Jayden Blue and the Gift to Imagine, a Prequel to A World So Close
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – Just in Time for Christmas 1
Chapter 2 – Perfect for Some Sledding 11
Chapter 3 – Meager Semblance of a Tree 20
Chapter 4 – Out into the Snowy Night 27
Chapter 5 – No Reason for that Present? 31
Chapter 6 – She’s Become A Very Good Friend 39
Chapter 7 – A Bird? Why a Bird? 47
Chapter 8 – A Break from Christmas 55
Chapter 9 – You Can Imagine Anything 63
Chapter 10 – It’s a Christmas Blizzard! 73
Chapter 11 – Leaving Tomorrow Morning 81
Chapter 12 – A Christmas Mystery 89
Chapter 13 – Those Cats Are That Clever? 94
Chapter 14 – No Later Than 8:00! 100
Chapter 15 – I’d Take Her Along Too 106
Chapter 1 – Just in Time for Christmas
A heavy but clean boot pressed on the bus’s brake pedal and sent a shriek up into a sky thick with low clouds. And it seemed to rip those clouds open, inviting them to dump snow so heavy that most of the giant flakes held onto each other as they fell to blanket the land.
“Jay, look at that!” she said, pointing toward the windshield, where the driver had given the wipers a chance to prove their worth. “It just started!”
“Wow! Just in time for Christmas?”
“Yep! I guess so!”
Jayden Blue and Raylene Hawkins waited only until the driver had coasted the long vehicle to a stop near the walkway in front of Jayden’s house before they jumped up from the cold vinyl seat. He’d stepped aside to let Raylene get to the door first, and he followed close behind her, giving the man in the driver’s seat a glance. The driver grinned at him before pressing the button, and the door rattled and clanged and folded itself up neatly.
But his eyes stretched open as he looked past Jayden.
“Hey,” he said, “you’re not supposed to—”
Jayden heard Raylene giggle behind him and turned quickly enough to watch her leap over the cold metal steps, all the way to the concrete walkway. What he noticed most was her long, straight brown hair puffing up behind her, some of it still hidden beneath her purple knit hat.
Just after her high brown boots landed solidly, she turned and looked up at him with a smile.
“Rayl, give me some room!” he said as he stooped down just a bit.
“Hey, you two,” said the driver, his voice a mixture of stern and laughing, “that’s not—”
Jayden jumped up and out, and his sneakers slapped the frozen walkway right next to Raylene. They shared satisfied smiles before looking back at the bus driver.
He shook his head and with his gloved finger ready to hit the door button again, he said, “We’ll talk about that in a couple of weeks. Enjoy your break, you two.”
Jayden and Raylene nodded and waved up at the man.
With a squeak and a groan, the door jerked itself closed, and the big engine sang out a deep rumble. After a determined clunk somewhere underneath, it began a slow crawl down the street, its tires squishing paths into the wet snow.
“Two whole weeks, Jay!”
“No homework!”
“And no cafeteria food!”
“Ugh. Don’t forget the slop. I still can’t even imagine what that might be.”
“No one can.”
“And no gym class,” he said while looking down at his sneakers.
“Nope. No gym class for a while, Jay.”
He looked up again but didn’t smile, and he waited till her eyes met his.
“Rayl, let’s not even talk about it.”
“Gym, you mean?”
“Yeah.”
“For how long?”
He looked left, then right, then back at her.
“Um, until school starts again. Let’s just never talk about it, okay?”
She tipped her head and stifled a smile at seeing that he wasn’t joking.
“Sure, Jay. We don’t have to talk about it.”
“Nope.”
They paused for a moment to watch the bus volunteering to get swallowed up in falling snow, the roar of its engine fading quickly. Above them, the line of evergreens between the sidewalk and the street were intent on catching as much as their branches could collect, offering Jayden and Raylene a cold but cozy shelter.
Somewhere high in the trees, a bird called out, but Jayden had already turned to face Raylene.
“We don’t even have our tree up yet, Rayl. My dad’s been working, and my mom had a bunch of teaching stuff every day.”
“Ours is up. You guys better hurry—Christmas is Saturday, and tomorrow’s Christmas Eve already.”
“I think we’re doing that tonight. Are you coming over? Maybe my mom will make us some hot chocolate.”
“Sure! Yep, that sounds good.”
She rubbed at a few flakes that were slow to melt on her nose, scrunching up her face as she wiped with a fuzzy mitten.
“I can barely see my house,” she said.
“Mine too.”
They began a slow journey from the street to the sidewalk, each with a backpack slung over a shoulder. Jayden’s long and thick wavy brown hair seemed to be a popular gathering spot for snow, and Raylene took a swipe at it, dragging her mitten across the top.
When he stopped and turned toward her, she said, “Snow, Jay. It’s really piling up.”
“On my head?”
“Yep. I’m going to stop at home for a while then come over, alright?”
He looked at his yard, already an unblemished field of white, then at Raylene’s yard, right next door.
“If you don’t get snowed in, you mean?”
“Yep. Tell Hex and Halo I’ll be right over, okay?”
“They probably already know, Rayl. They’re amazing.”
“Yeah, they’re good cats. Okay, Jay, see you soon.”
She turned quickly, snapping her hair back over her shoulder, and he watched it dusting the back of her parka as she hurried on a direct path toward her front door.
Jayden waited beneath the bristly pine branches until Raylene had opened her door, turned to wave, then disappeared inside. His sneakers left neat tracks in the snowy walk up to his porch, and he decided to climb the three steps rather than jump to the top.
With his hand on the doorknob, he stopped himself, wondering if Hex and Halo had any unusual plans for him.
“Nope,” he said aloud. “That’s only when I’m leaving in the morning.”
He turned the knob, whooshed in the door, and looked at their favorite place to relax: the dark blue couch with a large painting of a field of wildflowers hanging on the wall above it.
Hex, he knew, would be obvious if he were lying there. With nothing but white fur, except for a black “x” on his left side, he couldn’t blend in if he tried. Even his bright blue eyes would give him away.
Halo, though, being almost completely black but with a white ring on his head, would be hard to see. Unless he was staring at him. With his big green eyes.
But neither cat was there; the couch was empty except for a few scattered tufts of white and black fur.
That’s weird, he thought. Those cats are always waiting there. Maybe they’re eating?
He pushed the door in far enough to step inside, slammed it shut behind him, driving a light cloud of flakes everywhere, and stomped his sneakers a few times each, clearing them of snow.
“Mom!”
Mrs. Blue appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, one hand on her hip and the other holding a mug of coffee with a wisp of vapor escaping toward the ceiling.
“Hi, Jay. Is something wrong?”
He dropped his backpack on the floor near the closet door and shook his head.
“Nope.”
He pointed at the couch.
“It’s just that—”
Hex and Halo came marching into the living room from the kitchen, their tails pointed straight up.
“It’s just what?”
“Oh, um, I was just wondering where the cats were.”
“They were keeping me company while I was in here doing some reading. I bet they’ll be happy to have you home for a while, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, Mom. Probably. What time is dinner? What are we having?”
“It won’t be for another hour or two, Jay, so grab yourself a cookie if you want. I’m going to whip up some spaghetti. How does that sound?”
“It sounds good.”
He began tugging off his jacket, and his mother disappeared back into the kitchen just as Hex and Halo closed the distance and stood near his sneakers, looking up at him.
“What, guys?”
They continued to stare up at him for a second, then they turned to look at each other.
Jayden tossed his jacket onto the nearest chair without looking and watched the cats pad their way to the base of the stairs. When they froze, looking toward the top, he scratched his chin a few times and leaned his head to one side.
At the same time, they turned themselves around, still standing close enough that their tails were casually sweeping the first step.
“Guys, what are you up to?”
Both pairs of unblinking eyes were focused on him, but Jayden chose to look at the blue ones—Hex’s.
And his jaw dropped when he saw Hex poke a back leg behind him, up onto the step. Then, he placed the other one up there and scooted himself back. Still staring at Jayden, he hopped his front paws up too.
He stood there, unblinking blue eyes watching Jayden.
“Hex. What are you—”
He turned his eyes at seeing Halo reach up and behind with one leg, then the other, then hop up to join his brother.
He froze, too, with shiny green eyes gazing up at Jayden.
“No way. Cats don’t—”
Hex repeated his procedure up to the second step, and Halo yawned once and followed.
Jayden shook his head and watched them both climb backwards up onto the third step.
“Mom! Mom, you have to see this!”
“Jay, I’m pretty comfortable, and I’m kind of busy too. What’s going on?”
“Mom!”
The cats relocated themselves to the fourth step, shiny eyes fixed on his the entire time.
Jayden blew out a deep breath and ran toward the kitchen. At the doorway, he leaned in and said, “Mom, the cats! Come see!”
“Jay, I just sat down, and I really need to—”
“No, Mom, you have to! Come on!”
“Alright. I guess I’m a little curious now anyway.”
She got up, coffee still in her hand, and pushed her wire-framed glasses up before following after him. By the time she’d reached the bottom of the stairs, Jayden was staring toward the second floor, his eyes opened wide.
She looked.
She saw Hex and Halo sitting on the sixth step up.
Hex stared at them.
Halo yawned again. Then, he stared too.
“Jay? The cats? What about them?”
“Mom, no, you should have seen them! Do cats ever walk backwards up steps?”
Mrs. Blue slid her glasses down and squinted over them at him.
“Jay, they’re just sitting there.”
“Mom, I know, but they—”
Both cats turned quickly and began a speedy travel to the top, Hex taking three steps in a single bound and Halo two. At the top, they both rushed off toward the left and out of sight, their claws scraping at the hardwood floor.
“Well, Jay, I think they’re probably hiding in your room somewhere.”
She took a sip and began a slow walk through the living room and back to the kitchen, but she stopped and turned back around at Jayden calling her.
“Mom, wait! You didn’t see them. But I did. I watched them, and they—”
“Jay, come on and have a cookie. You can go up and ask them about it later.”
She grinned, shook her head, and pushed her glasses back up.
“I’m going to go read. Jay, maybe you need that cookie.”
He gazed at her for only a second and when he turned his head to look up the stairs, Mrs. Blue returned to her book and seat at the kitchen table.
After glancing once at the empty doorway to the kitchen, Jayden again looked up at hearing a light sound of claws sneaking along the wood floor.
Without another sound, Halo peeked around the wall. Low. Like he might have been lying down. Above his head, almost resting his chin on Halo’s ring, Hex stared down at him too.
Blue and green eyes, wide open and studying him.
“Guys?”
Then, they blinked a few times and ran toward his bedroom.
“Do you want some hot chocolate with that, Honey?”
Jayden looked up from his book, seated on the couch and warm with a cat pressed into him on each side. He hurried to swallow the bite of chocolate chip cookie before answering.
“Yeah, but can we wait until Rayl’s here? She’s coming over.”
“Oh, Raylene. That’s nice. Sure, Jay.”
Mrs. Blue stopped leaning into the room and took a step inside.
“She’s turning out to be a pretty good friend, don’t you think?”
“I guess. Yeah.”
“I know you didn’t want Adam and his brother and sister to move. What was that—two years ago?”
“Yeah. I think. I was in fifth grade.”
“That’s right. I remember the look on your face when you watched the Hawkins family move in. You kept waiting to see if Raylene had a brother, but she didn’t. It’s just her.”
Jayden took another bite and answered while chewing.
“Raylene’s nice, though.”
“Yes, she certainly is. Plan on having some hot chocolate with her when she comes over, alright?”
“Okay, Mom.”
They both looked at the sound of a soft, muffled pounding on the front door. Hex and Halo squirmed themselves upright, hopped to the floor, and scurried to the foyer, where they waited, looking up at the door.
“The cats sure do like her, Jay.”
Jayden sighed, still not quite believing what he’d seen just a few moments earlier.
“Yep. Yeah, they do.”
While he was getting up, his mother retreated toward the kitchen and said over her shoulder, “Two hot chocolates—coming up.”
Jayden rushed over and swung in the door, sending thick Nebraska snowflakes fluttering in a cloud that coated the floor, the cats, and anything else nearby.
“Rayl, come on in. It’s a blizzard out there.”
“It really is, Jay. Cold, too.”
He slammed the door behind her, and she stomped her boots after first being sure that Hex and Halo had given her enough room. With a hand on each hip, she leaned over.
“Hello, Hex. Hi, Halo.”
She reached down to scratch the tops of their heads and around their ears, and they each began a deep purr.
“They like you, Rayl.”
“Well, I like them too. You boys being good?”
The cats glanced at each other, then raced up the steps. Hex made it to the top first, but Halo was close behind him.
“Yeah, Rayl, they’re being good. Just weird. Want some hot chocolate?”
“Yeah! I need it today.”
“My mom’s cooking it up. Want a cookie too?”
“Nope. We’re going to have dinner real soon.”
She tossed her parka on top of his jacket, and they both began walking toward the couch. But they stopped at the sound of a lot of paws tapping the steps, and they turned just in time to see Hex and Halo race between them. They jumped up and claimed the couch first.
“Weird is right, Jay. Will they share that couch with us?”
“They better!”
They squeezed the purring cats between them, Halo against Raylene’s right leg and Hex against Jayden’s left. The purring rose when both cats rolled over and got their bellies scratched.
“They’re spoiled, Rayl.”
“Yep. I bet they’re glad they’re not living out there.”
She pointed to one of the living room windows, which already wore a crusty white outline and revealed a world quickly trying on a disguise built of layers of snow.
“Yep. They belong on a couch. Staying warm and comfortable.”
“Jay, what if it never stopped snowing? Have you ever thought about that?”
“Nope. I can’t even imagine, Rayl.”
Mrs. Blue walked in, carrying two steaming mugs.
“Hot chocolate, anyone?”
“Yes, please! Thanks so much!” said Raylene.
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Be careful, you two. It’s really hot.”
Chapter 2 – Perfect for Some Sledding
“I’ll never get tired of hot chocolate,” Raylene said, then tipped her mug back to take the last sip.
Jayden glanced into his empty cup, then rested it on his right knee. His left hand was still busy fussing with Hex, whose blue eyes were closing while he squirmed and purred.
“Nope, me neither. Rayl, do you think cats would ever like any?”
“Nope. No way, Jay.”
“Probably not cookies either.”
“Nope. What time does your dad get home? Oh, that’s funny—I think I just heard a car door.”
“That’s probably him. I think he’s off work tomorrow, but we’re putting the tree up tonight.”
“Well, Jay, tomorrow is Christmas Eve—you can’t wait any longer!”
“Long enough to eat, though?”
“Yep. What are you having?”
“My mom said spaghetti.”
“That sounds good.”
“Do you think cats would ever—”
“No way, Jay! Nope, they’d never eat that.”
He caught her eye when she turned and gave him a smile, but the front door swept inward, inviting in a cloud of wet flakes as they rode the rushing cold air as far they could before choosing locations to melt.
Mr. Blue shivered as he clunked closed the door and rested his back against it. His short brown hair and the shoulders of his coat had built up a thin layer of snow on his quick jaunt from the driveway to the door. He wore no gloves and with one hand, he held the thin straps of a paper bag.
“Hey, you two.”
“Hi, Dad.”
“Hi, Mr. Blue.”
“Did you know that it was snowing out there? I mean, a lot?”
“It started as soon as we got off the bus, Mr. Blue.”
“She’s right—we could barely see our houses already.”
“Well, perfect timing, I’d say.”
He stomped his shoes on the small rug, set down the bag, and hung his coat in the closet before grabbing the bag and joining them in the living room.
“What’s that, Dad?”
“Oh, just a present from work.”
“You haven’t opened it, Mr. Blue?”
“No, Raylene, not yet.”
“Why not?”
“Well, Jay, a little thing called Christmas, perhaps?”
Jayden laughed and said, “But that’s from work. That doesn’t count.”
“Oh,” Mr. Blue said while glancing at Raylene, and she shrugged and raised her eyebrows quickly at the same time.
Looking back at Jayden, he said, “Well, maybe you’re right. I can open this anytime.”
“How about now?”
Mr. Blue took a second to grin at Raylene, who smiled back at him, then he said, “How about if we wait at least until after dinner?”
“But then, Rayl won’t see it.”
“Well, Jay, she’ll see it eventually. Raylene, do you think you might wander over again before Christmas is packed up and gone for another year?”
“I hope so, Mr. Blue. Oh, unless it snows too much.”
“Ah, yeah. It just might.”
While slumping into his favorite chair, Jayden’s father loosened his tie and said, “It’s a big day, Jay. Putting up that tree. I’ll need your help dragging all that stuff in from the garage.”
“Okay. Are we eating first?”
“How about if we get that work done first, alright?”
“Okay.”
“I just need to change. Raylene, you’re welcome to stay.”
She kept devoting attention to Halo and said, “I should probably go. We’re having dinner soon too.”
She turned toward Jayden and said, “Walk me to the door, Jay?”
“Sure.”
She leaned forward to snuggle Halo for a moment, and Jayden caught his father smiling at the two of them. Then she stood, and he got up too.
Mr. Blue rose up, too, and said, “Jay, I’m just going to change first. Has Mom said what’s for dinner?”
“Yeah, Dad, we’re having—”
“Spaghetti,” said Mrs. Blue, leaning against the wall near the doorway to the kitchen. “Welcome home, Honey. It’s really snowing out there, isn’t it?”
He closed the distance quickly, smiling at her the entire way.
“Oh, yeah. It’s going to pile up.”
Still standing close to Mrs. Blue, he turned and said, “Jay, tomorrow will probably be perfect for some sledding. What do you think?”
Jayden’s eyes stretched open, and he gave Raylene a quick look. She was grinning too.
“Yeah, Dad, that sounds good! Rayl, you want to go?”
“I sure do, Jay!”
At the door, Raylene donned her coat and purple knit hat. She was still slipping on her thick mittens when Jayden reached for the doorknob.
Before he could turn it, she said, “So, Jay, will those cats pounce on you tomorrow morning? Like usual?”
“I don’t think so, Rayl. Somehow, they seem to know when I’m going to school. That’s when they play that game. Today, though, when I got home . . . that was really weird.”
“It was? How?”
He paused to glance at her straight brown hair hanging down over her shoulders on each side. Then, he looked into her brown eyes, sparkling as she waited to hear another story about his cats.
“It started with Hex. He was the first one up on the bottom step. Then, Halo followed him, and then—”
“Don’t they always go upstairs, though, Jay?”
Both cats scurried past them and leaped over most of the steps, then vanished off to the left.
“See?” she said.
“Yeah, but not like that! I tried calling my mom to see, but she—”
“See what? Cats going up steps? Jay, cats can climb stairs just like―”
“No, Rayl! Hex was going up backwards! He was pointed the wrong way! And then, Halo went up tail first the same—”
A commotion near the top of the stairway caused them both to look up. Mr. Blue was stomping his way toward the bottom, still buttoning his sleeves around his wrists.
“Jay, we better get going. It might not be easy finding everything. You ready?”
Jayden turned to Raylene and sighed.
He shook his head and said, “I’ll explain it later. They were being weird.”
“Okay, Jay. Tell me while we’re sledding!”
He grinned, pulled the door in, and stepped to one side.
“Don’t get lost in that blizzard, Rayl.”
“I won’t, Jay. See you tomorrow.”
“Bye.”
He pressed the door closed by leaning into it just as his father finished and stared at him, waiting.
“Okay, Dad, I’m ready. Out to the garage?”
“Yeah, Jay. We have a bunch of boxes to carry.”
Before following after his father, he took a quick peek up at the darkening hallway at the top of the stairs. Two pairs of eyes, one blue and one green, spied around the corner back at him.
“You guys . . .”
“Good job, Jay,” his father said while setting down a cardboard box in their living room. “That’s the last one. Maybe we should get started with—”
“Honey! Jay! Dinner’s ready!” his mother called out from the kitchen.
“Coming!” said his father as he gave Jayden a smile. “Hungry, Jay?”
“Yeah. I hope we’re having garlic bread too.”
Before his father could respond, they turned toward the sound of soft paws thumping down the stairs, then claws scraping to gain traction on the wood floor. Two cats, one mostly white and one mostly black, their tails pointed at the ceiling, raced through the room and into the kitchen.
“Huh,” said his father. “I guess they’re hungry too?”
“Yeah, Dad. Probably not for spaghetti, though.”
Jayden and his father stopped in the doorway, both looking at Mrs. Blue near the sink. She’d just drained a big pot of pasta, and clouds of hot vapor were ballooning up toward the ceiling. She was leaning away from the heat, tipping her long and wavy brown hair back.
She set the pot on a towel on the counter and turned toward them, her oven-mitted hands on her hips.
“Well,” she said, looking over her steamed-up glasses, “you’ll need to sit. Jay, just move my book out of the way, alright?”
“Sure, Mom.”
Mr. Blue dropped into his usual seat, and Jayden moved his mother’s book to the spare seat before sitting. Looking up, he saw his father pointing toward the refrigerator and grinning, so he looked too.
Their tails still reaching for the ceiling, Hex and Halo were busy devouring their dinners.
“Not spaghetti,” said Mr. Blue.
“Nope. Not for those guys.”
“Think they’d eat a cookie, Jay?”
“No way, Dad. Rayl doesn’t think so either, I bet.”
“She’s a smart girl.”
Mrs. Blue set heaping plates in front of each of them.
“Wow, thanks, Mom.”
“Thanks, Honey,” said his father. “Looks really good.”
“I hope you like it,” she said, lingering for a moment. “Don’t forget the garlic bread. Right there.”
She pointed at a plaid cloth covering a lumpy mound in a wicker basket.
“I won’t forget,” Jayden said while reaching for a thick slice. “Hey, I wonder if the cats—”
His father laughed and said, “No, Jay. They like their own food the best.”
Jayden turned to watch them, and they seemed to finish at the same time, then they both turned and sat, looking from face to face.
“Yeah. They only like cat food.”
Mrs. Blue set her own plate on the table and took her seat. She twirled her fork to gather up a sloppy knot of spaghetti and held it above the plate, waiting for a few drops of tomato sauce to drip.
But before she could savor the first taste of her own cooking, all heads turned at the scraping of claws on the kitchen floor. Hex and Halo began a spirited sprint into the dark living room. A white tail—Hex’s—slipped around the wall to the left. A black tail—Halo’s—dragged off to the right.
“Huh,” said Jayden. “They’re still being weird.”
Mr. Blue set down his own forkful and said, “They’re being weird? How?”
Jayden’s mother hesitated with her fork near and said, “Something about the stairs, Honey. Jay thought they were—”
“No, Mom, I saw it! Both of them! They were—”
“Going up the steps?” said his father. “They do that all the time.”
“Yeah, but not backwards, Dad. I don’t think cats ever do that.”
“You really saw that, Jay? That would be an unusual thing to imagine.”
“I didn’t imagine it. Those cats are—”
He stopped when something through the doorway to the living room got his attention. He leaned to get a better look around his mother, whose back was facing the scene. His father’s view was blocked by his mother, who still hadn’t managed to empty her first forkful yet.
Jayden stared, his mouth hanging open at the sight of a white, furry cat head peeking around the corner. It was Hex, his blue eyes catching light from the kitchen.
On his head was a gold bow.
The mostly-white cat with a gold bow on his head stared.
Jayden set his fork back onto his plate and stared back at him.
Then, Halo’s furry black head appeared. His green eyes seemed to laugh at Jayden as he stared with a silver bow on his head, neatly resting inside his halo.
Both cats froze, their eyes fixed on Jayden.
“What’s wrong, Jay?” said his mother, then she finally took a bite of pasta.
“I think he’s just distracted from Christmas,” said his father. “It must be nice to have a break from school and just—”
“Yeah. Yeah, it’s nice,” said Jayden. “But those cats, they’re . . . they . . . look!”
He pointed past his mother, who turned to look. But the cats were too quick. She saw only a dark room through the empty doorway. So, she turned back toward Jayden.
“Yeah, Jay, they’re probably in there somewhere.”
“They had their dinner,” said his father, “and now, they’re off to―”
“No! They were decorated! They decorated themselves!”
Mrs. Blue looked at Mr. Blue, shaking her head as she peered over her glasses.
“Honey, maybe he already has enough of an imagination?”
Mr. Blue said, “You can never have enough. I think we should still—”
“No, really!” Jayden said after prying his eyes away from what he was sure he’d seen. “Those cats, they had bows on their heads! Like they were presents!”
“Jay,” said his father, “all of that stuff is still buried in a box somewhere. They couldn’t have—”
“I saw them! Let’s go look—it’ll only take a second, okay?”
Mr. Blue grinned at Jayden’s mother, who only gazed back at him with her eyebrows pinned way up.
“Fine,” she said. “Just for a second, though. Let’s not let everything get cold, alright?”
“That’s all we need—a second,” said Mr. Blue, rising from his seat and wiping with a napkin. “Come on, Jay. Let’s investigate those Christmas present cats of yours.”
Jayden jumped up from his seat and got to the doorway before his father, where he reached around and flipped the light switch.
“Huh,” he said. “There they are.”
He pointed at the couch, and his father took a few steps into the room. They both observed the comfortable cats, both lounging on the couch and pressed together.
Hex only stared.
Halo yawned once and stared too.
Neither one wore a bow.
“See? They’re just being cats.”
Jayden rushed toward the small stack of boxes, where he flipped open the lid of the top one first, then put it on the floor.
“Jay, really?”
“Those cats,” Jayden muttered as he worked his way down through the piles of cardboard boxes.
He opened the bottom one from one stack and saw a clear plastic bag of colorful bows. He grabbed it and held it up for a closer look.
“Huh.”
“So, Jay, nothing unusual? Just a bunch of Christmas stuff, all secure in bags and boxes?”
He flipped the bag over in his hands, squeezing it and shifting its contents around.
“It hasn’t been opened. And these are just red and blue and green and white.”
“Uh, sure. Like we have every year. So?”
Jayden puffed up his cheeks and let out a deep breath as he dropped the bow package back into the box. He snapped his head around toward the cats, but they only gazed back at him silently.
“Come on, Jay,” his father said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. “Spaghetti’s getting cold.”
“Alright, Dad. I’m sure hungry.”
“Not for cat food, though, right?” he said with a short laugh.
Jayden laughed, too, and said, “Nope.”
While following his father back into the kitchen, Jayden watched Hex and Halo closely. He shook his head as he realized that if they had secrets, they might never reveal them.