Filler Bits: A Magical Christmas
Traditionally Alf would spend Christmas with his parents. Both his parents were only children whose parents had died, so they were basically all they had left in the world. Sometimes they'd go on a trip somewhere. Alf could distinctly remember a Christmas spent in California where they'd gone theme parking that day. Christmas in California was like Christmas in July in Sydney. Sometimes a friend of his parents would invite them over for lunch or dinner and Mr and Mrs Struthers would always accept since they never had anything better to do. Sometimes it occurred to Alf that it was a bit of a sad life. But they weren't Christians, so what did Christmas really mean? Just another public holiday but this time one where you needed to buy people presents. Family was important. The Struthers family had spent the last two years with Damien's family at their house.
But this year, the Struthers family be attending the extravaganza that would be Christmas celebrations at the Aldus Manor. From what Jessica and Rock had told Alf, it would be like one gigantic party.
Alf would be sleeping over from the night before Christmas Eve where he would watch as people filled the manor. People he'd never met before. People who weren't related to him. Aldus after Aldus would be converging on the Manor ready to get down to business and wanting their room back for that one day of the year. His parents would join them on Christmas day for the opening of presents and the traditional Christmas breakfast, lunch and dinner. Alf would not be going home until about New Years Day. He'd be at the Aldus house for over a week getting settled in. Damien's parents didn't quite approve of this. And since they didn't know about magic, they couldn't attend the celebrations so Alf, Jessica and Rock wouldn't be seeing him until the next day.
Alf arrived at the Aldus house bright and early on the 23rd of December. He carried a single bag. He wandered straight through the front door without bothering to ring. He'd noticed in the past few days as Alduses started to congregate that none of them rang the doorbell or even knocked. They all considered the main house their own, and it definitely was their house. He made his way up to Rock's bedroom where he'd be staying. He found that it had been prepared for his arrival. There was an extra bed beside Rock's and an extra wardrobe that Alf didn't think he needed since he had only brought one bag. Not to mention he basically lived down the street so if he needed anything else he could get it. He didn't get to sleep in his own room because they were going to be strapped for space with all the random Alduses from all over the place.
His parents had been worried about him staying at the Aldus house for so long, but they hadn't said anything. They just told him to call them every day at a specific time and that if he didn't call then they would and if they were at all suspicious then he would be coming home right that very minute.
The room was prepared for Alf's arrival. Rock was not. Alf decided that the best way to wake his friend up would be to jump up and down on his bed. This got Rock out of bed only because the bouncing caused Rock to roll off the side of the bed. Sadly, he was still asleep. Alf quickly suffocated Rock, holding his nose and mouth closed, waiting for him to wake up. For a second Alf thought he might have accidentally killed his friend, but he woke up, and all was bright and happy in the world.
They ate breakfast in the breakfast room where a bunch of foods were laid out on the table and it had turned into a serve yourself buffet. It was like living in a hotel or something where you knew everyone staying there. Well, Alf didn't, but Rock and Jessica managed to politely say good morning to everyone and introduce their friend.
That afternoon, Alf met Rock's brother for the first time. Eric was also a tall young man. A little shorter than Rock, though, and not as muscled, either. He had a light tan and had dyed his hair purple. He was twenty and seemed to adore his younger brother who basically ignored him all the time except when he wanted something. This was new to Alf who'd never imagined Rock as being a spoilt younger sibling. Especially not with the way Aliana treated him. Alf imagined that Dr Aldus might spoil Rock if he'd take the time to spend any time with his father.
It was a happy Alf that fell asleep that night.
-=-=-=-=-=-The next day it was Rock who woke Alf up by jumping on his bed. Apparently he'd decided that waking up extra early just to wake up Alf early was definitely worth it. Alf singed him with a couple of little fireballs and but did not have enough wits about him to counter when Rock shot them back.
Christmas Eve was spent getting to know the various crazy Alduses. They sat around a television and watched Christmas carols by candlelight with various family members.
Christmas Day was fun, but while Alf sat with his parents, for the first time he felt jealous of Rock and Jessica. Because although their immediate families were quite small, they had such large extended families that they would never be lonely unless they wanted to be. Alf wanted that, but knew he couldn't have it. The best he could hope for was to be unofficially adopted into the Aldus family.
posted by Cedric @ 1:03 pm
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