Keisha had already brushed her teeth, put on her pajamas and crawled into bed when her mother walked into the room.
“Are you ready for nite-nite?” asked her mom, placing her hand on the light switch.
“Could you tell me a story first?” Keisha said. “I’m not sleepy yet … at least not real sleepy.”
Her mom smiled, climbed onto the bed and snuggled close to her daughter.
“Sure, sweetheart,” she said. “Do you want me to read you one or tell you one?
Keisha answered immediately.
“Tell me one!” she said, excitedly. “Tell me Secret Holiday again. That’s my favorite.”
Her mom laughed.
“OK … here goes.”
The bell rang right at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, sending most of the kids at Pinckney Memorial Grammer School into a frenzy.
With Thanksgiving the next day and another day off scheduled for Friday, there would be a long holiday weekend for the students and teachers.
Ava heard her friends talk of the road trips they were taking – or the visitors coming into town – as well as all the baking activity leading up to the feast.
She smiled politely when they shared their excitement, although she could muster none of her own.
November was hardly a joyous time at her house, and things got even worse when the pumpkins and hay bales were replaced by lighted trees and stockings.
Her parents’ arguments often drowned out the holiday music blaring from the stereo. With all the fighting, she could never understand why they even bothered to play holiday music at all.
And if she wasn’t locked away in her room covering her ears in an effort to mute the insults being volleyed between her mom and dad, she was nervously sitting through a silence that made a cold home seem even colder.
She clearly remembered one time when her folks didn’t speak to each other at all for more than three weeks.
She called such times “The Darkness,” and as each holiday came and went, it seemed to grow bigger and darker, practically engulfing her.
Ava was sad most of the time, it seemed, but it was the holidays that made her the saddest of all. She knew they were supposed to be happy times, but they weren’t – at least they hadn’t been for her.
Then one day, Ava had an idea. What if she created a Secret Holiday – a holiday no one knew about but her?
It could be any time she wanted it to be – and last as long as she wanted it to – but only she would know about it.
The first Secret Holiday she remembered came on a summer day when she heard her parents laughing – something she didn’t here nearly enough. She imagined the living room decorated in bright colors, and that night when she ate dinner, she pretended the baked beans and sliced bread was a festive meal only served during special, joyous times.
When she was at school and saw other kids laughing, she pretended they were celebrating their own Secret Holiday, and it made her happy inside.
In fact, she figured that anytime a person was laughing, smiling – or sometimes just sitting on a bench with nothing but a book and a pleasant expression – they were celebrating something.
And she decided to celebrate with them.
They didn’t know it, of course, but they were part of her Secret Holiday, and those were the times that were the absolute best of times.
Weeks turned into months and months turned into years, and Ava grew up.
She got a job, worked her way through school, fell in love, got married and started a family.
Turns out, there were more Secret Holidays than she could keep up with.
The day she brought a kitten home from the shelter was a Secret Holiday.
The time she carried her neighbors’ groceries into his house was a Secret Holiday.
Best of all, the sad months she had experienced as a child – November and December – didn’t seem so sad anymore because they were always full of Secret Holidays.
Oh, there were bad times, to be sure … that’s part of living. But the greatest thing of all about Secret Holidays is that they’re secret – and that means “The Darkness” can never find them.
Keisha had already fallen asleep by the time her mom reached the end of the story. She eased off the bed, tiptoed toward the door, and turned out the light.
It marked the end of another wonderful Secret Holiday.