I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas
Is you

Sarah closed her eyes as the beautiful Christmas song on the car’s radio serenaded her mind, the sweet melody drifting in the air on the wings of joy and goodwill.
Her baby was asleep in her arms and looking at her sweet adorable face, she wondered, “What will this Christmas be like for us, Isabella? Will a star in heaven twinkle for us or will our lives continue to be a struggle?”

Questions she had not the answers for but in her heart there was a wish that something good could happen.
She was a poor young woman with a little child, a future not too bright, for three months before her baby was born, her husband met with a fatal accident. So young for such heartache, the struggles now of a single mother, rich in heart but rags of the poor, such crumbs, the tragedies of life.

Oh holy night!
The stars are brightly shining
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Tears gathered in Sarah’s eyes and she sighed deeply, not remembering at all when life was roses and not thorns. She had married a young salesman from her church hoping that with culinary skills, they could start their own food business. But too soon tragedy struck, too soon dreams and hopes were shattered.
Now she was going back home to her grandmother, the one family she was close to, where there was always love and warm comfort in her little old house.
A loud noise aroused her from her thoughts, startling a little the baby in her sleep. It was another passenger the driver had secured, a buxom woman with her heavy bags.

“I just need two more sis” he told Sarah, a little apologetically, “A little more patience.”

She smiled a little with understanding hoping though he could secure the two more passengers soon for she had been sitting in the car at the park for close to half of an hour and the morning was getting hotter. Not long after, the driver came back with a broad smile saying, “This gentleman will pay for both seats so we are ready to go.”

“Thank goodness” Sarah said with relief, setting herself and baby comfortable and glanced at the gentleman who got in the car beside her. A young business executive he seemed to be, an Asian guy, neat and casual but there was a tense expression on his face. He glanced at her briefly, with just the hint of a smile and turned on his laptop.

“So, how did your car break down, man?” the driver asked him.

“I’m not sure what happened” he answered in a deep smooth tone, “The mechanics are working on it.”

His car had apparently broken down and he was late for a very important meeting, so he was forced to continue his journey with a hire car from the park. He did not seem to be having a good day and a short while later Sarah’s baby awoke crying.
She comforted her as best as she could, not wanting to disturb the other passengers and as the baby calmed down, she fed her a bottle of milk. All was well until the woman in the front changed the channel on the radio to dancehall music, turning up the volume. It was not Sarah’s kind of music and she noticed the young, business man’s discomfort so she asked politely, “Can you please change that?”
The woman gave her a cross look, “What you want to hear girl, gospel?”
“Not really” Sarah answered in a polite tone “Some softer music will be fine.”

The woman grumbled but changed the channel and he smiled a little at Sarah, maybe to say ‘thanks’ and return to his work on the laptop. It was then Isabella, now in a playful mood, noticed him and she reached out her little hands to grab his, talking in her baby language. Sarah pulled her back, holding her as she bounced up and down, clapping her hands gleefully.
“Isabella” Sarah said sternly in a low tone, “Not so loud.”
“Let her be” the gentleman said, a little relaxed now “It’s better she’s playing than crying.”
Sarah smiled and relaxed her hold a little and in a wink, Isabella launched and clapped the laptop keys hard with her hands.

“Oh my goodness!” Sarah exclaimed “I’m so sorry.”

The woman in front turned and laughed, “She probably wants to Google something.”
The young man closed his laptop and leaned back in his seat with a resigning sigh, “I guess I’ll have to stop working until she sleeps.”
It was a good while after before Isabella fell asleep and Sarah closed her eyes too, drifting off a little. It did not seem long before she was jolted out of her sleep by the screaming of brakes and a sudden impact as something hit the car. The baby almost fell out of her arms and she felt strong arms holding them both at the car spun out of control, the driver wrestling with the steering wheel until he brought it to a stop, a few inched away from a culvert.

“Oh my God!” She cried, raising her head from the young man’s shoulder.

“Are you and the baby alright?” he asked

“Y-yes” she nodded and held onto his arm as he helped her out of the car.

He turned to assist the woman in front, who was close to a panic attack and the shaken, distraught driver. A curious crowd gather as the police arrived and the young man standing next to her commented to someone on his phone, “This is really a bad day, send someone to pick me up.”

An ambulance arrived, taking the buxon woman to the hospital and as he waited for his ride, he asked her. “How are you going home?”
“I don’t know” she replied, an uncertain look on her face, “I’ll probably get a bus.”

He looked at her for a short moment, noting she was still shaken and he picked up both of her bags, “Come on, I’ll give you a lift home. I already missed the meeting and you can’t be left here stranded with a little child.”

“Thank you” she said with deep gratitude because her heart was still racing from the ordeal of the accident.
The ride that came for him was a luxury vehicle and Isabella fell asleep as they continued their journey. It was the first time mother and child had ridden in such posh comforts and looking at the kind gentleman whose personality exuded a comforting warmth, Sarah thought, “Such different worlds we are from, I’ll probably never see him again.”
One never knows though, what miracles Christmas can bring.
She reached the village where her grandmother lived, not a poor outlook from the main road but across a dilapidated bridge along a muddy damn was a small impoverished community. She thanked him politely refusing his help, not wanting him to see where she lived and holding Isabella carefully with one hand and her bag on the other, she walked gingerly across the bridge, not turning back to see if he had left.
Her grandmother’s eyes lit up on seeing her and the old lady hugged her granddaughter, tears of happiness in her eyes. “The lord is great” she said in a shaky voice, “for allowing me to see my great granddaughter.”

She kissed the sleeping child softly on her cheek and looking at Sarah, she asked, a worried look on her face, “How have you been doing, my child?”

Sarah put Isabella down on a cot and sat down on the worn sofa, smiling to hide the pain that was still like a fresh wound in her heart.

“It’s fine, grandma. I’ve come back to you and this Christmas will be wonderful for us with what little we have.”

Grandmother was an old woman, wise in her years, her eyes and wit still sharp and she saw clearly through the veil Sarah was hiding her pain. “Bless your heart, my child” she said, “I’ve always known there was something special about you.”

Sarah unpacked her bag to settle down once more, in a home she had lived since she was a baby until she married Joel and moved to another region. It had saddened her heart to leave her grandmother alone but the pastor of their church has assured that the church’s sisters and brothers would take care of her. Sarah had visited her as often as she could until one year later, in her third month of pregnancy when she started to feel sick and couldn’t travel. She had sent though, whatever small amount of money she could afford to the pastor to ensure her grandmother’s upkeep. Now that Joel was gone, she had felt a strong need to return even before the pastor had informed her about her grandmother’s worsening health.

Sarah looked around the small house that had deteriorated somewhat and in her mind, she promised, “I’ll clean and brighten this home for you, grandma, so the days of your life will be good and comfortable.”

It was close to dinner when Isabella who had been pretty quiet since she awoke, playing with Sarah’s old dolls, screamed, a high pitch scream to signal she was hungry. Sarah hurried tp prepare a bottle of milk for her but she couldn’t find the bag with the baby formula, she realized after a moment’s thought, that she had forgotten the bag in the young businessman’s luxury vehicle.

“Oh no, what do I do now?”

The two tins of formula and other baby foods were a two week supply and there wasn’t much to eat in grandma’s house.

“Grandma” she called to her grandmother, who was in her little vegetable garden, “Take care of Isabella, I have to hurry to the shop to get something for her.”

The next morning, as she was getting ready to go to the supermarket by bus, one village away, for the baby’s formula, there was a knock on the door.

“It must be the pastor” she thought but when she opened the door, the business executive who had traveled with her yesterday was standing there.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, truly surprised, not expecting at all to see him again, “Why-why are you here?”

He held up the baby’s bag she had forgotten, “Thought you might need this and since I was passing your way…” he left the sentence unfinished.

“Thank you” she said relieved but somewhat uneasy that he had seen the poverty she lived in.

“Is this why you didn’t want me to help you yesterday?” he asked, noting her discomfort.

She didn’t answer and turning, he walked to the gate and stood surveying the place, noticing the muddy dams, tall grass, clogged drains overgrown with weeds, and little old houses, a few close to falling down.

“This looks like a place time has forgotten,” was his comment, a disturbed look on his face, “and that bridge,” he stressed, “is a hazard.”

“Not much has been done here over the years” she told him.

“This is not good” he said “Something has to be done.”

He looked at her and asked, “How are you and the baby?”

“We’re okay” she answered

He smiled a little, “That’s good, I have to go now but I’ll see what I can do about this place.”

He turned to leave then stopped after a few steps then turned back, “I forgot to ask your name.”

“Sarah” she said.

“A nice simple, biblical name” he said, nodding his head a little, “I’m Ronald.”

She watched him leave, pleased she had seen him again, not sure why but liked that nice, little feeling in her heart. The next few days, Sarah began the cleaning and packing, finding old photographs and mementos from grandma’s young days, in old boxes pushed in corners. “These are real treasures” she said as she decorated the old house, giving it a whole new look. She was looking through a box of old Christmas cards, beautiful sentimental words that brought tears to her eyes when an excited voice called from the gate, “Sarah, it’s happening, come and have a look!”

Sarah went outside wondering what was happening, seeing a small group of residents standing there, pleased looks on their faces. “The bridge, they are building a new bridge.”

“What?” she looked surprised, “Who’s building it?”

“Your gentleman friend who came the other day” one of the women answered.

“I can’t believe this” Sarah said to herself, “He has actually kept his word.”

She walked a little way up the dam and from there she saw him talking to the construction workers. He saw her and raised his hand and that pleased feeling she had felt that day on seeing him again was now a little more intense. Sarah returned to the house and standing in front of the mirror, she let her hair down, that fell to her shoulder and looked at herself. A young woman looked back at her, her ebony skin, smooth but a dull look in her eyes, tiredness on her face. Pretty, she was but in a simple way as a poor girl could be.

He was a rich stranger, in a class way above her with a confident outlook and classic good looks.

She sighed and shook her head, not daring to think of the impossible.

Two days later, grandmother had a relapse and Sarah sat by her bedside all night, trying to get her to hold and she prayed, “Dear lord, please don’t take her away now, if I were to have a Christmas wish, I wish that my grandmother spends this Christmas with us.”

A star twinkled in the sky as a poor young woman’s wish reached the heavens. (To be continued)

By Maureen Rampertab