Un Regalo Sin Precio/A Priceless Gift (Trixie)

The winter sunshine filtered through the cracks of the ancient balcony door. Trixie threw her arm over her face and tried to ignore the fact that it was already morning. She groaned in remembrance of the noise and excitement of the night before. The experience had caused flashbacks to her first visit to Spain several years before. Last night’s "celebration" had rivaled that of the fallas of Valencia.

But it wasn’t mid-March, it was early January; and it wasn’t Valencia, it was Cartagena – several hundred kilometers to the south; and it wasn’t fallas; it was the fiesta de los Reyes Magos. And she wasn’t there on vacation with her brothers and friends, she was alone.

Shaking her head roughly to rid herself of memories, Trixie sat up. With a resigned sigh, she swung her feet over the side of the bed, wincing as her left foot missed its slipper and made contact with the icy tile. ‘I could make my fortune by introducing wall-to-wall carpeting to the Spaniards,’ she thought as she fished around under the edge of the bed to encounter the errant slipper.

After her morning bathroom ritual, she shuffled down the hallway to the kitchen. Eyes still heavy with sleep, she lit the flame on the one working burner of her stove. In a few automatic motions she had a saucepan placed on the burner and milk poured from a new box, just enough to fill a Nocilla glass, was heating. A jar of mermelada de fresa, a packet of Marias integrales, and a container of pineapple yogurt were placed on the table to finish off the meal.

As she waited for her milk to heat, Trixie turned on the radio. Good, it was an old Amistades Peligrosas song. If she heard Peces en el río or Campanas de Belén one more time, she’d throw the silly box out the window. Her joy was short-lived however as Me quedaré solo fade out into Peces en el río. "La Virgen se está peinando, entre cortina y cortina…" A month ago she’d been intrigued by the song. Now she didn’t see how fish swimming in a river and Mary combing her hair had much to do with Christmas.

Out loud, she muttered, "I don’t care if today is the ‘Twelfth Day of Christmas’. It’s January and the holiday is over!" The feelings of aloneness and sadness that had been haunting her for the last month quickly swept over her again. She hadn’t thought that it would be so difficult to be away from her family for the holidays – she’d been away from home for Christmas before. In times past, however, she’d always had her older brothers around along with the rest of the Bob-Whites. This was the first time that she had been totally alone.

Carefully she spooned Cola Cao into her glass and added a small amount of milk.  The chocolate powder and warm milk combined into a thick mixture and she quickly added the rest of the milk, stirring rapidly. Her thoughts continued to focus on being alone and how much harder it was than she had originally thought that it would be. Sitting down heavily at the rickety table, she began to talk to herself, a habit that had become a lifeline lately.

"It’s not like Christmas in Spain is much like those at home," she mused. "There’s no snow, no firs trees, not even any rain. On Christmas I wore a T-shirt and walked under palm trees!" The twenty-fifth of December had been a beautifully clear day. The weather had turned cooler in the past week and a half, but it was still incomparable to New York State winter weather. The palm trees weren’t much like a nice evergreen covered in lights. That was something else that Trixie missed – the decorations she had grown up with. Everywhere she went she saw a Belén, a nativity scene, instead of the familiar sights of decorated Christmas trees, Santas and reindeer. Some were quite simple and plain and others, like what filled the plaza, were so intricate that they included dishes and food on all the tables in all the homes in all of Bethlehem. These were the families’ main focus. Santa Claus, or Papa Noel, as he was called, was an afterthought. The actual Christmas day was really just a day when everyone went to Mass and then had a big family dinner. Very few gifts were exchanged. The kids all waited anxiously for the Reyes Magos, the Three Kings, to arrive on January sixth and bring them gifts. That was today. And that’s what Tony wanted her to do with him today – to go take gifts to some house somewhere. He had caught her in a weak moment the night before at the parade and she had volunteered to help him and some of his friends with delivering gifts.

Wearily Trixie looked at her glass and realized that throughout her whole reverie she had continued to stir her hot chocolate after every drink and was now stirring an empty glass. With another deep sigh, she shoved her breakfast things to the center of the table and rested he head on the cool Formica surface. She was so tired! Why had she agreed to go with Tony today? Last night when he’d dragged her to la cabalgata and explained Reyes to her, he had convinced her to help him. Caught up in the excitement of Melchor, Gaspar, and Baltasar and their arrival by boat to the Port of Cartagena and the succeeding procession up the calle Mayor to the Plaza de España, Trixie had agreed to go with him to some casa and distribute gifts. She had also thought that it might add something extra to the article she was assigned to write recounting an American’s thoughts on Spanish holiday celebrations. However, when she had arrived home last night and emptied the caramelos from her pockets and combed all the confetti from her sandy curls, she regretted her decision. Being with Tony didn’t help her with the decisions she was trying to make about her life.

By the time she had dressed in navy jeans and a cream sweater flecked with navy that her mother had knit and sent her for Christmas, Trixie had made up her mind that she’d tell Tony she was not going to accompany him for the morning.

Seconds later the timbre sounded. As she lifted the receiver, Tony’s deep voice filled with excitement for the day asked, "¿Estás lista, guapa?"

In spite of herself, Trixie smiled. Why he called her guapa, she still couldn’t figure out… but then her boss called her corazón all the time and it didn’t mean anything. Just like ‘love’ in England.

"Casi – um, Tony, I don’t think…"

Tony broke in, sensing Trixie’s change of mind, "Just buzz me up, Trix."

Reluctantly, Trixie pushed the button to open the door four floors below.

As Tony slowly climbed the stairs, his thoughts focused, as they did far too often lately, on the blonde American woman above. Several years before, when he had met Trixie for the first time in Valencia, he’d been drawn to her. He’d admit it now, her sparkling blue eyes and golden curls had been what first caught his eye, but it was her sense of adventure that had hooked him. It was no secret that he loved her. It was obvious to the whole world. He knew that deep down Trixie knew how much she meant to him, but she chose to ignore it. He was patient. That was one thing that he had learned in his years with Interpol – sometimes you just had to wait before you made your big move. He would wait for Trixie as long as it would take.  In the six months that Trixie had been in Spain, he had watched her carefully. He knew what she had left behind, knew what had caused her to leave her family and friends. He’d been waiting for years for her to return to Spain, and to his life, in a more solid form than e-mails and postcards. Living on your own in a foreign country, no matter how much you loved it, was difficult. Attending school in a foreign language was even more of a challenge. And to top it all off – working in such conditions was enough to make anyone stress. Luckily, Trixie had a pretty good handle on Spanish. She wasn’t speaking like a native yet, but that would soon come. That was one less worry for her. She enjoyed her work and classes, which was an even greater benefit.

During the past several weeks – since puente – Tony had watched Trixie become more and more withdrawn. Whether she would willingly admit it to herself or not, she was homesick. Homesickness was always worse during the holidays. Tony had been racking his brains trying to decide what to give her for Reyes for a couple of months. For Christmas, he’d taken her to his parents’ home in Valencia. He’d hoped that dinner in a family setting would cheer her up. Unfortunately, it was the first time he’d been home to see his parents since he’d "abandoned the family" as his mother put it when he changed religions, so it had been a stiff, formal visit, even with Trixie there. He wanted to make Reyes more fun and memorable for Trixie and yet in some way help her. Last night had been the fun part and Trixie had finally allowed herself to enjoy herself. Today was the memorable part and the gift.

The door was open when he reached it. He entered and followed the hall down to Trixie’s room. The balcony doors were open and a crisp breeze blew through the room, ruffling papers and curtains. Trixie was leaning against the balcony wall, looking at the street below. There was a tiny park across the street and she seemed to be watching some kids play an impromptu soccer game.

"Tony, I’m not going."

Sitting down on the edge of her bed he replied, "Yes, you are."

"No, I’m not."

"What, no excuses, no explanations? Just ‘no’?"

Still staring at the street below, Trixie nodded.

"Unfortunately, you don’t have the option of saying no. You’re going whether you want to or not."

Finally, Trixie turned around. Glaring at him she retorted, "No option? I don’t think so. And for your information, I do have an explanation – I need to work on my article."

With an annoying grin, Tony continued, "Not an option. You’re committed to helping us today. I know very well that your article is not due until Saturday – which gives you three days. You already have most of it completed. Also, you have to come with me because your gift is at the casa de la cuna."

Suddenly Trixie didn’t feel like arguing anymore. This was probably the fastest battle Tony had ever won with her. She just didn’t have the energy to go on. "Fine. I'll go. I suppose if I don’t go you’ll arrest me and bring me anyway."

Trying not to appear too surprised at her easy surrender or gloat too openly at winning, Tony just stood up and said, "You’re right and I don’t want to scare the kids by bringing in someone in handcuffs."

On the short drive through town, Tony explained to Trixie that they were going to an orphanage, one that specialized in infants and toddlers, hence the name casa de la cuna, or cradle house. Some of the kids were there temporarily, some were awaiting adoption papers to become complete and some were handicapped and may never be placed with a family. The casa, as was the case with most other orphanages and rest homes and such places in the country, were sponsored by the Catholic Church and run by nuns. However for the last several years, they had permitted a group of local Latter-day Saints to gather and bring in gifts for Reyes. This was how Tony was involved – through his membership in the Mormon Church.

"Here we are," he said at last as they pulled in front of a low building with a small garden and playground in front, "It looks like everyone else is here. We’ll just unload the gifts from the back of my car and then follow everyone else inside." He turned to look at Trixie. He hoped this worked. "You should find your gift inside."

With a half smile, she replied, "Should? Is Gaspar going to hand it to me?"

"Not exactly. I think you’ll know when you find it."

Half an hour later, Tony watched Trixie from across the large playroom. He hoped this worked. As he had tried to think of a gift for Trixie that would help her not be homesick, he had remembered something that one of the missionaries had told him. She had told Tony that what got her through times of homesickness was getting out and helping others, especially those who had less than she did. She would usually get so caught up in helping others that pretty soon she would forget her own feelings and once again enjoy life. Keeping his eyes on Trixie’s face, Tony was pretty sure that he had been successful. She was stretched out full length on the floor with a little boy that had no legs. Together they were watching a little train set zoom around on plastic tracks. As it went by them, a bell would ring. Every time the bell rang, the delighted laughter of the small boy would bubble over. Eventually, Tony heard Trixie’s laughter join in. The sadness had left her eyes and her natural smile was back.

Feeling like someone was watching her; Trixie looked up from the train and little Salvador. Tony was staring at her. Trixie suddenly understood what he had given her. He had given her a way out of her gloom and homesickness. How could she have forgotten what a priceless gift it was to help others. Wasn’t that what the Bob-Whites’ purpose had been - to help those less fortunate?

Salvador’s laughter burst forth once more as the little train rang its bell. Trixie grinned happily at Tony, and mouthed, "Gracias, muchas gracias."

Tony smiled back. She’d found her gift.

El fin

**Written for my first Holiday GWP at Zap's - I wrote on it submitted 1-1-00. I was a little late for Christmas since I got married 12/18/99. But the story was an after Christmas story anyway.  Takes place about 6 years after my epic Spanish Mystery story. I used some of my memories (that I've forgotten and this refreshed my memory reading it again) from the Reyes I spent in Cartagena in January 1996 shortly before I came home from my mission.

*Latter-day Saints refer to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints –more commonly known as the Mormon Church

*Salvador means Savior