell her that we could wait, because then I would have more time with my new friend. But that was the most selfish thing I could do. A beautiful soul like this deserved to be among those who loved her, not partnered with some greasy Florida teen.

“You’ve got people waiting on you, I don’t want to take you away from all that.”

She laughed, as if she couldn’t believe the words I spoke.

“A day or two wouldn’t hurt anything. We can spend them getting to know each other! We’re going to be seeing a lot of one another, we should get used to it.”

This time, I laughed, but out of joy rather than disbelief. “That sounds like a good idea.”

“I’ve never met someone like you, Ben.”

“No?”

“No, I don’t think so. You laugh more than everyone else I know. It’s refreshing.”

She was refreshing, too, but I didn’t know how to get the words out to tell her. I let my laughter talk, and I let it preach for the next seven hours. Never in my life had I been more grateful for a Saturday. I learned a lot about Claire throughout the day. She told me stories of large underwater palaces, and I returned the tales with pictures of abandoned shacks in the middle of nowhere. My phone fascinated her. She dried her hands and experimented with different apps; she left me four selfies and we made our way through about twenty levels of my favorite riddle app. Out of nowhere, her smile would stretch across her face and she would glance in my direction. I was nervous, but interested in why.

Her attention shifted during a particularly tricky puzzle. We sat, staring at the screen, in utter silence. Neither of us said a word, but there was a chatter behind us. She was startled and glanced over. When her gaze landed on the offender, she was at a loss for words; she took a sharp inhale and held her breath, looking between me and whatever was behind me. It was time - I was certain an alligator had come for me. I clenched my fists and turned behind me. When I saw what had frightened her, I was shocked. I laughed so hard I snorted. I felt tears forming in my eyes, but over my roaring noise, I heard Claire’s small voice.

“What’s so funny?”

“That’s- that’s a- it’s just a turkey!” I replied between fits of laughter, unable to prevent the warmth I felt in my chest from escaping into a laugh. My belly hurt, as did my sides, but it was uncontrollable. I felt unstoppable joy, though I soon found motivation to stop laughing when I saw a pout across her face.

“Oh, God, I’m sorry. That’s a turkey, they’re not dangerous at all, I promise.”

“Why’d you laugh at me?”

“Laugh at you? No, no, I didn’t mean to laugh at you! I’m sorry, turkeys are just some of the silliest looking birds ever, it was surprising to see someone frightened of them. It’s weird, ‘cause we were raised really differently, right? So you haven’t ever seen a turkey and I guess I just never thought anyone could have not seen a turkey, and it was surprising! That’s all, it doesn’t mean you’re stupid or anything, it’s just surprising for me.”

She nodded in understanding, but still looked a bit sad. I sighed and mentally kicked myself.

“Alright, how can I make this up to you?”

“Make it up to me?”

“Yeah, make it up to you. I was rude and it hurt your feelings. Now I want to do something to cheer you up, even if it only helps a little. Is that okay?”

Suddenly, she smiled softly.

“Uh, yeah, that’s okay. So can I ask anything?”

“Anything!”

“Will you tell me stories about those turkeys?”

Now, I smiled again and nodded. In all my daydreaming, I had never imagined a sweet girl asking me to tell her about turkeys. Claire made my life more different than I had ever imagined it could be. Just knowing of her existence gave me a new perspective on life, and in all her small acts of kindness, I was given the chance to experience emotions I’d only dreamed of. Unfortunately, I knew little about turkeys, so I used my phone to gather fun facts.

“You see that part right there?” I pointed to the gizzard of a turkey on my phone.

“It’s really ugly,” she nodded, “but sort of cool.”

I smiled and delivered my fun fact: “Turkeys store tiny stones in there to aid in digestion.”

“What?”

For upwards of an hour, Claire and I talked about the crazy world we live in. Though we lived miles apart at vastly different elevations, we shared a strong curiosity for exploring the worlds in which we lived. When I told her about how turkeys’ heads change color, she gasped and began talking about koi fish and carp. She spoke at length about them, and then moved to talk about her time spent among other fish.

“At home, they all tell me I’m gifted!”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! I get along with the fish and marine life really well.” She smiled a distant smile as she spoke. “It was sort of like I understood them. That’s one thing I miss about the ocean; the freshwater fish aren’t so interested in me. I smell too salty.”

Now that she mentioned, she did smell salty. Her hair was imbued with the smell of salt and something else that I could only label as smelling like it came from faraway. I imagined her hair was what the ocean smelled of, and when I took a deep breath, I could almost see the powerful waves and seagulls flying overhead. I smiled and returned my focus to her.

“You’ll get to see them again, I’m sure. We’re going to get you there!”

She nodded, and we returned to our chatter about fish. When I began to talk about my childhood dreams of having pet fish, she perked up; having pets was difficult when living in an ocean, and she was fascinated at the idea of it. I showed her pictures of cats and her eyes lit up. When I showed her a dog, she cooed and told me about a fish with a dog face. It was a pufferfish, and she reveled in the idea of being able to hug something with a dog face. I went down the list of animals I knew: rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, snakes, lizards, and birds. A barrage of questions followed each new picture. I knew the answers to many of her questions, but I still consulted the internet for some questions. We learned that rabbits can jump three feet. She was shocked.

“Just wait until you hear about kangaroos!”

She didn’t believe me when I read off the lengths that kangaroos can jump, so I pulled up a video on my phone. There was a look of shock across her face throughout the entire three minutes. I couldn’t help but smile.

“How do they do that?” She exclaimed.

It occurred to me, then, that videography was a new concept to Claire. I realized that there was a lot to teach her about life on land; more than I could likely teach her in the time it would take to return to the ocean. The next hours of conversation were technologically driven. We laughed often, about things as simple as the way the word shrub sounds. Rarely were our jokes especially funny, but one might think there was a comedy show at the bayou if they walked near the tree line. There was no reason for our amusement, other than the enjoyment of each other’s presence. That was completely alright by me.

When I went to leave for that night, I was startled to have my hand tugged on. There were frogs croaking and the air smelled wet. When I paused, the coldness of the evening enveloped me. It seemed to have effected Claire too. I knelt down again and asked what was wrong.

“It’s a bit frightening out here, Bennett. Nothing will come and get me, right?” Her voice carried a tone of worry. She didn’t sound particularly scared, but rather, there was a weight of concern. I shook my head.

“As scary as it is, it’s actually pretty safe.” I reassured her, but was struck now with new imagery. While in the past my daydreams had consisted of myself being the victim of an animal attack, I now experienced unnerving ideas of this delicate girl being hurt out here.

“Alright, I’ll take your word on it. Thank you.” She graced me with her grin again and I felt an overwhelming sense of worry take over. I gathered her into my arms and gave her a hug.

“If anything or anyone comes towards you and might hurt you, do you know what to do?”

“Hide?”

“That’s a good first move, but what if they’re persistent?”

She took a moment before coming up with her response. “Swim away?”

I shook my head. “Gouge their eyes out.”

At first, she was shocked by my proclamation, but I provided a strong reasoning as to why this was important. I explained that humans are mean sometimes - she had seen that with the boys from yesterday - and that she must protect herself at all costs. She said she felt bad hurting other people, but I reminded her that anyone who meant her harm was an unkind person. This seemed to resonate with her the most, because she nodded and folded her hands together. I felt an urgency to bring her into my care.

“I hope you have a good night, Bennett.”

“You’ve already made my night good.” I smiled, “You’ve been the highlight of my day.”

She moved her hands to her face and giggled; I marveled at the way her pink cheeks perfectly matched her lips. Her fingers framed her chin and her smile radiated an indescribable feeling of compassion. I found myself again surprised to find her eyes already looking into mine. There was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes when she spoke.

“You get so red when you blush, I worried you were overheating the first time I saw it.”

I hadn’t even realized I was blushing. Her statement brought to my attention how hot my ears were and how strong the tingle in my cheeks was. I laughed and rocked back on my heels. “Well, I’m okay. I’m just happy.”

She smiled. “I’m happy too.”