three years by brian mumford

"How do you feel about your parents?" I asked.
"Oh they were always wonderful, they were perfect to me."
"In what manner would you say 'perfect'?"
"Why, in every manner. I remember back when I was just a little girl and in the summertime they would take me out to get ice cream at the little shop down on the corner of Oak Street. Daddy would always order a cone for Mommy and himself and then he would order a double scoop for me. I always had to eat the top scoop as quickly as I could to avoid having it fall on the ground when we started back toward home."
"Do you feel that they provided you with everything you needed?"
"Oh yes, very much so."
"Go on."
"We had the most beautiful house. It was all white with ivy crawling up the north side of it, and there was a big iron fence around the yard with little arrow-points at the tops of every other bar. The gate would make a sound like a train coming to a stop when it was cold out. Yes... yes, they provided me with everything I needed, we always had enough to eat, and Mommy made sure that I had lots of nice dresses to wear to school... they gave me everything a little girl could want Dr. Jameson."
"You mentioned a school... What sort of school was it?"
"Oh, it was called 'Saint Mary's School for Girls',"
She said the name with a sort of false flourish,
"It was really just sort of a relaxed Catholic school."
"Relaxed?"
"We didn't have to wear set uniforms, just dresses... as long as they weren't too fancy or too short."
"Did you enjoy your time at the school."
"Oh yes, well enough."
"'Well enough'? Do you mean that there were aspects of it that you did not enjoy?"
"Well there was Sister McCaughy, the Algebra teacher, she was a cranky old bat, but as long as I didn't talk out of turn or try to cheat on a test we got on well enough."
"And did you ever try to cheat on a test?"
"Oh heavens no, I only said that because I remember the day that Rachel Allen got caught trying to look onto Millie Lynford's. I recall that Sister McCaughy took her into the teacher's office for some two hours and when she came out her face was dry, but her eyes were red from crying."
"Do you know what punishment Sister McCaughy gave her?"
"No, not exactly, we all imagined that her parents had been called or that the Head-Mistress had given her a few stripes with a switch."
"And did she ever talk about it to you?"
"No... no, I don't suppose she did."
I could see that she was growing slightly weary of the topic.
"Natalie, I want to talk to you about what happened at Christmas."
"Last Christmas?"
"Yes, the Christmas that fell three months ago."
"Oh it was a beautiful Christmas here wasn't it?"
"Yes, yes I suppose it was."
"Everything just looks so enchanting covered in snow... that's one of the things I love about West Bend, we never had snow back in Brookhaven."
"The snow is rather nice... you like snow?"
"It's really quite a shame too because I can think of so many buildings and parks in Brookhaven that would look so lovely under a blanket of snow."
"Natalie, I want you tell me about Johnson's Gifts."
"So many houses would have looked just so lovely... Oh and the sign over the little shop on the corner of Oak Street would look so lovely with the snow just drifting on top of and in between the letters..."
"Natalie... Johnson's Gifts."
"Yes... yes. Well, I had been driving home from my work... I'd been holding a very nice job at a small department store just a few miles north of my place you know."
"Yes, I know."
"And there was this little shop that I'd driven by every day... never paid too much attention to it... just between Central Town Jeweler's and Marty's Carniceria..."
"Johnson's Gifts?"
"Yes... And for some reason on that day... oh I think it was the twenty-third..."
"It was the twenty-fourth... Christmas Eve."
"Yes well... the twenty-fourth then, for some reason on the twenty-fourth it caught my eye and I pulled into the little parking lot and went into the store."
"Was there anyone else in the store?"
"Just the little bearded man who was working at the cash register... he seemed quite friendly... he asked how I was and if I was doing my last-minute shopping."
"Did you talk to him?"
"I told him I was, even though I wasn't... Goodness, I suppose I told that man an outright lie... that's not very like me at all... I really haven't had anyone to shop for at Christmastime since Mommy and Daddy passed away three years ago, that's a long time I suppose."
"Yes, I suppose it would be."
"So I went for a look through the store. He really had some wonderful things... postcards to send people to let them know just how beautiful Wisconsin is under the snow... things like that."
"Yes?"
"Yes... So as I continued looking through the store I came upon the most remarkable thing..."
"What was it Natalie... what was remarkable?"
"Oh, It wasn't much really, just a bauble... one of those snowy-globes... you know, the kind that have some sort of little scene inside and when you turn them over and give them a shake they begin to snow on the little scene..."
"Yes."
"Well, the particular one that I found looked to me exactly like my old house with Mommy and Daddy in Brookhaven... with the little white house with ivy creeping up the north side and with the black iron fence with arrow-points on every other bar... and then the most wonderful thing happened..."
"What, Natalie... what happened?"
"Well... I slowly turned it and gave it a shake... and... oh it was the most wonderful thing!... It began to snow on the house... On my old house with Mommy and Daddy!... and then I thought of how just down on Oak street it was snowing too!... and the letters in the sign over the little shop were filling up with snow!... and how it was even snowing on 'Saint Mary's School for Girls'!..."
She had begun to cry and her eyes looked at something far off that I could not see.
"What happened then Natalie, after it began to snow?"
"Well, I looked outside of the little shop and I saw that it was snowing... and I thought that it must be the most wonderful day in the world... and I bought the bauble and it sits at the head of my..."
"Natalie, what happened then?"
"Well, I had set the bauble down on the shelf to watch it snow... and this woman walked up and looked at it and remarked something about how it was beautiful and about how someone... I don't remember the name she used... would love it... I don't remember exactly what she said... I was watching it snow... and then she took it off of the shelf."
"And what did you do."
"I grabbed it back from her and took it up to the little bearded man who was working at the cash register and I bought it myself... for Mommy and Daddy... a Christmas Present!..."
"Natalie..."
"Yes?..."
"Tell me what happened."
"Just that... that's exactly what happened."
"Natalie..."
"Yes..."
"You hit the woman..."
"Yes... yes, I suppose I did..."
"With the bauble..."
"Yes..."
"And it broke..."
"Yes... And it broke... And when I saw that it was broken, and the little house fell out onto the ground, I saw that the snow wasn't real, it was just little flakes of white plastic... and the house... the house didn't look at all like my house anymore..."
"And you hit her again..."
"I did?... Yes... I suppose I did... I did... It wasn't really snowing... on... our house... or on the little shop on the corner of Oak Street... or on 'Saint Mary's school for Girls'..."
"You hit her Natalie... again and again... and when the police came... you were cradling that little broken globe in your arms like it was a baby... cooing at it..."
"Three years is a very long time, isn't it, Dr. Jameson?"
"Yes... yes it is, Natalie."
"I should really try to meet someone... someone who I can buy presents for when Christmastime comes."

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