Christmas Wishes, Part 2

With a hopeful heart transplant and a still-lost cat.

Catch up on Part 1.

Also, proposed ending by friend of the newsletter, accomplished painter, and now storyteller Sheri Kennedy: “Daughter helps look for Cat, who has been hanging out on the back porch at attractive neighbor’s house. New neighbor and grumpy neighbor see hearts and hear music, and the 2 ladies are convinced to help Daughter decorate the house in a cat-themed winter wonderland before Mom gets home.”

Not the ending I came up with, but I encourage you all to write your own too!

Now here’s part 2…

Mom goes off to perform heart surgery. She warns the family that even though the transplant is great news, given the patient’s age and the risk of this procedure, they should know he’s not out of the woods yet. She’s dreading having to give this family bad news on Christmas Eve, but she finds they’re incredibly grateful and gracious. They thank her for all she’s done for Patient up until now. Throughout the evening, she checks in, intending to comfort them, but instead they comfort her — she confesses that Daughter’s at home and she has a closet full of unwrapped gifts, and they thank her for helping them instead. “I wish I could go over there and set everything up for you,” says Patient’s wife, and Mom loves the sentiment but says Wife has her hands full taking care of her family at the hospital. The family brought their special Christmas Eve dish and they share it with Mom, who feels taken care of even as she’s shouldering so much responsibility.

Back home, Neighbor is staring at her phone while Daughter prattles on about Santa and Christmas wishes. “Santa isn’t real, kid,” says Neighbor. Daughter isn’t fazed. She says she knows everybody says that, but he’s real if you believe. Neighbor says she’s watched too many holiday movies.

Daughter carefully leaves a plate of cookies and a carrot for the reindeer, a glass of milk, and her letter for Santa. “Make sure he gets this,” she instructs Neighbor. Daughter also asks Neighbor about Cat and Neighbor says he’s gone.

Daughter falls asleep, snuggling her stuffed otter and dreaming of Santa. Before Mom left, she told Neighbor about the closet full of stuff. Neighbor knows the nicest, sweetest thing to do would be to tackle the closet and set up Christmas, but the whole thing makes her so sad. This was supposed to be her life, getting Christmas ready for her own family. Instead she’s alone.

Neighbor opens the closet and is daunted by all the decorations and gifts she sees there. Her phone dings with a group text from her ex — “Merry Christmas Eve!!” She turns off her phone. Then she turns it back on and checks the social media account she set up to track Ex. She sees her happy with a new girlfriend. Then she scrolls and sees all her friends, smiling with loved ones. She goes back to her apartment, grabs a bottle of wine, and plops down on the couch in Mom and Daughter’s apartment. She pulls her phone out again, but now she’s looking at photos of Cat and drinking.