Christmas was tomorrow. Like so many others, Ben had been anticipating this day, but not for the same reason. He had no one to give presents to, and no one to give him presents. Truly, he was all alone in the world. His family, both the one he grew up with and the one he formed with Elaine, his precious wife of 43 years, were all gone. He was the last of his line.
At 83, he was just patiently waiting for the reaper to remember him. He was ready to follow Elaine into the afterlife. She had died 35 years ago of ovarian cancer when it snuck up on her a couple of years after their only child, Barry, had been born. Later, Barry had been killed in the war.
He had no friends. They were all gone. He did know people, Betty at the café, Joe at the car dealer, and so on. People that he had transactions with, but no friends or family.
Christmas was Elaine’s birthday. He celebrated it every year in her memory. This year, he had a cupcake from the café. He had his party hat and noise maker from the previous celebrations. He was all prepared.
It was almost his bedtime, then in the morning, after his coffee, there would be the party. He hoped that he would be able to sleep well this night. The snow that was falling made everything eerily quiet. The scent of the small sparsely decorated cedar tree in the living room permeated the house. Everything seemed the picture of Yuletide peacefulness.
Then, just as he was about to doze off, his attention was drawn to a dim light in the corner of his bedroom that seemed to be increasing slowly in brightness. Opening one eye and then the next, he gazed blurrily at the source of the illumination. There, sitting on the chair in the corner, was a young man of about 50, glowing from a light as if from within. As Ben watched, the figure, which sat there smiling at him, seemed to become more solid. Ben realized that, at first, he had seen through the man, but now he seemed as solid as anyone.
His mind reaching for something to say, Ben finally blurted out, "What are you doing in my bedroom?" Of course, this was only one of the many jumbled half-formed questions racing confusingly through his sleepy mind.
"Do not be alarmed," the glowing man responded. "I am Messenger Elias. I bring you good tidings this day."
This information, probably meant to be soothing, did little to calm Ben's mind.
"It seems that a messenger could have found a better time to deliver their charge, not to mention entering my house unannounced!" Ben shot back, an edge of testiness in his voice.
The stranger replied, calmly, "I know that my appearance here is a bit unusual, but I am not just any messenger, nor is my message run of the mill. As I said, I am a Messenger, an ethereal being who is no longer of your world, and I bring you information."
That explanation seeped through the fog of sleepiness in Ben's brain. This was not a dream. It was actually happening! He sat up, now fully awake.
"What message?" he asked, his voice hitching just a bit. "Have you finally come to take me?"
"Fear not. I am not THAT kind of Messenger," the man replied with a smile. "I am here to inform you that you are to have an important visitor on the morrow."
"A visitor? Who? What kind of visitor?" the questions came out quickly as Ben tried unsuccessfully to process what he was being told.
"That is all that I have been instructed to inform you of at this time," the glowing man said. "Be ready, is all that I can tell you."
And with that final warning, the man flashed brightly for an instant and disappeared. For a moment, the image of the man remained in Ben's sight, in a negative format. Then he blinked and tried to decide if what he had just witnessed had actually happened. He pinched his arm and it hurt, so it must have. He was awed with the possibilities. He eventually got back to sleep, after several hours of considering what the message had meant. A visitor! Who could it be?
* * *
As usual, the sunlight streaming in his bedroom window awakened Ben in the morning. Remembering the events of the previous evening, he wasted no time getting out of bed and getting dressed. He was excited to find out who his visitor might be. It occurred to him that it might even be Jesus, given the timing, but expected someone less lofty. In any case, he was sure that they would not come so early, but he rushed to consume his normal breakfast of yoghurt and granola with a glass of apple juice and coffee, just in case.
He could not get his mind off the pending visit during breakfast. It had been so long since he had any kind of visitor. He lingered over his favorite time of day, his morning coffee. His wife Elaine had so loved sharing that moment with him each day before he was off to work. He decided as he sipped the last of his second cup of coffee that he really should straighten up a bit, before he celebrated her birthday. His house was never messy, with only him to cause disorganization, but it could probably use a going over anyway.
Getting up, he set about the task. As he was putting magazines away in the living room, the doorbell rang. His heart nearly stopped in his chest! Drawing a deep breath, he made his way to the front door and opened it.
What he found he did not think was the expected visitor. A man, covered in the snow that was blowing strongly outside, was standing on the porch, smacking his arms across his body.
"Can I help you?" Ben asked.
"Yes!" the man said. "My car is stuck in a drift down the street, and I wondered if you could help give me a push out."
Ben had been correct. This could not be the expected visitor, even given the coincidence that he had been his first visitor in months.
"Come in! Come in!" Ben said. "Let's get you a cup of coffee to warm you up, then we will go see about your car."
As the stranger complied, stepping into the house and apologizing for the mess caused by the snow which fell from his coat, Ben worried for a moment that this intrusion might cause him to miss the visitor that he had been told of, but decided that would be unlikely, given the early hour.
The man was served the last cup of coffee in the carafe, and he told his story as he warmed himself in a chair in the kitchen. Coming home from the grocery store, his car had slipped on a patch of ice and slid into a snowbank. No one else had seemed to be home, or answer their doorbells, until he got to Ben's house.
The coffee finished, Ben and the man got up to go see about the car. Ben was going to get his car, to drive over and help pull, but the man insisted that it would only take the two of them. The car was not stuck badly, just needed a little help getting a purchase on the ice.
Trudging through the windblown snow flurry, the two of them made it to the stranded vehicle in just a few minutes. The man got in and started it up, and sure enough, even at his age, Ben had enough in him to help the car back out of its predicament. At the man's urging, Ben got into the passenger seat and the man drove him the two blocks back home. He thanked Ben profusely as he got out, then was gone.
Ben walked back into his house, taking note that there were no new tracks at the front door. At least he had not missed the mystery caller.
* * *
After his snowy adventure, Ben went back to the task of preparing for his visitor. First, he cleaned himself up, putting his snow-covered boots in their place under the coat rack at the door, then Ben continued to clean his home, putting things away and lining things up. He was sure that the caller would come soon now.
As he expected, the doorbell sounded its cheerful little tune less than an hour later. Trying to contain his excitement, Ben went to answer the door for the second time that day.
To his dismay, he discovered that there was an old woman standing on his porch wringing her hands. Surely, this was once more not the visitor he had been told about.
Before he could even ask why she had come, the woman wailed, “My little Fluffy is missing! She is lost in this snow!”
The woman was almost inconsolable. Ben took hold of her forearm and pulled her into the house.
“Now tell me all about it,” he said to the woman after he had closed the door on the frigid wind.
As she related the tale of her missing dog, Ben led her into the kitchen where he prepared her a hot cup of tea. Fluffy had needed to do her business outside, no matter the weather and had not come back when she called.
“Here. Get a few sips of this warm tea in you so you don’t catch your death, and we will go find your dog,” Ben told her.
The woman clearly did not want to take the time, but Ben convinced her to take a few sips while he gathered his cold weather clothes again. Once he was kitted out, the two of them walked out into the worsening weather.
Ben was worried that he might miss his visitor, but he had to help the distressed woman and her dog. The woman said that she lived in the next block, which explained why Ben had never met her.
It did not take long to get to her house. They checked the front and back doors, but the pooch was not waiting to be let in. They decided to split up and each take a side of the house.
It took Ben about ten minutes to locate the shivering dog crouched under a holly bush. He called for the woman, as the dog would not come out to him. It immediately came to his owner when she got there.
The woman was profuse with her thanks as she enfolded the little dog into her arms. Ben refused the offer to come inside for his reward, explaining that he really had to get back. He waved his goodbyes and with his head bowed against the snow laden wind, made his way back to his own home.
Once again, he was both glad and a little disappointed that no one had come while he had been helping to find the dog. He went in and hung up his heavy coat and put his boots on the pad that would soak up the melting snow.
* * *
The remainder of the day crept by at a snail’s pace. The hours seemed to have many extra minutes. The house was all in order. He had read the news. He did not own a television, so he decided to distract himself from the anticipation with a book. That was of little use, however, since he could not concentrate.
He made and ate dinner. He celebrated Elaine’s birthday. He listened to some Christmas recordings. He dusted the shelves. He was bored. The anticipation had built to a crescendo, but began to fade as the day wore into evening with no visitors.
He had all but given up when just after 9 o’clock, the doorbell finally sounded again. Ben rushed to the door but then paused for a moment so he would not seem to be too anxious to whoever was there.
Opening the door with a broad smile on his face, which turned to a look of confusion, he beheld a teenage girl crying on his porch. Disappointed but forever kind, he put aside his own feelings and tried to help.
“Whatever is wrong, young lady,” he asked the girl.
Her first answer was unintelligible, but she seemed to realize this and got her sobbing under control. Trying once more she said, “He threw me out of the car into the snow, and now its miles to my house!”
“Come in. Warm yourself up and tell me all of it,” Ben said, trying to project calm in the face of his own disappointment.
He made the girl some hot tea and listened to her story. A lothario of a boyfriend and her had been to the movies. On the way home, the boy had wanted some kisses and maybe a little more at the stop sign at the corner, but she had refused. The boy had made her get out of the car and driven away leaving her shivering in the windblown snow. She saw the light on at Ben’s porch and hoped that he could give her a ride the two miles to her house. There was no one home there that she could call. Her parents were at a party.
Ben agreed to help the girl without hesitation, telling her to finish her tea while he got his car ready. Once the car was started and warmed up, he came back into the house and guided the young girl to his garage.
The trip to her house was uneventful, although visibility was very poor, and Ben had to drive slowly. The girl thanked Ben over and over and went into her home. Ben returned slowly to his, sure that he had done the right thing helping the girl but equally certain that if there had been any chance of his visitor arriving that had now passed.
Back at his house, Ben put away the used teacups and straightened the kitchen, then turned out the lights and headed to his bedroom. Either it had all been a bad dream, or some sort of mistake had occurred. No one would be coming by this late.
* * *
It turned out that Ben had been wrong about the bad dream, and he had also been wrong about it being too late for visitors. As he turned out the light on the bedside lamp, the glowing man from the day before reappeared. Had it really only been one day before, was the first thought that occurred to Ben, but that is not what he said.
“I thought that you said that I would have an important visitor today,” he accused the glowing man in the corner of his room. “I waited the entire day, except for briefly when I had to help someone, and no one came.”
Messenger Elias smiled and paused for just a moment to give Ben a chance to calm down.
“You did have your visitor,” he told Ben. “I came by three times.”
“I was never visited by you,” Ben countered.
“But you were,” the Messenger insisted. “Once I was in the guise of a man who needed help with his car, then an old woman unable to locate her little dog, and finally a young girl unable to get home without assistance. “
“Those could not have been you,” Ben continued to doubt his visitor. “I would have seen through your disguise.”
“I had no need of a disguise,” the Messenger asserted. “I can appear however I wish. You might be surprised.”
To prove his words, the Messenger morphed into the old woman, even down to the small dog on her (his) lap. Ben just gaped in astonishment.
“Each time that I visited you,” the Messenger continued, “you did not hesitate, but offered kindness and assistance without concern for your own needs or desires.”
Ben was almost speechless, but did manage to say, “But why all this subterfuge?
“I was instructed to prove if you really were as concerned with the welfare of others as I had reported,” the glowing man said matter-of-factly.
“You were to receive a very special gift. One given to very few others,” Messenger Elias said gravely, “and there were those who insisted that you be worthy.”
Ben could think of nothing to reply. His mind latched on to the phrase ‘I reported’ that Messenger had just used, but his mind could form no sentient sentence from the thoughts.
“Your gift is in the kitchen,” the Messenger said, and then smiling broadly once more stood and disappeared in a bright flash.
* * *
When Ben’s vision recovered from the bright flash of the Messenger departing the dark room, he swung his legs out of his bed and slipped his feet into his slippers.
Walking into his kitchen, he found the Messenger again, this time seated at the small table with his back to Ben.
“You certainly seem like you are beginning to feel comfortable here,” Ben quipped with a smile in his voice.
Turning slowly, the Messenger said, “Yes, it is one of my favorite places on Earth!”
Ben had to grab the door frame that he was passing through as his knees turned to jelly beneath him. Sitting before him was his wife Elaine, looking as healthy as she had before her cancer, so many years before.
“Elaine?!” Was all he could force out of his constricted throat as he fought to regain his equilibrium. Hoping for the best, he let go of the door frame and lurched towards her. She caught him as he careened into her arms.
“Happy Holidays to you my love, and Happy Birthday to me!” Elaine said hugging him as fiercely as he hung onto her. “I’m your present!”
“What? How?” Ben stammered like a crazed man. “It can’t be!”
“I have been given only an hour with you, but it is real and I am really here!” Elaine said, tears in her voice and in her eyes.
She went on to tell him the why and the how. She explained that she was one of the ethereal Messengers, beings dedicated to helping humanity. He was told about how she had kept an eye on him all these years.
“Am I coming to be with you soon?” Ben asked hopefully.
“No, my love,” Elaine answered. Your time here has many more years, which is partially why I have been given this one chance to visit you.”
Looking deeply into Ben’s eyes, Elaine continued. “You will still help many more people, but we will be together again. It will seem like such a long time as it passes but you will look back on it as a brief interlude, after we are together again.”
They spent the remainder of their hour holding each other and occasionally saying a word or two to make all of their unspoken communication more complete.
Exactly one hour after Elaine had turned to face him in the kitchen, she started to fade.
“Until we meet again, my love,” were her last words.
She gave Ben one last kiss as she faded completely and was gone once more. He touched the moistness that she had left on his lips and said, “I’ll be seeing you!”
