It's the Ninth Day of Christmas, so I figured it wasn't too late for this holiday freebie story. It involves the very first tale I ever wrote when I was eleven years old, involving a teddy bear.
I was transforming and updating that first story into a Work In Progress called 'Wind Me Up, One More Time'. Ted Edward (the bear) became Theodora. The simple plot of Ted and Grace saving Princess Nathalie from the villain, Iama the Terrible became one of the many imaginary adventures Grace made up to cope with Nathalie's frequent absences away. While Nat is gone, Maia (Iama), Nathalie's girlfriend looks after.
Nat was always the cool one whom Grace looked up to, but Maia is the one who's actually there for here, while Nat disappears to who knows where. I found myself sympathizing more and more with 'Iama the Terrible' while I wrote.
The result is this story from Maia's perspective...
Her first inclination was to swing her fist at the intruder in the Santa suit, stuffing the wooden shoe with candy.
“What are you doing?” Maia held Grace’s other shoe aloft, more than ready to hurl it into Santa Stalker’s face.
“Well, I missed St. Nicholas’s Day and Christmas.” A melodic voice, which never ceased to make Maia’s chest tighten issued from behind the beard. “Hopefully this will make up for it.”
“Nathalie?” Maia looked into familar hazel eyes, which crinkled up in amusement.
“Nathalie!”
Maia had no time to react to the echo of her former beloved’s name before a tiny whirlwind of coppery curls and flannel nightgown hurled herself at the intruder.
“You came back!” Grace hugged Nathalie with all the fierceness Maia longed to express. “I knew you would!”
Santa Nathalie opened her arms and hugged Grace back.
Suppressing a sigh, Maia picked Ted Edwina up from where Grace had dropped her. She held the stuffed bear in her arms, waiting, trying not to feel left out.
Months of caring for Grace, acting as mother and mentor while Nathalie was away, yet the child forgot her completely, once Nat stepped through the door.
Not that Maia could blame Grace. Nat had that effect on people.
Envy mingled with a sigh of relief which escaped her at the sight of girl and woman together.
“Of course I would.” Nathalie pressed Grace against the padding of her false stomach, hiding beneath her red coat. “I always return, no matter how long I’m away.”
She raised her head to fix her luminous eyes, swimming with green and golden flecks upon Iama. “This time, I mean to stay.”
“I’ve heard that before.” Maia could feel a smile creeping over her lips, in spite of her severe words. “You’re here now. That’s what’s important.”
Whether Nathalie stayed or got itchy feet once more, she and Grace would deal with it when the time came.
Maia wasn’t sure if one could expect Nat to stay in one place for too long. Nat never ignored her feet when they started to itch. She needed to allow them to take her to whatever destination drew them near.
Nathalie always returned, as she and Grace said. Bringing gifts, like the candy she’d stuffed into the wooden shoe.
Like the shoes themselves had once been a present for Grace, when Nat came home.
Each gift from Nathalie was like a piece of herself she offered her lost ones.
Maia and Grace gathered the gifts with a sad greed, accepting what Nat was willing to offer.
It was better than nothing.
“Wait until you see what else I’ve brought home!” Nathalie dropped her head to dazzle Grace with the full power of her white toothed smile. “Only the best for my two favorite people in the whole wide world!”
Grace blinked in the face of that smile, only to bury her own in Nathalie’s stomach.
Nat’s smile faltered a little.
“We missed you, Nat.” Grace’s voice came out muffled from a barrier of velvet. “I really hope you mean it this time. That you’re going to stay.”
The little girl tilted her small head up to eye Nathalie once more. “That would be the best gift ever.”
Trust Grace to get right to the point and nail it to their wayward loved one.
“Don’t worry.” Nathalie raised a mittened hand to rumple Grace’s curls. “You’re stuck with me this time.”
“I hope so.”
Maia let the words escape, allowing a tiny smile to lift the corners of her mouth. “That truly would be the best gift ever.”
“Well, Santa only denies the naughty, not the nice.” Nat grinned beneath her beard. “She’ll definitely be giving you what you want for Christmas.”
Maia widened her smile a bit.
Here’s hoping, she thought.
I can't imagine being a roaming sort of person. ~grin~ I'm more likely to stay when I should have gone.
ReplyDeleteOh, me, too. Nathalie is easy to romanticize, but she breaks hearts, something Maia is only too well aware of. I identify much more with Maia and Grace. :)
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