December 2019
Both Sören and Yeyette couldn't help noticing that their martial arts instructor and friend, Ryu, was not his usual cheerful self when he met them for coffee at The Coffee Grounds in Terre Haute, not far from Ryu's apartment. Even though Ryu looked festive in the blue Santa hat that matched his light blue fur-trimmed parka, snowflakes glittering in his long black ponytail like diamonds, there was a small frown on his face and his shoulders were hunched. Sören had a feeling it wasn't the winter weather or the holiday blahs.
"Hey guys," Ryu said as he sat down, and gave a wan smile as Yeyette pushed a cup of hot cocoa across the table at him.
"Are you OK?" Sören asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Ryu looked out the window at the snow - like he was looking at something far away.
"Out with it," Yeyette said.
Ryu glanced back at them and sipped his hot cocoa, shoulders hunched. "Sorry," he said; Sören was amused by the Canadian accent turning it into "sore-ree". "I don't want to be a downer and tell you all about my problems..."
Sören tried not to laugh at the "aboat". "What are friends for if you can't tell us things?"
"Well, the holidays are coming up so soon, and this is kind of a big thing..."
Sören fought off the that's what he said - there was something innocent about Ryu that he didn't want to corrupt. "Just tell us."
"Yeah," Yeyette said. "We might even be able to help you."
"I doubt you could help with this, but... OK." Ryu took a deep breath. "My landlord told me he wants me out by the first of the month."
"When? Recently?" Yeyette's eyes widened with surprise. "That's... less than thirty days' notice, isn't it? That couldn't possibly be legal?"
"I'd have to take him to court and I don't have that kind of money. It's not worth it."
"Why is he evicting you?" Sören somehow didn't think Ryu was the type of person to be an inconsiderate tenant.
"Well, he's complaining about my dog, even though he's housebroken and doesn't make a lot of noise, and the lease gives permission to have dogs. He says Hiro growls at him and he does but Hiro would never attack him. But also he was like, you know, 'I bet you're going to eat that dog anyway, you should go back to China where you came from.'" Ryu scowled. "First of all, I'm Japanese, not Chinese, second of all, I'm from Canada, and my parents were also born in Canada. I don't eat dog. I eat things like bacon, and maple syrup."
"God, no wonder Hiro growls at him," Yeyette said.
"Fucking idiot," Sören said, and then he quickly clarified, "Your landlord, not you, or your dog." He had been in the States long enough to know that the rise of Trump had emboldened people to blatantly express racist views they would have kept to themselves to be "polite" during the Obama administration - or in the South where he used to live, they didn't keep it to themselves then, either. Even white immigrants like himself weren't always treated well, but Sören knew Ryu had it far worse. Sören felt a flare of anger - he loathed bullies, and he especially hated it when people were bullied for things they couldn't help, like the color of their skin or where they came from, or who they loved.
Yeyette sensed the tension rising in Sören, mirrored by her own. Easy does it, she spoke into Sören's mind. We don't need their fire alarm going off.
But of course feelings didn't have an on/off switch, and Sören still felt angry as he sipped his hot cocoa. "Fucking bigoted shitstain," Sören muttered. "I oughta go to your place and give him a piece of my mind..."
"That would probably hurt more than it would help," Yeyette cautioned. You can't set people on fire nowadays, Fëanáro, you can go to jail for that.
Sören snorted and kicked her under the table.
"Besides," Yeyette said, "I don't think that talking to the guy will do any good, if he's like that. It's too bad that this is such short notice, it's not like a lot of places are available right now or people who want to schedule appointments to show a place during the holidays."
"And moving's a pain in the ass any time of year, but I imagine it would be much worse during the winter." Sören remembered leaving Florida during the winter and arriving in the United Kingdom, and the radical temperature change and adjustment. He'd gotten sick. At least he hadn't had to hire a moving truck and haul his things around in the snow. What was left of my things after... He winced, and shoved the flashback away. Focus on Ryu.
Yeyette looked at Sören, and Sören could practically see the gears grinding in her head. He had a feeling of what she was going to ask him, and it was confirmed when she said, "We have plenty of room at the farmhouse, do you and the dog want to stay with us for awhile? It doesn't have to be forever, if you want a place of your own, but we're not going to get at you to move out on some kind of deadline."
"Oh..." Ryu looked shocked. Then he smiled again - this time the smile was genuine - and he bit his lower lip. "I don't... I don't want to impose -"
"You visit so much you practically live there anyway," Yeyette said. "I'm sure the others won't mind."
"I don't," Sören said, wanting to give Ryu some reassurance. "And this way if the weather gets really bad you don't have to drive in it to come over for Christmas..."
"Are you... are you sure?" Ryu looked at Yeyette, then at Sören, then back at Yeyette.
"I'm sure," Yeyette said. "In fact, when we're done here, we can go to your place, get your things, and bring them on over."
"Jæja, fuck that guy," Sören said. "If he's being such an asshole to you, I worry about him being even more of a Grinch during the holidays and people can get, uh... weird... when they're like that." He knew that not every bigot was violent, but he also felt like the world had gone mad enough that it was safer to not take chances. It was bad enough Ryu's landlord was pushing him out into the snow.
"You guys are great," Ryu said. "Anything I can do to make it up to you..."
Yeyette made a dismissive hand gesture. "Don't worry about it. You've done a lot for us. Consider it an early Christmas present."
_
Ryu didn't have a lot of stuff - his apartment in Terre Haute was pre-furnished - nonetheless he had enough in the way of books, clothes, and personal knicknacks that it took a few trips and several pairs of hands to get everything brought over from Terre Haute to Beauregard. DeKalb and Anthony both seemed disappointed the landlord wasn't around - "I would have liked to punch him," DeKalb said, and Anthony added, "And kick him in the knackers."
Getting Ryu's stuff moved across town and unloaded was enough of a production that nobody was up for cooking an elaborate meal. "We could order a pizza," DeKalb suggested.
"I think we still have frozen pizza in the freezer," Yeyette said, "and if we do, it's been in there for awhile so we should use it."
She was correct - there were in fact a few large frozen pizzas. As the pizzas baked, Ryu started to unpack, while Ryu's enormous Irish wolfhound, Hiro, sniffed around. Hiro had been over plenty of times, enough to make friends with Yeyette's orange-and-white cat, Eugène. Eugène came out from where he'd been napping to touch noses with Hiro, and then Hiro trotted after Eugène as if the cat were giving him the tour. Sören knew that was probably a bit more likely than anyone outside the household would think.
After Ryu made a couple of trips to his room, Yeyette put a hand on his arm and marched him to the couch. "You," she said, putting the remote control to the TV in his hand, "sit and relax for awhile."
"OK," Ryu said. He began to flip through the channels, till he got to the guide to check. A Christmas movie was coming on - the animated version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas - and Ryu clicked on the channel, waiting for it to start.
"Oh look, there's your landlord," Anthony said once it started.
Nicholas snorted. "As you know, the Grinch's heart is two sizes too small. It sounds like Ryu's landlord doesn't even have a heart."
"He shouldn't have a dick, either," Sören said. "People like him shouldn't breed and inflict those views on children. Pity Hiro couldn't have bitten it off before you left."
Ryu chuckled. "That's awful, Sören. Besides, I'd have to brush his teeth after."
"Fucker," Sören said, his fists clenching as his heart raged at the injustice all over again. "How could anyone be like that just before Christmas? What a piece of shit..."
Yeyette nodded, scowling. Sören could feel her own anger as well. Yeyette's French accent got a little stronger as she snarled, "You would think with so much going on in the world, life being hard enough as it is, maybe assholes could take a break from being assholes for the holidays. But if anything that just seems to bring their assholery out of the woodwork even more."
The smoke detector started going off. Sören was absolutely sure nothing was burning.
"SHUT UP!" Yeyette screamed at the beeping smoke alarm. "NOBODY LOVES YOU!"
The smoke detector stopped beeping.
"I'd be a great parent," Yeyette said sarcastically.
"I dunno, taking me in was a really mom thing to do," Ryu said.
Yeyette reached out and patted him. "I want you to feel at home, OK? If there's anything you need..."
"I already feel at home here." Ryu looked around the living room, with the Christmas tree lit up, the fairy lights and stockings hung on the mantle - Ryu already had a stocking before he moved in; even Hiro and Eugène had stockings. "It's so Christmasy."
"I was gonna put the lights up on the house tonight," DeKalb said, and then he quipped, "and on that fucked-up tree by the lab." A few months ago, the lone pine tree standing by the former chapel Victor used as his alchemy lab had been transformed in an accident, into something resembling a cross between a pine tree and a palm tree.
Victor chuckled. "At least it will look festive, if not proper."
"I'll still do that after supper," DeKalb said. "I gotta blow off some steam since I can't punch that landlord."
"I'll help," Anthony said.
Sören grinned - it still tickled him that the all-American Green Beret and the very British archaeologist had become fast friends.
"I'll help too," Dara said.
Then Palcë chimed in, "I will also assist with the lights, if you wish."
"Uh-oh, that's ten words," Yeyette teased. "That's a full third of your thirty-words-a-day quota!"
Palcë frowned.
"I don't mind you helping," DeKalb said, "but it's gonna be cold as balls tonight and you still don't have a proper winter coat and things. I know you say the cold affects, uh... your kind... a bit differently, but I get cold looking at you."
"Are you requesting I stay in and refrain from helping?" Palcë's frown intensified.
"Twenty," Yeyette said under her breath.
"Well, no..." DeKalb shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Just saying, though, we should get you a coat and stuff, real soon."
"You need to get clothes anyway," Sören said, "so the Yule Cat doesn't eat you." He loved telling people about Christmas traditions in his native country.
"Yule... Cat?" Palcë looked confused. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Twenty-nine," Yeyette whispered.
"Oh god," Anthony said, as Nicholas rolled his eyes - they'd heard Sören go on about the Yule Cat for a couple of Christmases now.
"Back in Iceland, we have a legend of a troll woman named Grýla, and she has a troll husband named Leppalúði. Grýla collects naughty children and puts them in a stew. There's statues of them on the main street of my hometown, Akureyri. Their sons are the Yule Lads, who start showing up thirteen days before Christmas to fuck with people in different ways - stealing spoons, slamming doors - and if you've been good you get candy or other small gifts, but if you've been bad the Yule Lads put a potato in your shoe. And Grýla and Leppalúði also own a giant cat. The Yule Cat. Jólakötturinn. If you don't get at least one new item of clothing for Christmas, the Yule Cat eats you." Sören smiled.
"You... teach this to children." Palcë's brow furrowed. "That sounds worse than accosting people for candy at Halloween."
"That's more than thirty words," Yeyette said, before she got up to check the pizza.
"We teach this to children," Sören said, nodding. "But I mean, even half the adult population believes in Elves, and here you are, and Maglor. So maybe the Yule Cat isn't total bullshit." Sören tried to wink, though he knew it was more of a clumsy blink. "We should take you out clothes shopping this week before Christmas comes, just to be on the safe side."
Palcë frowned.
Maglor patted him. "You'll get used to it. I did." Maglor was wearing a Metallica T-shirt and jeans, but he'd been living among mortals for a very long time.
The pizza was ready, and after the meal, Anthony, Dara, DeKalb and Palcë went up to put the lights on the house while Nicholas and Victor handled the dishes, and Yeyette, Sören and Maglor helped Ryu continue unpacking. When Ryu got to a good stopping point they took a break and came down, and everyone but the men handling the lights watched another Christmas movie together, this one White Christmas with Bing Crosby. Maglor showed off by singing along with the songs.
"Man, you could have been a star with that voice," Sören said, tearing up a little. "I know it would have defeated the purpose of keeping a low profile, but..."
Maglor nodded. "And I wouldn't want to be a celebrity and live that sort of... flashy, ostentatious but shallow life, all style, no substance. I don't need a mansion and a Bentley and a Rolex and designer suits. I'd rather have this." He gestured to the fire in the fireplace, his family gathered around him.
Sören reached out and gave him a hug.
Once the lights were up, everyone went outside to take a look. The house was strung with golden-white lights, and the "pineapple tree" also had golden-white bulbs. Sören got teared up again - despite knowing so much about Christmas traditions in his country, the aunt and uncle that had raised him ruined holidays by drinking and did little in the way of outward celebration, so things like going all out with decorations and lights gave him a feeling of coming home that was hard to explain. Anthony and Nicholas sensed their partner's mood and each took his hand, squeezing. Then Anthony playfully grabbed Sören's ass.
"Wow, it looks amazing," Ryu said, with a huge smile.
"Thanks," DeKalb said. "Some people around here go all out, more than we did. 'Cuz, you know, it's the birthday of CHRIST, so people make a big deal out of that. Even though I'm not a fan of religion, I still like seeing the lights."
"Oh, that's something we should do," Yeyette said. "We should take Ryu to see the lights! And Sören and the others!" Yeyette turned to Sören and said, "Wait till you see some of these places, they're ridiculous."
"There's this one guy who has a full-on animated Nativity," DeKalb said, "and Santa Claus is one of the wise men, with two elves as the other wise men."
Sören looked at Nicholas, then Palcë and Maglor. Anthony knew what Sören was thinking and choked back a guffaw. Nicholas glared; Palcë frowned. Maglor rolled his eyes but his lips quirked with the hint of a smile.
"Let's do that tomorrow," Yeyette said. "We'll go take a tour of the lights."
"In the meantime... ours are pretty nice," Sören said. It was starting to snow again, and he reached out his gloved hand to catch a few snowflakes. The light in his heart, surrounded by his found family on a peaceful winter night, was as bright as the lights on the house.