CHAPTER SEVEN

trigger warnings:
eating disorders

————

december 25, 1970

     ESTHER SNEAKS OUTSIDE AGAIN. She doesn't actually have to do much sneaking this time, though she has no way of knowing that. Both Angus and Hunham had crept away much earlier without her stirring. So, she tiptoes past Hunham's empty room and heads back out to the frozen lake where she changes into her skates at the bench and staggers out onto the ice.

     She's at it for twenty minutes before Hunham's car pulls up in the lot, and another ten before he comes out to stand at the edge of the ice, arms crossed over his chest.

     "What did I say about skating unsupervised?" he asks, breath coming out all foggy.

      Esther comes to a stop and raises her brows at him. "Were you genuinely ever planning on supervising me?"

     Hunham sighs and blinks at her. He can't answer that question with anything other than what Esther expects him to say. "Did you even eat breakfast?"

     Esther screws up her face. "No?"

    Defeated, Hunham drops his hands to his side. "I have something to show you, come inside," he says. Esther stays standing on the ice, confused. "Come on," Hunham insists.

     So, she glides to the edge and changes out of her skates, learning from her mistake and banging the sides of them on the bench to remove the excess ice instead of sliding her fingers over the blade. She follows the teacher inside, skates dangling in her hand as he leads her to the dining hall. Angus and Mary are already there, looking at a sad, tiny, bare fir tree. Four presents are sitting on the table below the thing, all wrapped in plain brown paper and tied up with red ribbons. Hunham hurries ahead to stand next to his tree, presenting it to the group.

     "No ornaments?" Angus asks, his shoulders pulled up to his ears.

     Mary glares at the teenage boy from where she sits as Esther comes to perch on the edge of the front of the table, placing her skates on the floor beneath her. Hunham clasps his hands in front of his body. "Oh, I'm sure we can round up some ornaments somewhere. Uh, now..." He turns around and picks up one of the three rectangular-shaped presents. "This is for you," he says, passing it to Angus.

     Angus takes it and pulls the red ribbon off, turning the present over to unfold the flap keeping it closed and shaking the gift out. It's a book with a multicoloured geometric cover. He turns it over in his hands.

     "Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. For my money, it's like the Bible, the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita all rolled up into one. And the best part is not one mention of God," Hunham explains.

     Angus nods. "Okay. Thanks." He holds the gift against his chest as Hunham steps back to hand out another present.

     "And Mary. This is for you," the teacher says, passing a second rectangular present over.

     Mary reaches out to take it and removes her red ribbon, pulling a second copy of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius from the paper. Her smile drops as she looks at the cover. "So you just get this for everybody?"

     "And..." Hunham continues, passing the cook a bottle wrapped in the same brown paper.

Nodding appreciatively, Mary leans forward to take it. "Now, how'd you guess?" she asks.

"How indeed?" Hunham responds. He reaches back for the final present. "And, Miss Yasui," he says, handing it over to her.

     She takes it and as she slides off the ribbon, she mutters, "I hope it's a copy of Medications by Marcus Aurelius." She sticks her hand inside the package and retrieves the book, pulling it out with a flourish. "Oh, joy!" she cries out upon seeing the cover.

     "A very good performance, Miss Yasui," Hunham comments.

     "Why, thank you," Esther replies, tipping her imaginary hat at him.

Hunham looks back at Angus and his eyes widen. "Oh!" he says. "And, this came in the mail for you." He brandishes an envelope and passes it to the boy, who takes a seat to rip it open. Esther peers over at the contents — a shiny green Christmas card filled with a wad of cash.

"Not bad," she murmurs.

After a few minutes of idle chatter, Mary disappears to the kitchen to serve up a simple breakfast. She, Angus, and Hunham eat, Esther nibbles, and eventually, everybody goes their separate ways.

Esther heads back to the Right Room to put her skates away, tucking her new book away into her bag while she's at it. Angus appears not long after, to drop off his book, no doubt, and Esther remembers the picture.

"Oh, Angus," she says before he can disappear back down the hall.

He stops in the doorway, leaning against the top of the door frame. "Yeah?" he asks.

Esther flips through her sketchbook, where she'd put the photo for safekeeping. She picks it out and heads to the door, extending her arm. "Merry Christmas," she says. Angus furrows his brows, plucking the photo out of her hand. He inspects it closely, turning it side-to-side in the light. "It's not perfect but, you know, it's better than it was."

Angus has to blink a few times and clears his throat before talking. "Uh, thank you," he says, saluting her with the picture. He turns back to the Left Room to put it somewhere safe — though, really, anywhere is safe with Kountze long gone.

There's not a whole lot else to do, now, though. Usually Yasui-Woodrup-Michaelson family Christmasses are a day-long affair — Christmas Mass in the morning, breakfast, presents and a lunch with the whole family that lasts until dinnertime. Esther supposes she can just sit in the chapel for an hour and a half in dead silence and it'd be as good as Mass anyway, but why would she do that?

She settles for entertaining herself in the Right Room. She still has a few books to work through, she has her paints and pencils, and worst comes to worst — she'll take a nap.

So Esther keeps herself busy until the sun has dipped below the horizon and Hunham comes hollering down the hall that it's time for dinner. She skipped lunch again, so she slips her bookmark into her book and gets to her feet, fixing her hair on the way down to the dining hall.

Mary's created a modest spread of roast ham, potatoes, salad, and the like, and Hunham's decorated the Christmas tree with a few baubles and a piece of tinsel. Esther takes a seat and fills her plate — a few slices of ham and a mountain of salad. Much healthier.

She eats slow and everyone else eats fast. Hunham's already mostly cleaned his plate by the time she's working on the second half of the salad.

"Thank you, Mary," Hunham says, already lowering his knife and fork. "That was just lovely."

Mary reels back in shock. "Oh. Is that an actual compliment?" she asks.

"Oh, come on," Hunham says with a scoff.

"You know, I don't think I've ever had a real family Christmas like this before," Angus says. He catches himself seconds after the sentence leaves his mouth, shaking his head to retract his statement. "Christmas dinner, I mean, family-style. Out of the oven and all the trimmings. My mom always just orders in from Delmonico's."

The boys chuckle while Mary nods along. "Well, she's got the right idea. Next year I'm ordering in from Delmonico's," she says, putting her cigarette to her lips to take a drag.

"It is really nice, thank you, Mary," Esther adds.

Angus squints at Esther's plate. "You've barely eaten," he comments.

Before Esther can defend herself, Hunham raises his mug to the group. "I'd like to propose a toast. To my three unlikely companions on this snowy island and to our absent friends and family." He nods at Mary, who takes a deep breath and raises her mug to take a swig of her whiskey. "And I realise that none of us is here because he wants to be. So if there's any way that I could make the holidays a little cheerier for any one of you, just say the word."

"Okay," Angus says. "I want to go to Boston."

Hunham furrows his brows. "Boston? Why?" he asks.

"Why not?" Angus replies. "I want a real Christmas. I want to go ice skating. I want to see a real Christmas tree with real ornaments, not that stupid thing." He nods at Hunham's sad tree sitting behind him.

Hunham's face falls. "You said it was nice."

"It is nice," Mary insists.

"Come on, let's get out of here. I want a real holiday," Angus presses.

Hunham shakes his head defiantly. "We're not going to Boston. It's out of the question."

Angus deflates, and even Esther, who hadn't allowed herself to get excited at the prospect of leaving the school for a day or two feels disappointed.

"You told them "anything," so take the kids to Boston," Mary says, allowing the teenagers to regain a tiny bit of hope.

Hunham sighs. "Mary, we're not allowed to leave campus or the immediate environs." Esther watches Angus roll his eyes in her peripherals, and she spears a leaf of lettuce with her fork and shoves it into her mouth. Angus doesn't even have an argument this time, he just stares at his plate. Hunham's eyes dart between the teenagers and a very pissed-off-looking Mary. "I suppose we could call it a field trip." Angus and Esther perk up, twin smiles appearing on their faces. "Uh, field trips would fall under the ambit of additional academic pursuits. There's even a fund set aside for additional academic pursuits, so..."

Mary hums an "mm-hmm," and takes another drag of her cigarette.

"I'll go pack," Angus says, scooting his chair back and tossing his napkin onto the table.

Esther follows suit. "Me too!" she says, hot on Angus' heels as he books it out of the room.

"Don't pack everything yet!" Hunham calls after them. "We'll leave tomorrow morning!"

————

december 26, 1970

True to Hunham's word, the group leaves campus bright and early in the morning. Esther is still wiping sleep from her eyes as she loads her bag into Hunham's car and climbs in the backseat. She curls up sideways, car safety be damned, and bunny kicks at Angus' bag until he moves it off the seat and into the footwell.

"What are you? A fucking cat?" Angus asks as he sits back up.

"It was in my way," Esther replies. She shuts her eyes and tries to fall back asleep before Hunham gets into the front seat so she doesn't have to breathe in his fishy smell. She has no such luck, though, as Hunham and Mary climb in less than a minute later.

Hunham clears his throat and starts the car. "And away we go," he says to nobody in particular, pulling out of his parking spot and trundling down the driveway until he hits the main road.

Esther does eventually doze off, managing to stay asleep for nearly the full hour it takes to drive from Barton Academy to Roxbury. She wakes up about five minutes before Hunham pulls up at Mary's sister's place, giving her enough time to regain her bearings and massage the crick out of her neck.

"Here we are," Mary says as the car comes to a stop.

Hunham looks out of the car window at the housing complex — a handful of apartments stacked on top of each other, connected by an outdoor staircase. "Boy, that's an awful lot of stairs," he comments.

Mary nods along. "And probably icy too."

When neither of the teenagers say anything, Hunham leans between the car's two front seats. "Kids?"

Angus snaps to attention. "Right. Um, Mary, can we help you with your bags?" he offers.

"Yes, please," Mary responds.

Hunham passes Angus the keys and the two teenagers shuffle out of the car, heading for the trunk to gather Mary's luggage. Angus unlocks the trunk and reaches in to grab the smaller of the two bags. "Hey," Esther says. Angus raises his eyebrows at her. "Let me carry that one, I'm smaller than you."

"I'm the one with a fucked up shoulder," Angus argues. In response, Esther holds up her splinted finger. "You have a whole other hand."

Esther gapes. "So do you!"

"You're not getting your way today. Not happening. Move." Angus grabs the smaller bag, which is only smaller by a few inches, stacks a small box on top, and begins walking across the road. With no other choice, Esther picks up the bigger bag and reaches up to close the trunk after her, trying not to slip on the icy road.

"At least wait for me, you asshole!" Esther calls out, skidding on her heels as she makes her way to the other side of the road where Angus is, in fact, waiting for her.

Angus gestures at the steps. "Ladies first," he says.

Esther nods. "At lease you have some manners," she hums, holding onto the slippery railing with her bad hand, her good hand doing all the work keeping hold of the bag.

"Did she say how many flights up?" Angus asks.

The girl thinks it over. "Nope," she deduces.

They get to the second-to-last apartment and Angus hobbles over to the edge of the balcony. "Hey, Mary!" he calls out, getting the woman's attention.

Mary opens the car door and shouts back, "One more flight up! One more flight up!" Esther and Angus head back to the steps, going up to the top apartment.

"You're knocking," Esther says. Angus tries to argue but Esther cuts him off at every attempt, annoying him into submission. He shifts the bag and box in his arms to free a hand and raps his knuckles against the door.

"Coming!" a voice from inside responds. A few seconds later, the door swings open, revealing a younger, pregnant woman. "Uh, hi?"

Angus clears his throat a little. "Hey, uh, these are Mary's. She's in the car."

"Oh!" the woman responds. She shuffles outside to the balcony railing. "Mary!" she calls out, waving enthusiastically at her sister.

Mary gets out of the car and waves back as her sister's husband comes to join the party, also waving. Esther and Angus also come to the railing — Angus just smiles but Esther, essentially saying fuck it, starts waving obnoxiously too. Mary shuts the car door and starts heading for the stairs, so the teenagers bid the couple farewell and hurry downstairs after handing the bags to the husband.

At the final flight of stairs, they cross paths with Mary. "Bye, Mary," Angus says, just about to swing past her when she makes an uh-uh noise at him.

"Where are you going?" she asks. Angus stammers for an answer but can't get one out before Mary continues on. "You're not done yet. You have to help me up there."

Angus pauses for a second but nods. "Yeah, sure thing."

"Yeah, off you go, macho man," Esther chuckles, pressing herself flat against the stair railing to allow the pair to pass her.

She heads back to the car and slides into the backseat. It doesn't take long for Angus to arrive after assisting Mary. He gets back into the car and Hunham sets off again, travelling the remaining fifteen minutes into Boston.

     The group drives around for a while until Hunham finally comes to a stop at their hotel. He checks the trio in and they dump their things inside, and once set up, Hunham ushers the teenagers back out onto the cold street for a walk around the city. He, of course, rattles on and on about the history of the city and its architecture, and does so until they land at an outdoor bookstore nestled in a wide alleyway.

     They've only been browsing for a solid five minutes when a woman dressed completely inappropriately for the weather — save for a thick fur coat — approaches Hunham. "Hey there, handsome. You got a cigarette?" she asks.

     Hunham looks up from his book of choice. "Nope. Sorry, I smoke a pipe," he replies, completely unfazed by the obvious solicitation attempt.

     Esther turns to look over her shoulder, distracted from reading the blurb of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

     The woman sighs and tries a different approach. "How about a date, then? You want a date?" she asks.

     Angus turns to watch, now, too. Hunham chuckles and plucks his pipe out of his mouth. "No, thank you." He slots his book back onto the shelf.

     "Oh, come on," the woman insists. Hunham shakes his head. "Let's go somewhere warm."

     Angus smiles, finding the whole situation incredibly amusing. "Go ahead, I can wait here," Angus says, egging the teacher on.

     "See? He can wait here, read some books. He doesn't mind if daddy gets a little candy cane."

     Esther laughs audibly, covering her face with her book when the woman looks at her. "Thank you, but I never really liked candy canes. Plus, I'm pre-diabetic," Hunham continues, just making Esther laugh harder.

     The woman scowls and turns away, checking over her shoulder just in case Hunham decides to change his mind. He doesn't. Angus leans across the stacks. " You know, if you do want a little candy cane, I won't tell anyone," he says.

     "Mister Tully, for most people, sex is ninety-nine percent friction and one percent goodwill," Hunham says, succeeding in setting Esther off laughing again. "Call me old-fashioned, but I place value on physical intimacy. So should you." He sticks his finger in Angus' face to emphasise his point and starts to work his way between the aisles.

     Angus squints. "You've never had sex, have you?" he asks.

     Reluctantly, Esther places the book back onto the stacks and turns to follow the boys down the aisles, not wanting to miss the action.

     Hunham laughs at the accusation. "Believe it or not, Mister Tully, there was a time when the fire in my loins burned white hot," he says, taking a puff of his pipe.

     "Bullshit," Esther responds.

     "No, the details would curl your toes," Hunham says.

     Angus freezes, eyes widening. "Okay, we're finally getting to the good stuff. Let's hear."

     Hunham turns around to face the pair. "Maybe when you're eighteen," he says.

     Esther perks up. "Hey, I'm eighteen! Tell me!"

     "No," he replies. "Curl your toes!"

————

     When Hunham suggests ending the day at a park with a skating rink, Esther feels she may pass out from excitement right then and there. First, though, he wants to head to the art museum to look at ancient art and rattle on about their history.

     And just when he feels he may be losing the teenagers, he points out an artwork of an ancient sex scene, which Angus dubs Candy Cane, and successfully catches their attention again.

     The sun dips down and the moon appears and Hunham finally takes the teenagers to go skating. Esther, of course, is on the ice in seconds, skating laps around the beginner and casual skaters, while Angus takes a bit longer to get his bearings.

     He refuses Esther's hand-holding help.

     Hunham stays on the outside of the rink, supervising the teenagers as he continues to smoke. As Angus starts to speed up, Esther feels more comfortable leaving his side, zipping into the emptier middle of the ice to do a few tricks without hitting a poor passerby. A good chunk of people turn to watch as she does a turn, pulling her arms and free leg in to execute a perfect scratch spin.

     "Ladies and gentlemen! Please meet your future US women's ice skating Olympic gold medalist, Esther Yasui!" Angus calls out to polite applause.

     "That title was a mouthful," Esther comments, though she can't help but smile.

     The two start skating laps around the rink, making faces and acting out scenes every time they pass Hunham. A lot of Esther's consist of her pretending to fall or getting ready to beat Angus over the head. It takes until her fourth go-around for Hunham to stop flinching. Angus stops to talk with the teacher, so Esther heads to the middle and pulls out a few more tricks for the entertainment of those around her.

     She bows dramatically as she returns to the pavement, just in time to watch Angus fall over, and she cringes when he keeps his fingers splayed out in front of him. Always close your fist if you're falling around other skaters.

     Finally, unfortunately, it's time to go. The teenagers return their skates and Hunham leads them away from the ice and to a set of stairs, chattering about whatever comes to mind when a man's voice calling out Hunham's name cuts through the space.

"Paul Hunham! Is that you?" Hunham slows to a stop at the top of the stairs. A man in smart outerwear stops in front of him. "It's Hugh. Hugh Cavanaugh."

Hunham stares at him for a moment, then exhales. "Ah, yes. Of course. Wow. Hugh Cavanaugh. Wow! Oh, how are you, Hugh?"

The man, Hugh, nods. "Oh, God, what's it been, thirty years?" he asks. He turns to the woman standing beside him. "Um, this is my wife Karen. Honey, this is Paul Hunham. We went to Harvard together."

Karen reaches forward to shake Hunham's hand, politely greeting him, then extends the same greeting to both Angus and Esther.

"Yes, we did. Yes, we did. Uh, wow. What have you been up to, Hugh? Still in the area?" Hunham asks.

Hugh nods along. "Oh, yes. Yes. I'm still in Boston. Cambridge."

"Harvard," Karen cuts in. "He just got tenure. Statistics. He won't blow his own horn. I have to blow it for him," she says.

Esther cringes. "Oh, too much information," she murmurs, making Angus snort with laughter and have to cover his mouth and nose with his hand.

"Okay. Well, uh, what about you, Paul?" Hugh asks.

"Oh, still teaching. We have that in common," Hunham replies. "Uh, history, ancient history," he elaborates.

Hugh continues to nod politely. "That's great. That's great. Where?"

Hunham stammers. "Oh, um, abroad, mostly. On fellowships, privately funded fellowships. Universities and private academies. Mostly fellowships, you know. I'm currently posted in, um, Antwerp. Uh, just back here for the holidays," he says, lying through his damn teeth.

Esther and Angus exchange a look that says more than a whole essay could.

Hugh looks genuinely impressed, as does his wife. "So, uh, is this your son?" he asks, gesturing at Angus.

Before Hunham has a chance to answer, Angus cuts in. "I'm his nephew, Leonard."

Esther nearly loses it on the spot but manages to keep it together.

"Nice to meet you, Leonard," Karen says. She turns to Esther. "And you are...?"

Without a beat, Esther replies, "I'm Leonard's girlfriend, Meredith." She takes Angus' hand for good measure and he gives it a hearty squeeze. It's her bad hand — she has to physically bite her tongue to not yelp in pain. Karen greets her as well and she just nods in response, unsure what noise will come out if she opens her mouth.

"And he's writing a book right now. Tell him about your book, Uncle Paul," Angus says, desperate to see how far Hunham will take his lie.

Hunham chuckles. "My book," he says. "It's not a book, really. Uh, more of a monograph. It's nothing special." He's trying so hard to backpedal and Angus simply will not let him.

"Don't be so modest. It's about, uh, cameras, right? Ancient cameras?"

Hugh blinks in confused surprise. "Yes. No, what he means, of course, is the camera obscura. You know, the optical and astronomical tool that dates back to the time of, um, Anaxagoras."

"Tell him the title, Uncle Paul," Angus says.

Hunham looks about ready to throttle the little bastard. "He's not interested, Leonard."

"Oh, sure, he is," Esther says.

"Yes, sure, I am," parrots Hugh.

Hunham sighs. "Light and Magic in the Ancient World."

Hugh nods in acknowledgment. "Okay, well, um... Paul, I'm just so glad you landed on your feet. You look swell," he says, patting Hunham on the shoulder. Hunham returns the sentiment and the two men go to part ways. "And, uh, we'll keep an eye out for your book. Won't we, honey?"

Karen smiles. "Merry Christmas, Paul. Bye, Leonard, Meredith."

When the couple is far enough away, Angus drops Esther's hand and turns to Hunham "What the fuck just happened?"

————

a/n:
oh boy i had to cut that final scene short bc it was getting obnoxiously long but don't u worry, if you like the liquor store scene, it'll be popped over in the next chapter.

i'm slightly stressing bc it's LITERALLY christmas eve at the time of writing this so,, let's see how this goes.

question time: what's your favourite thing you got for christmas this year? (if you celebrate) i can't answer this just yet (christmas eve and all) but i'll answer in the comments later on :)

published: december 25, 2024
word count: 4.2k