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On
Christmas Eve, Sally
paced back and forth in
her living room, her
heart aching since
Jeffrey had gone to
fight in the Korean
War. Four days earlier,
she had received a
letter from her fiancé
saying that maybe next
Christmas, if
everything went well,
they would be together.
Those words from him,
along with a dry
martini, sent her
drifting through her
thoughts.
She looked out the
window, contemplating
the snow falling on the
street, while on the
record player Frank
Sinatra sang
“Have Yourself a
Merry Little
Christmas.”
Then she turned toward
the sofa and got a
terrible fright. She
screamed, and in a
sudden, uncontrollable
movement, she flung her
drink upward, which
only stopped when it
hit the ceiling.
Quickly, the only way
she thought she could
handle the problem was
to close her eyes. She
did. She wondered what
she would do to face
this situation. Slowly,
she opened her eyes to
check if it was just a
mirage. That was when
Sally discovered it
wasn’t a mirage
at all, but a real
vision.
Frank Sinatra was
sitting on the sofa,
watching her. She was
scared to death, but
she gathered strength
from all her dreams and
asked what he was doing
in her apartment. The
singer calmly replied
that it was a gift from
Santa Claus, and that
he could explain it
better if she prepared
a drink for him.
Without knowing whether
it was real or not,
Sally looked at the
table with the bottle
and fixed him a drink,
and one for herself,
and, with Sinatra
insisting he was a
Santa gift, she began
sharing some passages
from her life.
1) Sally started with
her parents’
divorce. She had been
playing with her
friends when her mother
called her home. There,
her father,
expressionless, said,
“Honey,
it’s time for a
change. Pop is going on
a long trip.”
2) At the movie
theater, during a Metro
musical whose title she
no longer remembered,
all that remained was
the peanut-butter
breath of Victor, her
first boyfriend, on the
night of her first kiss.
3) The goodbye to her
mother when she left
for university. A great
surprise awaited her
before she went to
campus: her father came
to wish her good luck.
4) After graduation,
her first job at a
fashion magazine on
Park Avenue in New York.
5) The day she was
walking on a Sunday in
Central Park, a
baseball hit her leg.
She turned, ready to
complain, but the way
Jeffrey, holding a bat,
looked at her changed
her life completely. It
was love at first sight.
6) They were happy
until the day Jeffrey
was drafted and sent to
Fort Dix, New Jersey,
to be trained for the
war in Korea.
After sharing a little
of her life, she told
Frank Sinatra that she
would love to hear from
him too, simple things
that belonged
exclusively to him.
Sinatra took a sip of
his drink, and just as
he was about to speak,
a voice from the
doorway interrupted:
“I’m
coming.”
A kindly man named
Joseph entered the room
and spoke to Sinatra in
a gentle, familiar way.
“The people are
there, waiting for
you.” At that
moment, Sinatra started
looking for her, but
she was no longer
there. He searched
every corner of the
room. Joseph, intrigued
by the singer’s
behavior, asked,
“What’s
going on?”
As if waking from a
dream, Sinatra simply
said, “She was
here!”
“Who?”
asked Joseph. The
Ol' Blue Eyes, in
disbelief, replied,
“Sally. Her name
is Sally. She was here,
talking to me.”
His friend glanced at
the glass in
Sinatra’s hand
and asked how many
drinks he had had.
Frank Sinatra paused
for a moment, then,
ignoring the question,
invited Joseph
downstairs to celebrate
Christmas Eve.
END
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