The CBB :: View topic - To Mia from Secret Santa

#1: To Mia from Secret Santa Author: CBB Secret Santa,

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:17 am

Joey, Part I – For Mia

[This ‘drabble’ does not take facts into account at all. Neither is it particularly Christmassy. Forgive me! But it’s my first, and a gift for you! My apologies if I make Joey sound as if she’s going quite mad]

Mia, I don’t really do drabbles – or haven’t done - but last night while I was sipping my chocolate, sitting companionably in bed with Mrs Claus, I thought, it’s time to break free. I’d spent the whole day supervising those pesky elves, and I just needed to get away. And what better place to get away to, than Freudesheim. This is what I saw:

With a contented, inward smile, Joey Maynard tucked the last Christmas gift, an articulated wooden doll, smaller than the palm of her hand, into little Cecil’s Christmas stocking. Her second youngest daughter, and ninth child (this was not counting her wards or little adopted daughter, Claire), would be delighted with the pretty, naïve little puppet, a little girl doll dressed by her second eldest daughter Con (as Cecil had declared recently that the doll house family was falling behind her own in numbers), the latest addition to one of the family’s grand dolls’.

She glanced at the clock on the mantle and sighed. The evening had been almost perfect – they had had a delightful supper and played all sorts of games, and sung carols in many languages; oh, it would indeed have been perfect had her husband not been called once again to the great Sanatorium at the other end of the shelf. She knew he must go – in fact she had been expecting it all evening, waiting for the call almost – but it was Christmas Eve, and she couldn’t help feeling a little lonely for her partner now that the rest of her long family were in bed.

Shivering slightly, she pulled her dressing gown tighter around her, wishing it were rather less elegant and a more practical and robust. She could do with a good old flannelette gown to her toes, she thought, and giggled girlishly at the thought of herself, the ever-young Joey Maynard, bolstered up like an old granny. The years fell from her with her laugh, to leave a bright-eyed girl with a pallid, interesting face and a jaunty, candid grin. She tossed her plaits over her shoulders and they danced down the length of her back to her thighs as she made her way to her own study, her private place and haven where her thoughts could run free and she could write the books which gave her so much pleasure to write and, thankfully, gave others much pleasure to read.

She switched on the light and caught up the heavy shawl she had draped over the back of her chair at the end of her working day, swinging it around her shoulders and nearly knocking the photograph of her dear husband flying. She steadied it hastily and grimaced at herself, hearing the reactions of the others in her head; the half–laughing, patronising scoldings of her sister, her brother-in-law, her husband, Matey, her daughters these days even – Joey Maynard! You are no better than a child! Will you never grow up? – Well. She made a face at them, too. She was too old for scoldings, even imaginary ones. She laughed silently at herself again and then stopped herself, her hand to her mouth, listening, eyes glancing. If Jack walked in at this minute he would think she had gone quite mad and she probably wouldn’t be able to defend herself. Silence. Just the sound – and she did not count this as noise, it was a palpable thing, a feeling - of the house breathing, all her children breathing – the sound of a home asleep and contented with all things right.

She folded her shawl about her chest and, burrowing her nose momentarily in its warmth and familiarity, she snuggled into the comfy chintz armchair she kept in the corner of the room for reading or moments of quiet thought, when the words ceased to flow. It was almost two o’clock now. Her eyes were heavy but her mind was alert. She new that if she were to go to bed now she would only lie there, eyes wide to the dark, her brain ticking over and trying to catalogue the events of the day. She equally knew that if Jack were home right now he would take one look at her wan face and great eyes and it would be “Off to bed with you, my girl!” a draught in hand to ward off the myriad nameless illnesses that might ensnare her should she pass a sleepless night. He would have Anna up and bustling about, heating milk and cluck-clucking like the great motherly – oh, so capable - motherly hen that she was, rendering her ineffectual.

HO HO HO - Part Two soon! Love Secret Santa x

#2: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent, England

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:26 am

Thanks, Secret Santa. Mia is so lucky! I really enjoyed reading Joey's thoughts.

#3: Author: Eilidh, Location: Macclesfield

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:27 am

I don't think Joey sounds like she's going mad. Thanks Santa. Mia is very lucky.

#4: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:40 am

Thank you Santa. Hope you write lots more drabbles after this! Joey doesn't sound any madder than usual...

#5: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:44 am

Thank you Santa, that was wonderful! I'm honoured that it's your first drabble and it's all for me! *squees*

Looking forward to part two! Very Happy

#6: Author: MaryR, Location: Sale Cheshire

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:52 am

That was a splendid, gentle, loving evocation of what so many mothers must feel on Christmas Eve.

Lucky Mia.

#7: Author: Cath V-P, Location: Newcastle NSW

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:43 am

Oh it's lovely! Very Happy

That awareness of mingled joy and responsibility, coupled with the sense of wonder that it is yourself there, doing these things...

#8: Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!!

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 8:11 pm

Lovely, Santa!
And more parts to come, lucky Mia!

#9: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:03 pm

That was lovely - looking forward to more - and if that was your first 'Santa' I hope you intend to keep writing.

#10: Author: flitterwit, Location: london

Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:07 am

That was soooo sweet! the drabble was very evocative. excellent, lovely.

#11: Joey's Christmas Eve - Part 2 For Mia Author: CBB Secret Santa,

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 12:16 am

But Jack was not home, and she had been very quiet. Not even Anna was likely to wake. She sat a while longer, hearing the tick-tock of the quaint cuckoo clock on the wall, a gift from the triplets some years ago now, when they were still really children.

A sudden urge made her sit up quickly and rootle in one of the small side drawers of her old escritoire. She didn't use it now to write, preferring the breadth of her desk, but its many compartments made it ideal for storing paper and pens and ink and other odds and ends, and from a tangle of string she drew out an old carton of cigarettes and some matches. She settled back with a sigh and lit one, and watched the ribbons of smoke curl and uncurl. She propped one foot on an old beadwork footstool, faded and fraying at the edges and bare of many beads - a much-loved piece of furniture the cushion of which had been fashioned by her own mother as a girl. She was not usually sentimental - and besides, she had no memories of her real mother, Madge having provided all the motherly love and nurturing she needed and wanted as a child - but the thought of such toil by a girl who had, so Madge said, with her eyes merry but no little sadness to her smile, the same fondness for sewing and such art as had Joey, made Joey somehow cling to this worried-looking object. Madge might be the image of their mother in beauty, but there was something of the lovely young woman too in the family afterthought, the clever pale little oddity that was Joey Bettany.

Or Joey Maynard. Joey rose to open the window and paused there awhile, smoking her cigarette and flicking her ash out into the chill air, considering her reflection. The more she looked, the more surprised she grew, and she blinked at the white face staring there, with its mouth slightly open and its dark eyebrows arched.

[More tomorrow, Mia. Santa must climb into bed now, having passed the best part of the day with his partner's family and so feeling rather spent. HO HO HO. Yawn...]

Last edited by CBB Secret Santa on Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:07 pm; edited 1 time in total

#12: Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 1:10 am

Lovely drabble Santa, it brings out the thoughtfulness and inner memories that Christmas can cause.

#13: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 5:05 pm

This is wonderful, Santa, thank you! I love it Very Happy

#14: Author: Róisín, Location: Gaillimh, Eire

Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 2:39 pm

Hi Santa you promised more! Don't leave us down on Christmas Eve Very Happy

The language of this drabble is so beautiful - write more please!

#15: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:10 pm

Please could I have some more, Santa? I've been good! Very Happy

#16: Author: CatherineS, Location: Smalltown, West of Scotland

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 11:38 am

Hello, it was Me, and I'm sorry sorry sorry! I will try and finish it - for next year, maybe? It's all a bit out of date now... But thanks for your comments, too. And I'm sure you were very good, Mia. I blame the in-laws and their various niggles with each other which pretty much hijacked my festive season.

So, my apologies. Will do better next time.

CatherineS

#17: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 11:49 am

Thanks Catherine, I thought this was wonderful!

The CBB -> St Clare's House

output generated using printer-friendly topic mod, All times are GMT

Page 1 of 1