Back at Paige’s on Christmas Morning
Dawn was breaking at the house when everyone smelled coffee. People coming from upstairs and downstairs were met with the aroma of coffee and fresh baked cinnamon rolls. However, no one was in the kitchen.
Henrik walked out back with a mug and a cinnamon roll in his hands. Next to the fire pit, with a good blaze roaring stood Sabine and Veronica.
“When did you two get back?” He asked around a mouth full of cinnamon roll.
About an hour ago.” Was Veronica’s reply. “Is everyone else up as well?”
“Yeah, the coffee and cinnamon rolls woke them up. Why are you guys out here and not inside?”
Sabine’s answer was quiet. “Watching the sunrise.”
Soon the six at the house gathered around the tree, anxious faces and mugs of coffee all around. Presents were handed out to everyone in turn and all watched as faces lit up at the contents.
Henrik started. He passed out the gift he had for Paige first. Paige squealed in delight at the beautiful wood jewelry box complete with inlay. Upon opening it, the whole room went quiet. The exquisite rose gold byzantine style chain inside moved and slithered around in her hands as Paige pulled it out.
“You have to put it on” Andrea exclaimed as she moved forward to help her with it.
It lay against her neck and cascaded down like water. Its color was the perfect complement to her strawberry blond hair and not a few were jealous.
Sabine was next. “I am cheating.” As she handed both Violet and Veronica a small package. Opening them both found a round gold bracelet.
“Good grief! These are heavy.” Violet was the first to comment. She had a faint memory of seeing something like this on her father once or twice when she was a little girl, but she didn’t remember him wearing it much or often. She wondered why.
Veronica looked at the deceptively heavy bracelet. She felt how malleable it was when she slid it on her own wrist. She knew what this was. Her father showed one to her after her event in Africa. This was a lot more elegant and less bulky than her own solution her last couple of trips. She had easily a dozen properly sized plain gold wedding bands she wore on a chord around her neck. She would keep one on her finger so she could ‘wistfully’ pull it off to trade away at need, then replace it later out of sight.
Both Veronica and Violet wondered why they were getting such a thing from Sabine. Did she know what they were? Violet could see the question on Veronica’s eyes as they looked at one another.
The V’s showed off their gifts to everyone.
Andrea had a package for Henrik next. The big soft bundle was the size of a foot stool. When he unwrapped it, it was still a big pile of some sort of cloth. Standing to get a better look at it, he realized it was a frontiersman style capote or blanket coat. The darn thing had to weigh ten pounds! Henrik was speechless.
“Come on, put the damn thing on! I need to see if I got it right!” Andrea exclaimed.
Henrik slid his arms into the coat. It felt perfect in the length, but the torso was a little too big, even on him. He pulled at the middle. “Anticipating me getting fat?
“Well that is your seventh cinnamon roll but no, it’s bigger so you could wear it over other things including equipment.” Andrea quipped. Andrea was beaming seeing the look on Henrik’s face as he modeled the coat. He looked over at Andrea, a smirk on his face.
“When it’s your turn, your either going to love me or hate me.” He paused before enveloping her in a great bear hug. She almost vanished in his huge arms and sweeping coat.
Veronica was looking with good natured envy at the coat. It would be perfect for some of her winter hunting and appealed to her growing appreciation for the old school methods, like her own return to the recurve and longbow from the compound ones. She had a few wool blankets at the house. She should talk to Andrea or her mom about the sewing aspect.
Violet handed Sabine a package. As Sabine took it, you could see the weight of it compared to its size. She gently peeled back the paper, revealing a very old book. As Sabine turned it over and over, then started to leaf through it, everyone could see it was quite old but had very vibrant illustrations inside. Sabine was enthralled and hardly hear Violet’s explanation.
“We came across this 19th century medical textbook. It’s a comprehensive anatomy book. The thing I thought was really neat was all the full color illustrative plates inside. I just wish it was in English. Shoot! Almost gives you a reason or excuse to learn French.”
Sabine looked up at Veronica and Violet, both watching, waiting to find out if she liked it.
“I’adore c’est merveilleux” Sabine followed with a big grin!
Sabine took a turn next. She handed Andrea a small box. Andrea opened it finding vibrant red box. Opening the lid, she could see nestled inside was a beautiful watch, just as red as the box. She looked closer. It said ‘Omega, automatic, Geneve’ and had a little anchor on its face as well. A black crocodile band set off the red. She pulled it out marveling at it before speaking.
“You spent too much! It’s beautiful but you spent way too much!”
Sabine had tears in her eyes now as she took Andrea’s hands in hers.
“I didn’t spend too much. I did it because I can.” She choked up for a moment before continuing. “You know I will never get married again, but I want us to be together as long as you can be happy with me and put up with me.”
Now both of them were crying and the others were cheering until Violet decided enough was enough.
“Kiss her already!”
Once the excitement calmed down, it was back to presents. Sabine was sitting on the floor with Andrea in front of her, wrapped in her arms as they watched the next round of gift opening.
Andrea told Henrik which one she needed. When he slid it over, she handed it to Paige.
When Paige opened it, she looked confused for a moment. She held it up for everyone to see. It was a pretty leather shirt made of very thick leather, like baseball glove or motorcycle jacket thick. But it was very plain and unadorned. It had a simple v neck at the collar.
“It’s for you to wear when you are working on stuff! You are always complaining you are ruining your clothes with grease, tears, snags and such. With this, you won’t have to worry about it!” Andrea’s voice was worried sounding. Paige’s grin soothed Andrea’s frayed nerves.
“It’s great! I didn’t think of that! I should have had you make one for me years ago! You are so thoughtful!” Paige was beaming.
She looked over her shoulder at Henrik. “She’s going to hate us, isn’t she?” They both grinned as she slid a big box towards Andrea. “Here, this is from the both of us.”
Andrea reluctantly got up from her spot and opened the box. It was too heavy for her to lift easily. When the lid was open, her grin belied the words she used. “You assholes! I could have used this to make your stuff! Where the hell did you get it? Does it work?”
“No silly we just gave you a giant paperweight! We wanted you to open it and get all excited and then say neat isn’t but you can’t have it, it doesn’t work. Knuckle head!” Paige threw a pillow at her causing her to fall over.
“It’s from when they closed down the Rigger shop. It was all left behind. That sewing machine can sew the thickest straps, and the thinnest nylon. It has all the accessories to keep it running plus a lot of extras are in there. Henrik found it, and I fixed it so it runs right now. Here’s the other part.”
She slid a wooden box with legs and a hoop handle. It was an old school sewing box. “Henrik fixed and refurbished the box as well. This should keep you busy for the next however long.” Both Paige and Henrik received heartfelt hugs.
While Andrea was up, she handed a box to Sabine. When Sabine opened it, she found what looked like a t-shirt, except it was of the softest deerskin she had ever felt.
“I went with the deerskin for you so it would be soft enough you didn’t have to wear anything under it.” Andrea grinned and Sabine blushed a little, a first in a long time she though upon reflection.
Veronica was thinking, seeing what all Andrea had made. She had Elk hides and Deer hides. These types of things would be wonderful ways to use them. She had plenty so she could make some for herself and some for Violet and still have a bunch left over.
The next to open something was Henrik. Paige slid a large square box in front of him. Acting silly, he tore into the paper like a five-year-old. What he found was a wooden box with a handle on top. It was quite old, at least a hundred years old if it was a day. He kept turning it around and around, a big grin on his face until Paige got impatient.
“Well, go ahead, open the damn thing!”
Henrik looked embarrassed. The box itself was a wonderful present. Sheepishly he opened the lid. He and everyone else marveled at its contents. No wonder it was so heavy. It was full to the brim with vintage, antique, restored woodworking tools. Chisels, hammers, wooden screwdrivers, Yankee drill, bit and brace, it just went on and on. Here was a master carpenter’s set from the turn of the century, the 20th century. All the tools were at least eighty to a hundred and fifty years old, all restored to perfect using condition.
He was still staring when Paige spoke again. “I have the saws to go with it in the garage. I wasn’t going to wrap those up, they are too long.” Henrik and Paige’s embrace lasted a long time.
Andrea was next. She opened the box handed to her by Violet. Ripping upen the paper revealed no clues. Once the lid was opened, that changed. She began giggling.
“What is it?” Paige asked.
Andrea was still giggling.
“Show us, said Sabine.
Andrea held up a pair of big red vintage walkie-talkies, the kind bigger than a cell phone in the eighties, complete with the Morse alphabet and separate button. The part that had her giggling had to be the imagery on them though. One had Mickey and the other had Minnie.
“They both work, we tested them.” Veronica said as Andrea handed them around. Andrea needed to free up her hands to get to the second package within the box.
The second one was heavy for its size. Inside she found a gleaming twelve inch knife with an antler handle.
“I figured you spent enough time in the kitchen, you needed a great chef knife.” Violet said as she watched Andrea move and handle the blade.
Henrik opened his next box. Inside was a watch. This one looked old, though. He looked at it. It looked like a dive watch but an old one. He looked at the steel bezel and read the face, ‘Sea Wolf’. He looked at it, and looked at Sabine and smiled.
“Yes, we can be together as long as you can be happy with me and put up with me.” He said with a great big grin. Before she could object, he had her wrapped up in his huge arms, and might have even gotten a squeak, but it was muffled against his chest. When he let her go, he handed her a long flat box to open.
The flat box kind of puzzled Sabine. She slid the paper off and as she moved the box around, she could feel things shifting and sliding. Opening the box, she was struck by what she saw. A great curved blade, at least a foot and a half long. The cross guard was an elegant ‘S’ shape but the handle was stunning. A curved piece of bone or ivory, caped in steel, it was big enough for her to fit two hands on it, but it was balanced perfectly to be used by one. Henrik was talking now. Sabine’s eyes never left the blade.
“It’s the one we saw at the shop a couple months ago. The one someone had painted the blade and handle with spray paint for Halloween or something. I remembered you saying you had always wanted a naval boarding cutlass. This is about the same size but it is more elegant. I figured this might work. It took forever cleaning the paint off. I was seriously surprised to fine the ivory or bone. The blade is unusual as well. If you look close, you can see the grain of the steel and the layers. This is an old Damascus blade. I don’t know how old, but the blade has some sort of bluing since in spite of what I did after the paint was removed, it wouldn’t get any brighter.”
Veronica was watching and spoke next. “Can I see it?” Sabine reluctantly handed it over to Veronica so she could get the other things out of the box. After a few moments examining it, Veronica spoke. “It’s not bluing, it’s staining. My hunting knife is about sixty years old and the steel looks similar. This wasn’t a theatrical piece. It’s seen some use”. She handed it back to Sabine who was staring into the box.
Violet’s eyes never left the blade in Sabine’s hands. She could feel the age in it from here. She could feel its balance with her eyes. She agreed with Veronica’s assessment on the age and use. This was a blade made to be used, made when it could be the difference between life and death. It had to be ivory, too. Wet or dry, your hands wouldn’t slip on it. It was why the early gunfighters used it as well. Unless she missed her guess, this one has been a mortal tool on more than one occasion. She would have to get with Sabine later. Her hand stroked the handle of the long blade nestled under her sweater under her arm. Her’s was probably a century newer but made for the same deadly purpose.
Sabine pulled out a leather scabbard for the blade. In comparison to the old blade, this was fresh new leather; Henrik’s handiwork. Sabine was staring at the scabbard. There were five crosses on the scabbard. Henrik was talking again.
“I added the crosses because I found out that Joan of Arc is the Patron Saint of women in the military. Her sword supposedly had five crosses on the blade. I wasn’t going to try to add or change the blade any, so I added the crosses on the scabbard. I also made a Kydex one. No crosses on that one though.” He looked at Sabine’s face and he couldn’t read the expression. “Do you like it?”
It took a moment for Sabine to find her voice. “It’s wonderful.” She wrapped her arms round him and gave him a big hug.
Veronica handed a large heavy tube to Paige. She shifted it back and forth a moment or two, trying to get some clue. She looked over at Violet and Veronica who just laughed.
“You won’t guess, just open it.” Violet said.
Paige began peeling the paper off of the tube. Inside was a strange hunk of metal she thought she recognized. As she lid it out into her hands, Veronica was talking.
“You kept eyeballing the Halligan tool on my Ent. I figured I better give you one before mine disappeared.”
Paige rolled the tool around in her hands. A bizarre cross between a crowbar and a bunch of other lever and prying tools, it’s the favorite of firefighters for getting into doors and buildings. This one was about three feet long but light for it’s size. She looked over at Veronica, hefting it up and down in her hands.
“Is it..”
“Yup, Titanium, just like mine. With that and a good axe, there’s about nowhere you can’t get into.” Veronica smiled.
Sabine reached under the tree for the two boxes for Veronica and Violet. Neither were expecting more for them.
Violet opened hers first. It was a watch. This one had a big half blue, half red bezel around it. The face had too many numbers. Violet realized this one had a 24 hour dial as well. She looked closer at the face. It looked like it had a little owl’s face for a logo with an ‘O’ and ‘W’ for the eyes and under that the words ‘Early Bird’. It was neat, and also heavy. Sabine started talking while Violet looked it over.
“I’ll explain more about why that one later” was Sabine’s cryptic statement.
Violet thought it was a wonderful present and a great watch in the same tool style working watch as her beloved GSAR. She slid the watch onto her other wrist. It looked and felt right. She wondered what Veronica was getting.
Next, it was Veronica’s turn. She unwrapped the box and opened it to find a clearly quite vintage square art deco watch by Longines. It would have looked quite right on the Great Gatsby’s arm roaring through the Hamptons. Everyone was enamored with it. Everyone except, it seemed, Sabine.
Veronica could feel the age in the piece. Her first thought of the Roaring Twenties wasn’t far off. This was eighty years old if it was a day. Where in the world did Sabine get such a piece and why give it to her?
Everyone was looking at it when Veronica buckled the band around her wrist. Everyone but Sabine. After Veronica looked at it on her wrist for a moment, she glanced up. She saw a look on Sabine’s face. She was crying. Not the tears of joy kind either. She saw everyone was going back to their own new toys. She stepped up to Sabine, gently wrapping her in an embrace, her mouth close to Sabine’s ear.
“It is wonderful! I will cherish it, and the care in giving it to me forever.” Her voice was quiet and sincere.
Veronica knew Sabine needed brought back from whatever black hole that was about to swallow her and quickly. Veronica needed a distraction. Violet was always good for one. She pushed back from her embrace of Sabine. “Hey, Violet. Pick the next present.” Reading the tag, Violet handed it to Paige.
Paige opened the small box. Inside she found a weird looking watch. It had two sets of numbers, one inside the other. The outer row were orange and the inner were on a black background There were too many number everyone saw when they looked, just like the one Violet was now wearing on her wrist. All around the dial were twenty-four numbers, not twelve. The face was marked ‘Glycine Airman SST’. It looked like you could move the outer numbers around too with the second button. Paige loved it. It was big enough she could see it at a glance.
“It’s wonderful Sabine. Here. I made you a little something.” Paige handed Sabine a box. When Sabine opened it, there was a tiny version of an AR. Not quite the same as Veronica’s but just about as small. She pulled it out. The stock was folded to the side.
“Just remember to pull the stock into place before you fire it. That’s the only way I could get it small enough.” Paige told Sabine. “Later, we will shoot it on the range. It works, but you need to be comfortable with it. I made a couple more but you have the best and the smallest, since it was your present. The red dot on top will keep you on target even if you aren’t right behind it, but you will see when you sight it in.” Paige got a hug from Sabine.
Veronica leaned over to Violet and whispered.
“Don’t worry, yours will be as small as mine. I would never remember to fold out the stock.”
Violet chuckled. They found out the pistol and rifle projects should be ready for them to pick up when they got back. She always loved learning new
Henrik opened the last box he had under the tree. Unwrapping it, it was a plastic box. When he opened it, it was a black plastic frame and several lenses. A sextant! A real, we use this to navigate, sextant. Not some brass knock-off coffee table decoration. He held it up, adjusting the gears and optics.
“This is great!” He said, lowering it to look at Veronica and Violet.
“You do know you need to teach us how to use it sometime, right?”
“Not a problem!”
The remainder of the morning was spent playing with the gifts, and eating breakfast. The rest of the group wasn’t due over until after lunch time.
