My Guardian Angel

Snow covered my grandmother’s front porch as the crystal-clear snowflakes floated right on my head. I beamed and scampered out into the cold. I looked around me. Everything seemed to look the same. Everything was sheltered with snow. The trees weren’t dancing in the cool winter wind because they seemed to be frozen to death. The brick-made houses were dumped with snow too. Experiencing snow fall down to the ground seemed like such a great miracle for me. Of course, I came from the Philippines.

I had a complicated time adjusting to the whole sleep in the morning and wake up at night thing though. Yes, Jetlag it is. Although I had to amend to time change, it wasn’t such a big dilemma. Besides, Christmas is nearing and I have only a few more days to prepare for the big merriment.

“Addie, come inside. Mom made hot cocoa,” calls my brother from the front door. I hesitate at first but than agree that it’s best to get warmed up before going outside.

I grabbed a cup of hot cocoa from the kitchen counter and a plate of marshmallows to roast in the fireplace. Dad called me when I entered the living room.
“Guess what?” he asks.

“Hmm, you planned on getting me a condo for Christmas so I can go and live on my own without any rules and regulations to follow?” I smirked with doubt.
“No.”
My face fell. Dad had a point, like that’ll actually ever happen.
“I got a job at a café right across the park. It’s called Atomica. I hear that people love that place.”
“What? So the next thing you know, Akon might pass through the front door with the press waiting right outside with hot coffee to bombard the black singer with interviews and personal questions? Sure.” I roll my eyes. “Dad, don’t you know how much you get paid there?”
“They said it’s possible that I could get an overall salary of $30.”
“Right.”

I don’t bother listening to Dad’s sermon about always making sure that you’re wealthy enough to own what you need, not what you want.
I trudged up the stairs and entered my room. Gosh, it was pretty chilly inside. I closed the windows to make sure no snow came in. I had a big room with a lot of extra space. I alWays stayed in my room because that was the safest place to stay to share myr secrets in. Problem was, I had no one to share my secrets with. I was gloomy most of the time because I didn’t have any close friends. Sure, I had a lot of friends from school, but I didn’t have a best friend who I could be able to talk to everyday. I envied the girl cliques in school when they would alWays stick together no matter what, while I have to be an invisible piece of flesh and bone, hiding in a corner to cover my humiliation of not having anyone to walk with across the halls of school. My only friends were the teachers and the janitor. I longed for a best friend. I knew that I deserved one, from all the agony and depression I went through of being alone. But then again, people know me as the independent one.

Days pass and I find out that it was already Christmas Eve! I was so agitated to go outside and shout to the whole world that the next day would be Christmas. The Way we would spend Christmas in the Philippines was totally different from the Way Americans spend it here in New Wark, New Jersey. When we were still back in the Philippines, we would exchange gifts. We would make codenames and for ourselves and write them down on a small piece of paper and drop them in a bowl. Then, we would pick a name and make a gift for that person. Of course, it has to be unisex, since we won’t know exactly who that person would be. Once the person received his/her gift, we would carefully tear the tape off the gift wrapping paper and drop the wrappers in a bag to keep. What would we do with the wrapping paper? Use it again. :)
Here in America, some people tend to just tear the wrapping paper and throw the paper in the waste basket. But, that would only be for some Americans--especiAlly my cousins. Edna and Kelly would leave their wrapping paper under the seats of our dirty couches so that we would be the ones to clean up instead.

The morning light shone on me as I tied up the shoelaces of my snow boots. Mom ordered me to shovel the yard because too much of the snow was covering our garage Way. People giggled at me because I was shoveling so slowly. But, who cares what people think? It's not like there are walls and walls of vines reaching and whispering inside everyone's ears to tell them lies and rumors about people.

When I was finAlly done, i decided to take a walk on the road and innocently pass by Atomica to check wheter Dad's first day of work had been a success. People were too busy to notice me on the streets. They were putting up their lights, warming up for the following day, and tugging their display snowmen up their roofs and tying them to the chimnies in case they fell during the night.

I entered the cafe as my Dad looked up and beamed at me with delight. But the next split second, his face fell.

"No customers yet, huh?" I said, sitting down casually.
"No. People are too excited for Christmas."

A few minutes passed and my dad's face lit up. He was so delighted. He looked so blissful. "OhmiGosh."