The Gift
Aveline was never one for gifts or Christmas, so it took her by surprise when one day the doorbell rang and lying neatly wrapped on the doorstep was a present. She picked it up and shook it gently, but there was no sound to give away what it hid inside. The only label on the present said it was for her, but gave no clue as to the giver. She placed it next to the door and left it there.
When she came into the house again after shopping for last minute groceries, the present was unwrapped and lying on the kitchen table. She put the packages on the counters around the room and cautiously approached the box. Opening the lid, she peered inside at a sleeping kitten. Its black and white fur seemed to shimmer as it’s tiny chest moved up and down with each breath. She reached in to pull it out and its small blue eyes opened to grumpy little slits. Its mouth opened in protest, but nothing came out. Aveline put it on the table and looked at it cautiously. The kitten stared back before jumping off the table and trotting off to the couch to sleep. She sighed and cleared off the kitchen counters. She decided to give it a week, before sending it off to her cousins in France. She couldn’t figure out what to get them anyway and they were cat lovers.
It wasn’t until Christmas Eve that she decided to keep the kitten. She had a box all set for its delivery and was about to dial the phone to her cousins’ hotel room to inform them of their gift, when she saw the kitten sit in front of the two large, glass doors to her patio. A small girl was standing there, glowing. Her brown hair was pulled back to reveal pointed raw ears. She smiled at the kitten and bent down to touch her gloved hand to the glass where the kitten’s nose was. The kitten rubbed up against the glass purring and the girl laughed as she stroked the glass as if she could feel the fur. The phone beeped loudly that it was off the hook, startling the kitten so that it looked at her with huge blue eyes before darting off. Aveline hastily returned the phone to the cradle and looked outside at the girl, who had disappeared. She ran outside, but couldn’t find anything to prove that she had had a visitor.
The cold was biting, but Aveline remained outside anyway, staring up at the sky. The twinkling white stars revealed nothing of what had just happened. She felt the kitten rub against her legs and she realized that this was her gift from someone who cared and truly knew the spirit of Christmas. It was then that she realized she was truly and utterly alone with millions of other people who would never see that Christmas was not about giving or getting but about joy. Serious and raw joy that one could only get by giving, not one’s money, but one’s self. She picked up the small ball of fur and brought it inside, closing the glass door behind her.
