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Coming home from school a week and a half away from Christmas, Gilbert wasn’t surprised to see lights decorating the house’s windows. The Beilschmidt’s house was always the brightest lit on the street come Christmastime, and this year would be no different. Admiring what he knew to be the handiwork of his mother and younger brother – whose class had been dismissed early upon returning from an excursion, Gilbert whistled for their dog, certain that Berlitz would come bounding up wearing some form of a festive costume. Gilbert waited, but no large furry ball of excitement appeared. That was strange. Perhaps Ludwig was still coaxing Berlitz into the costume; for reasons no one knew, that dog was never happy to be wearing a silly outfit until he was already in one. As if he’d heard Gilbert’s thoughts, his brother appeared at the gate that led from the backyard.
‘Hey Ludwig!’ Gilbert greeted him with a grin. ‘Good job on the decorations! Where’s Berlitz?’
‘I don’t know,’ there was a quaver in the thirteen-year-old’s voice that wasn’t just it breaking – something that Gilbert liked to tease Ludwig mercilessly for. ‘He ran away after I put the reindeer costume on him.
Gilbert groaned, of course that had happened. Berlitz tended to run off when he was put into a costume or too much of his fur was trimmed, but he always returned within ten minutes, tail wagging happily as if nothing had ever happened.
‘How long has he gone?’
‘It’s been over half an hour,’
Ludwig looked so worried that Gilbert instinctively gave him a hug.
‘I’m sure he isn’t lost. Does Mum know about this?’
Ludwig nodded, wriggling out of Gilbert’s arm.
‘She busy with dinner, and she thinks Berlitz will come back by himself. But she did say if he wasn’t back by the time you came home, you could go look for him.’
The last time Ludwig had been this worried was when he thought he was adopted. Back then, Gilbert had laughed and explained that the difference in their appearances was due to Gilbert being special. But a simple reassure wasn’t enough right now, Gilbert would have to personally bring Berlitz back to make Ludwig happy.
‘I’ll find Berlitz, don’t you worry,’ he promised solemnly, already making a mental map of the places he’d go to search.
Arthur got off the bus and made the short walk from the bus stop to his home, loosening the collar of his uncomfortable private school uniform as he went. Christmas might be just around the corner, but Arthur could be sure the house would not be decorated. Mrs Kirkland was a busy single mum, and no matter how hard his youngest brother Jack begged their mother for “just one string of fairy lights, pretty please?” the answer was always “no”. Arthur couldn’t blame her, even if Jack was too young to remember, he remembered the lengthy, gruelling divorce process that had left her low on funds and seen the father of her children leave the country with their middle son, Alfred. If his mother hadn’t been so distraught over that, Arthur might almost have been glad. He’d always resented Alfred, as he’d taken both the titles of “only child” and “favourite child” away from Arthur when he was born. Even now, when Alfred sent an email to their mother every few months – usually with a photo of him at his fancy school – she would read it to everyone and coo over his accomplishments. Somehow, even from half the world away Alfred managed to steal the limelight whenever their parents were involved. Rounding the corner to his street, Arthur could already see Jack waiting for him in their front yard.
‘Arthur!’ the eight-year-old exclaimed as he drew nearer, running up the street to tug on his older brother’s sleeve. ‘Come help me!’
Arthur was instantly wary; whenever Jack wanted help, it usually meant trouble. Jack was different from Arthur in many ways – more interested in sports than books, loud, unreserved, but always friendly – and a ten year age gap didn’t help, but one thing they did share were the same green eyes as their mother’s, and right now those eyes were looking up at Arthur with excitement.
‘What have you done, Jack?’ Arthur asked on instinct, unable to keep the groan from his voice.
Jack deflated instantly, looking down at his feet and kicking his toe into the pavement.
‘I didn’t do anything,’ he muttered sulkily. ‘I just wanted you to help me feed the reindeer.’
Normally the tone Jack was using would have made Arthur feel guilty for upsetting him, Jack might be a bit of a troublemaker, but he always did have good intentions. This time however, Arthur only felt alarm at Jack’s words; Jack had a habit of bringing random wild animals into their home and he’d most likely done it again, which more than likely would result in an angry lecture from their mother.
‘What reindeer?’ Arthur asked cautiously. Oh please just let it be a toy or imaginary pet, he thought to himself.
Jack’s eyes lit up again, and he started pulling Arthur towards the house.
‘He’s big and friendly and he followed me into the house because I had a bag full of cookies,’ he confided to Arthur. ‘But the problem is he won’t eat the carrots I’m trying to feed him.’
This can’t be good, Arthur thought as he followed Jack into their house, it’s definitely not imaginary. His fears were confirmed when they enter the living room, in the middle of the floor sat a large German shepherd with reindeer strapped around its head, surrounded by half a dozen carrots as well as the remains of some sugar cookies Jack must have made at school. The dog barked happily as they entered, tail wagging and tongue hanging out of its wide open mouth.
‘Jack,’ Arthur collected himself before he swore at his brother. ‘That isn’t a reindeer. You’ve kidnapped someone’s dog.’
‘Oh,’ Jack’s expression changed from realisation to disappointment to fear. ‘Mum’s going to be mad isn’t she?’ He asked quietly.
Arthur could say “yes” and leave Jack to face the music when their mother got home, but it was almost Christmas, and their mother didn’t need that stress anyway.
‘She’s not going to be back from work for another hour,’ he nudged the German shepherd with his leg and watched it get up and shake itself off. ‘We’ll have to find the owner before then.’
Ludwig decided to tag along as Gilbert roamed the streets near their house, calling out Berlitz’s name as they went, but so far they hadn’t had much luck finding him. Gilbert wished Ludwig hadn’t followed him, the young teenager looked increasingly worried and Gilbert was trying to hide his own fears. Berlitz had never been missing for this long, what if this time their beloved dog was lost for good. Get a grip, Gilbert, he told himself, you’re eighteen in a month, don’t worry your brother further. The sky was beginning to darken and Gilbert could tell that Ludwig was losing hope from the calls that were becoming more half hearted and the way he trudged behind Gilbert, long limbs he was yet to grow into swinging. Gilbert sighed as they reached an intersection and put an arm around Ludwig’s shoulders. He could do this without leaning down now, as Ludwig had been going through growth spurts since his birthday two months ago. Gilbert could swear that every time he saw Ludwig, that kid had grown another centimetre or so.
‘Look,’ he said as soothingly as he could. ‘We’d better head back. Mum will get worried about us if we don’t get home soon. I’m sure Berlitz found his way back and is waiting for us in the front yard.’ He knew he didn’t sound convinced, and Ludwig didn’t look it either.
‘You’re right, Gil,’
Ludwig’s resigned tone was heartbreaking, and as they walked around Gilbert wondered if he’d done the right thing.
If their mission wasn’t hard enough already, having to supervise Jack while at it made it near impossible in Arthur’s opinion. But leaving his brother at home was not an option; on his own, the chance of Jack finding some way of getting himself into trouble was incredibly high, and that was the very thing Arthur was trying to avoid. Jack was easily distracted, a bird flying past could have him walking in the wrong direction, seeing a cat would result in them wasting a few precious minute as Jack petted it until the dog decided to bark and scared it off, and God help Arthur if Jack saw any other kind of wild animal.
‘Look!’ Jack gasped excitedly as a squirrel scrambled into to a bush nearby. ‘Can we catch him, please?’
‘No, Jack,’ Arthur didn’t bother hiding his exasperation. ‘I’m not getting you out of trouble just for you to get yourself back into it.’
Jack pouted as eight-year-olds who were told they couldn’t have what they wanted did, waved at the bush calling out “bye, Mr Squirrel!”, and sulkily continued walking beside Arthur. Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, counting himself lucky that Jack hadn’t argued. His luck continued as they reached the end of the street and the dog began to bark at a dejected looking pair walking away from them.
As soon as he heard the barking Ludwig turned around, Gilbert kept walking, sure it would only end in disappointment.
‘Gilbert! Gilbert, it’s Berlitz!’
Upon hearing the exclamation Gilbert whipped around, smiling as he saw the dog in question was indeed theirs. Berlitz was being herded by two boys, one in a fancy school uniform which Gilbert vaguely recognised, and the younger one in the uniform of their local primary school. Ludwig ran towards them, and Gilbert followed suit – if these were dognappers, Ludwig wasn’t going to be facing them without him. He needn’t have worried, as Berlitz came bolting towards them, tail wagging and barking loudly.
‘No! Rudolph come back!’ the dark haired child protested, and was rebuked by the older blond.
‘That’s probably not even its name, and it’s not our dog,’
With that he nodded politely at Gilbert and Ludwig, not that Ludwig noticed; busy hugging Berlitz half to death as he was.
‘Don’t you ever run away like that again,’ Ludwig’s relieved cry was muffled by Berlitz’s fur, his face hidden somewhere behind reindeer antler.
Gilbert laughed at the display as the boy in the private school uniform approached them, with the second boy in tow.
‘I’m awfully sorry,’ he said once they were at a conversational distance, and Gilbert couldn’t help but notice the crispness of his voice and the deep green of his eyes. ‘Your dog followed my little brother home and he thought he was a reindeer, let him in, and tried feeding him carrots.’
With that, he turned around to look at the younger boy, who was now hiding behind his legs. There was a sigh, then the child poked his out.
‘I’m sorry,’ he blurted before ducking back behind his older brother.
Gilbert let out the laugh he’d been holding in after the admittedly amusing explanation from the blond.
‘I’m sure Berlitz was in great hands while he was lost,’ he went to scratch the German shepherd’s ears behind the costume. ‘Weren’t you, boy?’
Berlitz gave a small bark of confirmation as Ludwig released him to stand back up and brush himself off, and the child tentatively stepped out of hiding.
‘Right, erm, again I’m awfully sorry for the trouble we’ve caused you, but we really should be heading off now. Come on, Jack.’
‘Right, of course,’
Before Gilbert could find anything else to say, the duo had turned around and left. Ludwig tugged at Gilbert’s arm as he watched them leave, his other hand around Berlitz’s collar.
‘Let’s go home and tell Mum we found Berlitz!’
‘Yes, right, let’s go,’ Gilbert replied absently, replaying the entire brief conversation he’d had with the blond boy in his head.
It was the last day of classes and Gilbert was planning to do something stupid. Maybe daring, but mostly stupid. It had been a week since Berlitz had temporarily gone missing before being returned and Gilbert hadn’t stopped thinking about the boy with the crisp voice and pretty green eyes. He wished he’d asked for a phone number or a messaging username or something, but he hadn’t been able to do that on the spot. So he’d done the next best thing – looked up the writing on his blazer and figured out exactly which private school the other boy went to. Loitering by the stop of the only bus that stopped at that school from their neighbourhood, Gilbert felt somewhat like a stalker. He glanced at his watch; the bus was late and he was beginning to lose his nerve. Finally he saw the bus approaching from the end of the street. In the time it took the bus to reach the stop, Gilbert reflected on the ridiculousness of what he was about to do. Did he even know what he wanted to say? No, he didn’t. His resolve flickered, then faded. Before the bus stopped and the doors opened for the passengers to disembark, Gilbert turned tail and walked always at a brisk pace, before slowing down as he realised he’d look suspicious. He shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked, feeling his cheeks burn. Why had he ever thought this would be a good idea?
The bus ride was boring as always and the fact that that it was the last time he’d have endure it until school started again wasn’t much of a consolation. Holiday traffic had caused delays and Arthur had given up trying to read in favour of listening to music half an hour ago; the sudden jerky halts and constant beeping of car horns had given him a headache. Taking a deep breath of fresh air to relieve the headache, Arthur noticed someone familiar walking away from the bus stop.
‘Hey,’ he said as he caught up to him. ‘You’re the guy whose dog my brother accidentally stole last week, right?’
As if it could have been anyone else, Arthur noted as the taller boy all but jumped and slowly turned around, with that shock of white hair and startling red eyes, which alongside with his easygoing manner had made such an impression on him.
‘Oh yes! Wow, fancy running into you here!’
If the over the top feigned surprise didn’t reveal to Arthur that this had been no accident, then the nervous laughter and faint blush sure did. He made no sign of disbelief though, secretly glad he hadn’t been the only one wondering if they would run into each other again.
‘I’m heading in the same direction,’ he offered. ‘I’m Arthur, by the way – we never did get to introduce ourselves properly last time.’
‘I’m Gilbert, it’s nice to meet you. Again. Properly, I meant properly.’
The flush was back and Arthur thought it was quiet endearing. He smiled.
‘I’m guessing Christmas break just started for you too?’
‘Yeah, I was just taking the long way home because my brother always likes to get a surprise ready for me when I come back,’ he adjusted the backpack on his shoulders. ‘He’s just started high school this year, so he got to finish early today, lucky bastard.’
The story was convincing and Arthur wouldn’t have found anything wrong with it if Gilbert hadn’t been so obvious before. Nevertheless he nodded and continued the conversation.
‘Well my brother’s still in primary school, so he finished school yesterday. He’s probably making a mess at home right now.’
‘It sounds like you really got the short end of the stick,’ Gilbert laughed. ‘I did notice he was wearing the local school uniform. Ludwig – my brother and I both went there, but for some reason I don’t quite remember you.’ He looked like he’d been trying to figure this out for a while and it was Arthur’s turn to laugh.
‘My family didn’t move into this neighbourhood until I was already in high school. I been here about five years; this is my last year of school.’
‘Lucky, I’ve still got another year to go,’ Gilbert looked slightly envious, then his expression changed to curiosity. ‘That’s a big age gap between you and your brother, you have other siblings then?’
‘I have another brother,’ Arthur explained. ‘He lives with my dad in another country now.’
‘Oh,’ Gilbert made no further comment.
‘What about you?’ Arthur asked to dispel any awkwardness. ‘Do you have any more siblings apart from your brother?’
‘Nah,’ Gilbert shook his head. ‘Just Ludwig and me and our parents. Oh and Berlitz – our dog.’
‘The one that Jack kidnapped?’
‘Yeah,’ Gilbert grinned. ‘Silly old thing, he always runs off when Ludwig stuffs him in a costume. He doesn’t usually follow little kids home though, mind you.’
‘That’s probably because Jack had a bag of cookies he’d made at school with him,’ Arthur mused.
‘Probably,’ Gilbert agreed. ‘Berlitz loves stealing cookies, but then again – who doesn’t love cookies?’
They both laughed. Then the conversation turned to favourite and least favourite classes, annoying teachers and classmates. They recounted story of amusing things their respective siblings had done and discovered they had a similar taste in music.
‘Oh, this is my street,’ Arthur said, regretfully bringing an end to the conversation as he lingered at the street corner.
‘Oh,’ Gilbert looked equally as disappointed. ‘Umm, I hope I’ll see you around then.’
‘Or you could give me your number,’ Arthur decided he’d have to be the one to be forward. ‘And I could text my address. You should bring your brother over sometime – mine could learn something from hanging out with someone older.’
A few days later and Gilbert was comparing the number of the house in front of him to the number on the message on his phone, feeling both giddy and nervous. Reading the text he’d opened too many times to count over the past few days once again, Gilbert wondered if he was reading too much into the smiley emoji at the end of the message. He took a deep breath and mentally reassured himself before walking up the driveway with Ludwig in tow. Ludwig had been confused the entire walk over why his older brother seemed so nervous about visiting a new friend, but at least now he was too distracted with frowning at the only decorations on the house – a multicoloured paper chain with messily cut out block letters that read “MERRY CHRISTMSA” stapled at intervals between the links – to ask Gilbert any questions. Gilbert rang the doorbell and heard someone yell “coming!” before hearing two sets of footsteps sounding like they were racing towards the door. The door opened to reveal a disgruntled Arthur attempting to hold his younger brother back.
‘Let go of me!’ the brown haired child whined.
‘I will if you promise to behave, Jack,’ Arthur said sternly before looking up to shake his head at Gilbert. ‘Kids.’ He muttered.
‘Alright, I promise!’
Arthur looked at Jack then back at Gilbert.
‘Just watch,’ he said quietly so only Gilbert could hear, expression lined with tired amusement. Then he released his brother.
Jack squirmed his way in front of Arthur to peer up with unabashed inquisitiveness at the two guests, before his attention locked on Ludwig.
‘Hi! I’m Jack. You’re my new friend right? Arthur said you were coming to play with me. I’m sorry about stealing your dog, but can I go to your house and play with him sometime? Also I’m making more Christmas decorations for the house and you can help me!’
With that, he caught hold of Ludwig’s arm and tugged him into the house. Arthur stepped aside to let them pass, catching Gilbert’s eyes and breaking into laughter with him. Gilbert watched as the two children disappeared down the corridor at a half running pace.
‘I’m sure Ludwig will be fine,’ he said with amusement.
‘People always get used to Jack after a while,’ Arthur agreed.
‘I’m guessing you helped with that?’ Gilbert asked, gesturing at the paper chain on the window beside them.
‘I did,’ Arthur admitted. ‘And we still managed to staple two of the letters in the wrong place.’
Gilbert laughed again, before digging his hands into his coat pockets.
‘So…’ he began, unsure of what to say.
‘So?’ Arthur repeated, with an oddly self satisfied smile. ‘I knew you’d need some prompting; so look up.’
Confused, Gilbert did as he was instructed anyway, noticing the twigs of glossy green leaves with white berries hanging from the doorway. Mistletoe.
‘Oh,’
‘Yes,’