July 25
It was a hot day. Not just hot, it was the kind of hot that makes it difficult to breathe. It had been that way the whole month. The daily news program was full of stories, of people across the country that could cook eggs on the sidewalks and even cook pizza on the dashboard of their car. Brooke Christian had watched the news this morning, while getting ready for work. It was good to hear the stories of eggs and pizza in the headlines instead of the news that had dominated recently concerning the bold attacks on Law Enforcement and the deaths of so many recently, sometimes it feels like the world is falling apart.
As Brooke carefully ironed her uniform, she was thinking long and hard about exactly, why, she chose to stay in Law Enforcement, as the pretty blonde News Anchor laughed about pizza, Brooke pushed the danger out of her head and settled in with the reality, that it is all she knows to do, and she is good at it. Her goal is to help people, even if it is the very people that are against Officers.
While driving to the Police Department, she was thankful for the air conditioner and knew that in just a little while she would don her uniform with the uncomfortable vest and heavy duty belt and be in and out of her air conditioned cruiser numerous times on her shift, her mind went back to the pizza in the car, cooking on the dashboard. Then her mind switched to some of the calls for service that she has dealt with over the years, quickly pushed some of the tough ones from her mind, she thought of some of the easiest she had dealt with, some she realized that she would probably deal with even today. A dog being locked in a hot car is a common call, although she has often wondered why this is a so common. Being a compassionate person, Brooke was glad to act on behalf of a canine and never understood why a person would ever leave an animal locked in a hot car. Often the calls were unwarranted as she arrived on scene to check on a dog, only to find that the owners had left the vehicle running with the air conditioner turned on and quickly realizing that the dog was more comfortable than her, as she stood in the heat, explaining to the complainant that it was not against the law to leave a dog in a car, if it was not in distress and is being cared for. But with years of practice, a Z tool or lock jock, made access to a locked car in just minutes if the animal was in distress. Fortunately, she had never been too late to rescue a hot dog. Numerous tickets have been issued to animal owners that were not wise in their decisions. It was her hope that they would think twice before making that decision again.
A few hours into her shift it had already been a trying day, and there were still six hours left before time to go home. The first call had been an ambulance call, often time routine and needless for an officer but sometimes resulting in being the First Responder and starting CPR until paramedics arrive on scene. The call was given out calmly, by a new dispatcher, she said that an ambulance was enroute to 4709 Dickson Trail, and gave nothing further. Being close to the address, Brooke didn’t bother to ask the nature of the call, assuming that she would receive more as the dispatcher learned more. It seemed that most of the medical calls over the last few weeks had been general sickness calls, those with which the officer does nothing more than stand by until paramedics arrive on scene, hoping that they don’t catch the illness that is causing the patient such distress.
As Brooke pulled into the driveway of the home and calmly walked to the door, she was met by a screaming mother holding the lifeless body of a two year old child that was choking on a small toy. Brooke quickly administered the Heimlich maneuver, dislodging the toy. The child, thankfully began crying and then was quickly removed from Brooke’s arms by the arriving Paramedics. As she made her way back to her cruiser, she was frustrated that the Dispatcher had not told her that the call was one in which a child was choking. Had she known, she could have made it quicker to the scene. She thanked God that the delay didn’t cause harm or death to the small soul.
Brooke prays a lot. Not being a person that surrounds herself with a lot of people, she does enjoy spending time talking to God, although she often questions some of the things that she sees while on patrol.
The next few calls were minor accidents which resulted in multiple reports, for her, but nothing major. The last call involved a homeless man, there was not much to do for him, she made sure that he had some food and water and gave him twenty dollars and told him that she would check on him later in the evening.
She decided to do a security check at one of the local drug stores and try to cool off inside, for a few minutes. By this time, she was wringing with sweat as pools of sweat gathered up under the heavy bullet proof vest that she was wearing. She threw her hand up to the cashier that was busy ringing up a customer, a small line had formed at the counter.
The store is modern, like everything else in the large resort town. Brooke was thankful that she lived nearly an hour away in a small rural town that doesn’t even have a Walmart. As she made her way to the cooler that holds her favorite drink, she noticed a suspicious teenager with long greasy hair, wearing all black, in her path to the cooler.
“How are you? “ Brooke asked, making eye contact with the young man.
“Fine” He said, barely audible, as he quickly looked away and made his way to the register.
She watched for a minute as he stood in line with nothing in his hands, as the line moved forward, he grabbed a pack of gum. She thought that it looked as if he had things packed in his pockets but couldn’t tell for sure. She opened the cooler and reached for her favorite drink, with no thought and quickly turned her attention back to the possible shoplifter, thinking in her head that the next couple hours were going to be spent in booking and then a trip to the county jail.
“It’s going to be a long night.” She said, under her breath.
With soda in hand, she quickly turned to make her way back to the counter to stand behind the male subject. To her surprise, she nearly walked into a man that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
“I am so sorry.” She said as her eyes met a very familiar subject.
“Santa?” She asked, with surprise.
Her attention left the possible shoplifter and focused on the short round man, with a long white beard, wearing red suspenders over a white long sleeved shirt with a small ruffle around the wrists of each of the sleeves. The red pants appeared to be a velvet material. He was not wearing a jacket, nor was he wearing heavy black boots, the shoes were a red and tan patent leather. His rosy cheeks and round nose that had a small pair of round glasses perched upon it, were welcoming as he smiled from ear to ear.
“The one and only” The old man grinned, exposing his perfectly straight, white teeth.
She tried to get her attention back to the young man at the counter who was digging change out of his pocket to pay for the pack of gum but the round little man was quite irresistible.
“Officer B. Christian.” Santa said peering over his wire rimmed glasses, looking down at her name tag.
“The one and only.” She smiled, repeating what he had just said to her, moments ago.
Her mind quickly thinking of her name tag and remembering back to the day that she asked the Chief if her name tag could include her middle initial as well. The letter A for Adeline. Since a little girl, she was proud of her initials. B.A. Christian. It was her motto in life. Be a Christian. Treat people the way that you would want to be treated or the way that you would want someone to treat your Mother. The Chief had denied her request.
Realizing that her possible shoplifter was going to get out of the store, she readied herself for a quick getaway from the charming Santa Claus.
“Well, it was very nice running into you today. Literally running into you today, but…” She was interrupted.
As he placed his hand gently on her shoulder, he commanded her attention. “Brooke, I hope you have a magical night and I hope your wishes come true.”
He smiled the most pleasant smile she had possibly ever seen but that too was interrupted by the store clerk yelling at the subject she had been watching.
“Help” She yelled, “I think that he stole something.”
Brooke left Santa without a second thought and darted for the front door, the suspicious subject had turned to the left and was running toward the backside of the building.
“855 to station, 1032 in progress at Value Drug, subject running from me, can I get some 1082?” She yelled into her radio as she quickly caught up to the young man.
The young man was compliant and had mainly stolen candy and snacks but had also managed to get a few pricier items. He was arrested and taken to the jail. Brooke had used the opportunity to talk to the young man about his life choices and the path that he was on. He was a captive audience, riding in the back seat of her cruiser. He was not very responsive to her speech and seemed to shrug it off. She took a minute to pray for the young man, silently as they arrived at the jail, she hoped he would turn his life around but realized that he would probably continue to make poor life choices. After Brooke had finished with the long process of the arrest and finalized her report, she was finally able to think back on her day. It was almost time to head home.
She remembered that she had told the homeless subject that she would check on him before the end of her shift and here it was the end of her shift, with the long ride to her house she knew that it would be easier just to forget about the homeless man for the night, but she hated to break the promise. After clocking out at midnight, she decided that she would drive by and see if the subject was doing okay.
She drove down the dark alley in her personal car, she had decided to leave her uniform on, since she was going to be out with the subject. The heat was still thick, as was the sweat. Her normal routine would have been to shed down to a t-shirt for the ride home, but in light of recent events, she thought twice and kept her vest and weapon at her ready use.
After exiting the car, she noticed a breeze in the air and welcomed it, but knew that if it brought rain with it that this homeless man would spend a miserable night trying to stay comfortable and dry. She went back to her car and grabbed a raincoat, it was a nicer coat that she had recently purchased, spending a little more on it than she thought she should have, but she had liked it and thought it would last her a while, but she felt that it may be more needed by him tonight than her. She also grabbed a ball cap that the local high school had given the officers for their help at their homecoming day, back in May. It was orange and black with ‘TIGERS’ written across the front. She figured that he could use that as well if the rains came tonight.
When she approached the man, he was fast asleep. She chose not to wake him, made sure that he was breathing and left the cap and raincoat next to the worn bag that the man carried all of his belongings in. She prayed for him as she walked back to her car and started her trek home.
During the drive home, she smiled as she thought of her visit with Santa. She laughed at herself as she thought, what brought a man from the North Pole out on such a hot July day. She laughed because she knew that he wasn’t real, even though she knew that she believed in Santa longer than most children did. Her parents never told her that he wasn’t real, it was in School that she learned the awful truth. She never told her parents that she knew and allowed them to keep up the charade for a few years before it just stopped one year. Fond memories of her parents attempt to make things magical for her flooded her mind.
“Magical” She said to herself.
She remembered what the Santa had said earlier, “Brooke, I hope you have a magical night and I hope your wishes come true.”
Still talking out loud to herself, “Wait a minute, how…”
Her mind started thinking, how did he know my first name, I hadn’t told him. The initial B is on the name tag, how did he know my name is Brooke?
She smiled again at herself. “I must have told him.” She said out loud.
As her eyes got heavy, she struggled to stay awake on the long ride home. “Magical, wishes coming true, I don’t think so, not tonight, I just need sleep” She said to herself.
As she drove, the wind had continued to blow, as trees bowed low to the roadway. There were many limbs in the road as well that had blown free from the trees, but no rain, she wondered if it was raining yet, where the homeless man lay.
As the car finally pulled up next to the house, she got out of the car. She felt the cold air hit her in the face, nearly taking her breath.
“How odd, it feels like it is freezing. “ She said aloud.
It only took a second to realize that it was freezing. She checked the thermometer on the porch of her old farmhouse.
The temperature read 29 degrees. She knew that this wasn’t possible and didn’t know what to make of it.
When she opened the front door, she reached for the light switch and flipped it, but nothing happened, obviously the wind had knocked the power out. Her faithful dog met her at the door.
“Henry, I don’t know what is going on, but it is going to be a cold night for July.”
With no power, she knew that if something was happening in the world, she was not going to watch it on the news. She gathered blankets for her and Henry and settled down for a few minutes on the couch and attempted to read for a while by candlelight, but couldn’t focus on the words.
“Magical? “ She laughed, rubbing Henry on his stomach.
She decided to go on to bed, as she went to lock the front door, Henry started whining.
“I will let you out for a minute, but it is gonna be cold on you.” She smiled down at him.
As she opened the door, the wind nearly ripped it out of her hand and to her amazement there was about six inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. Henry ran out the door and jumped through the snow, enjoying every second of it.
Brooke shut the door and retreated into a spare room where she keeps her winter clothes packed away. She found some thermals, and her winter coat, quickly grabbed her favorite over sized sweater, a winter hat and scarf. Dressed quickly, as if she didn’t hurry the snow would be gone. Pulling her boots on, to complete the ensemble, she dashed to the door to enjoy the snowfall in July.
Henry met her at the door, miniature snowballs hanging around his feet in his long hair. She walked out into the wonderland, as the snow fell all around her. There was nearly a foot of snow now, as Henry jumped and landed, jumped and landed to keep up with her long strides.
As she made her way to the barn, she would stop and enjoy what she was experiencing, she stood looking upward into the dark sky watching flakes come down, sticking her tongue out to catch a flake, wonderful memories of her child hood flooded her mind. A flake landed on her nose, tickling it. She looked toward the barn again, and started walking.
The barn no longer housed animals, it was more of a catch all now, that her parents were no longer living. She moved quickly toward the back of the barn, she knew what she wanted and knew it was still there. It took a few minutes to get to it, as she moved years of clutter out of the way to get to her prize. As she exited the barn, in her arms was one of her favorite child hood toys. An old sled, she reminisced about riding down the rolling hills, her Dad helping her and her Mother worrying about her.
She made it to the top of one of the hills, Henry close by. As she sat the sled down, and slowly lowered herself to the wooden seat, the metal tracks nearly took off before she was ready.
“Magical” She thought, and laughed out loud.
“Come here Henry, you are going to love this.” Trusting her, Henry climbed into her lap as she pushed off the high hill and made her way through the quiet night to the bottom. Brooke and Henry repeated this numerous times, until she was too tired to walk the hill anymore.
The snow had stopped falling, and Brooke made her way back to the house. She leaned the old sled against the side of the house and went inside to warm up. The power was still off, so she grabbed some old quilts to stay warm.
She remembered the warm, sweet milk that her Mother would have ready for her after a fun filled day in the snow and wished that the power, to the house was back on, so that she could make her some, although she doubted that it would be as good as her Mothers.
Brooke finally made it to her bedroom in the early hours of the next day. Henry slept at her feet, keeping them warm. It only took a minute to doze off.
The morning sun shone through her windows, it seemed brighter than normal. The power was back on, she could see the hall light peering around her door that had been left slightly opened. Her house already felt at a comfortable temperature, she noticed that she was no longer under the heavy quilts and Henry had abandoned her feet for a more comfortable position on the other side of her queen sized bed.
As she lay there, she remembered the snow and quickly jumped up to look out the window, and then turn on the news to see what everyone would be saying about such a phenomenon. As she pulled back the curtains to her bedroom, she was shocked, there was no snow.
‘How could a foot of snow melt in a few hours?’ She thought to herself. She knew that she had not dreamed it. She had been tired, but she knew it had been real. She could feel the snow, tasted it. She felt the cold, pulled the snow balls from Henry’s fur when they returned to the house.
She wondered if she was losing it, what could cause her to see things that weren’t true.
“Magical” She pondered in her mind, thinking of Santa once again.
She looked down at Henry, “Well, that was a magical night, now if my wishes would just come true.” She said even though she knew that she had very few wishes for her life, she was happy with what life had given her.
Henry cocked his head to the side as if he understood her question.
“What wishes, you ask?” She said as if he had asked her the question.
“For starters, I think that I would like to stay home today. And after last night, I think I could justify using a sick day.” She patted the dog on the head and smiled.
Reaching for the phone she dialed the number to her Lieutenant.
“Yes!” Lieutenant barked into the phone, not saying hello.
“Good morning, sir, “ Brooke stammered.
“I am tied up at the moment, you have about sixty seconds, and you have my attention if it doesn’t involve you calling in sick, since two already have and we cannot handle being that thin tonight, I have already had to call Johnson in on his day off. “ Lieutenant barked at Brooke.
“No sir, I am good.” She stammered, “I was going to ask about something for next month’s training.” She lied, “It can wait until later, I hope your morning gets better.”
“I do to, for everyone’s sake!” He shouted into the phone as he hung up, leaving the dial tone buzzing in her ear.
“So much for my wishes coming true” She said to herself as she set up the ironing board to press her uniform.
Later, on her way to work she had come to the conclusion that the whole snow storm had just been a very vivid dream. When she got to work, it was business as usual. Nothing special. She started taking calls as soon as she left the station.
As soon as the calls had slowed down, she made her way to check on the homeless man. It was hot, and it had rained the night before, she could tell by the large puddles along the alley way that lead to the homeless man. She prayed for him again, as she made her way to his makeshift home.
“Hello. “ She called as she made it to the spot, and realized that he wasn’t there.
There was evidence of him having been there, a few drink bottles and some food wrappers. But he was gone. As she headed back to her cruiser, she remembered her conversation with the man, the last few days. He was a Veteran having served in Afghanistan. His wife had left him because he had not coped well with his memories of what he had seen there. He had said that he knew that he needed help but just couldn’t seem to make it happen. He had hoped to get better and he also hoped that his wife would someday take him back. Those were the things that she had prayed for, for him. She assumed that she would see the homeless man again, in another part of town. She felt bad that she couldn’t remember his name and hoped that it would come back to her. She hoped that his name had been logged with the call and that Dispatch could tell her, she made a mental note to stop by Dispatch when she got back to the station.
When she entered Dispatch, one of the Dispatchers handed her a bag.
“David told me to make sure you got this, he said some guy dropped it off this afternoon.” She quickly handed the bag to Brooke as her attention went to the 911 line that began ringing.
“911 Where is your emergency?” She asked as Brooke left the busy room.
Brooke walked out of Dispatch still having not looked into the bag yet. As she made her way back to the work station, she realized that she forgot to ask about the homeless man’s name. She decided to see what was in the bag. She noticed her rain coat first and then her cap. Next was an envelope, as she opened it some money fell out of it. A ten dollar bill, a one dollar bill, two quarters and four pennies. She was puzzled as she pulled out a hand written note.
Dear Officer,
I am sorry that I do not remember your name. I just wanted to say thank you, I am sorry that I am not returning the rest of your money, but I do have a full belly because of your kindness. A strange thing happened last night, a very kind gentleman woke me as the storm blew in and offered me a room for the night. It seems strange but he looked like Santa Claus, I mean, I know that it wasn’t but he looked like him and was very kind. He helped me call my wife and she has decided to give me a second chance. I am in the car with her as I write this note. We decided to bring your rain coat and cap back to you, along with the money left from the twenty dollars that you gave me. I wished for nothing more than for my wife to forgive me, and she has.
Sincerely,
Tony
She quickly folded the note up and hurried to the locker room trying to hold back her tears, but they came. She wasn’t totally sure why. She wondered about the coincidence of Santa. How could he, why would he help the homeless man.
“I hope your wishes come true.” her mind went back to her meeting in the drug store with Santa. She had wished things for the homeless man. She had hoped that he find happiness in the midst of his turmoil, and it seemed he had.
The night was finally over, and she headed home. The air was hot, no wind and definitely no snow as she pulled into her driveway. Henry met her at the door and she made small talk with him, asking how his day went. He responded in his normal way, wagging his tail and running circles around her as she made her way through the house.
“I know it is hot outside, but how about some nice warm sweet milk?” Like Mom used to make, she thought to herself looking down at her faithful companion.
After relaxing in front of the television for a while, she decided to turn in. Henry wanted to go outside, so she grabbed the flashlight to join him, the evening had cooled some but still no snow or feeling of snow in the air. As Henry sniffed the mountain air, she walked to the side of the house, shining the light against the white walls of the house and stopped cold in her tracks. She walked closer to what was before her. Reaching out her hand she touched the metal runners of the old sled.
“How did this get here, if I didn’t sled on it last night” She said out loud. A smile crept across her face as she remembered the snowy magical night and her wish for the homeless man coming true and Santa…
Short Story Epilogue:
Brooke went on doing “good” to others and never thought much more of her magical night or her encounter with the man, Santa, although she looked for him, especially when she was in the drug store.
Many years later while sitting in Briefing, getting ready for another day, one of the new rookie officers walked in.
“Hi there, I am Brooke Christian, you must be one of the new guys.” She said smiling.
His smile was bigger than hers. “You don’t remember me?“ He said.
“I am sorry, should I?” she asked.
“You arrested me once, a long time ago for shoplifting. It was because of you that I turned my life around. I will always be thankful that you arrested me that night.” He said losing eye contact momentarily due to a little bit of shame that still hung on to him.
“That’s kind of incredible, I am glad to have you here.” She was interrupted as the Lieutenant entered the room and everyone grabbed a seat.
The young man took the opportunity to say one last thing before grabbing his seat. “Yeah, thanks to you and Santa, my life changed forever, remind me to tell you about it sometime.”
Brooke could not hide her smile but it was interrupted when the Lieutenant locked eyes with her.
“What are you smiling about?” He growled…
The End