“Venus”
Listen to this chapter, “The Magic of Christmas”
December 24 fell on the Lord’s Day. In the afternoon, Allen and Julie helped deliver food baskets to needy families. Then late afternoon found Julie and Allen and the other Macintoshes on their way to the country to visit the Jacksons, friends of Macintoshes.
The two small Jackson children were excited to have visitors on Christmas Eve. They had to take Allen, Julie, Peter, and Kenny on a tour of their farm, to see their goats and calves and puppies.
It was nearly sundown when Allen and Julie stood on a flat rock looking down into the green valley below and across the misty blue hills to the fading sunset. They stood there for a long time, whispering to each other.
Soon the stars came out, one by one. Julie pointed toward the sky. “There it is!”
“Venus?” Allen looked, too. “Yes,” he repeated, “there it is.”
“Our Christmas star,” she said.
Then, hand in hand, they walked back to the house. Inside there was a warm fire that glowed in a rustic stone fireplace. By the flickering flames, Pastor Macintosh told the Christmas story, and they all sang carols softly. Then the Macintoshes headed back to the city.
In the darkness, soft music came through the radio. There was a light chatter in the Macintosh station wagon. Allen held Julie’s hand.
“Are you happy tonight, Julie?” he whispered.
“Oh, yes! Very happy. Aren’t you, Allen?”
“Julie, I think I’m the happiest boy in the world! Everything’s so, so perfectly wonderful. Because you’re so wonderful.”
Julie sighed. “That’s a pretty song. What is it?”
“‘Tenderly’,” he answered. “Kind of like…our friendship.”
There was a brief silence.
“Everybody knows it—and accepts it now, Julie,” Allen was saying.
Everybody knows what? Julie wondered.
“Yes,” Allen repeated, “everybody knows—we’re in love.”
In love!
“I love you, Julie,” he spoke gently.
And her hand tightened over his.
Back at Macintoshes, around the Christmas tree, there were presents. Without a word, Allen walked over to the tree, picked out a package tied with delicate blue ribbons, and placed it in Julie’s lap.
She looked up at him. “Allen! You didn’t.”
He smiled. “For you. Open it.”
“Now?”
He nodded.
“Open yours first,” she said.
“Well—okay.” He found his present from Julie, and with great gusto he tore off the paper Gloria had wrapped it in.
“A wallet!” he exclaimed. “The one I picked out in Mexico! Why, you wonderful little sneak!” He gave her a quick hug. “Thank you, sweetheart,” he whispered.
Now it was Julie’s turn. Carefully she undid the ribbon and took off the white and blue snowflake paper. Inside, she found a gold box. Her mouth flew open and she could not get the lid off fast enough. A beautiful white Bible! She looked first at the Bible, then at Allen and his family, who were all watching her. Then she picked up the Bible reverently and opened it.
“Presented to Julie Scott by Allen Macintosh, December 25, 1960. ‘Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’ II Timothy 2:15” was the inscription.
Julie was really speechless. “Oh, it’s the most wonderful present I could have ever asked for! Oh, Allen! Oh!” was all she could say.
And when the others were opening their gifts, Julie and Allen were still thanking each other. Julie handled her new Bible carefully. Here on this Christmas Eve was the very essence of everything good and beautiful, everything their love stood for.
In the living room confusion of opening presents, Julie squeezed Allen’s hand. “Allen, I love you, too,” she said.
Christmas day dawned over Riverdale, and the Macintoshes had their Christmas dinner at Julie’s house. Then they would go on a one-week vacation. This would be the first time since Allen had known Julie that they would have ever been apart for more than a day or two.
“I’ll write, sweetheart,” he said at the door. “Goodbye.”
Julie stood by the door long after Macintoshes had left. She thought about all that had happened and wondered just what would happen from now on. She smiled as she remembered the night in November when it rained and where it had all started. She thought of the weeks since then, as they had grown to know and love each other. Now it was Christmas. A new year was soon to begin. What would this year bring? And what about the years after that? In just three years, she figured, the Macintoshes would be far, far away from Riverdale since they transferred pastors to a different church every three years. But just what did the future hold? Soon she turned from the door and got busy doing things in the house.
Allen, too, as he rode along with his family, was thinking about the wonderful Christmas Eve he had spent with Julie. Then he remembered the weekend at Pine Cove where it had all begun with Peter calling his attention to Julie. And the days after that, walking Julie home, taking teasing from Otto and Ken, and learning how to understand. Will I ever kiss Julie? I know I want to, and I’m sure we’re in love. But he kept remembering everything his dad had told him about things like that. “A kiss is a beautiful expression of affection.” But Julie was pretty special, too. He would never do anything to spoil that.
And so, soon the year closed, and the world—Julie and Allen’s world—stood on the threshold of new day. Who could imagine that a day could ever come to separate Allen and Julie with inhumane cruelty? Who dared to think that Allen and Julie would ever fight? Who could even predict the coming Valentine’s Day or foresee a certain May night, a school banquet, and a white orchid? Who could know about the very next Saturday night finding them again with Gloria Martin and her boyfriend Ken Nelson? But that was the unknown, the yet-unrealized future.
New Year’s Day came. Allen and Julie were in a wonderful world, real as the sunrise, romantic as springtime, but all their own and very, very special. This was young love. No one could tell when—or if—it would ever end. But it existed in the present. And it began in the November rain.
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