Free Remembering Christmas by Dan Walsh Page B

catalog?”
    “Almost,” she said. “There’s just a few more things Annabelle might want for Christmas.” She had the Penney’s catalog opened up on the coffee table. The toy section was all cut up. “Like Baby Softina.” She pointed at a doll then turned the page. “And Holly Hobbie, the little one here that looks like a baby.” She turned a few more pages. “This Easy-Bake Oven.” She flipped several pages. “And this Miss Piggy doll. I think when I cut these out I’ll be all done with my catalog.”
    “Can I see it a minute?” he asked.
    “Sure.” She handed Rick the Penney’s catalog.
    He flipped it forward a few pages. “The Empire Strikes Back,” he said. “Did you see this? Look at these action figures, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Han Solo . . . look at this Millennium Falcon . It’s just like the one in the movie. I would have loved that as a kid. How come you didn’t cut these out?” Of course he was kidding.
    “Because Annabelle doesn’t want things like that. They’re for boys.”
    He handed the catalog back to her. “Can I see that?” He pointed to her handmade one. She gave it to him. “So Annabelle wants everything in here?”
    “Well, she may want all of it, but she won’t get all of it.”
    “Why not?”
    “That’s not how it works, silly. You ask for some stuff, but you don’t get most of what you ask for. Maybe one or two things . . . and never the thing you want most.”
    “What does Annabelle want most this year?”
    “Can I see it?” she asked. Rick gave it back. She turned to the first page. “Barbie’s Dream House,” she said, “with all the furniture.” Her face lit up as she pointed to the cutout picture. She closed her eyes a moment, then sighed. She pointed to the second page. “And the Barbie Super Vette here.”
    He noticed that none of the toy pictures in her catalog had prices; she’d cut around them. “So . . . why does Annabelle want a catalog with so many things in it if she knows she’s only going to get one or two presents?”
    “Because . . . it’s lots of fun to look, and girls love to look at stuff.”
    Rick laughed. “But if this is kind of a make-believe catalog, why can’t Annabelle ask for the thing she wants the most?”
    Amy shook her head. “Because what you want the most is always too expensive.”
    Rick realized . . . they really weren’t talking about Annabelle anymore.

16
     
    “Thanks for checking in, Rick. But there haven’t been any changes with Art. Of course, they tell me that’s a good thing. The whole idea is to keep him calm, get him ready for surgery.” Leanne looked at the waiting room clock. It was a few minutes after 7:00 p.m. From the other end of the phone, Rick filled her in on what he’d done in the office. He’d finally figured out how to order everything on Andrea’s list, but he was just getting out of the store now, two hours after it closed.
    “Wish I could help you, Rick, but I don’t know what Art does back there. I’m so sorry you have to use vacation time like this.”
    “It’s all right, Mom. They say when they’re moving him to Shands?”
    “I’m not sure. Maybe in a day, maybe two.”
    “And after that . . . what?”
    “I guess the surgery. I don’t know if they’ll do it right away or wait and see how he does once he gets there.” Leanne could almost feel the next question coming and hoped he didn’t ask. Something about how long it would take for Art to recover after the surgery. Rick had probably figured out it would stretch into next week, if not longer. He’d be wondering how much longer he’d have to stay and help. If he asked, she didn’t know what to say. Dr. Halper didn’t even know where things were going yet. She couldn’t think about next week. It was all she could do to get through each day.
    “So,” Rick said after a pause, “guess I better let you go. Oh . . . hope you don’t mind, but we had to turn the heat on at the end of the