Page 62 of Soldier's Chrismas Hope
“We’re all cleaned up,” John-John yelled as he hurled himself down the hallway with Pixie and Nora at his heels.
“Now remember, we’re going to sing first,” Nora told the kids. “And we’ll only have doughnuts if they invite us and if there are plenty left over.”
“Oh, don’t you worry about that,” Marie said.
She had her phone out and River strongly suspected that she was messaging the guys in the conference room to prepare them for what was coming and remind them to offer the kids a treat.
He felt a pang of gratitude to Captain Anderson for starting this place. The man himself was a bit of a mystery, but his actions spoke volumes. The center gave returning men and women so much more than access to resources. This was a place to go, a place to feel that sense of brotherhood they were used to, with a million good ways to keep your hands busy during the transition back to civilian life.
River had been here just about every day until the night he brought Nora and the kids back to the farmhouse. His parents were just so glad to have him home that he hadn’t wanted them to see that he struggled attimes. He figured it had saved his sanity to have someplace to go where others understood that coming home wasn’t all sunshine.
“Okay guys,” he said. “Here we go.”
He tapped on the door to the conference room and then stepped inside to the rich scents of cinnamon and coffee.
Half a dozen men sat around the big table. Two giant white boxes of apple cider doughnuts, and a carafe of coffee with a tray of creamers and sugar covered the wide wooden surface.
“Hey, who are these guys?” one of the men asked, smiling at the kids.
“This is Pixie and her little brother, John-John, and their Aunt Nora,” River explained. “And we’re here to sing you some Christmas carols.”
“Awesome,” the man responded.
All eyes turned to the kids. But if River thought that would make them shy, he would have been wrong.
They immediately burst into a cheerful rendition of “Jingle Bells” at an impressive volume. By the time the song was over, they had the guys around the table singing along, and Marie standing in the doorway smiling.
“Jingle Bells” melted into “Deck the Halls” and then “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”
River had been a little worried that the last song might hit some of the guys hard, but everyone cheered at the end, even Tom Billings, who had tears in his eyes.
When the singing was done, everyone insisted that the children have doughnuts. Tom ran and got them glasses of water, and the adults enjoyed a cup of coffee.
It was a friendly visit, and River was impressed to see that Nora fit right in with his crowd of friends. When their snack was finished, the kids hopped up.
“Where are you going?” Marie asked them.
“We’re going to sing toold peoplenow,” John-John told them, half-whispering like he knew you weren’t exactly supposed to call people old.
“You headed to Carla’s Place?” Marie asked.
“We sure are,” River told her.
“Why don’t you take one of these boxes with you?” she offered. “They gave me too many. There’s no way we’ll eat them all.”
“Are you sure?” Nora asked.
But everyone at the table made sounds of encouragement. Each box probably held two dozen of the doughy delicacies.
“Okay, off we go, then,” River said.
“Careful out there,” Tom put in. “Weather’s supposed to be coming in.”
“You can taste it,” River agreed, nodding.
They headed back out and wandered down Park again toward Carla’s Place.
“The sky is so gray,” Pixie remarked.
