He was teeming with excitement, practically shaking with anticipation. He had just gotten off of work at the small bakery that paid just barely above minimum wage, and tightly gripped his last paycheck of the year in a clammy clenched hand. He waved goodbye to his boss, wishing her a merry Christmas before heading out. The icy wind smacked him across the face as he swung the glass door open with a jingle of the bell. He ran like a madman across the street to the jewelry store; the fancy one that he would normally not even think about for fear of breaking anything too valuable, a lesson his mother had instilled in him as a little boy. Snow crunched under his heavy determined steps. Chunks of the stuff went flying into the air and blew right back at him, sticking and then melting upon contact with the residual warmth of his pant leg. The snow was fairly light, but there was a lot of it coming down and landing in his short maple brown hair. The cold constricted his lungs as he gasped for air, letting out warmth in the form of puffs of vapor as he tried to catch his breath. Composing himself, he pulled open the door to the store, and walked in with flushed cheeks and envelope still in hand.
He wiped his feet on the entrance mat and brushed a hand through his cold damp hair. His skin felt tingly, whether it was from the change from extreme cold to extreme warmth or enthusiasm for what he was about to do, he was not sure, but he did not care. He knew just where to go, as he had walked the same path from the front door to those beautiful earrings almost religiously every day; this time he had the money to bring home the venerated objects. He wore the biggest, goofiest smile as he warmed up, basking in the moment, as fluorescent lights inside the clear glass case illuminated the sparkling diamond gems surrounded by a white gold setting. The clerk knew him from his daily visits and came over to ask him if he needed help, knowing full well that today he could finally buy the earrings. He faked nonchalance in his reply of, just those earrings, languidly gesturing to the gems. She retrieved them from the locked case and rang them up at the register. Hands shaking, he handed over his debit card that had access to twelve weeks worth of hard earned and saved money and proceeded to open up the wet crumpled envelope to hand over a few cold, albeit damp, bills. Excitement and pride at all of his hard work and long time waiting pumped through his body as he stood in greedy anticipation to see his honest efforts come to fruition. The lady took his various forms of payment and gave him a few cents for change along with the prized earrings, perfectly enclosed in a red velvet box that was wrapped in shimmery golden paper, topped with a silver cloth bow. He took the change and shoved it deep into his pants pocket and tucked the box carefully inside his coat. With a quick but earnest thank you, he started on his way home.

Sitting on the bus headed back to his apartment, he pulled out his old flip phone to check the time and was met with a cute text from his girlfriend saying, I love you, come home soon. A small smile was visible on his face as he read the text. He moved his hand to touch the present over his heart for assurance and in anticipation of the surprised elated look on her face. See you soon, he texted back, adding a smiley face at the end just for her. He put the old phone away and settled in to the soft, overused plastic material of the bus seat. The old rickety bus squealed to a stop and he got off to face the wild winter wind once again. He shoved one hand deep into his pants pocket in a weak attempt to keep it warm with another layer of material, and crossed his other arm against his chest protectively to defend any outside forces from touching the gift. He trudged through the growing mounds of snow until he reached home. Numb fingers fumbled with keys until he finally got the front door unlocked and was safely in the house.

The first thing he noticed was that the temperature inside was not that different from the temperature outside. The cold winter air had invaded the small apartment through the cheap thin walls, so he plugged in the old space heater that had gotten them through the past few winters. He took off his thinly worn coat and draped it over a nearby chair. He retrieved the present, still beautiful as ever, and placed it on the coffee table. He buried himself under the piles of blankets that were always on the old couch that they had gotten at a garage sale two summers ago. After a few minutes of searching, he found the remote between folds of the blankets, and clicked on the TV. The default channel was on, some news station, was reporting on a car accident. A drunk driver going too fast on a side road skidded on an ice patch only to slam into a telephone pole and a female bystander. The reporter stated the driver was killed on impact and the woman is in critical condition as her image flashed up on the screen.

His heart stopped. It was her, the love of his life, his best friend, and intended recipient of the earrings. A frenzied wave of desperate disbelief washed over him. He prayed, dialed her phone number and prayed, waiting for her to pick up, waiting to hear her musical laughter mock him for thinking that such a terrible thing could happen to them, to her. The line picked up, but he was not met with the light tones of his girlfriend, but the deep voice of a police officer who answered her phone, telling him which hospital to come to. He immediately hung up, wracked with panic, worry, dread, he ran out of the apartment. He grabbed anything he thought she might need when she woke up, was officially ok; a fuzzy pink blanket, a faded lavender jacket, her favorite Vonnegut book, some clothes, and the gift. He was out the door, running towards the hospital thankfully only a few blocks away.

She was unconscious. After bursting into the hospital and causing a commotion with reception, policemen, and doctors, he stood before his unconscious love, shaking uncontrollably and silently. He took a few timid steps forward, fearing any sudden movement may affect her already precarious state. He stood next to her, over her, looking down at her, as she lay peacefully sleeping. She was bandaged up, but even the bandages couldn’t cover up the bruising the crept over her pale skin. She was no longer critical, but needed her rest, the doctors said, she wouldn’t be waking up for awhile. He insisted on staying with her, begged to stay with her, see her. The nurses had taken away most of the things he brought in, placing her blanket, her jacket, her book and clothes into a big brown paper bag. They were surface objects, subject to the judgment and control of others, strangers, easily manipulated things, but he kept the earrings from them. Hidden and stowed away, the love filled presents he kept in a place untouchable, unreachable by anyone but him and his girl. He pulled up a chair beside the gurney and took out the gift. He pulled the silver cloth bow apart slowly with careful hands, and gently took apart the gold wrapping paper, slowly peeling off the tape so as to not rip the fragile paper. He opened the box to reveal the earrings, a bit dulled by the poor lighting of the hospital room. He took them out of the box and fixed them each into her ears with steady hands as the rest of his body was wracked with sobs. Trying to hold back the tears and loud gasps, he looked at his beautiful girlfriend with her beautiful earrings to match, and sat waiting for her to wake up to see her beauty too.