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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Family & Friends
- Subject: Family
- Published: 12/08/2020
Holiday House Rules
Born 1944, F, from Melbourne, FL, United StatesHoliday House Rules
by
Valerie Allen
“You better not light that nasty thing,” Monique warned her brother. She pulled her woolen scarf tight around her neck and up over her chin. Cliff, Monique, and Jayne huddled in a far corner of the backyard of their childhood home waiting for their sister, Desiree. The three watched as Desiree urged her German Sheppard, "Hero," out of her car.
Their boots were planted in a light powder of snow. They stood under a leafless tree, surrounded by a sparse five-foot-high hedge. Monique glanced at the twinkling lights which outlined the roof of their parent's home.
Cliff, his collar turned up against the wind, looked across the yard. “Mom can't see us from the house. Besides, I think at 32 I'm old enough to decide for myself if I want to smoke or not.”
Monique rolled her eyes. “That's not what Mom thinks. She has her list of Holiday House Rules. You'll risk serious damage if she sniffs cigarette smoke on your clothes.” Monique squinted her eyes and leaned her face toward him. “Don't even think of asking me to cover up for you!”
He tossed his head back and laughed. “You know another biggie on Mom's list? 'Waste not, want not.' Which in Mom talk means 'you're too skinny and you better clean your plate'.”
Monique gritted her teeth. “I hate it when she starts in about my weight. I know what I want to eat. She doesn't have to keep sneaking another helping of mashed potatoes onto my dish. Does she think I don't notice what she's up to?”
Jayne tugged her hat tight over her ears and wagged her finger in Monique's face and mimicked their mother. “You better not waste a crumb of that food, young lady. The food that your father had to work so hard to earn the money to buy and I spent the entire day cooking. How can you be healthy if you're all skin and bones?” The three of them laughed. “Love her that I do, Mom can really drive you crazy if you let her,” Jayne said.
Cliff looked at his youngest sister. “The love is all there for Mom.” He rolled the unlit cigarette in the palm of his hand and looked at Jayne. “Crazy? Did I hear you say crazy? Is that why you're hiding out here to keep mom's eyes off those cute little pills you keep popping?”
“Absolutely not! I'm not popping anything,” Jayne said. “Those are my birth control pills.”
Cliff smiled broadly and looked at Monique. “I wonder why our baby sister would need to take birth control pills?”
Monique leaned in and touched Jayne on the arm. “Now that kind of going on would definitely violate Mom's rules.”
Jayne raised her eyebrows. “Mom may not be happy with me taking birth control pills, but she'd be a lot less happy if she heard the pitter-patter of little feet in her house during the holiday meal next Christmas.”
Desiree pulled Hero through the hedge toward her siblings as they huddled in the cold. “Poor doggy. Your little paws must be freezing,” she said to the dog. She leaned over and snuggled his head into the side of her long woolen coat.
Hero looked up at her and began to whimper. Desiree tugged on the leash and called his name in a harsh whisper. “Quiet, quiet!” She put her finger to her lips and then waved her hands to shoo him away. “Go take care of your business. Go on.”
Cliff shook his head. "I can hear Mom now. 'I don't know about people who can't afford to feed themselves. People who have to go out and get a second job so they can feed their pets. People who don't seem to know how to budget their money'.”
Desiree glared at him.
Cliff lifted his hands, palms out. “Hey, I'm just sayin'.”
“Well, you can stop 'just sayin'," Desiree said. "Mom doesn't understand how much I love Hero. Mom said she had kids to love and she didn't need to take in a stray dog who was going to eat her out of house and home and then die just when she got used to it being around. She didn't need another heartbreak.”
The four siblings laughed as they huddled in the enclosure behind the hedges. Cliff lifted his hand, his cigarette still unlit, and gestured around the garden area, now covered in snow. “I think I spent half my life hiding back here so Mom wouldn't see me smoking. When she said 'Thou shall not smoke' it sounded like God was speaking directly to me. I swear she has eyes in the back of her head.”
Monique laughed so hard she bent over and crossed her arms onto her midsection. “This reminds me of when we were kids hiding out here. Remember, this is where you brought me to smoke my first cigarette.” She shook her finger in his face and frowned. “What a bad, bad, big brother you are! Getting me into that awful habit when I was 12-years-old!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Cliff looked at her. “I didn't twist your arm. You could have said no.” He placed his cigarette between his lips, flicked his lighter and cupped his hand around the cigarette until the tip glowed red. He lifted his chin, drew in his breath and slowly blew smoke out from the small circle of his lips. He looked at Monique. “You still smokin'?”
“No.” She looked at him. “Not after that cancer scare I had last year. I took it as a message from God—or whoever. I went cold turkey. According to my doctor, my lungs are looking good.” She poked him in the chest. “No thanks to you.”
“You still blame me for all your troubles?” Cliff asked.
“No, not anymore. You led me down the path, but I made the decision.” Her eyes watered. “Last year I made a better decision.” She blinked back tears. “You should too, Cliff.”
He inhaled again and slowly blew a narrow stream of smoke from his lips. “Maybe.”
A loud rustling noise came from the bushes and caused them to look away from each other. They watched as Hero loped toward Desiree and nestled his snout against her leg.
“That poor dog, ” Jayne said.
Desiree pulled the dog to her side and rubbed snow flurries off his nose. “Hero's doing fine. I've got him all bundled up in the car. He has food and water too. I came out a few times to start the engine and turn on the heat. He's okay.” Desiree rubbed her gloved hands along his flank and the dog panted and whimpered. “Shhh, shhh, good doggy, good doggy.” Desiree looked across the yard toward the house and shook her head. “Mom and her ridiculous rules. No pets! Who ever heard of telling someone– especially your own kid– they can't bring a pet into your house?” She turned to Jayne. “Isn't this still our house?”
“No. I don't think so, not according to Mom,” Jayne said. “She says it's her palace, and she wants it the way she wants it until the day she dies.”
They were all quiet for a moment. Each considering, but not willing to put into words, one day their parents would die. One day, their parents would no longer be with them.
Desiree broke the silence. “Well, I've thought about bringing an orangutan next Christmas and see if that's on Mom's list of rules!” She rubbed the dog behind his ears. “We'll see if she objects to my dog after that.”
Jayne took a deep breath and leaned down toward the dog. “Did you hear that? Your mom's going to leave you home next Christmas. She's going to replace you with a very big monkey.”
Desiree laughed and said, “No, I'm not. I'm going to bring both of them!”
Cliff looked at Desiree and shook his head. “Gonna get a bit crowded in that car of yours. You know, with the animals, food, water, blankets, a heater—all the things you'll need to work your way around Mom's rules.”
“I'll make it work. I spent my childhood working my way around mom's rules. I haven't lost my touch,” Desiree said.
“Just be sure you have enough room for that fabulous gift you bought me—whatever it is,” Cliff said.
“Right, I'll throw everything out of my car, including my dog, to make room for your gift!”
* * *
Ted came into the kitchen. “Another wonderful Christmas dinner, Velda. I don't know how you manage it.” He reached down and loosened his belt buckle one notch and ran his hand across his ample belly. “All that cooking, the decorations, the gifts for everyone—you're a miracle maker.” He kissed her on the cheek. “The kids love every minute of it, and so do I.”
“It just comes naturally after all these years.” She sighed. “I hope the kids carry on our traditions and the holiday house rules.”
He took her hands in his. “I'm sure they will, but you know they have their own lives to live.”
“Of course I know that!”
“They have to make their own traditions and Holiday House Rules for their kids when the time comes.”
“I hope so. Every family needs traditions and rules.”
Ted put his arms around her waist and kissed her. “Nothing in your rules about kissing the cook is there?” he asked.
She leaned against him and looked out of the kitchen window across the backyard.
“What do you see out there?” Ted asked.
“I'm watching the kids try to hide behind that big ol' tree.”
“Are they behind those hedges?” Ted asked with a laugh.
“Yes. There they are, all gathered together to talk about how unreasonable I am. I know they always sneak across the back yard to have it their way.” Tears brimmed in her eyes.
“Oh Velda, don't be upset. You have to realize they're adults now. They need to do things their way.”
“I'm not upset.” She smiled. “I did a good job raising those kids. This is another gift I gave them.”
Ted stepped back. “What gift is that?
“I've become the common enemy and I love it!”
“The common enemy? Of course you're not,” Ted said. “They know you love them.”
She smiled. “They'll remember our traditions and my holiday house rules. They'll rally against those rules and it will draw them closer to each other. They'll need each other when I'm not around to remind them about the Holiday House Rules.”
# # #
Thank you for taking the time to read
Holiday House Rules
If you enjoyed it,
please consider telling your friends
and posting a review on
Amazon.com or other online sites.
Word-of-mouth referrals are
an author's best friend
and much appreciated.
Holiday House Rules
by
Valerie Allen
Copyright by Valerie Allen 2019
Amazon.com/dp/B07XQHFBTG
All rights reserved
For More Information, please contact:
Valerie Allen
VAllenWriter@gmail.com
ValerieAllenWriter.com
Amazon.com/author/valerieallen
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events, is entirely coincidental.
Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author.
About the Author
Valerie Allen, psychologist and author, writes fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and short stories. She previously wrote a news column, “Family Matters.” Her parenting and writing articles have been published online and in magazines nation-wide.
She has served on the Board of Directors of the Space Coast Writers' Guild, and as a member of the National League of American Pen Women, Cape Canaveral Branch. She is also co-founder of Authors for Authors.
She lives in warm and sunny Florida where she has raised six children, from whom she has learned many things about life and love!
Short Stories
by
Valerie Allen
A Good Thing on a Bad Day
A License to Practice
A Marriage of Convenience
A Mother's Love
A Tooth for a Tooth
Ad Hoc Committee
Best Wishes
Brotherly Love
Conditional Love
Doggie Tales
Father's Day
Fire Engine Red
Fireworks on the 4th
First Love
Fit for Life
Future Plans
Holiday House Rules
Holiday Traditions
Home for the Holidays
I Remember Momma
Just Be Cos
Ladies in Waiting
Leisureville
Love is in the Air
Match-maker
Mother Knows Best
No Goin' Home
Potty Talk
Puppy Love
Queen for a Day
Second Chance
Small Steps
Split Second Timing
Thank You! Mr. Jackson
The Big Winner!
The Garden of Love
The Lonely Life of Amanda Miller
The Penalty Box
Words of Wisdom
Valentine's Day
Visiting Day
~ ~ ~
Amazon.com/author/valerieallen
Holiday House Rules(Valerie Allen)
Holiday House Rules
by
Valerie Allen
“You better not light that nasty thing,” Monique warned her brother. She pulled her woolen scarf tight around her neck and up over her chin. Cliff, Monique, and Jayne huddled in a far corner of the backyard of their childhood home waiting for their sister, Desiree. The three watched as Desiree urged her German Sheppard, "Hero," out of her car.
Their boots were planted in a light powder of snow. They stood under a leafless tree, surrounded by a sparse five-foot-high hedge. Monique glanced at the twinkling lights which outlined the roof of their parent's home.
Cliff, his collar turned up against the wind, looked across the yard. “Mom can't see us from the house. Besides, I think at 32 I'm old enough to decide for myself if I want to smoke or not.”
Monique rolled her eyes. “That's not what Mom thinks. She has her list of Holiday House Rules. You'll risk serious damage if she sniffs cigarette smoke on your clothes.” Monique squinted her eyes and leaned her face toward him. “Don't even think of asking me to cover up for you!”
He tossed his head back and laughed. “You know another biggie on Mom's list? 'Waste not, want not.' Which in Mom talk means 'you're too skinny and you better clean your plate'.”
Monique gritted her teeth. “I hate it when she starts in about my weight. I know what I want to eat. She doesn't have to keep sneaking another helping of mashed potatoes onto my dish. Does she think I don't notice what she's up to?”
Jayne tugged her hat tight over her ears and wagged her finger in Monique's face and mimicked their mother. “You better not waste a crumb of that food, young lady. The food that your father had to work so hard to earn the money to buy and I spent the entire day cooking. How can you be healthy if you're all skin and bones?” The three of them laughed. “Love her that I do, Mom can really drive you crazy if you let her,” Jayne said.
Cliff looked at his youngest sister. “The love is all there for Mom.” He rolled the unlit cigarette in the palm of his hand and looked at Jayne. “Crazy? Did I hear you say crazy? Is that why you're hiding out here to keep mom's eyes off those cute little pills you keep popping?”
“Absolutely not! I'm not popping anything,” Jayne said. “Those are my birth control pills.”
Cliff smiled broadly and looked at Monique. “I wonder why our baby sister would need to take birth control pills?”
Monique leaned in and touched Jayne on the arm. “Now that kind of going on would definitely violate Mom's rules.”
Jayne raised her eyebrows. “Mom may not be happy with me taking birth control pills, but she'd be a lot less happy if she heard the pitter-patter of little feet in her house during the holiday meal next Christmas.”
Desiree pulled Hero through the hedge toward her siblings as they huddled in the cold. “Poor doggy. Your little paws must be freezing,” she said to the dog. She leaned over and snuggled his head into the side of her long woolen coat.
Hero looked up at her and began to whimper. Desiree tugged on the leash and called his name in a harsh whisper. “Quiet, quiet!” She put her finger to her lips and then waved her hands to shoo him away. “Go take care of your business. Go on.”
Cliff shook his head. "I can hear Mom now. 'I don't know about people who can't afford to feed themselves. People who have to go out and get a second job so they can feed their pets. People who don't seem to know how to budget their money'.”
Desiree glared at him.
Cliff lifted his hands, palms out. “Hey, I'm just sayin'.”
“Well, you can stop 'just sayin'," Desiree said. "Mom doesn't understand how much I love Hero. Mom said she had kids to love and she didn't need to take in a stray dog who was going to eat her out of house and home and then die just when she got used to it being around. She didn't need another heartbreak.”
The four siblings laughed as they huddled in the enclosure behind the hedges. Cliff lifted his hand, his cigarette still unlit, and gestured around the garden area, now covered in snow. “I think I spent half my life hiding back here so Mom wouldn't see me smoking. When she said 'Thou shall not smoke' it sounded like God was speaking directly to me. I swear she has eyes in the back of her head.”
Monique laughed so hard she bent over and crossed her arms onto her midsection. “This reminds me of when we were kids hiding out here. Remember, this is where you brought me to smoke my first cigarette.” She shook her finger in his face and frowned. “What a bad, bad, big brother you are! Getting me into that awful habit when I was 12-years-old!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Cliff looked at her. “I didn't twist your arm. You could have said no.” He placed his cigarette between his lips, flicked his lighter and cupped his hand around the cigarette until the tip glowed red. He lifted his chin, drew in his breath and slowly blew smoke out from the small circle of his lips. He looked at Monique. “You still smokin'?”
“No.” She looked at him. “Not after that cancer scare I had last year. I took it as a message from God—or whoever. I went cold turkey. According to my doctor, my lungs are looking good.” She poked him in the chest. “No thanks to you.”
“You still blame me for all your troubles?” Cliff asked.
“No, not anymore. You led me down the path, but I made the decision.” Her eyes watered. “Last year I made a better decision.” She blinked back tears. “You should too, Cliff.”
He inhaled again and slowly blew a narrow stream of smoke from his lips. “Maybe.”
A loud rustling noise came from the bushes and caused them to look away from each other. They watched as Hero loped toward Desiree and nestled his snout against her leg.
“That poor dog, ” Jayne said.
Desiree pulled the dog to her side and rubbed snow flurries off his nose. “Hero's doing fine. I've got him all bundled up in the car. He has food and water too. I came out a few times to start the engine and turn on the heat. He's okay.” Desiree rubbed her gloved hands along his flank and the dog panted and whimpered. “Shhh, shhh, good doggy, good doggy.” Desiree looked across the yard toward the house and shook her head. “Mom and her ridiculous rules. No pets! Who ever heard of telling someone– especially your own kid– they can't bring a pet into your house?” She turned to Jayne. “Isn't this still our house?”
“No. I don't think so, not according to Mom,” Jayne said. “She says it's her palace, and she wants it the way she wants it until the day she dies.”
They were all quiet for a moment. Each considering, but not willing to put into words, one day their parents would die. One day, their parents would no longer be with them.
Desiree broke the silence. “Well, I've thought about bringing an orangutan next Christmas and see if that's on Mom's list of rules!” She rubbed the dog behind his ears. “We'll see if she objects to my dog after that.”
Jayne took a deep breath and leaned down toward the dog. “Did you hear that? Your mom's going to leave you home next Christmas. She's going to replace you with a very big monkey.”
Desiree laughed and said, “No, I'm not. I'm going to bring both of them!”
Cliff looked at Desiree and shook his head. “Gonna get a bit crowded in that car of yours. You know, with the animals, food, water, blankets, a heater—all the things you'll need to work your way around Mom's rules.”
“I'll make it work. I spent my childhood working my way around mom's rules. I haven't lost my touch,” Desiree said.
“Just be sure you have enough room for that fabulous gift you bought me—whatever it is,” Cliff said.
“Right, I'll throw everything out of my car, including my dog, to make room for your gift!”
* * *
Ted came into the kitchen. “Another wonderful Christmas dinner, Velda. I don't know how you manage it.” He reached down and loosened his belt buckle one notch and ran his hand across his ample belly. “All that cooking, the decorations, the gifts for everyone—you're a miracle maker.” He kissed her on the cheek. “The kids love every minute of it, and so do I.”
“It just comes naturally after all these years.” She sighed. “I hope the kids carry on our traditions and the holiday house rules.”
He took her hands in his. “I'm sure they will, but you know they have their own lives to live.”
“Of course I know that!”
“They have to make their own traditions and Holiday House Rules for their kids when the time comes.”
“I hope so. Every family needs traditions and rules.”
Ted put his arms around her waist and kissed her. “Nothing in your rules about kissing the cook is there?” he asked.
She leaned against him and looked out of the kitchen window across the backyard.
“What do you see out there?” Ted asked.
“I'm watching the kids try to hide behind that big ol' tree.”
“Are they behind those hedges?” Ted asked with a laugh.
“Yes. There they are, all gathered together to talk about how unreasonable I am. I know they always sneak across the back yard to have it their way.” Tears brimmed in her eyes.
“Oh Velda, don't be upset. You have to realize they're adults now. They need to do things their way.”
“I'm not upset.” She smiled. “I did a good job raising those kids. This is another gift I gave them.”
Ted stepped back. “What gift is that?
“I've become the common enemy and I love it!”
“The common enemy? Of course you're not,” Ted said. “They know you love them.”
She smiled. “They'll remember our traditions and my holiday house rules. They'll rally against those rules and it will draw them closer to each other. They'll need each other when I'm not around to remind them about the Holiday House Rules.”
# # #
Thank you for taking the time to read
Holiday House Rules
If you enjoyed it,
please consider telling your friends
and posting a review on
Amazon.com or other online sites.
Word-of-mouth referrals are
an author's best friend
and much appreciated.
Holiday House Rules
by
Valerie Allen
Copyright by Valerie Allen 2019
Amazon.com/dp/B07XQHFBTG
All rights reserved
For More Information, please contact:
Valerie Allen
VAllenWriter@gmail.com
ValerieAllenWriter.com
Amazon.com/author/valerieallen
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events, is entirely coincidental.
Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author.
About the Author
Valerie Allen, psychologist and author, writes fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and short stories. She previously wrote a news column, “Family Matters.” Her parenting and writing articles have been published online and in magazines nation-wide.
She has served on the Board of Directors of the Space Coast Writers' Guild, and as a member of the National League of American Pen Women, Cape Canaveral Branch. She is also co-founder of Authors for Authors.
She lives in warm and sunny Florida where she has raised six children, from whom she has learned many things about life and love!
Short Stories
by
Valerie Allen
A Good Thing on a Bad Day
A License to Practice
A Marriage of Convenience
A Mother's Love
A Tooth for a Tooth
Ad Hoc Committee
Best Wishes
Brotherly Love
Conditional Love
Doggie Tales
Father's Day
Fire Engine Red
Fireworks on the 4th
First Love
Fit for Life
Future Plans
Holiday House Rules
Holiday Traditions
Home for the Holidays
I Remember Momma
Just Be Cos
Ladies in Waiting
Leisureville
Love is in the Air
Match-maker
Mother Knows Best
No Goin' Home
Potty Talk
Puppy Love
Queen for a Day
Second Chance
Small Steps
Split Second Timing
Thank You! Mr. Jackson
The Big Winner!
The Garden of Love
The Lonely Life of Amanda Miller
The Penalty Box
Words of Wisdom
Valentine's Day
Visiting Day
~ ~ ~
Amazon.com/author/valerieallen
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BEN BROWN
02/18/2021BEN BROWN
I really enjoyed this story. I live with my Mum and go by Christmas a tradition, which I have done since very early childhood. I always open my presents first thing each year. Well done.
Help Us Understand What's Happening
Valerie Allen
02/18/2021Ben - thank you for following my stories. I try to write about relationships, families, and events my readers can identify with in one way or another. The holidays are always emotional ~
COMMENTS (2)