What do you see when you look in the mirror? Most of us don’t think much of it, other than fixing ourselves up. This was also true for Gerald Holmes, that is, until the night of his eleventh birthday.
Gerald’s parents were busy people and rarely spent much time at home, that’s the price the nouveau riche have to pay in nineteen sixties New York City. Dad was a successful economist for a large financial firm and Mom just enjoyed being a socialite among the wealthy young mothers of the city. They owned a big townhouse on the upper east side and left Gerald’s education up to his nanny, Nancy, with whom he was very close.
He resented that his parents never spent much time with him, they were focused on enjoying their own lives. This made Gerald a sad and withdrawn child with no friends. He had a big imagination and complemented his loneliness by having imaginary conversations with his pet hamster, Chicky.
Tomorrow was his birthday, he was turning eleven, and he had big hopes that this year would be different. He was certain this year his parents would remember.
“Chicky, don’t be so pessimistic, they are good people and they do their best to give us a good life, they do love us and I know this time they will remember.”
Some fictitious response from the animal.
“No, you’re wrong, they do love me!”
He went to bed very excited, nanny reading him a story from The Brothers Grimm while putting him to sleep.
“Your a good boy, Gerald, and your parents love you very much, don’t ever forget that. Sigh, you sure are growing up fast!”
Nancy comforted him as she kissed his forehead.
He had nice thoughts as he got sleepier and sleepier gradually fading into dreamland.
Next morning he was awakened by the sound of the curtains being drawn, sunlight coming in through the window, warm against his left cheek and one of the servants from the kitchen singing happy birthday while pushing in a cart with a navy blue and yellow frosted cake with eleven candles flickering on. He stood up on his bed and excitedly jumped up and down with a huge smile on his face.
“Thank you, guys!”
He blew off the candles and made a wish with his eyes shut. As he did so he remembered Mom and Dad. They were not there.
“Nanna, where’s Mom and Dad?”
“Oh, Gerald, your Mother is still in bed, she’s not feeling well, she came home very late last night and needs her rest. Your Father had to leave for work very early in the morning. I’m sure he didn’t want to wake you up and will call later.”
Gerald’s excitement quickly turned into disappointment. Once again, just like before, like it had always been, they didn’t remember. Nothing’s different this year, might as well have been any regular day. He got up, brushed his teeth and dressed in his best clothes, still feeling miserable.
He didn’t want to spend his birthday doing the same thing he did everyday, take his lessons from Nancy, lunch, then play in his room alone and have imaginary conversations with Chicky. He convinced Nancy to skip the lessons today as a birthday present.
Wandering around the huge four story home was far from the ideal thing to do on this special day, but there was nothing better, really. He wasn’t about to let this be like any other day. He remembered the attic storage room where he wasn’t allowed. And made plans to sneak in.
Nancy was worried about him, noticing his disappointment at his parents forgetting his birthday and didn’t want to leave him by himself, trying to make up games to cheer him up, but Gerald convinced her that he was fine and he wanted to play alone. Nancy retired to her room and he went into the kitchen to get the key to the attic. It wasn’t hard to find, the big old house had been remodeled many times over the years and this was the only lock that had never been changed, so the key looked like one of those old keys, a metal rod with small tabs on one end and a ring on the other.
It was the first time ever he was walking up the stairs to the attic. It was out of bounds, forbidden, a no-go zone. But this was an exciting opportunity and a special day, so he firmly continued up.
As he opened up the door his imagination ran wild with the things he could find inside. He thought of old stories Nancy had told him, maybe a princess in the tall tower, a fierce caged monster, a genie or magical elves that would grant him wishes!
But it was no real surprise to find dusty old furniture, stacked up boxes, locked up trunks and dozens of things covered with dusty blankets co-joined by spiderwebs. He flipped on the light switch and walked in looking around, exploring this new space. The dust made him sneeze lightly and his nose was turning red from him rubbing it clean.
His attention was called to a big old piece of luggage, one of the only ones that was not locked, a large dark leather lined trunk with rusted metal corner protectors and a massive fastener. He opened it up and it was full all things people usually collect for posterity. Photos of people with serious faces and old time clothing, a civil war era tarnished medal, old buttons, a black wool hat and a small jewelry box. He continued to sort through all these old treasures when he found a small ring with a clear red stone on it, he thought it was a ruby, so he held it up to sunlight shining in through a small window, that’s when he noticed the old sewing machine and table. He thought it was odd that most of the things were covered and this thing was not. So he put down the ring and went in for a closer look.
Reaching the foot driven rusty old machine he noticed that there was a photograph of a young girl beautifully framed, sitting on top of an elaborate doily. He picked up the picture frame for a closer look. The girl looked a lot like his mother. Maybe this was an old relative, he thought.
Next to the sewing machine was a tall something covered with a blanket that seemed newer, cleaner and with less spiderwebs on it than the rest of the concealed things.
“Hmm, this is weird, looks like someone has been here before.”
He grabbed the blanked and pulled it off the object. Dust flying off, he covered his face and shut his eyes tightly. As he rubbed the dust off his face the image of the object in front of him became clearer and clearer. It was a big oval shaped mirror.
“Oh, it must have been brought here after everything else.”
He was turning around to continue his exploration when out of the corner of his eye he noticed that the reflexion on the mirror was brighter. He went back and indeed the room seemed a lot better lit on the reflexion! His eyes widened, still the sad expression on his face from the earlier disappointment had not faded, but in the mirror Gerald’s reflexion looked happy.
“Weird…”
He lifted his hand and touched his face to make sure that was him in the mirror, and it was. He reached out to touch the other Gerald. Expecting his fingers to be stopped by the glass between him and his reflexion he was startled to see that his fingers continued on beyond the mirror. He quickly pulled his hand back, spooked. Still, the other Gerald looked happy, but he moved as Gerald moved.
He again tried to touch the mirror and instead his hand went right through it.
“How could this be?!?!”
What’s the right thing to do? Should he go and get one of the adults? His body trembled as he thought about what lay on the other side. He moved his face closer to the glass, his breath slightly fogged the mirror and as his nose touched the surface he could feel nothing, so he moved in some more. His whole face went through the mirror and he could see the room on the other side, everything was the same, except the light was brighter, and there was no dust or spiderwebs. He pulled his head back again and looked around him, still the room was dusty and dark.
“This is just amazing!”
He sat down on the old trunk where he was going through old treasures before, stunned. What else was beyond the glass? His imagination wandered again through the fantastic stories he knew. But he wasn’t really sure what to expect on the other side. He got up determined to find out and walked towards the mirror.
He put one hand through, then his head, then a leg, eventually walking whole into the other side of the mirror. He stood there, amazed at all he was seeing. It was like a parallel world. Everything seemed opposite of the world he had known. He immediately thought about the rest of his home, his family. He rushed out the attic door and down the stairs.
Nothing could have prepared him for what he found.
“Gerald! Where have you been, we’ve been looking for you all morning! You’ve been playing hide and go seek again, haven’t you?”
His opposite mother said with a big smile on her face, galloping towards him, she embraced him in the warmest hug he’s ever felt. He couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear.
“I love you, Mom.”
He said, as his eyes got teary.
“Oh, honey, I love you too, sugar bear.”
“There’s the birthday boy! If you keep growing that fast you’re gonna be taller than me in two years time!”
It was his opposite father. He was home. Gerald could not believe he was not at work. As he turned his starry eyes to his dad, still unable to wipe that big smile off his face, opposite father lifted him up in the air and sat him on his shoulders.
“Come on, Ace, let’s leave the women to do all the birthday party preparations while we go open up your present.”
This was all just too much, he was as happy as anyone had ever been in the whole world. For a second he thought he must be going mad, and pinched himself to convince himself he was dreaming. He rubbed his eyes and as he removed his hands he expected the mirage to fade, but it didn’t.
He rode his opposite dad all the way to the living room where a long big box wrapped in the brightest of wrappings with the biggest of bows was waiting.
“There it is, Ace, go ahead and open it up!”
Opposite dad said as he gently put down Gerald. He looked at the box, then up at his dad, standing there mightily, with his shiny shoes and diamond pattern sweater, fists to his waist, smiling back at him with expectation. He gestured with his head for the boy to go ahead, that it was alright.
He ran to the box which was taller than him, long and narrow. He ripped the gift wrapping paper off the box faster than any gift had ever been opened. It was a fishing rod, and not a toy one, a real professional grade fishing rod. He looked over at his opposite dad, teary eyed, about to cry from happiness.
“That’s right, Ace, you’re becoming a man now, we’ll spend a week at the lake, just you and me, and I’ll teach you all about fishing, just like you always wanted.”
It was the best gift ever. Better than any gift he could have ever imagined. His father was going to spend time with him, and a lot of it, too.
They spent the rest of the early afternoon in the living room while opposite dad showed him all the different parts of the tool and how it all worked together. Opposite mom popped in every once in a while to smile, kiss and say hello. Brought lemonade and freshly baked cookies. A while later she came back.
“Alright men, it’s time to break it up, Gerald has to go up and get ready for his party, his friends are going to arrive any minute now!”
“Sure thing, mom!”
He ran to the stairs, thinking friends! He stopped at the second step, looked back at his opposite parents, standing there looking back at him proudly, big smiles on their faces. He ran back to them, hugged them and told them he loved them.
“I love you, guys. This is the happiest day of my life!”
“Oh, honey, you say that everyday! We love you too.”
Said opposite mom.
“You’re our pride and joy, Ace. You’re the best son a father could have”
Said opposite dad. In his mind, everything had changed. These were not his opposite parents, these were the real parents he was always supposed to have. The opposite parents were behind in the old world, on the other side of the mirror.
And Gerald ran back up to his room to get cleaned up and dressed for his birthday party. As he was doing so, he noticed the same clothing he was wearing in the old world had been arranged on his bed by his mother. He couldn’t help but think about this old life. He became sad and started to cry as he remembered how desolate and sorrowful his life on the other side of the mirror was. He wiped the tears off his face, slowly walked out of the bedroom towards the attic stairs. He looked up, making up his mind was not a difficult decision. He went into his father’s office, took out two sheets of paper and an envelope, wrote a cold goodbye note to his old, now opposite, parents on one, addressed to Julia and Gerald, Sr., he did not consider these people his parents anymore. The second note he addressed to Nancy.
Dearest Nanna,
I’m very sad to have to leave you, but I have found my real parents. I’m looking forward to a truly happy life now and hope that you do not feel sad about my departure. Please take care of Chicky for me, I don’t need him anymore. I loved you the most.
Gerald.
Stuffing them into the envelope he walked up to the attic.
As he stood there, in this new happy world looking through the mirror at the dark dusty room on the other side, he thought about Chicky for a moment, and all their conversations together. They all seemed silly now. He walked through the mirror, covered it with it’s blanket, placed the envelope on the doily next to the framed photograph of the girl that looked like his distant mother.
He lifted the blanket and walked once more through the mirror, down to the noisy party full of joyous children singing happy birthday for him.
“Goodbye, mean and miserable old world. I am happy now.”
Ende.
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