Written
by Helen Wilson
Based on some situations originated by James Cameron.
Christmas, 1911
Cora peered out of the living room window,
watching the snowflakes flutter down, landing on the window and melting away.
Her mother sat beside the roaring fire in the hearth, dozing quietly. As a
figure approached the house, she leaned closer to the window to get a better
view, but her warm breath steamed up the cold window, hampering her view. She
sighed and wiped it away, leaving wet streaks of condensation across the glass.
As the figure drew closer, she squinted to get a better view of him. A smile
spread across her face as she recognized him. "Daddy!"
She ran to the door, throwing it open,
suddenly hit by the freezing wind and snow. "Cora, come away from there
and shut the door. You're letting the cold in," her mother warned, but
Cora ran out into the night to her father. As she ran toward him, she noticed
the package under his arm, wrapped in plain brown paper and tied with string.
He gently put it down on the ground before
lifting his daughter up and holding her up to him. "How's Daddy's favorite
girl?" He smiled, kissing her on the cheek. "Let's go on in before
you catch your death of cold."
He held her in one arm, the package in the
other, wrapping his coat around her. She snuggled up inside it as he made his
way back toward the warmth of the house. He closed the door and set Cora down on
the floor. He took off his wet jacket, hanging it by the fire to dry.
"Have you been good for your mummy
tonight?"
Cora smiled and nodded her head.
"Yes."
"Well, that's good, because good
children get presents at Christmas, don't they?"
Cora nodded again, and Bert took hold of the
box he had been carrying, the brown paper soggy where snowflakes had landed on
it. He knelt down so he was level with Cora and held the package out to her.
"This is for you."
Cora's eyes widened with excitement, the
smile on her face growing even bigger. "Really?" She began untying
the string and ripped off the paper, leaving it in piles around her. She pulled
the lid off the box, finding layers of tissue beneath it.
Carefully, she unwrapped each layer and
gasped as she revealed below the most elegant porcelain doll she had ever seen.
She took it out of its box, admiring its beautiful, long, brown, wavy hair, its
deep brown eyes, and the exquisite silk gown. "Is this really for
me?" she asked in disbelief. She ran her fingers over its smooth face,
feeling the perfect contours of its features. She laid it down in the box,
hugging her father tightly. "Thank you, Daddy," she said excitedly.
Bert smiled. "It is the one you wanted,
isn't it?"
Cora nodded. Bert remembered how every day,
as they walked to school, Cora would stop and gaze in the shop window. How she
would press her face up to the shop front, dreaming of playing with such a
wonderful doll. She had asked for one many times, but it had cost so much, he
hadn't been able to afford it. "Maybe next week," he had kept saying.
Cora would sigh, and they would carry on along the road. He had scrimped and
saved for months to buy it for her, but after she had helped her mother so much
whilst she was ill, it was what she deserved. He felt contented to see her so
happy after so much sadness.
Cora played with her new doll all night long,
and took it everywhere with her. Whilst they ate, it sat in another chair next
to her, when she went to sleep, it lay by her on the bed. Bert went into her
bedroom as she lay sleepily in bed. "What are you going to call her?"
he asked.
She thought for a moment before replying,
"Elizabeth." She lifted the sheet, putting the doll next to her and
cuddled up to it, her eyes closing.
Bert tucked the sheets up around her, kissed
her on the cheek, and whispered, "Good night, Cora."
The End.
