Christmas

After the wild summer, time seemed to drag. One afternoon after school, Richard was outside playing with  his trucks, when he dug up an old dead turtle that said, "Visit Nevada" on its back.  He buried it again and never mentioned his discovery to Lillian. Time passed and then it was Christmas. Two things happened. First his mother had a new baby, Richard's half-brother Noel, and second, his grandmother, Mary Edna Walters, came to visit. She was a nice grandmother. She bunked with Richard while Al , Lillian and the baby shared the other bedroom. She had a few strange opinions like, "Catholics are Negros turned inside out." But Richard really didn't get that. That Christmas, even though the baby was colicky, they decorated a tree and on that sunny Christmas morning, the war over on both fronts, Richard got a two piece Coke-a-Cola wooden truck, a ring toss game and a new long sleeved brown yellow and green striped shirt. There is a photograph taken of the whole family that day, Lillian holding the baby, Mary Edna sitting in the only arm chair, Richard with his toys, and Al holding an apple. Richard is looking somewhat beatific kneeling on the floor in his corduroys and new shirt, his hands clasped together between his knees.