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Leo Gets His Wings

12/8/2024

“I got us tickets for ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ at 1:30.” Leo locked his phone and plugged it in. “We’ve still got a couple minutes to catch the tail end of Polka Pete’s show.”
“Who?” Sarah studied the silver snowflakes embroidered on her gloves.
“You’ve never heard of Polka Pete? He’s an institution around here. He’s been playing polka music every Sunday since before I was born.”
She shrugged.
“Are you alright? You seem…”
“It’s nothing.”
‘Which means it’s something.’ He looked around to see if it was safe to back out of his parking spot. “We’ve got a little time before we need to be at the theater. Do you want to stop at the mall so we can stretch our legs a little?”
“Sure. I could use a break from sitting.”
He smiled and backed out of the spot. “A little stroll to burn off breakfast. Sounds like a plan.”
She gave a half smile and nodded.
“Did you have a nice chat with Mom?”
“She’s…” Her brow furrowed. “…detail-oriented.”
Leo smiled. “You should see our house. She could give all those classic TV housewives a run for their money. I think the dust refuses to accumulate in our house due to the force of her will.”
“I can see that. She’s so glamorous.” She dipped her head. “Joan, too.”
Leo sighed and pulled up at the red light. “Don’t do that to yourself.”
“What?”
“Don’t try to compare.” He scanned the intersection as the light turned green and drove on. ‘You’re incomparable.’
“How am I supposed to–”
“You’re not.” He said as he turned into the mall’s underground parking lot. “Don’t even try. Just be you. Mom is Mom. Joan is still trying to be Mom. I’m not sure why. She was always fine just being Joan, but she seems to want to be like Mom for John’s sake. You don’t have to.”
“I couldn’t if I tried.” She said under her breath.
He drove around in search of an open spot. “You know what?”
She looked at him.
“I’ve got an idea.” He cruised to an open spot and backed in.
‘Don’t leave me hanging.’ She pursed her lips and waited.
“You can help me pick a new piece of rolling stock.” He turned to her and smiled.
“A piece of what?”
“A train car for our layout downstairs.”
“You have a train set at your house?”
“It’s a beaut.” He unbuckled and hopped up out of the car.
‘They’re all nerds.’ She shook her head and got out. “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone with a train set.”
“Wait until you see it.” He reached out to her.
She looked at his hand. Such a simple gesture, but it meant they’d be holding hands. The two of them holding hands and strolling through the mall in search of a new train car.
“Coming?” He looked confused, dropping his hand to his side.
She fluffed her hair out of her coat collar and scarf. “Sure, I’ve got a lot of breakfast to burn off.” She looked at her hand and extended it to him.
He smiled and took it. A jolt of electricity raced up her arm and down her spine. The dim, flickering lights of the parking area became brighter. Her hand fit perfectly into his, as if they were made for each other.
“Ready?”
She nodded and followed along.
“Elevator or escalator?”
“Escalator.”
He smiled and opened the door for her. She didn’t let go, so they did a peculiar dance to get through to the landing of the escalator. She waited on a rising stair as the merry mayhem came into view.
Unlike the entryway downstairs, the main promenade of the mall was decorated and lit as far as the eye could see. There was a riot of holiday decor everywhere she turned. Fake and real greenery festooned many surfaces. Red velvet and shiny satin ribbons and bows turned up here and there. Big plastic candy and tiny silhouettes of reindeer caught her eye.
“Leo, this is wonderful.” She squeezed his hand as they wandered down the lane of shops.
“What’s your favorite movie candy?”
“Gah, I can’t even think about eating anything after that giant breakfast.”
“I mean, in general. We don’t have to get anything right now.” He swung their hands.
She got a geeky grin from that. “Penguin Mints, I guess. How about you?”
“I used to love a Foxfire Flare, but I haven’t seen them in years.”
“What’s that?”
“It was a chocolate bar with cinnamon and pop rocks. The label was white and red like Foxfire’s superhero costume.”
“Your mom said you guys were crazy about the Sentinels growing up.”
“Yeah. I don’t know about Chris, but I still am.” He smiled as he scanned the shops. “How did you even get on that topic?”
“She asked about my elf costume.”
“Oh, sure. I love the detail. Who made that for you?”
“Mary Christmas.”
Leo stopped dead in his tracks and turned to Sarah. “No way. How?”
“Truth is stranger than fiction. Is that your store?” She pointed behind him.
He turned to glance at the storefront. “Yeah, that’s the one. Why did Mary Christmas make an elf suit for you? Did you go to Empire City?”
“No, she came to Laurel Ridge after Megaman’s vacation was over.”
“You met Megaman?”
“Unfortunately.” She let go of Leo’s hand and headed into the hobby store.
He turned to watch her go a moment before following. “Unfortunately? There has to be a story that goes with ‘unfortunately’.” He caught up to her in an aisle with the model train merchandise.
“Do you have one of these?” She held up a boxcar with Santa on the side.
“No, but that’s the wrong scale. Ours is HO. That’s a G.” He scanned the shelf for the HO stock. “Look through these and see if any of them catch your eye.”
She joined him and grabbed a box. “What does this stuff mean?”
“It tells you what kind of car it is and if it’s branded to a particular railroad line like Union Pacific or Pennswald Railroad. So, this one is a B&O flat car and these things tell about the real world carrying capacity, size and so forth.”
‘I love when you talk nerdy to me.’ She smiled. “So, we wouldn’t want that one.”
“You can put whatever kind of car you want, but that wouldn’t be my first choice.”
“Ooh, this one says Santa right on it.” She handed it to him.
He slid the lid off and showed it to her. “This one’s a coal hopper. I guess he’s got more kids on his naughty list than we might have supposed if he’s got a whole train car full of it.”
“That’s cute. Can we get that one?”
“Sure, that would be perfect.” He slid the lid back on.
‘You’re perfect.’ She clasped her hands and followed him to the cashier. “Did you see those tiny little houses?”
“They’ve got some nice ones. Wait until you see the ones we have on our set.”
‘He says that like it’s a foregone conclusion I’ll be invited to his house. He doesn’t know Mary is building some kind of dossier on me.’ She spotted a roll of grass paper. “Scale Astroturf? Do they have scale pond scum, too?”
“Not really, but you can do a resin casting to simulate it if you really want to.”
‘Ask a silly question…’ She rolled her eyes. “Can we make a quick stop at my place? I feel too dressed up for a movie.”
“Definitely. We’ll stop in on the way to the theater.”
The trailers were quick and simple. She wasn’t sure about this seating, though. The chairs were huge and spaced far apart. They also had footrests that raised up. ‘That’s likely to make me sleep through the movie.’ She looked over at Leo. His feet were up and he had his tray table across his lap in anticipation of the soda and popcorn he’d ordered. ‘Hmm, if he didn’t have that table up, I could sit in his lap and we could snuggle.’ She shrank away from the audacity of that notion. ‘We’re not there yet.’
The angels were talking on the screen.
Joseph said, “At exactly 10:45 PM, Earth time, that man will be seriously thinking of throwing away God’s greatest gift.”
“Oh, dear, dear! His life?” Clarence asked.
That hit her like a sledgehammer to the gut. ‘What will Leo do when he finds out?’ She pulled her knees up to her chin and hugged her legs. ‘What will Mary do when she finds out? I won’t be allowed to see Leo after that. None of them will be nice to me ever again.’ Sarah turned to look at him.
He was sitting there watching the scene where George saves his brother. ‘He’s got a bunch of brothers to save him from thin ice. Is that me? Am I a danger to him?’
Leo noticed her looking at him and offered his hand. ‘I shouldn’t, but I don’t care.’ She took his hand and rubbed it against her cheek. She saw his look of concern when he noticed it was wet with tears.
“Are you okay?” He whispered.
“I will be.” She held his hand fast to her cheek. ‘I think.’
The warmth of his hand and the tone of concern helped her settle in for the movie. She gave him back his hand after the popcorn arrived. They shared it as the story unfolded.
The runners came and took away the containers so Leo could put his table down.
‘My God, I so want to curl up on your lap, Leo Murray.’ She took his hand, instead.
George leaned on the handrail of the bridge and said, “I want to live again.” The snow began falling to signal that he was back in Bedford Falls instead of the joyless dystopia of Pottersville.
‘Did I ever say that?’ She sniffled. ‘Who would I even say it to? I had nothing to come back to. Nobody needed me. Nobody wanted me. Not really.’ Leo pumped her hand. She wanted to kiss him for that. ‘He’s going to think you’re nuts, and he won’t be wrong.’
Dr. Hu told her that when she was spiraling, she needed to anchor herself in the present. ‘I’m at the movies watching a movie I love with a guy I like. This movie has a happy ending and so can I.’ She pumped Leo’s hand, resting the back of his hand against her chest. ‘I wonder if he can feel my heart pounding. Have to slow down and be calm. The happy part is coming.’
George is back. Bedford Falls is back. Mary and the kids are back. The whole town is at his place, bringing enough money to keep the Building & Loan in business to foil Mr. Potter’s machinations. Clarence gets his wings.
Sarah wept with joy as the end credits rolled and the house lights came up.
“I’m glad to see you take your Christmas movies so seriously. I thought I was the only nerd who got choked up over stuff like this.” Leo swept a tear from his eye.
‘You are a nerd!’ She sniffled and giggled at him. ‘A nerd sent from heaven. Leo got his wings. Get it together. You’ve got a lot to talk to Dr. Hu about tomorrow.’ She pressed the button to make her footrest go down. “I don’t know about you, but I could go for some Penguin Mints.”
“Hmm, we could do that or maybe another vingt of Peppermint White Cocoa?”
“Trying to fatten me up or something?” She laughed as he took his hand.
“Hey, you’re the one who bombed me with every kind of Christmas cookie known to man. We could get matching Santa and Mrs. Claus suits at this rate.”
‘Matching outfits.’ The notion amused her until she realized what he said. ‘Santa and Mrs. Claus? He’s thinking of us as a…’ She pumped his hand as they wandered out of the theater toward the exit. ‘He made a point of taking me next door to the jewelers when we went dress shopping. Didn’t he?’ She looked up at him. ‘He said it was to look at cross necklaces, but he slow-walked us past the engagement rings. Oh, wow.’
“So, what other movies are on your must-watch list?” Leo asked as he pushed open the door to the parking lot.
“Let’s talk about it in the car. Where did this wind come from? It was freezing already.”
He wrapped his overcoat around her and she huddled against him on their way to the car.