For Sale or Swap - Alyssa Brugman [39]
This year Shelby thought she might try it. She waved at the boys to follow her as she marched up the hall. The boys scampered behind her, holding their pots and wooden spoons ready.
Shelby opened the door to her bedroom just a crack and peeked inside. There was a lump in her bed, and one wrinkly foot poking out from under the sheet at the end. As she watched, the lump moved.
Aunt Jenny was probably awake already. Shelby turned to the boys and nodded, but they looked at her, uncertain. Shelby flung open the door and it hit the wall. 'Time to get up, Aunt Jenny!' she yelled, jumping into the room with a flourish. The boys banged their pots together and hopped up and down, but they stayed in the hall.
'Waah?' the old woman said, slurring with sleep and frowning over the top of her sheet. She had some kind of bag covering the rollers in her hair. Shelby wondered if she'd made a mistake bursting in like this, but she continued anyway.
She bounced over to the bed and gave Aunt Jenny a noisy kiss on the cheek. The old woman shrank away from her, and made a confused 'oooh' sound.
'Merry Christmas!' Shelby said, beaming.
Aunt Jenny's eyes were watery and unfocused. Her face looked different – squashed. Her mouth was sunken in and her jaw jutted out. Shelby realised that she didn't have her false teeth in. She wanted to stare because she'd never seen anyone without their teeth before, but she thought it was rude, so she looked the other way.
'Time to open presents, Aunt Jenny. Don't be late!' Shelby kept on smiling and then she leapt up and bounded back out the door, grabbing the boys' arms to whisk them back to the living room. She was worried that one of the boys would ask what was wrong with Aunt Jenny's face, and Shelby didn't want her to be embarrassed.
Phew. She was glad that was over.
A little while later the three adults came into the room – her mother and father sat on the lounge, while Aunt Jenny perched on one of the dining chairs near the door to the kitchen. She had taken the bag off her head, and removed her rollers, but her grey hair was still in tight tufty curls. Shelby was pleased to see that her face had returned to its usual proportions.
The two boys ripped into their presents with gusto. Instead of watching them, as she usually did, Shelby watched her aunt.
Aunt Jenny sat away from the rest of the family with her hands folded in her lap. While her mouth stayed expressionless, her eyes were shining and bright, watching the boys, enjoying their exuberance and delight. Shelby wondered whether she always seemed to have that stern appearance because she kept her mouth closed. It occurred to her for the first time that Aunt Jenny kept her mouth closed because she had false teeth.
Watching her, Shelby thought Christmas would be lonely for Aunt Jenny if she didn't come to see this family. She had no children of her own.
Her mother handed Shelby a stack of presents. 'Um, we bought these before. We rang the saddlery and they said you could exchange them for something else, if you like. It's up to you, honey.'
They'd given her a pair of cream jodhpurs with suede lining on the inside leg, a backpack full of grooming brushes, and a tin of leather polish. Shelby turned them over in her hands.
'Thanks.' Her voice sounded brusque as she tried to keep it steady. She didn't want them to think she was ungrateful. The jodhpurs, in particular, were just what she'd always wanted.
Shelby looked up at her mother, opened her mouth and shut it again. If they had given her swimmers, or CDs, or stuff for school – something unhorsey – then it would seem as if it hadn't happened at all; as though she wasn't allowed to be sad about it. And while she was trying to be strong and brave, and have a good Christmas