A CHRISTMAS WISH

CHAPTER 1: A CHRISTMAS WISH

Instead she was staring at a life on the dole, with no job and no immediate means of escape. And no viable monetary prospects either. 

No pay meant No money for rent which equalled spending Christmas Eve on the street where all the homeless ended up. Unfortunately this prospective hobo had an aversion to the cold and a penchant for cleanliness, her industriously starched white shirt and meticulously clean attire were a testament to those facts.

As if on cue she saw a grubby old man sitting on cardboard next to a dog that looked much cleaner than the owner, a little plastic cup lying in front of them. Looking at the pair Sarah cringed inside, she almost ran back to her office to beg Andrew for forgiveness but something stopped her.

A mysterious stiffness in her back wouldn't let her budge; it seemed she had finally developed a backbone. That this momentous event had not occurred when she had had her head dunked in the toilet at school or when the girls all laughed at her for being ginger, fat and boy-friendless at seventeen was definitely ironic. She had always dreamed of being able to stand up for herself, it seemed that some genius in heaven had finally decided to grant her wish. The only problem was that it had come at the worst possible moment. 

Her rent was up, University loan payments were due and she had to pay three hundred quid on her latest credit card bill just to cover the minimum. Added to all that was the fact that her mother would be coming for dinner tonight and all she had at home was a half bottle of Tesco quality wine sitting forlornly in her "wine cabinet" just waiting to be served with a can of tuna and some crackers.

It was enough to do her head in, she could just imagine what her mother would say, a pencil thin eyebrow arched high on her forehead and a look of condescension on her angular face. A look that only Catherine Douglas was capable of bestowing and one that made her only daughter want to strangle herself.

Catherine was her only family and she meant the world to Sarah. There was just one little niggling issue which marred their perfect relationship and was the root of all those irritating late night lectures. Catherine wanted a stable life for her daughter which according to her meant being in a committed relationship. It was the hot topic of discussion whenever Sarah talked to her mother and lately Catherine's attempts to bully her into connubial bliss were becoming exceedingly aggravating.

Today was definitely not a day when Sarah wanted to hear the same old arguments about her relationship status. She was twenty-two, single and definitely not ready to mingle but she couldn't get that fact through her mother's thick head. Being financially independent served as scant armor against a badgering mother who could give Stalin a run for his money in the frozen stare department. And as of today Sarah didn't even have that card to flash in her mothers face.

On days like today Sarah wished her mother still had a job; at least that way she would have less time to concentrate on her only daughter and more to bully her co-workers. But Catherine had only recently retired from her job as a PA and it seemed her newest mission in life was to sort out her hapless daughter.

A loud bark stopped Sarah's dejected crawl through the crowd towards the tube station. It was a miracle it had been able to snap her out of her dazed misery. She looked back to see the brown dog and the hobo staring intently at her. Something made her walk back and jerk to a stop right in front of them.

"Here," she said, quickly rummaging in her little black purse for some money, ending up with a few assorted coins which she tossed into the plastic cup. Sarah murmured a glum little "Merry Christmas" and began to walk off again.

"What's the matter love? You look awfully sad for such a pretty little thing."

Like any woman with an ugly duckling syndrome, Sarah perked up instantly. Never before had she been called a pretty little anything, at five eight and a healthy size ten Sarah had seldom been referred to as "little". In fact she practically towered over the majority of women especially in three inch heels like the ones she was currently wearing.