It was the first day of a long Christmas break. I was going to get three glorious weeks off. This was the result of some labor dispute the teachers at my school were having. It meant that the school year would have to run long into the summer. But I didn’t care about that, at twelve years old that was too far into the future to consider. What mattered was enjoying my vacation now. It was important though, I thought, to not betray any excitement about Christmas. I was almost a teenager after all and I was very proud of what I considered to be my near adult status.
My mom and I were spending the holiday with my Aunt Linda and her daughter Sarah. Aunt Linda had hit the jackpot with some wise investments many years earlier, she was able live a fairly comfortable lifestyle without a day-to-day job. But she found it worth her while to baby-sit for some extra cash from time to time. She specialized in long term child-care, watching after kids while their parents took trips. Sarah, who was a few years older than me, would pitch in and together they would bring in enough money fill in the gaps.
The car rolled up the long drive way to the front of the large house. Linda and Sarah greeted us and we were shown to the rooms would be staying in. There were enough rooms to allow us both to have our own. Afterwards we all sat in the living room and talked. The conversation turned to Aunt Linda’s baby-sitting business. “You know” she said “we’d be happy to take care of Jason for free if you ever needed it.” I blushed at the offer. I knew about Aunt Linda’s philosophy on boys and how she thought they matured much more slowly than girls. When she looked at me she didn’t see a young adult, but a small child who needed looking after.
After we’d had dinner and some dessert Aunt Linda announced that she had a surprise for me, a gift that couldn’t wait for Christmas to be opened. I braced myself. Her philosophy had led her to give me a string of gifts that were inappropriate for my age, and I had no doubt that this gift would be any different. The box was set before me and hesitantly began to unwrap it. Inside were some PJs. That would have been bad enough as I’d decided I was old enough to just wear sweats and a T-shirt to bed. But these were decorated with cartoon spaceships. I mustered enough gratitude to thank her. I figured it could have been worse, even if I had to wear them no friend would ever have to see me in them. I started to set the box aside but my Aunt quickly spoke up. “Pull them out of the box, you haven’t seen everything yet.”
I removed them from the box and my heart sank. These weren’t just normal PJs, but one-piece footed sleepers. And beneath the first pair were two others. “Now do you see why I wanted you to open that tonight?” She asked rhetorically “This house can get very cold at night, now you can stay warm.”
I’d have to wear these things that very night, I struggled to contain a moan. “Those are adorable Linda” my mom said “I’m sure Jason will be very happy to wear them tonight.” Knowing I was doomed to sleep in footed PJs for the rest of my stay I muttered one more thanks and tried to get my mind off the issue.
A few hours later my mom declared that it was time for me to go bed. I tried to whine that it was too early, but she cut more short explaining that it had been a long day and we were getting up early in the morning. “Now pick out which pair of PJs you want to wear” she said.
I looked at my new pajamas and gulped. Besides the one with spaceships there was one with dinosaurs and one with cowboys. Each was blue and decidedly juvenile. Mom saw I was having trouble deciding so she selected the cowboy pair. “I think these are cute” she said as she handed them to me. “Get them on them you can back downstairs and watch some TV for a while.” I took them and headed up stairs.
Closer inspection revealed that the zipper was in the back. I wondered how I’d ever get them on. As I stepped into them a felt a slight shock followed by an odd tingling sensation, I dismissed it as static and attempted to finish putting the thing on. I got the zipper about halfway up before I could no longer reach it. I struggled for a moment before my mom came in. “What’s taking you so long?” she asked.
