Angel Tears

Toby gently reached beneath the layers of tissue paper in the box. Hidden beneath the folds, laid the Christmas Angel. A cherubic face, surrounded by golden curls. Her dress laid in folds, made of sheer white chiffon.

Carefully, he picked her up in his chubby eight year old hands, smiling. His mother had cherished the angel, and carefully placed it on the tree each year. A tradition that Toby wanted to respect and follow. He remembered the look on his mother's face, as she stood back and looked up at the angel. Then she would kneel beside him, pulling him close to her. She told him every year, the story of how her grandmother had made the angel when she was a little girl, just for her. Now she belonged to both of them.

Toby held the angel gently, bringing it out of the box. When he had taken it almost beyond the clinging tissue paper, he saw bits of the dress lying in the box. Turning it over, he discovered the entire back of her dress, along with the feathered wings, were gone. Eaten completely away; by mice. The beautiful angel was tattered now, no longer whole.

The child was devastated. Tears fell down his cheeks, while his chest heaved with sorrow. His mother's cherished angel was destroyed. Toby couldn't believe, that her beloved angel wouldn't sit on the top of the tree this year, or ever again.

When his father realized that Toby was sitting on the floor holding the angel, his body heaving with the sounds of loss, he sat beside him. Taking the angel from the little hands clutching it, he now knew why his son was crying. Toby's mother had only been gone a year. For the angel to be gone too, was more than his child could bear. He put his arms around him, sitting him in his lap. Toby cried while his father rocked him, back and fourth, until he fell asleep. His father placed him on the sofa, to dream away the sadness in his heart.

The angel laid in front of the tree. Mangled and torn, no longer the elegant white beacon, to smile above the the twinkling lights below.

Toby's father picked it up and sighed. He had no idea how to make this better for Toby. He knew all too well how important this was to his son, but he was lost as to a way to fix it. He took the box and the angel and put it in the laundry room. He couldn't bring himself to throw it away. He wasn't man enough for that, tears in his own eyes; shutting off the light.

Later that day, he told Toby they would go buy a new one. Toby shook his head. His lips were drawn into a tight line. No other angel would do. In his mind, she could never be replaced.

Toby went to bed that night with a heavy heart. All the joy of decorating the tree, gone from the little boy and the father too.
Toby played in his room for the next few days, staying far away from the tree that stood in darkness. Hundreds of tiny white lights, waited to shine. Toby and his father couldn't bring themselves to turn them on.

A few days later, it began to snow. Harder and harder it came down. Blanketing the neighborhood in velvety white powder. Standing at the window watching it, Toby seemed to perk up a bit. Soon he was ready to go out and play in it. He dressed in all of his warmest clothes. Yellow rubber boots tromped through the snow, leaving his prints to follow him. He delighted in watching his own footprints. His smile and laughter tickling the air, as snowflakes touched his tongue and landed on his eyelashes.

His father watched from the window as his son began to laugh. Seeing the sparkle in Toby's eyes, gave him new spirit too. He soon dressed and joined his son in the snow. They built a snowman, giving him holly berries for eyes and a nose. A stick from the tree, created a crooked smile. Toby's father took off his red scarf, placing it around the snowman's chubby neck.

Toby tried to put his own wet mittens on him, but they slipped off every time. Darkness and cold began to fall upon them. His father picked him up and turned toward the house.
He almost dropped Toby, when he saw the lights from the tree in the window, glistening over the snow. Toby slowly slid down his father's legs, to stand beside his him in awe. The tree lights twinkled brightly through the big front window, creating a bright glow on the snow.

After a few minutes, they went into the house; with trepidation. There in front of them, stood the most beautiful tree. Twinkling lights and shiny balls, with his mother's angel sitting at the top. Her wings were regal again, her dress complete, elegantly flowing down the branches. Her hands were folded, as if in prayer.

Toby walked over to the tree, staring up at the angel. A smile encompassed his face, tears moistened his eyes. He turned to his father with a questioning look. His father shook his head, kneeling beside his son. Together they admired the angel, as she once again adorned their tree.

Toby sighed, she was watching over them again. Just the way she had for every Christmas of his whole life. He knew in his heart who had made her whole again. For Toby, there was only one person that could have put the angel on their tree.

Many years later, Toby ran into their old housekeeper while Christmas shopping. She hugged the tall young man, now in college, so handsome and grown. She asked about his father, and Toby told her that he was well. He waved goodbye, walking to his car.

She turned and stopped, as she walked towards her own car, asking Toby if the angel was still on the tree. Toby suddenly knew that she had cared enough, to leave him all those years ago, with his own special thoughts as a child. Never giving a clue that she had saved the angel from the trash.

Toby went to her, hugging her tightly. Angel tears filled his eyes, "Thank you." She patted his hand, getting into her car with her packages. A special tear in her own eyes now, as she remembered the little boys tears, so long ago.