Free Sirius by Jonathan Crown

“cinnamon”.
    Christmas is just outside the door.
    Literally.
    Outside every front door in Hollywood, an illuminated Father Christmas stands there jovially. His red coat and his reindeer sleigh seem particularly unnecessary; after all, it isn’t snowing.
    Rahel is feeling depressed. She misses Berlin. She misses the house. She misses the children. She misses her husband. She misses everything, actually. Often she doesn’t see her husband for days on end. When he sets off in the mornings she’s still asleep, and when he comes back at night she’s already asleep.
    Being lonely is a tiring business.
    She no longer has Sirius as a source of comfort, either. Why would he want to be here, anyway, when it’s much nicer elsewhere?
    Carl probably thinks the same.
    Rahel looks at the photo on her bedside table. What happened to the young woman with the dazzling smile? Who is the man next to her? Was that really Carl?
    It’s only been a year since they left. But to her it feels like a lifetime.
    There are days when she doesn’t speak a single word. When that happens, she can’t stand it anymore and flees from the house.
    Today is one of those days. She sets off and walks. In front of the drugstore, a man is selling Christmas trees.
    “Christmas trees! Christmas trees!” he calls. “They make you happy. Better than any drug.”
    Rahel buys a tree.
    A short while later it is standing in their tiny living room, but it doesn’t make her happy. Nothing is as miserable as the sight of a bare Christmas tree in an empty room.
    Things look very different in John Clark’s house, of course.
    The entire palace is illuminated with fairy lights, and a huge star of Bethlehem gleams on top of the Christmas tree.
    Carpenters have constructed a wooden stall that is clearly meant to represent the nativity scene. A real live donkey stands in front of it. Astoundingly, the life-size figures of Mary and Joseph are actually moving. On closer inspection it becomes clear that they are actors. Extras from “Warner Brothers”, presumably.
    Crown and Sirius are overwhelmed by the spectacle.
    “Shhh,” whispers John Clark, gesturing towards the nativity. “They’re auditioning.”
    “What are those chairs in the hay?” asks Crown. “Are they for the Three Wise Men?”
    Clark shakes his head. “No, for us. We’ll sit there on Christmas Eve, and Bob Hope will read the Nativity Story.”
    Crown thinks to himself how wonderful it would be if John Clark were to add: “Why don’t you come along?”
    But he doesn’t.
    *
    Not another word about Christmas. The festive season is over now, it was bleak, and the Crown family has resolved that everything will be okay.
    The New Year begins cheerfully. Crown receives a bonus for his services as guardian angel, from Jack Warner himself, as well as a pay rise.
    John Clark would say: “Let’s go and have a drink!”
    Carl says: “Rahel, my darling, let’s go and get you some beautiful new clothes!”
    They go to Saks in Beverly Hills, the newly opened branch of Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. The dress they pick out is a design by Elsa Schiaparelli. Narrow-waisted, padded shoulders, knee-length. The latest fashion.
    “You look like Carole Lombard,” gushes Carl.
    The salesman whispers: “I don’t mean to be indiscreet, but Clark Gable was in here recently, newly wed with Carole Lombard.”
    He makes a dramatic pause and fans the air with his hand.
    “She bought the very same dress.”
    Carl suppresses a whoop of joy.
    The new dress needs to be baptised. A Hollywood night follows which couldn’t have been more wonderful even if John Clark had orchestrated it.
    Dinner at Ciro’s. Errol Flynn comes over to their table, nods towards Carl and says: “I know you. Aren’t you the one with the funny dog?”
    Then he bows in front of Rahel. “I do apologise, that was before. As of today I will ask: Aren’t you the one with the beautiful wife?”
    Rahel blushes.
    A short while later he sends a bottle