Writers Unblocked Magazine Volume 1/ Number 1
Writers Unblocked is a publication featuring works from members of Centennial College Libraries and Learning Centres' Writing Circle.
Writers Unblocked is a publication featuring works from members of Centennial College Libraries and Learning Centres' Writing Circle.
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ORNAMENTS<br />
BY CATHY SCHLENDER, Manager, Corporate Communications | Marketing and Communications<br />
THE ENTRANCE TO BRIGHAM MANOR<br />
is brightly decorated for the holidays.<br />
In the parlor off the main lobby, a brightly-lit,<br />
decorated pine tree is displayed in the corner.<br />
Carols play quietly in the background as a<br />
crackling gas-fuelled fireplace illuminates<br />
ornaments on the tree.<br />
George’s eyes drift to the small red<br />
sleigh hanging from one of the boughs,<br />
smiling as he remembers a recent trip to<br />
Toboggan Mound – at least that’s what the<br />
neighbourhood called the giant hill they visit<br />
every winter.<br />
“Daddy,” his eldest daughter suggests, “Why<br />
don’t you get on the front this time and we’ll<br />
get on behind you?”<br />
“Okay,” George agrees, climbing onto the<br />
toboggan. His young children don’t realize<br />
that he heard them conspire moments<br />
earlier and knew what they were planning.<br />
He can still hear their shrieks of laughter<br />
as they pushed him down the hill without<br />
joining him on the toboggan. George smiles,<br />
remembering how it gave his children such<br />
a thrill to think they got one over on good old<br />
dad.<br />
George turns his head and another ornament<br />
catches his attention. A golden, porcelain<br />
Christmas cookie with white wavy lines for<br />
icing and coloured dots for sprinkles. Just like<br />
his mother used to make. George remembers<br />
the neighbour, Mr. Skinner, who would drop<br />
into his parent’s home uninvited and – as far<br />
as his English mother was concerned – quite<br />
unwelcome. Mother liked everyone – almost.<br />
George thinks Mr. Skinner is possibly the<br />
world’s most socially awkward person.<br />
Mr. Skinner made a habit of timing his visit<br />
when George Sr. was just sitting down to<br />
have his afternoon tea – there was certainly<br />
nothing wrong with his internal clock, George<br />
remembers! Mr. Skinner would knock once,<br />
walk straight through to the kitchen at the<br />
back of the house, take a cup from the shelf<br />
and pour himself a cup of tea, all without<br />
asking. This one day, Mr. Skinner grabbed<br />
a Christmas cookie from father’s plate, took<br />
a bite and contemplatively looked at the<br />
cookie.<br />
“Betty,” he called out to George’s mother. He<br />
took another bite as she entered the kitchen,<br />
a slightly pained look on her face. He holds<br />
the cookie up to her. “Did you make these?”<br />
he asks.<br />
“Why, yes I did,” mother replies in her lovely<br />
east London accent.<br />
“They’re not very good, are they?”<br />
He said it just like that. George is certain<br />
mother was mortified as she stood there, only<br />
blinking rapidly. Then George and his sister,<br />
Annie, scampered from the room, desperately<br />
suppressing giggles. Maybe mother’s cookies<br />
were an acquired taste, but George could<br />
really go for one right now.<br />
6 WRITERS UNBLOCKED • VOL. 1 / NO. 1