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It was still dark, but he knew it was morning. It just had to be. Carefully, so he wouldn’t make a sound, Laurie pulled back the covers and slipped out of bed, feeling for his slippers and pulling his dressing gown over his flannelette pyjamas. He crossed to the other bed and shook its incumbent’s shoulder slightly to wake him.
“It’s morning,” he whispered. “Come on.” The dark-haired child rolled over and opened sleepy eyes. “What?”
“Come on, Alexander.” Laurie was not quite sure how he knew the other boy’s name, but he was absolutely clear what to do on Christmas morning. “It’s time for our stockings.”
“Stockings?”
Alexander’s puzzlement didn’t prevent him from responding however. He, too, pulled back his bedcovers and pulled on his robe. The two children crept quietly along the corridor to collect Charis. There was a still, hushed quality to the house this early in the morning. It was almost as if the very walls were holding their breath in anticipation. Making sure not to disturb the grown-ups, the three descended silently—but swiftly—to the ground floor, and crossed to the ballroom. An impressive brick fireplace now rested against the north wall. Three stockings hung from its elaborately carved oak mantel, each with a name on it.
It took only a few moments before each child was seated cross-legged on the floor, stocking in lap. Excitedly Laurie pulled out everything, searching for—there it was! He unfolded the end of small paper bag, selected a black jelly baby, and bit off its head. He smiled at the other two.
“Black is best. Go on – see what they gave you.”
Alexander began pulling treats from his own stocking; Charis followed suit. Each child had a book and a small toy. There were chocolate coins covered in gold foil, a twisted stick of barley sugar, a small poke of coconut ice, and a white sugar mouse wrapped in tissue paper. The toe bulged roundly with a large orange. Where the others stopped, Laurie kept scrabbling down to the very tip. When he pulled out a small coin, they too reached in.
“What funny coins,” remarked Laurie, as his friends pulled theirs out. The sixpence that Laurie had received turned out to be a drachma each for them. Curious, he reached for Alexander’s book. The picture on the cover showed a blond man in a skirt and funny-looking armour. Laurie peeked inside but couldn’t make sense of the strange symbols written on the pages.
“My father,” said Alexander, after a cursory glance. “That’s about him undoing the Gordian knot.”
Charis’ book seemed just to have pictures; and they looked pretty boring ones at that, thought Laurie. In any case, she seemed more interested in sucking on her sugar mouse.
When the Secretary looked in an hour later on her way to the kitchen to make herself some coffee, she found all three children engrossed in a game of marbles. Her eyes widened slightly at the sight. What would Lucy make of this development?