Lonely This Christmas

LONELY THIS CHRISTMAS

By

Krissie LaBaye

Copyright ©2012

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.

Judy sang softly along as the music played, and at the same time straightened the footwear display.

“It’ll be lonely this Christmas, lonely and cold…,” she sang, as she stood back proudly to admire her display of knee length leather boots which now stood to attention like well disciplined soldiers. Turning to the full length wall mirror next to the display unit, she smoothed down her navy blue pencil skirt suit, before flattening her long shoulder length dark brown hair. Moving closer to the mirror, Judy checked that her makeup was in order, and that the grey eye shadow she always wore to complement her large brown eyes was still in place.

Judy was the head supervisor of the clothing and footwear section, situated on the second floor of the largest department store in the region, and she had pride in her work. However big or small the task, it had to be done properly. She had been in the job for almost three years now and loved every minute of it.

“You’ll never be lonely, Judy,” shouted Clive the security guard in his usual jovial tone, “
if you need company, just say the word. I’ll keep you company.”

“Thanks for the offer, Clive, but I’ll be fine,” Judy laughed as she moved to the glittering display of crystal encrusted party shoes.

Clive was a six foot tall, quite stocky, kind-hearted, likeable lad; but that’s exactly what he was; a lad. At twenty two years of age, he was thirty years her junior. Indeed, he was younger than Judy’s own two children, Nicholas and Sophie. Neither of them would be content to work in a department store, they were destined for bigger things. While Sophie, twenty five, was off to University studying fashion and design, Nicholas, twenty seven, was travelling around Europe trying to ‘find himself’. Nicholas had been on virtually every college course you can imagine, and had tried one job after another. However, so far, Nicholas had never stuck to anything in his life.

Regardless, Judy loved her children and was immensely proud of them. She admired their adventurous spirit. And Nicholas reminded her, very much, of someone she used to know a long time ago.

Her mind had been drifting far more than usual. Perhaps it was the time of year that increased her daydreaming episodes. Judy got back to concentrating on perfecting the display. The high-heeled sparkling stilettos were truly amazing, and although platforms were back in fashion, they were not as high as they had been the first time around. Judy had always loved high heels, because standing only 5ft 2inches tall, they offered her the illusion of height when she wore them. Judy loved one particular pair of those glimmering shoes, but it had been a very long time since she had needed such glamorous footwear. She felt her mind drifting again.

Judy remembered the days when she had wined and dined with her late husband Bruce. He had owned a well-respected building company, and was always looking to build up his circle of influential business acquaintances. There was always plenty of opportunity to wear something new and elegant when Bruce was alive. They had both lived life to the full, but tragically that had all come to a sudden end.

“Hi Judy. Full of busy are we?” a familiar voice called from the other side of the shop floor. It was Elaine, Judy’s best friend. They had gone to high school together and always remained in touch since then. Their kids had gone to the same schools, and at least once a month they would meet up for a coffee and a chat.

The sound of Elaine’s voice brought Judy back from her reminiscing, just in time to prevent her from dwelling too much on the tragic event that left her a widow.

“How do you like my hair?” asked Elaine, “not too blonde, is it? I told Stacey not to go too wild, but I need a lot more highlights these days to cover the grey. She says you’re booked in on Friday. Why don’t you go for a change of color, Judy? How about some blonde highlights like me? Come on girl, live dangerously why don’t you? You can always dye it brown again of you don’t like it. I remember when you used to change your hair color at least once a month.”

“I don’t know, maybe I will. Bruce always said that he loved my brown hair, so I guess that’s why I’ve never changed it.”

“I know, honey, but Bruce also said that if anything was ever to happen to him, then you should enjoy the rest of your life. It’s been ten years now, and let’s face it, we’re not getting any younger. You’re a long time dead, honey, so let’s worry a little less and live a little more. OK?”

There was one thing you could always say about Elaine, and that was she never gave up, no matter what. She had often had a hard time at school with the braces on her teeth and her acne problem, but those days were long gone. Now, Elaine is a confident woman with a beautiful smile and an amazing complexion, although at times she appears so hyper you’d think she’d had one too many of her favorite energy drinks.

“Oh, Judy, that song brings back memories doesn’t it? The 1974, school Christmas disco. Remember the outfits we wore? Me, bright blue trousers and yellow blouse, with black platforms I could hardly walk in. What were you wearing, Judy? Can you remember?”

“Yes I do remember.
Bright yellow trousers with a black and gold top. And yes, black platform shoes that I could hardly walk in.”

“Lord, what were we thinking of. We must have looked a right state! Still, we had some laughs, didn’t we? Not a care in the world except for worrying that our blue mascara might smudge with the heat from the disco lights. If I remember correctly, you fell in love that
night, didn’t you?”

The two women laughed childishly as they recalled the night that Judy began going out with her first true love. He was in her class, but it took the Christmas disco, an old Elvis track, a pair bright red trousers, and a royal blue jumper to create the beginnings of a wonderful romance.

“Well, I must dash. I’m looking for something special for Danny for Christmas,” Elaine said as she smiled and rolled her eyes. “I was thinking about some sexy underwear, for me to wear of course, but on second thought, I think he’d prefer ‘The Best Football Games Ever’ DVD Set, that he’s been banging on about.”

Elaine and Danny were like many other couples of their age. Their marriage was like a comfortable sofa, warm and relaxing; but every now and then one of them tried to fluff up the cushions. Danny’s way was to come home from work with a bunch of flowers he’d bought in a gas station that still had the ‘price reduced’ sticker on them. Elaine’s attempts usually involved spending money on a new outfit or some fancy underwear. The problem was she had to get her timing right; i.e., checking the TV schedule for live football games and hoping that they didn’t run to extra time. Try to display her new purchases while the game was on and you could guarantee she’d block his view of the TV just at a critical moment, leading to Danny spending the rest of the evening sulking.

Judy and Elaine said their goodbyes, and as Judy turned around she noticed that the Christmas display was in need of her attention. Some people just couldn’t seem to resist the urge to shake the fake Christmas packages under the fake Christmas tree. Even though a large sign clearly read, ‘Do Not Touch The Display’, there was always someone wondering if the parcel contained a real gift. To the side of the fake Christmas tree stood a small wooden table holding the traditional treat for Santa and his reindeer. The fake sweet mince pies had also been manhandled, and the fake carrots were covered in sticky fingerprints. Rearranging the sweet mince pies neatly for the umpteenth time this week, Judy found herself feeling nostalgic once again. As ‘Blue Christmas’ began playing through the store’s sound system, the pies in particular brought back a memory as clear as if it had happened only yesterday.

She was taken back to the seventies, yet another era of typical teenage rebellion. Before the decade was over the ultimate in teenage rebellion would evolve, namely the punk rock movement. Also in this decade, equal rights for women would have its heyday, most homes would own a color TV set, and the United Kingdom would have its first female prime minister.

But this was 1974, and these things hadn’t happened yet. The biggest excitement in Elaine and Judy’s life was joining the protests to allow girls to wear trousers in school. If the women could have equal rights, then girls shouldn’t be forced to wear skirts, especially in the wintertime. If boys could wear trousers then why couldn’t they?

Ian Thompson, was 5ft 7inches, had jet black hair which rested neatly on his shoulders, and his eyes were a deep chocolaty brown. He was best mates with Kevin Walker who was the class clown. Kevin Walker’s bright blonde hair was styled exactly like Ian’s, but his eyes were hazel colored. They walked alike, talked alike, and dressed alike; and so they were frequently referred to as ‘The terrible twins’.

Almost every classroom prank involved Kevin and Ian. They had been best mates since junior school and they were virtually inseparable. Judy had only just joined the school and had never seen such a mischievous pair before. Whilst everyone else in the class was used to their antics, Judy was amazed that they dared to fool around the way that they did. Her last school was much smaller and behavior like theirs would never have been tolerated. In fact, she couldn’t think of anyone in her previous school who would have dared to give it a try!

With Christmas only around the corner, spirits were running high in the classroom and Kevin Walker was on top form. The history lesson had been underway for half an hour already, and Miss Turnbull was still talking. Miss Turnbull was a thirty year old modern thinking and fashion conscious teacher, although to a fourteen year old, thirty still seemed ancient. With her trendy dress resting daringly above her knees, she stood out against the other more matronly traditional type of teacher. She even had a sense of humor, which was still quite unusual in those days. While many of the newly qualified teachers were happy to move with the times, most of the older teachers still modeled themselves on the ‘Tom Brown’s School Days’ teacher.

So there she was, rambling enthusiastically about the life of James Cook and his superior knowledge of scurvy and its prevention, while most of the class struggled to prevent themselves from dozing off. It was then that Kevin quietly lifted the lid of his desk and slid out his lunch box, which contained a small pork pie and two hard boiled eggs. Miss Turnbull was so engrossed in her lecture that she failed to notice him fumbling around. The first time Kevin gained her attention was when he raised his hand.

“Miss, Miss; Miss Turnbull; what’s this?”

Miss Turnbull looked across the classroom, where Kevin was holding the small pork up to the side of his head.

“I don’t know Kevin, please tell me,” responded Miss Turnbull in a weary tone.

“It’s a ‘pie on ear’. Do you get it Miss … pie on ear … pioneer.”

As a rumble of muffled laughter spread around the classroom, growing louder by the second, Miss Turnbull slowly rose from her seat. Her face reddened and it suddenly clashed with her bright auburn hair. Picking up her text book entitled ‘Greatest Pioneers in History’, she walked silently over to where Kevin Walker was seated.

Do you know what this is, Kevin?” asked Miss Turnbull, as she held the text book up in front of his face.

“Err, no Miss,” he smirked.

“Smack on ear,” she retorted, as she slammed the text book across the side of his head. “Now, get out of my classroom!”

“Oh man, I was only joking. Sorry, Miss,” whined Kevin as he blinked his puppy dog eyes in an effort to make her feel guilty.

The entire class was now rolling around with laughter, and it took a good five minutes to restore order in the classroom. Judy had resorted to biting the end of her tongue in an attempt to stop laughing, but as the tears of laughter ran down her face she recognized the taste of blood in her mouth.

“You’ve made a good job of that display dear. I say you’ve done a great job there. Could you tell me where to find ladies scarves, please?”

Judy suddenly realized that someone was talking to her and she hadn’t heard a word that they were saying. As she turned towards the voice, she saw a slightly built old lady who reminded her very much of her late grandma. With her royal blue heavy woolen winter coat buttoned up to the neck, she exuded a warmth and kindness that was sadly lacking in many people today.

Judy smiled apologetically. “Oh, sorry Madam, I was in a world of my own there.”

“You seemed miles away, but wherever you were you had a big smile on your face. It’s nice to see a happy face for a change. It’s almost Christmas and yet everyone is rushing around, and no one looks the slightest bit happy. Everyone seems so stressed these days. Mind you, when I see the price of things, it’s not surprising. Kids these days don’t know how lucky they are,” said the elderly lady.  

As the silver haired lady waited for a response from Judy, a young woman who was dragging her young son along by the arm glared at both of them with contempt. The harassed young mother with bedraggled hair was clearly irritated by her son, who was dragging his heels and whining on about a toy that he clearly wanted.

Don’t suppose an apple and an orange in the Christmas stocking would go down well these days?” the elderly lady chuckled as she darted her eyes towards the young woman.

“No, I don’t suppose it would,” answered Judy jokingly.

“Speaking of fruit, is it a coincidence that this store always smells of mulled wine, mixed  fruits, and spices at this time of year? Or is it pumped through the ventilation system?”

“You’ve guessed it. The smell is sent through the air conditioning system. It’s supposed to get the customers into the Christmas spirit, but as you’ve probably already noticed, it doesn’t always work,”
smirked Judy.

“I thought as much. Not that I mind of course. That smell always takes me back in time to past Christmases. In an instant, it makes me feel I was right back there. Funny how little things can trigger your memories, isn’t it?”

“It certainly is,” replied Judy knowingly. She knew exactly what the lady meant as she herself had spent much of the morning feeling exactly that way.

“If you’d like to follow me, I’ll show you where you can find the scarves.”

After personally walking the sprightly old lady over to the ladies accessories section and pointing out the wide selection of colorful scarves, Judy spent the rest of the morning attending to the tasks that always presented themselves at this time of year. Lost children, lost property, etc., were all in a day’s work. Soon though it would be time for lunch and Judy couldn’t wait to take the load off of her feet. She loved her job and wouldn’t swap it for the world but she couldn’t help but get tired at this very busy time of year.

As Judy made her way up to the fourth floor and the staff locker room, she looked forward to the end of the day and a long relaxing soak in the tub with her favorite tropical scented bubble bath. Even though it was a long way till the end of her shift, the thoughts of a hot bath whilst nibbling on her favorite chocolates was enough to reenergize her.

After a ‘lunchtime special’ in the staff canteen and a quick flick though a discarded fashion magazine, Judy was just about ready to go back to work. There was just enough time to squeeze in one of those sugared donuts that she could smell cooking. After all it would act as an energy booster and she would surely burn off the calories in the busy afternoon ahead.

Munching into her sugared ‘guilty pleasure’, Judy remembered the time when she didn’t have to watch what she ate. She could ingest any amount of calories without putting on a single pound in weight. All of her friends were jealous, although personally at the time she had wished that she could put on a few pounds. Her legs were thinner than she would have liked, and she had been short changed in the ‘boob’ department too. She had been bullied quite a lot over her matchstick figure, but she didn’t have that problem anymore. All she had to do was take a look at a cream cake in a bakers shop window and she’d gain a few pounds.