"Grandma! Ben brought a dog in the house!" screamed Timothy. Teddy jumped up and shook himself. Ben groggily rubbed his eyes and looked up at Timothy.
"Ha, now you're going to get in trouble." Timothy said with a grin. Edna came into the room.
"What is it Timothy? Good morning Ben." she said, not fully awake.
"Good morning Grandma. I can explain-" ben was cut off by Timothy.
"Ben brought a dog in the house." He told her.
"Goodness gracious." exclaimed Edna, coming forward. Ben watched as she ran her fingers through Teddy's dirty fur. Teddy licked her hand amiably and she chuckled.
"Well Ben, you've got some explaining to do but let's discuss this over breakfast. Wash the dog." she told Ben. Ben nodded thankfully and took Teddy to the bathroom. He washed the dog and joined the other 2 in the kitchen. He sat down, Teddy at his feet. Edna served them a plate with an egg and a glass of cold milk each. She gave Teddy the burnt brownies she had made the other day.
"Ok Ben. Explain this." said Edna gravely.
"I'm sorry for not asking." Ben said sadly. Timothy smirked.
"It's ok Ben. But now you need to explain. I think you have a lot of explaining to do." Edna said sternly. Ben nodded.
"I used to live with the Kennedys. They were ok. I found Teddy there," Ben beamed, "Then I left the Kennedys and I lost Teddy after I came here." Ben made it short, like it was no big deal. Edna understood and knew he didn't want to talk about it.
"What happened before?" She asked kindly, "To your parents. Your family." Ben didn't want to explain but he had never told anyone in his life and he knew that one day he would need to. He wasn't very keen on Timothy hearing it but he decided to tell anyways.
"We had a house. It was big. There were flowers in the garden and there was a pond. Daddy was very happy because he had a new job. But then Mummy's dad came... Grandpapi wasn't very happy. He said he didn't like Daddy. They had a fight but I wasn't allowed to be in the room so I waited upstairs in my room. Daddy and Grandpapi didn't get along well. Grandpapi said the Koch's were bad and show offs to Mummy but Mummy wanted to stay with Daddy so they stayed together anyways. Grandpapi was really mad. One day, Daddy had a car crash..... Mummy cried and I cried. Then a few months later, Grandpapi died. Then Mummy got very sick and sad, she didn't make it.... I was all alone. My Daddy's family was supposed to take me in but my Uncle, Daddy's brother couldn't take me in, or he didn't want to. So he put me in the orphanage, the one he owned. He never treated me like I was his nephew, he treated me like the others. He cared for me, but not as a son or family. He pretended I wasn't related to him. I don't know why he couldn't take me in, he didn't seem to hate me but he didn't love me." Ben sighed deeply. Teddy curled up at his feet. Edna was silent. Timothy continued eating his egg silently.

Snow was thick everywhere. Ben awoke, he was happy. Teddy was playing on the carpet with Timothy, which surprised Ben.
"Good morning Timothy." Ben said.
"Morning." stated Timothy, throwing Teddy the ball. Ben got up and walked to the kitchen. He didn't hear the normal sound of clanking pots or the smell of something cooking. He didn't hear the sizzling of the eggs on the pot or anyone in the kitchen. Ben looked around, he wondered where Edna was.
"Grandma went shopping for Christmas Eve." Timothy informed Ben, appearing in the doorway.
"Oh." Ben said, he had forgotten Christmas was the day after the next. The front door creaked open and Edna came in with big bags.
"Hello kids. I've got the presents for everybody and a few extra things. Timothy, I hope you've packed your things. We are, as usual, going to Aunt May's house today till Christmas Eve then the family will come here on Christmas day. As always." Edna said, wiping her snowy shoes on the carpet.
"Oh and Ben. You need to pack too." Edna announced. Ben nodded, Timothy had been talking about Aunt May's for a few weeks now. Ben now had a small collection of belonging that Edna had bought for him for his stay. He got a small knapsack and put in his sweater and wooly jeans. He packed orphanage clothes in and a ht Edna had found in the recycling bin. He wore the Christmas clothes she had bought him from a second hand shop. He threw in his toothbrush and his small comb. Once he was packed, he headed for the door, where Edna and Timothy were waiting.

"Well, let's go then." Edna said cheerily. Teddy trotted behind them as they hailed a cab. Timothy was so excited.
"We only get to ride cabs on Christmas because the family pays for it. It's awesome." Timothy whispered to Ben. They got into the cab and watched as houses streaked by. They finally arrived at a big festive and marvelously decorated chalet. Inside, people were chatting happily. It was big and spacious compared to Edna's house. There were kids playing with big expensive toys. The kids didn't like Timothy very much and ignored him. A woman dressed in red spread her arms wide, a large grin on her face.
"Edna! My dear. You came. And you brought Timothy with you," Her smile faltered, she continued, "As um, always. So happy you're here. And who is this?" Ben came forward.

"I'm Ben miss. Nice to meet you." He said politely, to Timothy's disgust. It pleased the red woman and she chuckled.
"Oh how charming. He is so polite, unlike Timothy. You got another child to replace Tim?" teased the red woman, to Timothy's annoyance.
"NO! Laura, don't say things so absurd, you'll hurt Timothy's feelings." Edna said hurt.
"Ah of course. I'm sorry. Come in come in." She said joyfully. Everyone smiled and greeted them in respect, they didn't really like them but they were family in some way. Laura was Edna's brother's wife, she was much younger than him but her brother had passed away a few years ago. Her side of the family was mostly there but a few of her husband's side was there too. Aunt May was Edna's older sister, everybody loved her and she was always invited since she was close friends with everybody. She had insisted in inviting Edna every year, to everyone's annoyance. On Christmas day, only Edna's side of the family came to her house for dinner. Timothy went to a corner where a table was filled with bowls of chocolate to fill himself. He was happy Ben didn't know anyone and that Ben probably wouldn't make friends but he was wrong. The kids warmed to him easily since he had Teddy with him. Soon, they were running around outside in the snow, playing with Teddy merrily. Timothy felt left out and when a few adults, politely asked him to join the other kids, he refused sadly. He knew he and his Grandma weren't welcome here.

Ben and the kids were rolling outside in the snow. The rolled down hills and Teddy raced after them, kicking up snow and jumping on them, making them collapse in laughter. They were having a marvelous time. Ben was enjoying himself so much, it was the most fun he had had in a long time. The sun started to go down soon and they were called inside for dinner. The most sweet and heavenly smell filled the chalet of talking adults. They children entered and the adults quickly ushered them on the front door to clean their boots and take their coats up. Ben was beaming as he handed a lady his coat and he walked over to the fire where Teddy was warming up. Then everyone went over to the grand table in the middle of the room. The plates and cups were set up carefully and the decorations were like nothing Ben had ever seen. Timothy lent over to Ben.
"See? This is how we get to eat every Christmas." He whispered. Ben stared at the foods laid out on the table in amazement. They stood behind a chair and Laura stood at the head of the table, ready to make a speech.
"Aunt May please." she beckoned after her speech. Aunt May gingerly got up from the bench behind, she was old but cheery. She looked like Edna but older version. She had red cheeks and wore a nice red dress.
"As always, we are all grateful to gather at your home today, Laura. And I am so happy to spend my Christmas Eve at your home with your family as well as mine." Aunt May started, Ben drifted off, looking around the room.
"Take a seat." Laura finally said. Everyone set down and started to serve themselves. Ben took a few big slices of sweet potato. He poured warm gravy on top and took a piece of turkey. The sweet potato was almost as good as the ones he used to have, sweet, tasty and the gravy went very well with it. The turkey was slightly tough to eat but not dry. He ate it happily. Timothy kept serving himself greedily to the food, like he had never eaten this much before. Ben knew good manners at table. His parents had always wanted him to grow up a gentleman and sitting at this grand table, he remembered all the manners about eating. He used the fork and knife to cut the meat and put the napkin on his lap. The adults noticed this and a father sitting opposite him was the most impressed.
"This little child of yours, Edna, is very well mannered. You've taught him well." approved the father.
"Oh I know, thank you very much Phil. Timothy has always been well mannered indeed." Edna said.
"Oh no, I don't mean Timothy, he's eating like a pig. I mean Ben, the little boy with the dog." The father explained.
"Oooh. Oh ok. Yes yes Ben is very well mannered." agreed Edna, she looked over at Timothy who glared at her. She turned back to her food.
"Who is he?" asked Ben, turning to Timothy, not whispering but making sure nobody heard him so as not to look rude. Timothy turned around and bit his lip angrily.
"That's Laura's stepsister's husband." he glowered.
"Ok thanks." Ben said with a big smile.
"I'll rub that grin off your face when the time comes." growled Timothy under his breath.
"Who would like some more turkey?" offered Jill, Phil's wife.

"I would love some, please." Ben said delightedly.
"Give me some too." Timothy said between mouthfuls. Jill raised her eyebrows at him and served Ben graciously before putting the bowl of turkey down in front of Timothy.
"Huh?" He questioned.
"Serve yourself." She turned away to serve her child. Ben silently laughed at Timothy. When they were done with dinner, they chatted merrily at the table. Ben joined in on some conversations, making sure he was not over talkative, adults would think him weird. When the kids started to get bored, the adults dismissed them. Ben and the other kids went upstairs and played in the playroom. There were cubes, cars, dolls, legos and books. Ben settled down on a beanbag and ruffled through the papers of a book. He took one up about the seasons. It soon got Ben thinking about his birthday and he realised, he was not 8 anymore. He had turned 9 maybe a few months ago, before leaving the Kennedys to go to the orphanage. He smiled at the thought of not being so little anymore. He watched the children play and spied Timothy out of the door, peering in.

"Ben! Come here. Come and play snake and ladders with us." One of the older kids called Jon called. He reminded Ben of Jonathan and it made his heart ache. A girl about 12 with long flowing brown hair named Sofya nodded.

"Yes, come Ben. Teddy can play too," she chuckled, "It'll be fun, the big kids together. Sam's coming after too." The older kids consisted of Jon, 11 years old, Sofya, Sam, 14 years old, Cailey, almost 13 and Steven, 13. Ben didn't consider himself as one of the big ones, even if he was almost as mature but he liked the fact that he was considered as one. There were a few kids who were 10 that complained about not being included.
"I wanna play with you guys too." whined a little girl called Sally, she was 10.
"No, you're not grown up like us." Sofya said sternly, she was Sally's older sister.
"But Ben isn't either. " she protested.
"Yes, but he's..-he's more mature." She quickly said. Sally sat down and pouted. Ben walked over and went to the door.
"Why don't we let Timothy come?" he asked. Jon raised his eyebrows.
"We don't really. He's the one that doesn't want to come." Cailey pointed out.
"No, I just think he's shy. It's mean to leave people out." Ben pressed. He could see Timothy watching them silently behind the door.
"He can come in if he wants to. It's not like we're being mean to him, or keeping him out." Steven shrugged, not expecting Timothy to be at the doorway.
"Ok then. Come on in Timothy." Ben called. Timothy slowly stepped in. The other kids looked at him angrily but kept their mouths shut. He looked around, the smaller kids stopped playing to stare at him.
"Well, I guess we can play now." Ben said cheerily.
"I don't know, I don't think Timothy's ever played this game. The rules are hard to understand you know..." Jon said grimly. Cailey nodded in agreement. Timothy edged further into the room.

"Actually, I've already played snakes and ladders. I'm pretty good at it." Timothy announced as Sam entered the room.
"Bet it's the only game he had at his house." mocked Steven, softly, so Ben wouldn't hear. Sam looked at Timothy in questioning but he was a pretty nice boy and didn't make any remarks.
"Hey Timmy. So, let's get playing shall we?" enthused Sam. Sam was good at sports, good-looking and an idol to the other kids. Especially to Timothy, so he didn't mind it when Sam called him Timmy, he rather liked it. He felt proud that this cool boy was talking to him and beamed at Ben.
"Ok, I'm red. Cailey's green, Jon's orange, Sof's with Jon, I gave Ben black and you can be yellow Sam." announced Steven. Sam nodded, sitting down.
"And how about Tim?" he asked, an eyebrow raised. Timothy grinned when he said his name. He felt like Sam cared about him.
"Oh. What about him?" asked Steven. Sam almost burst out laughing but he held it in, to Timothy's ignorance. Timothy blushed as Steven stared at him, questioningly.
"He didn't say anything about playing with us. Plus we haven't got any more figurines." Sofya stated.
"Oh it's ok then," Ben quickly said, "I'll give him mine. Here Timothy, take mine. I'll watch." Timothy took the figurine gladly, ignoring Ben, he sat back down next to Sam. Ben stood up and watched the group.
"No no Ben. You were here first. It's the people here first that get to choose whether they play or not." Sofya insisted.
"Ben, why don't you come and be in my team for the game instead," Same suggested, to Timothy's astonishment, Sam patted the small space between him and Timothy, "Timmy, move over will you? Ben you can sit here. Then, no more debating and let's get on with the game." Timothy scooched over and let Ben take his place. He grunted angrily under his breath then had a brilliant idea.

"Ben. I feel very bad for taking your place. Her have my figurine." Timothy said, getting up, he looked at Ben solemnly. The kids looked at him in bewilderment. Ben thanked him and as they were about to start, Timothy cut in.
"But know, I don't know what to play," sighed Timothy sadly, "What should I do now? I really wanted to play that game..." Everybody looked at each other. Timothy looked pointedly at Sam. Sam stared back, he didn't volunteer or say anything. Timothy sighed, maybe Sam wasn't taking the hint.
"I mean, I don't know what I could play, I wanted to play with you guys," he tried again, nobody said anything, Ben didn't understand, He finally lost his impatience and said, "Argh. Can I be on someone's team or something? Or is there something I could do?"
"I know. If you wanted to you could play-" Timothy smiled as Sam started his sentence, waiting for him to say "With me", but instead he sneezed before recovering and finishing his sentence with, "The little kids. Sally, Peyton, Thomas and all." Timothy sighed and walked over to the kids.
"Ok, can we play now?" asked Jon, impatiently.
"Yeah. Enough debating." grumbled Sofya. The started the game.

"Dessert!" called a parent from downstairs. The children raced downstairs and Ben found the table was now laid with all kinds of different desserts. They tucked in, eating cake, pudding, ice cream and all kind of delicacies. Ben filled himself, respectfully and politely while Timothy stuffed himself with food. When they had finished, Edna ushered Ben and Timothy upstairs. They walked up through a corridor to the furthest room. Peyton, Laura's daughter, showed them the way to their room.
"Here you go." she said pointing to their room before rushing off.
"Oh thank you darling," Edna said as she darted off, then to Ben and Timothy, "What a darling." They entered the room, it was quite small. About the size of Edna's bedroom, it seemed to be a storage room. Neatly piled boxes and a few shelves filled with oddities covered one side of the wall and a mattress was laid on the other. There were a few blankets on the bed and a pumped up air mattress was next to the mattress.
"It's nice isn't it Timothy?" asked Edna.
"Yeah...." snorted Timothy.
"Laura said she had more guests so she had to move us here. She said it might be small, but it isn't it's just right." said Edna delighted.
"Why did she move us through?" groaned Timothy.
"Oh well, I expect she knows how affordable we are and that we would happily accommodate." Edna purred.
"Or she wanted to get rid of us." muttered Timothy.
"She only gave us 2 mattresses since she didn't know Ben was coming. But I heard her talking to the kids and telling them she'll set up the big extra mattresses she had for them to play. She'll gladly lend them to us I think." Edna added.
"I'll go ask her. You 2 unpack." She said before leaving. Timothy silently unpacked while Ben watched. He didn't have anything to unpack, a while later Enda came in, shaking and red.
"Oooh," she said shaking her head angrily, "Timothy, pack up. We are leaving."
"What why?" sputtered Timothy, he had just finished unpacking.
"Because Laura doesn't want us here," snapped Edna, "She says: Oh we need those mattresses, how would the kids have fun and pretend to be in trampolines. I say: Well, we need the mattresses more for a practical reason, to sleep on. Then she gets set off and blabbers saying: If you don't like the accommodation here then why don't you go off. Why are you complaining. None of us really even want you here." Ben instantly didn't like Laura anymore.
"Come on Tim! Get your bag!" ordered Edna, not even Timothy wanted to fight with her her now. She was in such a fury. They followed her down the stairs and past adults talking. Laura was at the front door, pushing a mattress along a wall.
"Oh Edna." she piped, "There you are. What are you doing? Packing up and leaving already?"
"Yes. Goodbye. If all you say is true. You won't ever have to see me again." Edna huffs before waltzing through the door then coming back in to say goodbye to the others. Aunt May came rushing down to them and embraced Edna.

"Why are you leaving sister?" asked Aunt May.

"OH sister!" gasped Edna, "Didn't you hear all those horrible things Laura said to me. About my little Timmy and all. Ghastly." Laura came over.
"What do you mean?" She asked, then she realised, "Oh my little outbreak? Don't mind it. Come back in. Get some tea. Everything's fine." She acted as if nothing happened. Edna refused and turned back to Aunt May.
"YOu're not going to stay here after all those things she said about my family, are you?" questioned Edna.
"I don't know Edna.." she said, thinking, "I don't think Laura meant any of it. Why don't you rub it off and get back in. You don't want to ruin such a special day do you?"
"What now you're on her side? Come on sister? I know you've always liked everyone and want to stay on their good page but here?" persisted Edna.
"No sister. You know I don't only want people to think good of me." pleaded Aunt May. Aunt May always tried to be good to people and never wants anyone to hate her, even Laura.
"Sister. If you do not want to leave then I am leaving." exclaimed Edna. Edna turned to leave but Aunt May held her back.

"So? Are you coming?" asked Edna.

"I'm sorry sis. You know I can't. I don't want to be on Laura's bad side. You know I need the money, the friends. We both need the extra help we can get," Apologised Aunt May, then she quickly added, "Just come back in, say sorry and everything will be fine."
"NO no. Definitely not. Everything will not be fine. You heard what she said about our family. I am leaving. See you sister." Edna turned to Laura, standing watching them. The other adults were crowded around listening and the kids watched from the stairs.
"Good bye Laura. Thank you for the dinner and everything." Edna said before storming off down the snowy driveway.
"Goodbye Edna." waved Laura, relieved and laughing. Timothy and Ben followed silently. Teddy sprang after them, jumping in the snow. They called a cab and they drove home, silent and miserable. The snow turned to rain and Ben watched as rain splattered across the windows of the cab. He listened to the non-stop sound of the engine rumbling and slowly drifted off.