The Christmas card simply said: \u2018Bill.\u2019 No jolly message,\nno \u2018to Henry.\u2019 Just the one word as usual. He put it on the mantelpiece and\nover Christmas, whenever he glanced at it, he thought: \u2018Some friend!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He spoke\nto his wife Jan, workmates, pals. We knew each other at college, he told them,\nand have kept in touch by Christmas card since. We\u2019ve never met up, never phoned,\nand he never <\/em>says a damned thing in his card! All of them gave him the\nsame message: just stop <\/em>communicating with the blockhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Ignoring\nthem, he posted a card the next festive season: \u2018Hope you\u2019re well, Bill. Happy\nChristmas from Henry, Jan, and family.\u2019 A day later on the hall floor was the\nreply. He recognised the tiny handwriting on the envelope. He opened it and\nread the solitary word again, \u2018Bill.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nChristmas after he sent another card, asking, \u2018How are you Bill? What are you\ndoing with yourself?\u2019 Such questions might make him talky. But no card came\nback. Every day, as Christmas Eve last delivery approached, he inspected the\ncards on the hall floor. Nothing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He chewed\nhis Christmas turkey quietly, while his wife, children, and wife\u2019s parents\nchatted. Instead of experiencing a sense of release, like a man on the chain\ngang finally shaking off shackles, he felt oddly disturbed. He held the\nChristmas crackers absently, while his kids pulled and yelled gleefully at\nwinning prizes. \u2018Why?\u2019 The thought flickered on and off in his brain, almost in\ntime with the lights on the Christmas tree. \u2018Why?\u2019 was soon followed by, \u2018What\u2019s\nhappened to him?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n He sat on\nthe sofa, the dog Bongo nibbling his slippers, which she did whenever she\nwanted his attention. She didn\u2019t get it. He was deep in reflection. There would\nbe no more berating Bill for his emotional and verbal inadequacy. He\u2019d miss the\nold bugger in a funny sort of way. Why he\u2019d almost enjoyed the absurdist comedy\nof yet again getting a missive saying absolutely nothing. It felt to Henry like\n\u2013 why yes \u2013 as if he\u2019d suffered a loss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He wiped\nthe dishes while his mother-in-law washed up. He wished Bill had told him\nsomething about his life these last couple of decades. His job, his marriage if\nany, his kids if any. His foe, the butt of his \u2013 let\u2019s be honest \u2013 partly\nmanufactured anger, was also his counterpart. Wasn\u2019t Bill perhaps his mirror\nimage, in some ways? What had happened to him? In jail? Dead? Had Bill finally\nplucked up the courage to end the annual communications? He was desperate to know.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I know\nit\u2019s early Henry,\u2019 his mother-in-law was saying, \u2018but what do you want for next\nChristmas? I\u2019ll be looking out for bargains at the Boxing Day sales, see.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Want\u2026? A\ncard from Bill. That\u2019s what I want.\u2019 Involuntarily, he looked behind him down\nthe hall, to the doormat bereft of cards. Why hadn\u2019t<\/em> Bill written to\nhim? Just one word would\u2019ve done. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Christmas card simply said: \u2018Bill.\u2019 No jolly message, no \u2018to Henry.\u2019 Just the one word as usual. He put it on the mantelpiece and over Christmas, whenever he glanced at it, he thought: \u2018Some friend!\u2019 He spoke to his wife Jan, workmates, pals. We knew each other at college, he told them, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,101],"tags":[102,8,20],"class_list":["post-217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2","category-december-2019","tag-christmas","tag-he","tag-his"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-3v","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217\/revisions\/218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}