Writing for Fun
December 2017
Mistletoe - Sue Barker
Merry Christmas, the holiday season, everyone enjoys it, or so we are lead to believe. The hype is immense and the build up gets earlier every year. Lily sat on the sofa, the tenth door of the advent calendar open, even with the taste of chocolate kissing her lips she was depressed. She sighed – a deep sigh coming from the bottom of her lungs; her mouth turned down and the black cloud started to surround her, God she hated this time of year. Oh yes the advent calendar was a nice touch, a kind thought from her boyfriend Dave but she knew he’d only bought it to cheer her up. Having been together two years now, he knew what lay ahead.
Lily hoped it would be different this year, but she knew it wouldn’t; it couldn’t really, unless she was willing to make a great change in her life nothing would alter. She blamed her parents, they are idiots and deserved the blame heaped on them. The door bell rang; Lucy reluctantly went to the front door. Here we go, she thought, funnily enough most of the year hardly anyone seemed to notice. But obviously it was this time of year it mattered most. She knew the knowing smiles would start, they sometimes grew into chuckles, occasionally into great laughs and she was sick to death of it.
She thought about staying in until January but that wasn’t practical; she did most of her Christmas shopping online but that possibly made the problem worse. If only she wasn’t so painfully shy it wouldn’t be so bad, she might have been able to brazen it out, take it on the chin but she couldn’t. Lily slowly went to the door, she could see the Amazon delivery driver through the glass. She slowly opened the door, noticing for the first time that the paint was peeling away from the door. The driver gave her a little wink and asked the dreaded question ‘Are you Miss Toe? Miss L. Toe? If you are, here’s the parcel and I need a signature.’ Lily tried not to raise her eyes to meet his, she knew from the tone of his voice he was trying not to laugh. ‘Good name for Christmas time, bet you’re always being asked for a kiss.’ Lily, with her face flaming red with embarrassment, nodded. She signed for the parcel, then grabbed it from his hands and slammed the door.
It was the same argument every year with her parents, they swore that they hadn’t even realised that when they named her Lily Toe how her name would read as. Toe is a difficult name in itself her mother lamented, they’d liked the name Jo but that wouldn’t work nor would Tammy; they finally settled on Lily.
She thought back to all the tormenting she’d received and it was even worse now than when she was at school. That was only bearable because she was in a class with Wendy House. Both with silly names they became friends. They both suffered from schoolmates laughing at their expense. Wendy was teased even more than Lily but she was a braver soul and could laugh it off. Lily just resented Christmas and her parents a little more every year. Maybe, just maybe Lily hoped Dave might proposed this Christmas she’d then become Lily Smith and that sounded wonderful to her ears but if he didn’t she was definitely changing her name by deed poll by the end of the next October.