Diana Kurniawan

My hands were deep underneath the Earth, fingers searching for roots to pull up as I knelt to soil level over the green sprouts of my carrots. There were no rabbits, just my soul in joie de vivre inside the life I earned for the writing I composed. I was a local author in provincial Loveland, Colorado, not quite suburbia, but countryside with a few lovely families nearby and a farm to tend. Snow melted months before and butterflies ? flew by beside me beyond the trails to run in early morning. I pulled the elongated carrots and placed it in my basket next to me, and stood up to water the other vegetables on the plot of land. 

 

My house was not the biggest in the block, but it was good enough to hold me in peace and I made enough to sustain a living. A life I filled with the love of literature and the joy of writing and best of all, he made breakfast to enjoy it with me. Perhaps, the family was asleep, and I was a mother, a true gift I never knew I could have. The love of my life held me close and kissed me, and we enjoyed the eggs over-easy on toast, and hopefully, my Mom was still alive.

 

The dream I once knew made me lagged behind as I clenched it, and stubbornly dwelled upon it, over and over again. It caused jibberish and prayers to utter upon days and moments of my life, without a wholesome truth behind it and it was full of the fears that I was a prey by the devil who wanted otherwise. But, the butterfly kept flying near and so did the blue jays, finches, red-tailed hawks, and several eagles. It was pregnancy of faith that I needed to unleash, because I kept on the dream of that quaint house with a plot of land and the love of my life with a life of literature.

 

Truth was, I was on a journey only God knew of the plan. I could pray and pray and hope and hope, to thwart the enemy's curses and prayers upon me, but it only built these walls of fears over me, and it closed in to my life. 

 

So, I had to let go. No more dreams, because I had to work. I was always working, but my soul was complacent. My mind was focused on the dream, not the now. It looked ahead and hoped for a future, a plan unshakeable and unbreakable, but I realized now, it was God's plan that was worth my days and nights. I had to surrender everything, even my dreams, and the hope I had, everything to embrace what may come. The butterflies kept flying nearby, and this time, the eagle perched on a tree, the finches hopped on the ground near my feet, and phaenopeplas flew all around the fields in the farms nearby my house. These beautiful birds entertained me and kept me in love with nature, life, my heart and God. It landed near me, always, and the caterpilar made its cocoon in my tomato plants last Summer. It was a sign, to enjoy it, one step at a time.

 

Dei Gratia. Just write.

Immersed in the golden ray as I stood underneath the sun, my spirit soaked in the goodness of the will. The will of one I won't name but took my dearest who built me up. No more apologies, instead live on to the fullest to make him proud, my Father. No clues or compass to guide me, just persistence and drive, that kept me on with his plan each day, one at a time. 

 

I won't know what happened unless I invest my whole gut into it. Each page, each word, each sentence, and what became of it on the friendly empty pages of my documents. I won't know the ending until I wrote it down and I won't predict the future with my work for it metamorphosized into art in its own time. My job was to fulfill its destiny and mine, through passion, worth, and effort. 

 

My Father, my cloud of witnesses, had gone just a month ago, yet I felt his smile with each creation I made. Behest, the will of God, upon my life, I shall keep. It was for me to live and to work for. It was my destiny and with a promise to my Father, who had gone before me, I shall keep going. 

 

Just write. 

February 27, 2010

 

To the Forever Gorgeous Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live,

 

Have I told you my love for you just hit its formative years? 

 

When I was little, I thought you were most likely that brave soul who wasn't afraid to hold my hand to play in the sand box. You whispered to me, inside my dreams, "It's okay to be shy. I still know who you are."  Then, you said in my dreams, "I have a huge monster in my backyard, wanna see him?" and I would be silly enough to believe that monsters really scared me at all. 

 

Times when the skies were grey made me wish you were my sand box buddy, because you would be the cutest sand box buddy I would ever have (and the oldest);and it would be completely fun to have you as my friend. 

 

Maybe if I was your sandbox buddy you'd be my best friend, although I never grew up with sand boxes or monsters in my back yard.  I grew up with lots of mud and rain that I played outside all the time, to watch the ground turned slimy and muddy. In the springtime, I would run outside in the fields of flowers where their buds bloomed and somehow, there was an ocean nearby, where I soaked my feet in the sand, and looked up to the sky and said, "Thank you for loving me."

 

I prayed for those wishes and prayers to be worthwhile for God, or for another soul like ours, to meet one day, from across the world. That perhaps a little girl and a little boy with the same wishes like mine, would meet and their hearts would take form, and they fall in love.

 

I know there were more important issues in the world than wishing for you to be my play mate. Like the fate of a little boy who carried a basket of rocks in India, or the little girls fighting assaults from the Rwandan militia; that my wishes of having you as my sand box buddy seemed like hop-scotch to God.

 

I prayed for those children too, that maybe they will have such a loving sand box buddy like me or you.  But today, I just wanted to love you very much, and maybe my wishes to meet you will one day come true.  I knew we live under the smile of heaven under the same moon and stars, with angels watching over us. Maybe they would notice that I was in love, and praised my wishes to God, to send you one day to be my friend.

 

For every letter I wrote, I prayed for every heart to be lifted up, and immersed inside that happily ever after I wished for everyone.  I also hoped for you to appreciate these series of love letters to God that I wrote for you. I raised them to heaven as a protest for love to conquer all.  For every child to grow up and experience true love as I wished in that vision of you and me, as sand box buddies. For the happy childhood and loving memories of all children to withstood the test of time. 

 

This sand-box buddy wishes might come true one day, maybe if not for you and me, then for two little children who God saw as a pair of doves, meant for true love.  If not, these wishes were still true, as I prayed dreams to come true, hearts to mend, and my heart to manifest to life!  In hope of you, Seth Meyers, that maybe one day, I would meet you.

 

Because I love you,

WishesOoohWishes

~Dedicated to The Denver Rescue Mission of Colorado ~

 

Amanda's hands tremored from the bitter frost on skin in the midst of a cold winter night. There was no room at St.Francis Shelter and her blanket was drenched from the snow on the concrete sidewalk. Matchstick men stood around the corner from where she was sleeping, and fear emerged out of the sheer feeling of danger from drug dealings or imminent assaults.

 

"Just let me be, please," said Amanda, to herself.

 

"You working tonight?" asked a man who passed by with his trousers sagging from his buttocks with his large cotton sweater stenched of semen and dirt.

 

"Nah, got hungry. I need some rest. Maybe one of the girls from under the I-70 is," said Amanda. Being seventeen and homeless meant a lot of side work with her body and dignity to make a quick buck. But not tonight, it was Christmas Eve.

 

"I just can't," she mumbled under her breath, fixing her blanket to cover her body. "I'd give anything for a change."

 

The man walked around the corner and yelled to the some of the drug dealers, "She ain't workin' tonight." A few moments later Amanda heard a loud yell, "Lazy whore!"

 

Her body shook but she curled her body tight and ignored the cold because once the shivers starts, there was no going back from holding the pain for the bone chilling weather. She clenched her teeth and mouth and held her wrists with each hand intertwined with her knees inside her arms.

 

"Won't kill my joy if I die tonight," she thought.

 

A police car passed by and the sirens jerked her body, with the red and blue lights blaring like annoying disco lights in a dark room.

 

"So…the ordinance is on," said the police officer, with his flashlights on her face, shining down inside the blanket like a scorching sun. "Let's go, we got to take you in."

 

"Oh man, Oh man…damn it! I ain't doing nothing," yelled Amanda, as tears flowed down her cheeks.

 

"Well, we gave you a ticket before, so you know the drill. Let's go, warm drink there and you're lucky, we're giving some pie for Christmas," said the police officer.

 

"God damn it, am I getting a ticket now?" she asked. Amanda twitched from the cold, as she pulled away from the police officer and putting her blanket inside the grocery cart.

 

"Leave that damn cart. Let's go," the officer yelled.

 

He pulled the back of her sweater and moved her to the back seat of the police car. Amanda slid down the car seat, but it was so warm with the car heater on that she didn't truly mind. 

 

The officer sat down in the driver seat, turned on his light, and started the engine. The Denver Police Department wasn't too far from the Ballpark area in downtown Denver, and as they passed by Snooze eatery, Amanda was half glad that she didn't have to do another job near the bus stop with some man she doesn't know.

 

"You like hot chocolate?" asked the officer.

 

"Yeah, my mom used to make me some when I was little, around this time," said Amanda, trying to answer every question just in case she can get on his good side. Sixteen and homeless meant jumbled memories of home, no matter how brutal it was. At least the officer asked about "hot chocolate" and not about school.

 

"You got folks back home?" he asked.

 

Damn it, Amanda thought.

 

"They died. Car accident. My uncle wasn't a good man. My aunt was a bitch, so I just left them,'" said Amanda, grimacing from the past. She was so perturbed that the officer even asked personal questions when he should damn well know that homeless kids didn't want to be questioned.

 

"Let's get off here," said the officer, stopping on the corner of Park and Lawrence. "Get out, and walk inside, my friend John is there. Tell him I sent you."

 

"What?" Amanda said, biting her lips because this was another one of those times where spontaneity meets misfortune, and only fate can dictate her destiny. "What do you want me to do in there?"

 

"Get the hell out and talk to John. Are you stupid deaf?" he yelled at her. "Get out, I gotta get another one."

 

Amanda ran out of the car and walked into the brightly lit entrance-way into a building she never entered before. 

 

Another officer met her inside, and said, "I'm John. Here fill out this form."

John handed her a paper form on a clipboard and she frantically filled it out.

 

Name, home address, telephone number, date of birth, reason for applying, not everything was filled out and three out of five wasn't too bad. Amanda Smith, homeless, not available, January 31, 1996, got ticketed at Ballpark bus stop.

 

"Go in that room and wait for me," said Officer John. He took the form from the clipboard and pushed her to a room filled with so much raucous that she was afraid to walk in.

 

Amanda opened the double doors and in front of her were tables and tables of dinner plates set up with napkins, spoons, forks, the works, like a real dinner table.

 

Near the back of the room were some folks dressed with red aprons serving plates of dinner with ham, mashed potatoes, corn, and sweet rolls on the side.

 

Amanda walked to the servers, and asked, "Can I have some?" She couldn't help but to feel so hungry all of the sudden.

 

"Hey, Amanda, yeah. Sit down, take your sweater off, we'll get you a blanket and eat up," said one of the ladies.

 

"How'd you know my name?" asked Amanda.

 

"It's there on your name tag, silly," said the lady in a white sweater and black pants with her red apron.  She had the most loving smile as if she was a family member that Amanda never met, but had grown to love.

 

Amanda looked down to check if there really was a name-tag on her body, and to her surprise, she was dressed in a red velvet dress with a white sticker of a name tag on her left chest.

She looked down her feet and she was wearing black slip-on shoes and black plaid patterned tights. She looked at her skin, and she was clean, but she hadn't showered for months. Her eyes widened and a buzz simmered inside her brain as it tingled inside her cranium.

 

"Holy macaroni," said Amanda. She smelled her underarms and much to her surprise, she smelled like a girl after a fresh shower.

 

"You gotta sit down, the house is filling up," said a skinny bearded man with a knitted green sweater. "Look, who's behind you! Hey, Malcolm!"

 

Amanda turned around and saw a jolly man with a huge beer belly and a smile, wearing a Christmas sweater with a picture of Rudolph holding a candy cane.

 

Malcolm walked towards her and said, "Amanda, you got the job! You'll start in the kitchen as dishwasher and you can work your way up to server at the soup kitchen."

 

"I have a job?" Amanda said, baffled. Her mind boggled as if a lost toddler in a shopping mall on Black Friday.

 

"Yeah, I thought it could be your present. Merry Christmas!" Malcolm said. He hugged her, and lifted her off the ground.

 

"I was homeless a minute ago," said Amanda. She was touched by some divine presence that she never knew existed. "I don't understand."

 

"Oh, don't worry about that. Just eat up and we'll take care of you. The room upstairs is yours till you settle down," said the lady who first spoke to her.

 

"I have a place to stay?" Amanda cried.

 

"Stop thinking about the past. Just eat," said Malcolm.

 

Amanda ate and ate and got seconds. After dinner, she walked upstairs behind the building and saw her room that looked strangely like a college dormitory.

 

"It's all yours kid," said Malcolm. "You can work here until you get back to school."

 

"Who did all this?" asked Amanda, with warm tears in sobs.

 

"You did. You don't remember?" Malcolm was confused. "You came in on Christmas Eve a day ago and asked us to help out. So here we are kid."

 

Amanda thought that she was about to be jailed just a few hours ago, but now it's Christmas? Did time just flew by without consent out of respect for her? Who was that officer? Where did he go?

 

"Merry Christmas, Amanda," Malcolm hugged her, and walked back downstairs. "Get back down and meet some new friends." He smiled at her and was about to walk down the stairs when he suddenly said, "Oh, this is for you."

 

He took out a small little stone with the word "BELIEVE" etched on the smooth surface. "It's from management," he said.

 

The End. Just write.

Dana's face was on the Graphics of the Magical Billboards, announcing, "Hear me all citizens of the Earth, Giuseppe Baptiste and Pearsons Rockfield were long time lovers, and they were ashamed to admit it. Because of their anguish and denials, they also wanted to deny others of their human rights!" 

 

Dana's face looked like a wolf but with plump lips from his plumpers. "They wanted to make sure everyone they loved who belonged in their circle of communities remain the first to know any information or rights pertaining to the humanity. This caused them to abuse their powers because they committed crimes against the poor who showed promising futures. They purposely assaulted, raped, sabotaged, destroyed, murdered, violated all forms of hope for those who showed a promising social life, financial life, romantic life and skills in bargain shopping. They wanted to make sure these castes become vulnerables and to never shop Tier 1. They wanted to keep them as Tier 3 or Homeless."

 

Everyone gasped on the Earth and it was as if a breath of wind inhaled into the core of the universe, then exhaled out oxygen after a full minute of stillness. The sheer suprise of the citizens of the Earth gave Dana more valor to speak more of the atrocious acts of Giuseppe Baptiste and Pearsons Rockfield. 

 

"They will try to deny their crimes, and they will try to gain more powers and claim victory because they are still the reigning leaders, but come January 20, they shall be replaced by new form of leaderships. We will have to announce our plans as human beings to call on a new leadership for each nation of the Earth," said Dana. "This has to be done fast! Or those two miniscules will try to gain control by calling on the Choi Militia and Black Mollies to use their cars to search for vulnerables and hurt their lives. This was done to Karina Ting, and they will try it again!"

 

The whole Earth murmured amongst their families and loved ones and the sound was as swarms of bees were hovering over the entire skies. Father and I looked to the horizon and wondered if the humming sounds were from a source, and there were black dots that looked like flies far yonder further than the mountains in the sky. Karina looked to me and Rambo, and asked, "What are those?" Rambo and I shrugged our shoulders, and the people around us kept chanting "REFORMATION" as Giuseppe Baptiste and Pearsons Rockfield were being tied with the pretzel shaped flags.

 

"I did nothing wrong. I was acting as a human being with needs!" exclaimed Giuseppe Baptiste. 

 

"I was in love with him, and I was following my heart's desires. A heart so full of love!" shouted Pearsons Rockfield. "Its Cinnamon Sugar in my blood. I promise!"

 

Everyone around them shushed Giuseppe Baptiste and Pearsons Rockfield. Everyone was tired of their bratty wants and tantrums.

 

"We are throwing you both in the penitentiary, until further notice, or until the Moon ceases to shine and the Sun never appears," said MAD. The people took them over their heads and walked to the nearest county jail, that was rumored to be located behind Denver General Hospital. 

 

"Are those what I think they are?" said my Father. "Hornets?" The humming sound was the sound of the hornets from the farthest part of South Americas and they were the size of dollar bills. "They are giant hornets, and they're ready to attack!"

 

The people around us ran to a shelter and to the buildings around them, and any thoughts of lightbulbs shortage and no more macaroni and cheese felt as child's play compared to these giant hornets from the South.

 

Those who carried Giuseppe Baptiste and Pearsons Rockfield ran instead of walked, but the hornets got to the two leaders and swarmed them. The hornets especially began to feed off the bodies of Giuseppe Baptiste and Pearsons Rockfield, and stung them with the giant stingers as the two leaders were swollen and their bodies exploded but the hornets ate away their carcass because these insects were not only gigantic, but they were also carnivorous.

 

"The Omen," whispered Rambo to me and Karina, as we stood in the shade underneath a tree still watching the whole entire display of heavenly justice unfold in front of our eyes.

 

"Was it karma? You think?" I asked my Father. 

 

"I doubt it. It's the law of heaven. Those two committed brutal crimes. It's the culmination of their deeds," said my Father. "The world suffered because of their abuse."

 

Karina sat cross-legged on the grass knoll further from the crowd of people watching the two bloodied bodies of Giuseppe Baptiste and Pearsons Rockfield feasted upon by the swarms of giant carnivorous hornets.

 

Dana shouted over to the people, "What's going on Denverites?"

I realized Dana had no idea in real time what was going on in front of our eyes. My Father took his wrist phone and dialed on Dana's number and showed him the scene. Dana cried and looked to the skies, and said, "There is a God." And the people hummed a somber tune, something out of a song book that no one knew but somehow everyone took part. It was as if the song was inside the world's mind. 

 

"Peace be on Earth, O my Soul. Let the people sing. Rise above the sorrows and the sins over us. Peace be on Earth," sang the people of Denver and worldwide.

 

Since the death of Giuseppe Baptiste and Persons Rockfield, the world was calm and silent, to commemorate those we lost because of the two psychotic leaders who harmed the entire planet. Each soul walked in the morning and took time to greet one another and we all soon realized that there was no lightbulb shortage or macaroni and cheese shortage. Those were all made up to instill fear amongst the people and used to brain wash and manipulate the world so the two psychotic leaders would be able to control the minds of the people by giving them instructions of a made-up catastrophe.

 

Dana stayed in the tropical islands he vacationed in, because he met a gorgeous woman his age and they married and adopted a local orphan boy and girl. He called his "Charmed Life."

 

Karina went back to school and so did I and so did Rambo. We all took online classes and took care of Boris and Betina in the evenings when my Father went back to night shift as he took care of the babies in the mornings. We moved to a bigger condo in Denver with four bedrooms and three baths, but no longer in the city, instead in the residential condo nearby a bookstore and a kindergarten to prepare for the babies to grow up in this cruel world.

 

World leaders were chosen again, and Karina was in line for a title, but she refused a Royal Title, instead, she chose the babies as future the Future Prince and Princess, and they were allowed to marry anyone they desired inside their hearts. The Political leaders were voted into office, and the first families lived in the capitols and the castles that were once owned by the Royal Families were given to the Royal lineage, the long lost descendants of The Duke of Essex, that was once claimed to have been forgotten, but since he was out of the lime light, the Duke and his families were given blessings beyond reason.

 

Once again, the world and time collaborated wihh the people, as I looked to the heavens and prayed, "Please help us all."

 

The End. Just write.

Kenzo looked into the mirror in his bathroom, staring at his small slanted black eyes and limp straight black hair. He wondered how his soul was ever chosen to have black, the color of darkness, to be a part of his features.

 

Kenzo was convinced that Caucasians, Latinos and African Americans didn't have to deal with being called "chink," although he was actually Japanese. But, he was pretty sure other races and ethnicities had their struggles. Why did they exist? Those labels? The subject was so deep that Kenzo felt a swirling headache for about five seconds just thinking about it.

 

His skin tone was pinkish pale, with some pimples on his face that looked like tiny volcanoes with pus inside, awaiting some pressure from his two fingertips to erupt. He was holding the temptation. He decided not to press them because there were already some scars from the previously throbbing pimples that he pressed, and they were now dark spots on his face.

 

"I wish I was handsome," he said. All he thought about today was Melody, the dreamy senior he dreamt about last night because she has the most alluring brown eyes and the cutest smile. "She'll never notice me."

 

Kenzo didn't mind being Japanese or even Asian, but he did mind being called "chink" or "gook" or "nip" or "chino" or "trash." The taunts felt like a knife to the core of his heart and soul because he couldn't help to look the way he looked.

 

Jim, his best mate, thought Kenzo had a "dozen" calculators, because Japanese people from Intel created it in the 70s. Kenzo was so afraid of saying, "Nah, that's not true." Kenzo remained quiet because he would rather have Jim thought he was smart and knew about the scientific calculator, instead of finding out he had the lowest grade in math.

 

Kenzo wasn't sure he could accomplish anything, but he sure knew he could possibly fail at everything.

 

"Kenzo, come out. Get some dinner and talk to me," said Maria, his Mom.

 

Maria knew high school was rough on Kenzo, but she won't let him stay silent about his hard days at school.

 

Kenzo came out and sat at the head of the nicely set up dinner table, with a small bowl of rice and a plate of pork cutlets and sautéed seaweed with garlic. "Dinner can't last more than fifteen minutes," Kenzo figured.

 

"So, I have to tell you a story, Kenzo," said Maria. "I never really told you how your Dad and I met."

 

"Yeah. I still love you," he said. His eyes slanted to the left to watch her face, because he understood his mother. As a son of a single Mom, he never expected her to tell him the truth about her past. "I believe everything you told me before."

 

"What did I tell you before?" asked Maria.

 

"That Dad had an affair with his co-worker and he left you in Japan. So, you moved to Hawaii illegally and started to work there and finally got your citizenship," said Kenzo.

 

"Well, I want to change the story a little bit," said Maria.

 

"What do you mean?" Kenzo asked.

 

"What if I tell you that I was pregnant before I got married? And that your Dad married me because I groveled?" asked Maria.

 

"Dad was rich, is that why you groveled?" asked Kenzo. He remembered growing up in a huge house with a Koi pond and his father always played with him in the garden. "You mean to tell me that Dad is not my father?"

 

Shocking life, shocking face, and all this in one day. How would I ever live through this? Kenzo placed his fork down and his eyes were tearing.

 

"No," said Maria. "I was so hurt so bad. I didn't have friends, too. But I made it Kenzo."

 

"Oh God, Mom!" said Kenzo, rolling his eyes. "Is this the truth or one of those hypothetical to make me feel better?"

 

"Both," said Maria. "So, pretend tonight that I groveled to your father and he married me out of fear because he was getting old and limp."

 

"Jesus!" said Kenzo. The phone rang.

 

Kenzo walked to the phone and tapped the 'talk' button. "Yeah, this is the Yashi residence."

 

"Kenzo?" said the darling voice on the phone. "May I speak to Kenzo Yashi for a moment? My name is Melody from his high school."

 

"Melody? Switzer? Is this real?" Kenzo said, accidently saying his thoughts out loud. The same swirling headache from earlier in the evening rushed through his whole head.  He was passing out.

 

"Oh, hi, My name is Melody and I'm the student representative from the Anti-Bullying group at school," said Melody. She sounded nervous.

 

"You're so brilliant," Kenzo uttered. Gasp.

 

"Oh, you're so sweet," said Melody.

 

"Kenzo who is it?" asked Maria, from the dinner table.

 

"Can I help you with anything?" asked Kenzo, walking to the dinner table, sitting back down in front of his mom with his cell phone on one ear.

 

Maria sliced her pork cutlet into small pieces and stared at her son who was smiling from ear to ear.

 

"Must be something good. You're smiling," said Maria. She forked a few strands of garlic seaweed and a pinch of rice.

 

"Jim told me that someone called you a derogatory name today. I want to apologize for that," said Melody. "Jim also wanted to say sorry about the 'calculator' thing. He just wants you to feel better about being who you are."

 

"Jim, he's a good man," said Kenzo. He couldn't believe 'dream brunette' was on his phone line.

 

"So, what are you doing for Christmas this year?" asked Melody.

 

"My Mom and I were just going to go to the nativity show at the Presby church around the corner then go home," said Kenzo.

 

"The Anti-bullying team is having a Christmas party at the Flaggstaff house. Up Baseline Avenue in Boulder," said Melody. "Would you come? It's free. The fundraising team made sure we can invite a date."

 

"A date?" Kenzo asked and tears were hovering in his eyes.

 

Maria choked on her pork cutlet, and asked "Is she cute? Kenzo?" Kenzo raised his index finger to his lips.

 

"Yeah. I know you might want to come if Jim will come too, so I made sure another girl is asking him to come. Care to join me?" she asked.

 

Melody's voice creacked because she understood that being different could cause a lot of heartache. "Just to let you know. I was bullied because a lot of girls are jealous sometimes and I get hurt. So I know how name calling can cause heartaches."

 

"You're the most beautiful girl I've ever met. Yes! I want to go. Don't change your mind," Kenzo said with a tinge of nerves. "What should I do now? I've never been asked out before."

 

"I never asked anyone out before, either" said Melody.

 

"She sounds like a warrior," said Maria, chewing the rest of the pork cutlet inside her mouth.

 

"You don't have to do anything. Let's talk tomorrow. Come to our meeting on the second floor library," said Melody.

 

"Okay. Let's do that then," said Kenzo.

 

"Okay. I will talk to you later, Kenzo. And...," she said, as she paused for a moment, "I really want to thank you, for not making me feel embarrassed for asking you out and for not rejecting me. I've been hurt before, too. So I think we'll have plenty to talk about."

 

"I know we'll be best friends," said Kenzo. His heart beats a little faster and tears rolled down his cheeks as if his eyes were two leaky faucets. I couldn't believe this just happened, Kenzo couldn't help but to think of this, and replied, "I'll see you tomorrow." They hung up.

 

"So, you have plans this year for Christmas," said Maria. "I will be free to go with my girlfriends and have a girls' nite out." Maria smiled, because finally she wasn't worried about her son feeling alone or horrible during the holidays.

 

"I think that was a Christmas miracle," said Kenzo. He stared at the wall, because he wasn't sure if the whole thing happened at all.

 

"So, a girl just asked you to go on a date, for Christmas," said Maria. "Yep, it happened."

 

"Mom. I love you. I know Dad is Dad and you're my Mom. You don't have to make up stories anymore. I'm going to make things happier. I'll work harder and I'll make better friends. But, Jim is a keeper," said Kenzo.

 

"I thought he was a pot-head. Not true, huh?" said Maria. She smiled.

 

"Christmas isn't going to be a bad day after all," said Kenzo. He took his mother's hand and kissed them. "I love how you make up stories to make me feel good. I love you forever, Mom."

 

"Merry early Christmas, Baby," said Maria.

 

"Merry Christmas, Mom," said Kenzo.