Page 2 of Flamingo Christmas

Completely immersed in the saddest tale she’d heard in some time, she didn’t see Jacquie and Colleen standing at a distance watching her. Finally, when she sensed eyes on her, she smiled at them and promptly broke down in a flood of tears.

Chapter Two

Colleen reached her first. “My god, Sue. What’s wrong, honey?”

Sue felt silly for her distress but even so, when she tried to explain, her words came out interspersed with hiccups and sobs. “I-I got a-an email from a father. Poor man…” She couldn’t go on. Instead, she held out the phone to Jacquie who read the message out loud.

“He says here that he needs a copy of that flamingo as soon as possible but there’s no address. Wait, there’s an attachment.” In seconds, she opened that part of the message and they all saw the image of the stuffed toy.

“Oh no, it’s not one of mine.” Sue knew immediately it wasn’t from her line of merchandise. “I have no idea where he purchased this.”

“Could you make one like it?”

“Sure. I suppose. But it doesn’t really show the size or anything.”

Jacquie, who was an engineer, took the phone. “I’d say it would be about a foot tall. See, look at the chair it’s sitting on. If you take the measurements of a regular kitchen chair, it’s easy to see how high the bird is.”

The other two girls looked at the image and nodded. “You’re right. It must be about twelve inches. Which would make the widest part about half that size.”

“Could you replicate the costume?”

Feeling a little better now, Sue nodded. “Probably. We could come very close to the image in fact.” She scanned the email again and sent a return message.

Dear Art, I’m very sorry for your trouble, and I pray your little girl makes a full recovery. Though the picture you sent of her flamingo isn’t from one of our lines, we could most likely make a good copy of the toy. Can you let me know where you are and if it would be possible for you to come and see what we can offer. I’d like to make one as close as possible to the original.

Kindly, Sue Ross.

Owner of – “Flamingoes”

Once she’d sent out the reply, they all placed their regular orders and then began taking turns talking, updating their lives since their last get-together.

Jacquie, whose siblings were dealing with older parents, had a list of grievances. Her days were suddenly brimful with calls from her newly relocated parents who didn’t like their assisted living arrangements.

In fact, just this morning, her father had been locked out of his building because he’d forgotten the door code. Rather than ring a bell to get the attention of one of the caretakers, he’d climbed through the shrubs to make his way to their apartment window and scared her mother half to death by pounding on it to get her attention.

Incensed, Jacquie admitted, “I was horrified to think the foolish man would choose to crawl around on his hands and knees through the bushes rather than ask for help. He’s so worried that we’ll think he’s becoming forgetful that he’d rather hide the fact that he forgot the number.”

“How did you find out?”

“Oh, Mom was so mad about it that she blabbed on him.”

They all laughed, but Sue added, “The poor man. To feel that insecure in his own home.” She felt bad for him. She knew what her own parents had gone through after they’d decided to make the change to a senior living arrangement. It took months before they felt comfortable but now they loved it… had more friends than they knew what to do with – proven by the last call from her father who’d pretended to be out when a knock sounded on his door. His voice lowered to a comical whisper. “Your mother’s getting her hair done, and I finally have the place to myself. I don’t want company, so I’ll just wait until whoever’s there takes the hint and leaves.”

“Oh, Dad, you’re a devil. I guess I’ll have to call first before I come knocking.”

“Good idea, pet. I’d hate to miss one of your visits.”

“Sweet talker.”

He’d laughed and added, “But truthful.”

Jacquie sighed. “I hope they settle in soon. It bothers me to see them so upset. Dad wanted to move back home, and it took us some time to remind him we’d sold the old house. The rundown place had become a nuisance of work and worries. None of us had time to handle their problems, and they’d gotten past their ability to deal with so many issues themselves. And you know what it’s like to hire people nowadays. They’re either late, incompetent, overpriced or worse… they just don’t show.”

Sue nodded, remembering her own battle with her folks the year before. Thankfully, her mother had been the driving force behind them selling their forty-year-old house as she had friends already moved to the place they finally chose.

“They’ll settle down. But you might have to help that happen for a bit. Maybe if you meet some of the other offspring whose parents are there, you might be able to make introductions and that way they’ll get to meet folks.”

Colleen who’d been quiet until then, piped up. “You’re both just so lucky that you still have your parents around you. I miss my mom more every day.”

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