Jessica stared at
the change, scattered on the coffee table.
After all of their expenses that month, only a few coins remained. She often skipped lunch, and she never ate
out. She scrimped and saved for months. Yet, this is what remained.
The demand for tiny
apartments on the surface was high and so were the rental rates. The underground cities were bursting with
families, anxious to find their place in the sun. Even with a lottery system, it was often the
highest bidder who won, but Jefferson Hardy’s
distinguished service earned them a place.
However, in the midst of a city struggling to build new upon the ruins
of the old, even the combined income of an officer and a medical tech didn’t
stretch very far.
The apartment was
tiny. Jessica didn’t mind. It was not often occupied. When it was, there were few walls to separate
them.
Her tuition took the
majority of what they saved, but
She spent many an
hour contemplating a gift for
Jessica leaned back
on the tattered, second-hand couch.
Tears of frustration slipped down her cheeks. A good cry and a quick wallow in self-pity
seemed in order. So, she got right to
it. Pressing her hands to her face, she
leaned over on her side and began to sob pitifully.
It was in that very
moment the usually resourceful young woman came upon an epiphany. She gasped as she sat up straight. Her eyes, although glistening with tears,
flashed brilliantly with purpose.
Running to the tiny bathroom, she removed the band securing her
braid. She quickly plucked her hair loose,
allowing it to fall to its full length over her shoulder.
It is important to
note, there were two possessions within the Jefferson Hardy household, which
were esteemed above all others. The
first was
The second of these
treasures was Jessica’s luxurious mane of hair.
When she failed to subdue it into a long braid, it was a cascade of
finely spun gold, streaming down her back.
Now, her source of
pride, her finely spun gold, fell in soft waves across her shoulder and past
her small waist. Lavish and thick, it
was almost a garment, in and of itself.
She touched it tenderly; taking a moment to admire what had taken years
for her to achieve. She blinked, and a
tear rolled down her cheek. She gathered
her strength. With renewed
determination, she quickly manipulated her pride into another braid.
In a flurry of
excitement, she threw on her old jacket, which served her well, but had seen
far too many days of use. She wrapped a
tattered scarf about her neck and shoulders.
Then, with child-like exuberance, she scooped up the change on the
coffee table and skipped down the stairs into the bitter cold.
Her pace was rapid
and swift, fueled by her newfound exhilaration.
She vaguely remembered a small shop she passed many times on her way
home from work, but she took different routes, depending upon the time of
day. Early in the afternoons, she took
the shortcut through the park in the center of the city. Late at night, she walked along the well-lit
streets. ‘What was the name?’ she
thought. ‘Miss Couture’s? Miss Clouitier’s?’ She remembered it sounded French.
The streets were
still bustling with last minute shoppers and casual strollers, enjoying the
modest, but festive adornments of the city.
She moved passed couples holding hands and parents, with their young
children. She paused to admire a child
of four or five, clasping the hand of his distracted mother. He stared at her with inquisitive brown
eyes. He had a head full of auburn hair,
just like
When she turned, she
glanced across the street. There, in
front of her, was ‘Madame Couture’s
Fine Hair Products’. She hurried across
the intersection, dodging traffic as she went.
She was breathless when she threw open the door to the little shop. A dangling bell rang, announcing her
entrance.
“I’ll be right with
you!” Came a
voice from the storage room in the back.
Jessica was far too anxious to enjoy the warmth or the smell of
cinnamon, which drifted from lit candles.
As her eyes passed over the elegant little room, adorned with velvet
draping and brass appointments, she envisioned Madame Couture as a tall, willowy woman with pale skin, black hair, and an
accent of European origin. The woman who
emerged from the back was short and heavy-set.
Her gray hair was swept away from her plump face and into a loose
bun.
“Will you buy my
hair?” Jessica asked anxiously.
“I buy hair,” the woman
replied. “Let me see what you have
there.”
Jessica loosened the
scarf from her neck and pulled the band from her braid. She quickly picked it apart and allowed the
hair to fall to its full length. Without
the manufacturing of synthetic wigs, hand-woven, human hair was very much in
demand. It was strangely comforting to
know familiar things like vanity still thrived, even in the shadow of worldwide
disaster. For Jessica, vanity was a
luxury these days.
The woman walked around
her, inspecting her hair with a critical eye and an experienced hand.
Then, she finally made
Jessica an offer. Having little
experience in the fine art of negotiation and being pressed for time, she
accepted it without complaint.
Jessica dashed out
the door and into the waning sunlight of the afternoon. She felt giddy and light. Was it because the weight of her hair had
been lifted from her or was it the bubbly exuberance she felt while clutching
her newfound wealth? She didn’t
know. She was high with excitement and
it felt so very good.
The next few hours
floated by on silvery, gossamer wings.
Of course, the afore mentioned analogy is far
too polite to accurately describe what transpired. Jessica was unapologetically ransacking the
stores for
It was late
afternoon when she found it, but there it was, lying among the remnants of old
family wealth. Certainly, it was meant
for her
The box was
exquisite, hand-tooled leather, modestly etched with gold leaf. The gold hinges and the locking mechanism
were polished and bright in the flattering light of the store. It had served someone well for many years,
but they had cared for it. There were only
slight signs of wear. Perhaps it was
sold to fund a family’s passage out of the underground cities. Perhaps it was liberated from a household
before the bombings. The possibilities
of its history were endless. Now, it lay
amongst similar antiques awaiting its next home.
These dialogues,
these narratives, were the precious things she and Jefferson found in old
artifacts. It was a game they shared
while strolling through the city streets, hand in hand. They would admire something in a shop, which they
could only dream of buying. If they
could not own the artifact, they would own the story of its origin. Money didn’t fuel imagination.
She carefully opened
the little box and found it was lined with buttery, soft suede. She touched the interior with the tips of her
fingers, because such elegance begged to be caressed. When
When she returned
home, she tempered her intoxication with her responsibilities. She set the oven for dinner and pulled out
her brush and her curling iron and set about repairing the damage, born from
the furrows of generosity and love.
She curled and
brushed and fussed. An hour later, her
head was full of wavy curls, dangling down to her chin. When she fussed enough, she inspected herself
in the bathroom mirror with a critical eye.
She silently wondered if
Fresh fruits and
vegetables were rarely in the budget, but a visit to the farmer’s market proved
to be worthwhile. New potatoes were on
the menu, but she could only find canned corn.
She would wash and slice the strawberries very carefully. They were still very rare and expensive, but
they were
There was enough
light through the small window in the kitchen to nourish herbs and small
tomatoes. The pots were now empty. The tomato plant stripped bare. All willingly sacrificed
for the sake of a fresh herb salad and the love of a good man.
She checked the meat
in the fridge once more, beaming as she inspected the beautiful specimens. It was real meat. Not the meat substitute derived from algae. Red and marbled beneath a light seasoning,
they were beautiful to behold. They
might even be enough to quell the anger she anticipated from
Seven o’clock was
approaching. The table was set, the
candles were lit, and the salad was made.
The vegetables and strawberries were cleaned and sliced and the pan was
warming on the stove for the meat.
She took one more
satisfying look at her prize before she wrapped it in the plain brown paper she
salvaged from the grocery bags. She
secured the wrapping with her favorite red ribbon she often used for her
hair. The ribbon matched the tablecloth,
so she set the present in the center of the table. Then, she sat quietly and admired her
handy-work. Even with mismatched plates
and utensils, the tiny folding table had never looked so elegant.
With nothing more to
do except wait, she touched what remained of her hair. ‘Please,’ she thought, ‘please let
She heard footsteps
on the staircase outside, and for a moment, she felt ill. The blood drained from her face and her legs
were weak, but she kept her composure and managed a smile as the door to the
apartment opened.
Jessica couldn’t
decipher his reaction. She couldn’t read
him in that moment, and it frightened her. There was no surprise, no anger, and no
disapproval… She wriggled free of the
table and ran to him.
“
“It’ll grow
back! It grows so fast! I… I simply couldn’t go through Christmas
without giving you a present!”
“You sold it?” He said slowly, as if he was still trying to
grasp the concept.
“Yes,
“Your hair is…
gone?” he said laboriously. He glanced
around the apartment, as if he might find traces of it somewhere.
“It’s gone! Just like that!” She brushed the lint from his jacket with her
hand and placed it neatly on the arm of the couch. “Don’t bother looking for it! You won’t find it here!” She managed a nervous smile. “It’s Christmas Eve,
He pulled away from
her and she watched him anxiously as he went back to his jacket on the arm of
the couch. He held it up and extracted a
cheerfully decorated package from the inside breast pocket. He was silent as he regarded it for a moment
in his hand. “I’m not angry,
Jessica.” His voice was gentle and soft,
almost a whisper, as he met her eyes.
Finally, he held out the box to her.
“I just… I love you… that’s all.”
She came to
him. With an air of hesitation, she
accepted the package with trembling hands.
She was overcome by the fearful weakness in her body, so she sat down on
the couch. Carefully, she pulled away
the elegant ribbon and the lovely wrapping.
When she removed the lid from the box, her eyes widened and she softly
gasped. She was deathly quiet. She didn’t even breathe. Her eyes shimmered with tears in her
awestruck silence. Suddenly, she began
to sob hysterically.
Lying within the
delicate cushioning of the box were… The Combs! The exquisite combs she had longed for in the
window of a local antique dealer.
Hand-forged in silver and adorned with colorful sparkling jewels and
inlayed mother-of-pearl, they were the perfect embellishment for long,
beautiful locks resembling wind-blown wheat fields. Each time she walked passed the shop on her
way home, she paused to admire them. She
desired them secretly; silently knowing she had no hope of possessing
them. It was enough to simply see them
each day.
“What do you
think?”
“I think…” She
paused, as ideas formed in her mind. “I
think a man was madly in love, and he commissioned these for his wife! I think in his mind, there was nothing in the
world that could complement her beauty except something so unique.”
They were gone from
the window one day. Purchased. The shine and luster she found in her walk
home was gone. She didn’t look forward
to it anymore.
All of those months,
they were with
“Wha’
have you been up to?” He took the box from
her and she softly clapped her hands in rapid succession.
He tried to remove
the wrapping with care and respect, but Jessica couldn’t wait. Her anxious hands pulled at the ribbon and
paper. It fell away, and he held the
exquisite treasure in both hands.
Jessica dropped to her knees beside him.
She watched in silence as his admiring eyes traced its handsome detail. “Jessica…” He couldn’t seem to find the
words.
“It’s for your
watch, Jefferson! Your heirloom! You don’t have to keep it in an old sock
anymore!” She gently opened the box and
revealed the finely crafted interior.
“Isn’t it perfect? What do you
think?”
“Ah think…” He
paused for a long moment, studying it with a reflective look in his eyes. “Ah think a woman was madly in love with her
husband, and she had this made for him.
Ah think in her mind, there was noth’n in the
world that would be more perfect for him than someth’n
so unique.”
The smile she gave
him was so bright and beautiful; it was as if there were no tears at all. “Get out the watch, Jefferson!” She tugged his arm. “I want to see it in the case!”
He smiled at her,
but it wasn’t the appreciative smile that she expected. It was… a smile portraying a sense of irony, and
she didn’t understand it. Her face
dissolved into confusion as he touched her hand and held it tight.
“I can’t, Baby… the
watch is gone…”
“
“I sold it… I sold
it, so I could give you a wonderful Christmas…”
“You sold it… to get
the combs.” Tears welled in Jessica’s eyes once again. She threw her arms around him and embraced
him with all of her strength. “Not your
precious heirloom,
He embraced his
sweet Jessica and stroked the soft waves of her short hair. “Aren’t we a
pair? I wanted you to have an
heirloom. Merry Christmas, Jessica! I love you!”
“I love you too,
The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully
wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of
giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones,
possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I
have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in
a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of
their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that
of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive
gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the
magi.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), The Gift of the Magi