Christmas Spirits

An after party delves into chaos as an intruder arrives. The story is based off the attached photograph.

It was Christmas Eve, and Dolphus’s world was coming to an end. He had played Willy in the premier of Tod eines Handlungsreisenden at the renowned Hebbel-Theatre, and the audience’s response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. The city streets were bustling with excitement as the news quickly spread like the common cold regarding the play’s success. Some critics said that it was the greatest performance in all of Germany. Others said that if they didn’t know better, the entire population of Berlin was contained in that single theater, and that the applause was so loud, it had woken up every German within the city who hadn’t thought it necessary to attend. It seemed the perfect way to not only welcome the coming New Year, but to also celebrate the end of the war, and the following Christmas morning had practically been forgotten about within all of the talk about the death of a single, unfortunate salesman. He felt like he was at the top of the world, and his old life had disappeared, with a new and brighter one just around the corner.

            That blustering winter evening of 1948, in a small, two-room, apartment, Dolphus Dittmar and two of his close friends, whom he had met during the play’s production, joined in an intimate and rowdy Christmas celebration. They’re names were Aldous and Herman Fleisher, and they were brothers who had never grown apart despite their constant arguing and exchange of insults. Their resentment could be best described as affectionate, constantly exchanging insults which hypocritically displayed their fondness for the other, and regardless of their many disputes, they never left each other’s side.

The three young men celebrated their recent achievements in their usual way. That is, lighting up and getting drunk. Their loud, pervasive banter could be heard several apartments away, and surrounded by the bright red and green lights, with wreaths on every door and bright candles resting on the large, green, sample of nature placed snuggly within the tiny apartment, their hearts grew lighter as their bodies grew heavier.

            Despite the claustrophobic quarters in which Dolphus lived, and the ease by which it could have been kept organized and clean, the place was a mess, and with the tree already taking up nearly half the available space, there was little room left for the two guests to rest their tired bodies. Nevertheless, they made due with what they were given, and discovered the wonders with which bit of alcohol can do to calm one’s discomfort. Sprawled out with his back on the floor seemed just fine for Herman, staring up through the tree, with a half-drunk beer resting on his chest and a cigarette butt between his lips. Smoke rose from his pale face and mixed with the smoke from the candles, creating complex patterns against the fluorescent light-up decorations hanging from the ceiling. Aldous, on the other hand, was more sophisticated. He reclined on the couch with his scrawny legs resting on the small coffee table in front of him. His black button-up suit was stained brown from where Dolphus had spilled a schnapps on him, and he stared up at Dolphus with an amused grin on his hairy, sweaty face. Dolphus leaned back against the window sill, looking down upon the sparkling and dirty streets below him, with a proud, straight stature, going through cigarette after cigarette, dropping each butt by his feet and stamping them into the ground with his slippers. His dark eye-liner had begun to come off as he kept rubbing his blood-shot eyes. He just couldn’t believe the turn of events that had just occurred.

            “You know you could start a fire doing that, Dolphy. Why don’t you throw your stubs in the ash tray like any normal person would?” Said Aldous.

            “Damn it Al, shut up! It’s his f*****g place, he can do what he wants.” Herman raised his head just high enough to see Dolphus press another butt into the red carpet below, sparks crackling beneath his feet. “Being such a spend thrift as you are though, Dolphy, why do you even have an ash tray if you’re not gonna use it. It just doesn’t make any sense!” He rested his messy hair back down against the soft carpet under the tree and took another large puff of nicotine.

            “We finally did it. Can you believe it?” Dolphy said, ignoring his friends’ comments, “From now on I’m going to be known as Dolphy “Willy” Dittmar, and were gonna be in every goddamn newspaper tomorrow morning! My face, on every coffee table in Berlin, on Christmas day not to mention. It’s a dream come true!” Dolphus said resolutely, with his forehead resting against the ice-cold glass of the window, leaving an ugly mark of condensation when he moved it.

            “I can drink to that.” Herman said, sitting up and raising his can of beer.

            “Hell yeah! Nothing can stop us now. We’re gonna take over the whole goddamn world!” Aldous stood up, striking his apple schnapps hard against Aldous’s beer, and Dolphus’s nearly empty bottle of white wine.

            Each of them raised their alcohol to their mouths and took long, gluttonous gulps, sighing with satisfaction as they returned to their original positions with smiles.

            “Hey Herm! Why don’t you sit up before you spill your beer all over his nice carpet!” Aldous said.

            Herman sat up slightly, chuckling, “You call this nice? Ha! This piece of s**t doesn’t even belong in the garbage!” Turning to Dolphus, he continued, “Hey Dolphy, what’s the first thing you’re gonna do with all the new money you’re gonna be getting? Get rid of this carpet I hope.”

            Aldous interrupted, “I know what I’m gonna do! Buy myself one of those new hot Mercedes-Benz. No girl would dare turn down a date with one of those!”

            “Hell, you couldn’t care less about the car, Al!” Dolphy turned around from the window, smirking, “I’ll tell you what I’m planning on doing. Get outta Germany. I’ve been stuck in this damn wreck of a country for far too long. I think I’ll take a break from acting after a few more plays, and go see the world. I’ll start with New York, go see what all the fuss about Broadway is about, and then see what the Seven Wonders of the World are like. After that, who knows? Just get outta this dump.”

            “Who cares after that?” Herman butted in, “My turn! You know what I’m gonna do? Give half my income to the Church to help the poor and needy all around the world.”

            There was a long pause, as Dolphus and Aldous stared at Herman with blank faces. The tension rose in the air with the smoke of the cigarettes, and the temperature seemed to have dropped a several degrees. A smile began to spread across Herman’s face, and he burst out laughing. The other two then realized the sarcasm, and joined in the laughter heartily, half out of relief, and half from amusement.

            “Haha! I got you guys good on that one!” Herman roared in delight.

            Their laughter was cut short by a loud knock on the door.

            “It’s Christmas f*****g Eve, who the hell is knocking now?” Aldous asked, downcast.

            “Calm yourself, I’ll take care of this.” Dolphus ambled towards the door and opened it. His eyes opened wide and he dropped his jaw down to his collar bone. “Mary?”

            “Dolphy!” The women in the doorway jumped into Dolphus’s arms with a beautiful grin and hushed laugh of pleasure, “Merry Christmas, brother!”

            She was dressed in a black dress that reached from her neck down to her ankles, with no ornamentation, and a solitary black handbag strapped to her boney shoulder. Her face was nearly as pale as the snow falling outside, contrasting rather strikingly with Dolphus’s still unwashed makeup. She appeared middle-aged, with several wrinkles around her dark blue eyes, and long strands of white mixed with her reddish - brown hair, which was straight and kept meticulously perfect, without a single tangle or curl.

            “I brought you these!” She lowered the black bag from around her shoulder, reached inside, and lifted out two freshly heated pies towards Dolphus’s eyes. “I hope they didn’t get cold from the walk over here.”

Dolphus snatched them immediately from her ice-cold hands. “You shouldn’t have.” Dolphus exclaimed, “Hey guys, looks like we don’t have to do our own cooking tonight!”

            Aldous’s and Herman’s faces lit up as they stood up from their relaxed positions to get a better look at the new pretty, yet plain, face in the doorway.

Suddenly, the woman grabbed Dolphus by the ears, and pulling him close, gave him a gentle kiss on his perspiring cheek.

“Can’t forget the mistletoe now can we?” She said.

Aldous stepped forward. “So you’re Dolphy’s sister, eh? He never told us he had a sister, and never one so gorgeous as you are.”

            The women looked nervous, clasping her hands together at her waist. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Mary, you are?”

            “Aldous Fleischer, but you can call me Al.” He leaned his face forwards until he was inches away from hers and said, “You know, there’s mistletoe above me as well…”

            She backed away, with a blank expression on her face, saying nothing. She quickly turned to the other unidentified male in the room and spoke in a shaking voice. “And w-who are y-you?”

            Herman drew closer, buttoning up his shirt while attempting to hide the ugly stain of alcohol smeared on it, “Herman, Al’s brother. I must say I’m mighty glad to meet you as well, Mary.”

He reached his hand for her to shake, but her arms remained motionless. Mary simply nodded anxiously in his direction and turned back to Dolphus. “I’m glad to see you aren’t spending Christmas alone again this year. I thought I would stop by and invite you to mass tomorrow morning, 11 o’clock. Your friends are welcome too, just maybe clean yourselves up a bit before you come.” She glanced Herman’s way with her eyebrows tipped downwards.

            Dolphus bowed his head briefly and raised it again, “Thank you for the offer, Mary.” He placed his arm around her shoulder, turning her away from the others, and spoke softly but resolutely in her ear, “But I’ve already had this conversation with you. God is fine for some people, but you know my feelings about these matters. I pride myself as a realist.”

            Mary gently removed her body from Dolphus’s hold and stepped back, “You always say that. You’re a realist. But you still haven’t explained to me what you mean by that?”

            Aldous and Herman stared at the two, eyes glinting with amusement as they foresaw what lay ahead.

            “Wow, Dolphy’s sister’s a left-footer? Who would’ve thought?” Aldous leaned over to Herman and whispered quietly in his ear.

            Dolphus turned towards him and glared briefly, and then addressed his sister gently. “Nothing really, Mary. I just prefer to deal with reality rather than fantasy to get through life. Do you see the world around you? It’s falling to pieces! The cruelty of life is unending, and I just don’t feel it’s realistic for there to be a loving God when there’s so much pain!” He realized his tone had increased in intensity, and he quickly lowered his voice. “If you disagree though, that’s okay.”

            “So you think God is simply a fantasy I believe to make me feel better then?” Mary asked.

            Dolphus left the question unanswered, stepping closer to his sister with his hand outstretched. “Mary, let’s not do this now. It’s Christmas. Can we just forget about it?”

            Mary looked hurt, but took her brother’s hand in her own. “Dolphy. There would be no Christmas without ‘it.’ But I don’t want to argue. I just came to invite you to mass, and to wish you a merry Christmas. Now, if you don’t mind, I best be on my way. Call me if you change your mind.” She turned around and began walking towards the door.

            “Mary! Wait a minute. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Please understand. Things have changed for me. War does that to people. And after what happened to you… I can’t believe in God. You- you need God. You need to hold onto something bigger than yourself to get by. But me? I’ve seen things… terrible things, and I came to my senses. Reality has no room for God in my eyes.”

            Mary turned back around and walked right up to Dolphus, standing on her toes until her eyes were on the same level as his. “Only when you don’t give him any room. You’re right, Dolphus. I do need God. At least I’m not too proud to admit it. I’m not denying reality, you are. You’re just angry at God and mask it as disbelief. Tell me, what has running from Him ever done for you?”

“Ouch!” Herman winked at Aldous, who was attempting to hide a smile.

            “Are you for real? It’s the best decision I’ve ever made. Look at me! I’m the talk of the entire city. Heck, I might be the talk of the entire country. All God did for me was hold me back, but now? I don’t need God! I’m doing just fine by myself; which is better than can be said of you! What has believing in God ever done for you? Can you tell me that? Seems last I can remember, He left you alone on the side of the road while your husband went off to be with another woman. Tell me, what has God ever done for you?”

            Mary raised her arm high above her head and swung it towards Dolphus’s face, leaving bright-red finger marks on his left cheek. Then she slapped him again on the other side.

            “Never! Never use what my husband did to me against me like that again! That is none of your business!” She turned her face and looked towards the ceiling. “You ignorant, arrogant fool! It isn’t about what God has done for me. It’s about what I can do for God. That’s what gives my life meaning.”

            Mary turned around and stormed out the door, slamming it hard behind her. Dolphus watched her leave dejectedly. He called her name several times, but to no avail. He sighed loudly, crossing his shaking arms across his chest.

            All three of them stared at each other with shocked faces, until Aldous and Herman began to giggle softly, pointing at Dolphus.

            “That b***h’s gotta a bite! Better put a leash on her, Dolphy!” Aldous exclaimed between laughs, as he heard loud, stomping footsteps in the hallway outside and the distant slam of a door.

“Quite a sister you got there Dolphy! No wonder you never told us about her.” Said Herman.

            Dolphus turn towards his friends and slammed his hand hard against the nativity on the window sill, sending it flying in their direction and smashing it into dust against the opposite wall.

            “Shut the hell up! Can’t you jerks keep your goddamn mouths shut? That’s my sister you’re disrespecting, and when you insult her, you insult me!” He then pointed towards the door. “Get the f**k outta here! And don’t show your faces around here again for a good long time.”

            Aldous and Herman stared at him surprised. They had never seen Dolphus so flustered, and thought maybe he was just kidding them.

            “Dolphy, it’s not our fault your sister’s so sensitive. Calm down. Why don’t I make you a nice, strong dri-“

            “You think I’m joking? Get the hell out! Now! Goddamn it!” Dolphus’s voice had risen in both volume and pitch, becoming a shriek resembling an irritated swine when being intimidated, and his face began sweating large droplets of liquid which left streams across his pale cheeks and fell to the ground below.

            “Hey Al, I think he’s for real. We better get out of here.” Herman muttered calmly but nervously, grabbing his friend by the sleeve and pulling him towards the exit.

            They both slowly made their way towards the door, occasionally looking back at Dolphus with up-turned eyebrows and drooping eyelids, confused and hurt by his outburst.

            “I won’t forget this Dolphy. I won’t forget this,” Al yelled on the opposite side of the door, before closing it aggressively behind him.

            Dolphus stood there in silence for nearly five minutes, clenching his fists tighter and tighter until his nails dug into his skin and left small streaks of red. His mind returned over and over to the night’s events as he attempted to figure out what had gone wrong. Everything had been going his way, so what happened? He grabbed his half-empty wine bottle and smashed it over the childhood picture of his sister hanging on the wall.

            “You damn brat! You think you’re better than me. Why can’t you just leave me alone!” He wailed, wiping his bloody hands on his sweat-stained shirt, leaving two large handprints on his chest. “Why are you so happy? Our lives have been nothing but hell, and you talk of heaven!”

            He reached for another bottle of wine and, removing the cork, pressed the opening to his lips and downed nearly half the contents in a single sitting. He sat down on the recliner and pondered. His heart was racing, despite the high level of intoxication he was under. He had dreamed and hoped for this day for years. He had finally made his break. He was famous and could not have anything he ever wanted, so why did he feel so miserable? He lifted the bottle up to his mouth and swallowed another fourth of the bottle. He could feel his mind becoming hazy, which comforted him. He wanted these thoughts to stop. If Mary had just kept her mouth shut about the whole topic, his mind wouldn’t be so uneasy.

            He finished off the bottle and stood up forcefully, accidentally dropping the glass bottle onto the floor with his inebriate hands. It shattered at his feet, but he was too drunk to notice it. He began to speak in distorted voice. First softy, with few words being audible through his slurred, drunken syllables, but slowly became louder and clearer. “You sid ub in da sky and judge ush, but yed you do noffing to halp ush. You call yourshelf God but chu are no god to me!”

            He suddenly closed his eyes and fell to the floor with a crash. His legs and arms twitched several times, with each time becoming more distant from the last, until they stopped moving all together.

            There was a knock on the door. Mary had returned from the cold winter air, and after brushing off the piles of snow on her shoulders and hair, she pounded the door vigorously. Several half-frozen tears stuck to her red cheeks like icicles, and as they thawed, slowly ran down her face and into her scowling mouth below.

            “Dolphy! Hey Dolphy,” She rapped at the door harder as she became more impatient. “Dolphy! I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have walked out on you like that in front of your friends. I passed them coming back, and they looked hurt. I’m sorry, Dolphy! Can you let me in?”

            Her fists quickly became raw from both the cold air she had just been in, as well as the energetic impacts they were making into the wooden door. The room inside sounded silent, and she began to feel apprehensive. Had he left too? What if he had hurt someone, or even hurt himself? Her tears turned to droplets of sweat as she began knocking even harder, even kicking the door several times.

            “Dolphus Dittmar! If you don’t open up I’m coming in! Do you hear me?”

            Silence. She stamped her foot hard against the floor beneath her, trying to contain the growing energy within her, but she couldn’t handle the suspense any longer. She slowly turned the steel knob and gently pushing the door open. It creaked as she did so, and she held her breath nervously as she tip-toed inside.

“Dolphy? Are you here?”

The first thing she saw was two feet sticking out from behind the sofa. She took a few more steps, and suddenly stopped. She then gave out a loud scream.

            Dolphus was lying on the floor, still dripping with sweat, and out of his head and into a pool beside him poured a river of blood. Upon catching her breath, she took a few steps closer and knelt down beside him, pressing her fingers to his neck. She frowned mournfully and reluctantly shook her head. There was no pulse. Tears began welling up in her eyes and melting the few snowflakes which remained on her cheek. She rolled him over on his back, and protruding from his head, right above his eye, was a large piece of blood-stained glass. A jolt of agony seared through her body and into her soul as she put her face down into his chest and let out a heartrending cry.

            “You stupid, stupid brother!” She screamed, pounding her fists into his unmoving chest. “You can’t go like this! Please come back! Don’t do this to me!”

She lifted her head from his chest and put her face into her bloodstained hands, leaving bright red handprints on her pale skin. “Why did I leave?” She asked herself. “I’m so careless! I let this happen. God forgive me!” She put her face back into her brother’s damp clothing and again began to weep fervently.

            Twenty minutes later, when there were no tears left for her to give, she lifted her dripping face from his bloodstained breast and said a short prayer, begging God to have grace on her brother’s soul. She then reached for the phone, leaving red marks on its handle, and dialed 112. Without speaking to the listener on the other side, she put the phone face down on the carpet, stood up, and walked out the door. She began running down the hallway, and upon leaving the building, kept running and running with no direction or purpose. The snow struck her wet face and melted with the warmth of her tears. Out of her gaping mouth and flushed nose flew clear mist into the cold air, spreading out until it finally disappeared. Her steps were uneven and confused, as she knew not where she was heading; she just knew she needed to leave that place. She didn’t want this to be happening. Over and over again, she would deny it in her mind, but it kept returning even stronger than before. When her lungs had finally run out of air, she stopped and turned around, looking with bloodshot eyes at the buildings behind her, covered with white snow against the black haze above it. She fell to her knees and cried out to God, imploring Him to reveal Himself or she would be forced to give up on Him. Just at that moment, an opening appeared in the dark fog above her, and a ray of moonlight illuminated where she had fallen. As she lifted up her head to look, she could see nothing but pure white snow falling all around her.

The End

Author's Note

Tell me about the dialogue, and what images and themes come to mind.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

The dialogue was amazing. You made the characters come alive and you made the situation interesting and the story line tempting. Your strong use of description made every scene come alive. I liked the ending. A amazing tale shared.
Coyote

[PortraitsOfTheHeart]

Thank you!

[Coyote Poetry]

You are welcome.

[barleygirl]

The strongest part of your story is the argument between sister & brother about the existence of God or the lack thereof. This is very well done. It's the ultimate argument in life & literature . . . rare to see it so well played out with realistic responses & reasoning.

In a few places, your descriptions were a bit redundant & wordy (example: 2nd paragraph). There's a fair amount of SPAG (spelling/grammar issues) thru-out, but not to the point of distraction while reading.

Your character development is mostly good for all the characters, revealing thru dialogue as well as description. The partying guys came across as realistic. The letdown of post-performance "high" and then the later "low" of arguing with sister is a true-to-life transition. The only thing I didn't buy was the ending, where the sister turns all sappy & dramatic . . . this didn't seem like the same person as earlier in the story. It felt a little cliché as to her response to her brother's death. (Altho I did feel the actual death sequence was well done).

[PortraitsOfTheHeart]

Thank you for the criticism!

[KTizzle]

Okay so there were areas where you paused the story to give me description where I felt you could have just implemented them during some of the action of your characters. For example, you could have used Mary's crying to describe her eyes and I think that would have made the scene more powerful. Her eyes could have looked like wells or something watery and deep since her eyes were blue and she seemed like a complex character.

The dialogue was on and off for me. I felt like some of it was realistic and others were not. For example here, ""“You know you could start a fire doing that, Dolphy. Why don’t you throw your stubs in the ash tray like any normal person would?”" I imagine you could have either ended with "tray" or just say, "why do you even have an ash tray if you’re not gonna use it." That was more realistic to me. I felt like some of the dialogue you were using to display characterization, but that sentence alone says that Dolphy is a spendthrift because he has bought something he just doesn't use or at least that would be my impression.

"It’s a dream come true." Dolphy sounded like a little boy here. Not in a bad way, just didn't sound like something an adult would say.

"Herman sat up slightly, chuckling, “You call this nice? Ha! This piece of s**t doesn’t even belong in the garbage!” I felt like this was realistic until after "Ha!" because I was kinda scratching my head, wondering what do you mean.

“Calm yourself, I’ll take care of this.”" No one says that I feel like. People normally say, "I'll get it." or something like that.

There were others, but I don't want to overwhelm you.

Also, why didn't Mary call 911 immediately? I felt like that would have been characteristic of her since she's so religious and wanting to save her brother. Also, I thought the exchange between Dolphy's friends shouldn't have been towards him, but talking amongst themselves so as to seem more realistic because I dont think people actually do that, or maybe they do.

I really did like the themes and imagery though. The themes I got from here were: the theme of snow, hubris, human connection, religion and juxtaposition. Snow can symbolize isolation, but it can also symbolize hope as well. I really liked the ending leaving the reader to wonder if God really heard her or the snow could represent the answer by symbolizing hope. The ending is quite subjective and depends on how someone decides to color it. I liked how you used images to display juxtaposition while highlighting the theme of hubris. I do not know if this was intentional or not, but I found similes that were strangely put like referring to news spreading around like a common cold or Dolphy sounding like a pig when he yells for his friends to get out. I felt like common cold reflected a sickness developing in the main character, which is hubris. And pig, well, pigs are often associated with greed and pride. And also here, "It was Christmas Eve, and Dolphus’s world was coming to an end." Dolphy's world coming to an end seemed foreshadowing, but at juxtaposition with the actual thing that's happening. I liked it. I loved the theme of religion here and the contrasting views. I felt like the snow showed that they were both paralyzed in their positions. One stuck in realism and one stuck in idealism. I also got a theme of human connection exemplified by the salesman and reference to the poor and needy. They were like how in certain sculptures, there were figures bigger than others to highlight their significance. The mounting pride showed a disconnection with others around Dolphy.

Interesting write. Made me think a bit.

Thanks for posting!

[PortraitsOfTheHeart]

Thanks a bunch!!!