Title: Gift-Giving
Warnings: none
Summary: Two gifts for two different yet similar occasions.
Length: ~1,800 words
Notes: Third person point of view, past tense. Genre is probably closest to romance.
Gift-Giving
1994
Ben walked quickly down the aisles of the store, searching the shelves frantically. Nothing seemed good enough. It had been a stupid idea to come here. Ben kept walking and only slowed down when Jenny called out in a breathless voice, “Hold on! Not all of us have legs as long as yours, y’know!”
Ben stopped and turned, noticing that Jenny was lagging far behind. She jogged to reach him, her sneakers making a pitter-patter sound as she approached.
“I didn’t realize I was walking so fast,” Ben said apologetically.
Jenny was leaning over, her hands on her knees. She waved one hand in the air absently before returning it to her knee. “Don’t worry ‘bout it,” she said, after catching her breath.
Ben started walking again, slower this time, Jenny at his side. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Nothing seems good enough for her,” he said. “I want to get her the most perfect gift ever.”
Jenny nodded several times. “We can find something,” she said. “We just need to look harder.”
2009
Ben walked down the aisles of the store, glancing at the shelves and smiling occasionally. He hadn’t been here in a while. He used to take Nathan Wong’s kids here sometimes, but when they got older they wanted to go to the mall or a movie theater or some place other than a toy store. Ben had been the same.
Still, now he was back, shopping for a present again. It was hard to believe that so much time had gone by, and yet so much was still the same.
Ben glanced at the wedding ring on his finger. He wanted to get his wife something really special for their first-year anniversary. And what better place to shop for it than in Toys R Us?
Okay, so it wouldn’t be the most romantic gift, at least not to an outsider. But what was the point of being married if you couldn’t enjoy some inside jokes or secrets every now and then?
1994
“What does she like?” Jenny asked, after they had gone through all of the aisles and Ben had rejected everything.
Ben turned to her with wild eyes. “I thought you knew! You’re her friend! Don’t girls talk about this sort of stuff?”
Jenny shrugged. “Not everything they say about teenage girls is true. Like we don’t all paint our nails. See?” She shoved her hands in front of Ben’s face, wiggling her fingers insistently.
“Okay, okay,” Ben said, batting her hands away. He suspected that Jenny didn’t paint her nails because she was awful at staying in the lines (or nails, or whatever), but since she’d agreed to help him with this he didn’t say anything to antagonize her.
“You have a point,” he said. “But you said you could help me with this.”
“I know,” Jenny replied. “I can. I was just testing you. Seeing if you had anything in mind.”
“I was thinking a really great toy. Maybe a water gun or something? But a really advanced one.”
Jenny stared at Ben in disbelief.
“What?” he said defensively.
Jenny shook her head. “Not everything they say about teenage girls is true,” she repeated. “But one thing is – most of them don’t want a water gun for Valentine’s Day.”
2009
They had gotten married when he was 30 and she was 29. It hadn’t been a very big wedding, in scope or in emotion. Ben thought that part of it was that it felt like they had been married for a very long time, even before they were officially married. The wedding was just finalizing something they knew already.
He still wanted their anniversary to be a big deal, though. This year had been tough on both of them, with her losing the baby and him losing his job. Ben figured they deserved to celebrate surviving a year together.
Now he just needed the best toy in the store. He didn’t have Jenny with him this time, but he thought he was up to the task. He didn’t want to get her exactly what he’d bought all those years ago, when he was 16. But he wanted to get something from this store. The only question was what to buy.
1994
“Well, then what am I going to buy her?” Ben threw his hands up in despair. “Are you sure Summer wouldn’t like a water gun?”
“Pretty sure.” Jenny was still looking at him like he was insane.
“I thought it would be cool,” Ben muttered quietly.
“What?”
“Nevermind. Um, what do teenage girls generally like?”
Jenny frowned. While she thought, Ben took in her sporty jacket and soccer shorts. Maybe she wasn’t the best person to ask. She was practically still a tomboy. But he didn’t really have any other girl friends to ask. He could’ve asked Jorge’s sister. But then she would’ve talked to Summer and then she’d know that he hadn’t gotten her a gift until the day before Valentine’s Day. And that wasn’t very romantic.
“Girls like dolls!” Jenny proclaimed. “But Summer would probably say she’s too old for that kind of thing. And I don’t think she likes dolls all that much. I’ve never liked them, myself. You could get her a necklace… I don’t know if they sell necklaces here, though…”
Ben sighed. “This was a stupid idea,” he said. “I should’ve just done what everyone else did and gotten roses or something.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Jenny said with a bright smile. “Don’t worry, we’ll find something.”
2009
Ben had learned a few things in the fifteen years since he bought that first present for Summer. One thing was that roses and chocolate might be boring and cliché, but they were appreciated. Another was that creativity often got points for effort.
So this year, he was going to combine it. Buy a creative gift at Toys R Us and buy chocolate roses as well. (Hey, a toy, roses, and chocolate would be overdoing it. But a toy and roses made out of chocolate? Genius.)
As he walked down the aisles, his mind meandered to Summer. She had been so into his first gift. He smiled at the memory. It had seemed like a stupid idea, but Jenny had insisted that Summer would love it. And she had been right.
He probably could use Jenny’s help for this gift. But hey, if she helped him with every gift he bought, he’d never get the chance to learn for himself. It had taken him several Valentine’s Days to buy a gift on his own, and several more before he bought one that Summer liked as much as she had liked the first one.
1994
“I know what we can get Summer!” Jenny announced after nearly an hour of searching the entire store. Ben looked at his friend eagerly. Any new idea would sound good right now.
“Play-Doh!”
Except that. Ben frowned. “Play-Doh? Really?”
“Sure, why not? Play-Doh is super fun. Both boys and girls like it.”
“Yeah, but teenagers don’t.”
Jenny scoffed. “Right, act like you understand gift-giving now. Seriously, Ben, you were going to buy a sixteen-year-old girl a water gun!”
“It would’ve been cool,” Ben muttered rebelliously. But then he thought of Summer – beautiful, long, lean, prissy Summer –and he had to admit that giving her a water gun for Valentine’s Day didn’t make a lot of sense. But neither did Play-Doh, which brought him to his point.
“Play-Doh might be a fine gift for a kid. Or even a teenager. But on Valentine’s Day? There’s nothing romantic about Play-Doh.”
“And what’s romantic about a water gun?”
Man, he was never gonna live this down. “Well, you get wet, and so then you start taking your clothes off –”
“Ew, ew!” Jenny cut him off, laughing. “Okay, I get it. I wouldn’t call that romantic, but whatever, you’re the one who’s been with Summer for ages.”
Ben glanced at his watch. It was getting late, and he and Summer were planning on watching Sleepless in Seattle together. One of the downsides to having a girlfriend, he’d discovered, was getting roped into watching chick flicks all the time.
“Okay, fine,” Ben said. “I’ll get her Play-Doh.”
Jenny squeaked and bounced in excitement. Ben just sighed.
Maybe Play-Doh would be more romantic if he put a pink ribbon on it?
2009
So he wouldn’t buy Play-Doh this year. But he wanted to get something similarly eccentric for her. She was definitely too old for dolls by now, even if she had liked them. Ben searched through the aisles as he searched through his mind for any good ideas. He was a bit better at separating his good ideas from his bad ones by now.
Maybe he could get a card game or a board game? But that wasn’t eccentric enough. Ben found himself in the boys section, and some action figures caught his eye. Power Rangers – those still existed? He found a pink one that he thought was a girl, and smiled. This would be perfect.
Summer had always liked Power Rangers. So had Jenny.
1994
“Tell me whether or not she likes it,” Jenny asked with wide, earnest eyes. “No – tell me how much she likes it. ‘Cause she’s gonna love it.”
Ben smiled, thinking of Summer kissing him in thanks. Hopefully. “I think I’m going to make a Play-Doh heart to go with it,” he said.
Jenny nodded. “That explains the extra pink Play-Doh. That’s not a half-bad idea.”
“Thanks, Gift Genius,” Ben said, punching her shoulder affectionately. Jenny grinned.
“It’s what I do,” she said.
2009
Ben called Summer as he walked back to his car, carrying the bag with the pink Power Ranger in it. She picked up after the second ring.
“Hey, Ben. What’s up?” (Caller ID in cell phones. It still creeped him out a little.)
“Hi, Summer. Guess where I just was?”
“Um… I don’t know, where?”
“Toys R Us.”
She laughed, and he grinned. He had always thought her laugh sounded like bells.
“What for?”
“I’m getting Jenny our one-year anniversary gift.”
“Wow, has it been a year already? It seems like you guys got married just a month ago.”
Summer had been at their wedding. It had been years after she and Ben had broken up, so it hadn’t been too awkward. She and Jenny had talked about the good old days, and Ben had danced with her after he danced with his bride.
“I got her a pink Power Ranger,” Ben told her.
Summer laughed again. “That might be even better than the Play-Doh.”
“Well, the Play-Doh was pretty rad.”
But not quite as rad as Jenny.
The End! J
Great twist at the end. Didn't see that coming but loved it!
ReplyDeleteI'm really impressed by how well you switch back and forth in time and make this flow so expertly! You mentioned fluff, but this is very realistic and kept my attention throughout. So, in that sense, maybe a lot of reality is fluff! I also enjoyed the final switch at the end.
ReplyDeleteAhem, er, I figured if I don’t start at the recent ones I am never going to review all these. Maybe I should comment on the ones you remember making.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this story. The ending was not as surprising as it was fitting, and that is best for a story. It is believable and funny and nice at once. I remember there was a point in the middle when you said something that implied the new gift was for Summer, and I was thinking that was too bad, because I really wanted the mc to be with Jenny. So I guess it was surprising when it turned out that no, you hadn’t messed it up, you did what felt right all along, and only made me think you didn’t *wink*.
Jenny nodded several times. “We can find something,” she said. “We just need to look harder.” – kind of foreshadowing, and maybe symbolic of the events that must have happened in the middle years we miss.
Ben glanced at the wedding ring on his finger. I like how you do not say who the wife is. We never hear much about Summer, she is uninteresting. But you leave open the possibility she is not the mc’s wife, which keeps the story interesting.
Like we don’t all paint our nails. See? – at first I thought around here that he was going to be getting the present for Jenny instead as a surprise – she definitely reveals a lot more about herself than about Summer.
Maybe a water gun or something? But a really advanced one. – funny.
it felt like they had been married for a very long time… The wedding was just finalizing something they knew already. – good, because at this point the reader knows a lot more about Jenny, we can see this to be true of her, even if the story makes you think Summer is the wife.
He didn’t want to get her exactly what he’d bought all those years ago, when he was 16. – this tricked me, I read it as “didn’t want to get her exactly what he’d bought HER all those years ago,” subtle and tricky. This reinforced my assumption that the 1994 and 2009 girls were the same – once you confirm that the first present was for Summer, not Jenny, I was downtrodden.
since he bought that first present for Summer. – from here on you had me…
creativity often got points for effort. – good funny relief.
several more before he bought one that Summer liked as much as she had liked the first one – be careful here, you are making it very solid that Summer is the one receiving gifts. It is hard to portray lines like “He probably could use Jenny’s help for this gift.” because to the mc they are ironic, knowing that the gift is for Jenny, but there are a lot of them and it might confuse the reader, or make the twist feel too sudden if a small part of them didn’t expect and hope for it.
Maybe Play-Doh would be more romantic if he put a pink ribbon on it? – lol zebras!
Summer had always liked Power Rangers. So had Jenny. – good placement of this line. It seems innocent enough, but brings back all that doubt you pretty much made go away. Now the reader is gripping the— mouse?— and can’t wait to finish!
“I’m getting Jenny our one-year anniversary gift.” – good moment. I like how it’s simple like that. You give enough hints before it (like why would he call Summer to tell her about the gift) that it does not feel so sudden.
Unfortunately I’m going to have to say the rest seems either kind of rushed or too much for me. I think the reader can infer that the break-up went okay from the phone conversation they just had. Also, I think this line is a much better last line – we can tell how rad the mc thinks Jenny is. Maybe it’s just my objection to the word rad.
Meanness over, still a great story, and loved the way it turned out! It was how it should have been, and I should not have forgotten that, though you do a darn good job making that happen. Another great addition to your massive collection of short story amazingness!