a story from Wonderland by Hitomi

A story from Wonderland by Hitomi

Greetings!

Dec: 24th Weather: Beautiful

Today was Christmas Eve. We all were in high gear with holiday spirits. Mrs.Malchovich had been busy with taking care of her store and preparing for Christmas dinner. Sylvia had been busy with helping Mrs.Malchovich take care of all the things at home and Don polish his script. Don had been busy with having Sylvia all the time. And I also had been very very busy with preparing Christmas gifts for my friends. Since I didn't have money to buy them material things, I decided to draw what they had always wanted and dreamt of on paper. These are what I drew for them.

For Don, this was easy.

Of course Oscar

For my girlfriend.

I knew this was the only thing she wanted.

Me and her staying happy for ever.

For Lisa.

Nowadays since she kept talking about her imaginary ideal boyfriend,

I drew a boyfriend for her.

A Popular Number 1 singer.

Jay-Z

For Kenny.

Considering Mrs.Malchovich wasn't so happy about his grade report card in this semester,

I drew lots of As.

In this way he could cut the paper along with dots and paste as many As as he liked to cover up C and D .

I added A plus, too.

For Sylvia.

First I drew her in the center of the stage on Broadway.

But since I always wanted her to live closer to me and Don,

I made the stage on Broadway into the stage in the community center in my neighborhood.

The nice and friendly atmosphere could make Sylvia much happier.

For Mrs.Malchovich.

This was a little hard one because she wanted a lot of things. She wanted her store to be prosperous. She wanted Kenny to do well at school and Lisa to be more ladylike. She wanted full custody (don't know what that means).

Then I remembered Sylvia said Mrs.Malchovich's glass was always half empty.

So I decided to draw a glass filled with water.

But then again I thought if she drank, her glass would become half empty again.

So I added a tap in my drawing, made water keep running from the tap and overflowing from the glass.

In this way she never has a glass half empty even if she drinks water.

For Joe the lawyer......

This was giving me problem. I knew what he wanted was a success.

To become a successful lawyer, he even moved out of our neighborhood.

I wanted to draw a success for Joe the lawyer,

but I had no idea what it looked like and what color it was. Since Joe the lawyer hadn't been around since Thanksgiving, I couldn't ask him.

I wasn't expecting Don would give me any convincing answers, but I asked him anyway. And it went exactly how I expected.

He took $20bill out of his pocket and held it out to me.

"Just paste this on the paper."

"$20? This is a success? $20?"

"It's not about the amount. This is one of the things that represents a success. "

"Are you sure this is what Joe the lawyer wants?"

After a short silence, Don snatched $20 from my hand and handed me $5 instead.

Then I went ask Mrs.Malchovich.
"When you accomplish whatever you are pursuing,

that's a success."
"What is its shape like?"
"There is no shape. Something makes you happy and proud."
"What color?"
"There is no color. Each success is different depending on what the person is making an effort for. But when you achieve, it will make you feel good. "

"I need to know the shape and the color to draw!"
"Why don't you draw Joe being a successful lawyer? That will make him happy."
"How will he look different from who he is now? Does he become bigger? Or more hair?"

"You know what. Just draw a bunch of Sushi. He loves Sushi. That will make him happy."

I didn't buy it.

Lisa was a smart one and she always had an answer for us, so I went ask Lisa.

"A house in Beverly Hills." said Lisa.

"House? That's the success Joe the lawyer wants?"

"All the successful people are living there."

"I never heard him say he wants a house."

"Why don't you give him what he needs, not what he wants?He thinks if he gets what he wants, he will be happy, but the truth is he doesn't know what makes him happy."

"What does he need?"

"A girlfriend. He is too uptight and plus dorky."

"He is a donkey?" Lisa confused me more.

Not being able to find an answer I was looking for, I had no choice but to put the ribbon on the gift for Joe the lawyer without any drawing on it. If I explain how hard it was to draw what he wanted, Joe the lawyer would understand or he could even tell me its shape and color. Holding all the gifts I prepared for everybody, I ran to downstairs to put them under the Christmas tree at the Malchoviches.

Kenny and Lisa were sitting by the Christmas tree. Mrs.Malchovich, Sylvia and Don were in the living room watching Lisa and Kenny measuring who got the best gift.

But the living room was quieter than usual. The Christmas dinner table was set and nicely decorated. The dinner looked ready to be served, but no one seemed to move to the table.

"We're waiting for Joe the lawyer. " said Mrs.Malchovich.

"When was the last time you talked with him?"

Don asked, sounded impatient.

"Three weeks ago. He said he would join us today. But since then he has never replied to my e-mails and returned my calls."

A few hours later the living room grew quieter. Lisa, Kenny, my girlfriend and I were getting tired of guessing what was inside each gift box. We were all hungry, but afraid of being the first one to say "Let's eat without Joe the lawyer."

"No one picks up again. Should I call the police?"

Mrs.Malchovich sighed, putting down a handset of the telephone back to the hook.

"What for?"asked Sylvia.

"Missing person. He always returns the call. This has never happened before."

"We never took trouble to go see him for three weeks. Then now he is a missing person?"said Sylvia.

"He might have another Christmas party going on with celebrities. He will be hosting his own TV show next year. Maybe he wanted to be missed from us." said Don.

When Sylvia was about to criticize what Don just said, Kenny finally caught a moment to whine, "My stomach hurts.", which was suggesting he was too hungry to wait for Joe the lawyer any longer.

It was that moment that the door bell rang. All of us ran to the door.

Standing at the door was a Santa Claus carrying the gifts and a suitcase somehow. We already knew this Santa Claus was Joe the lawyer in disguise, but since we were so happy to see him at the door finally, we pretended to be surprised.

Taking the gifts from Santa sack and placing them under the tree, Joe the lawyer talked.

"I am sorry. I had been busy packing and putting my stuffs in the storage. I should have called you, but then I lost my cell during this transition."

"What do you mean by packing and the storage?" asked Mrs.Malchovich.

"I got an eviction notice about a month ago. The landlord couldn't take my neighbors going against having me there anymore. He gave me another month to leave. But I decided not to wait. I want my 2010 to start with a clean slate."

He didn't look so sad. Actually he looked happier than before. No one made any comments on his eviction, his landlord and his neighbors as if they already knew this would happen sooner or later.

Instead Mrs.Malchovich said, "In that case, this sofa is collapsible. Stay here until you find the place to live."

This excited Kenny very much.

"Sleep over! We can open the gifts together tomorrow morning."

"You should sleepover, too." Lisa told me, also excited.

"Yeah! Sleepover!"

We jumped up and down, repeating "Sleepover."

It was already 9; 00pm when all of us finally sat at the table for dinner. But we didn't care what time it was. Having a wonderful Christmas dinner with family and friends and unexpected sleepover coming along, it was definitely worth waiting for Joe the lawyer.

In the middle of the night, I sneaked out of Kenny's bed and tiptoed to the Christmas tree by the sofa where Joe the lawyer was sleeping. Among all the gifts placed under the tree, I took the one I prepared for Joe the lawyer. Taking off the ribbon, of course I saw a blank piece of white paper. But now I knew what Joe the lawyer wanted and needed, so I drew it on the paper, put it back under the tree and tiptoed back to Kenny's bedroom, hoping this will make Joe the lawyer smile tomorrow morning.Merry Christmas.

What I drew on the paper for Joe the lawyer is.........

Definitely Apartment.

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