Coming home from work that day, the first day of Christmas holidays for Julie, instead of trudging up into my bath, or into my house for that matter, I walked up the step of Mr. Albert's brown house and knocked on the door. Mr. Albert answered in a white polka-dotted, red apron, his face expressionless as usual.

Happy

I smiled at him, "Hi, Mr. Albert, I just came by to..." He motioned me inside. I stepped into the warm house. I wondered if he had a bath, a large, bubbly, already heated one. I would love to get into it...and he could bring me cookies.

"Amaljia!" Julie came running around the corner in her red socks and slid, crashing into me with a hug. I bent down to talk to her.

"Hey, Julie! What'd we do today?" I looked up with a smile at Mr. Albert.

"Lots" she said, "I did my coloring book, and we played cards and we made snow-angels" "Yeah, I saw them outside," I turned to look out the window, dozens of dwarfish, handi-capped snow-angels freckled the snow outside as new snow fell to fill them up.

"Didn't you make any snow angels, Mr. Albert?" I asked.

Worried

Julie cut in, "He's afraid he'll short circuit his box," she was referring to the teleprompter."

Relieved

"What time is it?" Julie asked. I looked at my watch.

"4:30"

"T-J Lazer's on!" she exclaimed.

"Alright. You can go home and watch it. Put all your stuff on...and make sure to thank Mr. Albert." She quickly slapped all her stuff on and then was out the door with a quick, "Thanks Mr. Albert."

Pleased

Mr. Albert turned and proceeded into the kitchen. Taking off my boots, I followed.

"Wow, it really smells good in here!" Mr. Albert pulled some cookies out of the oven. He put them on the counter.

"I just wanted to thank you for taking care of Julie during the holidays. I really appreciate it."

Lonely

Smiling, I understood. "It's hard taking care of my sister all by myself, so I appreciate it."

Mr. Albert closed the oven and began to clean up some of the stuff on the counter.

"I mean it's hard to look after her all the time...'cause she doesn't have a father and it's hard for me to be much of one since I never really had one either."

Sorry

Mr. Albert offered me a cookie. I took it and began chewing it. The crumbs slide down my throat and warm my body from the inside. They really were good.

"What I'm trying to say is...I really appreciate it. I mean, it's good for Julie. And it gives me time to think about trying to save up for university and...well, you know. I really appreciate it." I looked around his kitchen. It was so organized, sturdy. His entire house was sturdy and organized. There was something very nice about it. My kitchen was a mess. Plus I always had the feeling the house was going to cave in on me. It wasn't an actual worry. The house was very well built and strong, it just felt like I was barely holding it up.

Mr. Albert offered me another cookie. I took it.

"You're real good with children, Mr. Albert. Is there a Mrs. Albert?" I asked half-jokingly.

Remembering

He turned away. I was worried I'd hurt him, dredged up some forgotten memory of long past. But he turned back and his sign flashed:

Forgotten

He put some cookies in a bag and handed them to me. I smiled and thanked him. There was a small pause.

"You know, I'd better get going...I've got some stuff to do, supper to make, you know."

He nodded and followed me to the door where I put my boots on again. As I tied them up, Mr. Albert's cat jumped up onto the bench and stared at me, sniffed me out. I scratched its head.

"What's its name?" I asked. He pointed to the tags hanging around its neck. I lifted it up and read it. 'Tin man' it said. I smiled and then stood up and opened the door.

"Thanks again," I said and found myself outside in the snow once more.