SNOWBALL ... A Christmas Miracle
Marissa Marie Errington was thirteen years old. She had auburn hair and wore it relatively long—as compared to the shorter hairstyles preferred by most of her peers at the Batavia School for Gifted Girls—and she relished the fact that she looked a bit different from the rest of the pack.
Marissa had always been different in many respects. First off, she had to bear the burden of being an Errington, which in and of itself caused the young girl to be a bit defensive. In fact, somewhat withdrawn. She would much rather spend her time away from people, living in her own little world of make believe and music and such, than to discuss her parents and answer inane questions. Questions like, “Oh, wow, what is it really like to have the great Robert Errington as a father, or the much loved and respected Donna Errington as a mother?”
It had been like that since she was a young child. The Erringtons’ money, power and influence was widespread, And being the only child in such a family presented a challenge. Much was expected of the young lady, who was facing adolescence and impending adulthood.
It was just easier to stay to herself.
Oh… Marissa loved her parents very much, but she just didn’t like them a whole lot. They were way too cool—as in COLD. Like ice. Sometimes she wondered if her DNA might reveal that her parents were not the two Stepford-type robots who CLAIMED to be her mother and father.
Marissa believed in God. Sadly, her parents did NOT! Marissa had always believed in Christmas, and Santa Claus and Jesus and angels … her parents did NOT!
Marissa loved and adored cats, as well. Her parents, of course, did NOT!
Since she was little, she had dreamed of having her own little kitten. She read books about cats and even studied them on her computer. From tabbies to lions and tigers and back to tabbies, she knew all there was to know about the blessed feline. She even wrote essays and short stories about them. She prayed that one day she would have a cat of her own to love and cherish. A kitty that just might become her best friend in the whole world.
Her father made it perfectly clear that no cat would EVER live inside—or outside—of their house. Marissa disagreed, of course, and that was just one of many bones of contention she shared with her father.
Robert Errington represented the quintessential, All-American success story. A entrepreneur and computer genius, he had started his own software company just 12 years ago. Erringware Accounting Suite was now used by more than half the companies in the free world, as well as the United States government. The Defense Department, the State Department, the C.I.A. and even the White House depended on Erringware.
A few years before, Robert sold Erringware to a bigger fish for a cool ten billion dollars, while still maintaining 40% of the royalties and a seat on the board of directors. Now at age forty-five, Robert consulted to several major corporations, occupied a big seat on the board of three major banking and investment firms, and traveled the world giving speeches and such. All the while, the money came in droves. The mailman delivered dozens of checks made out to Errington every day. His wife Donna jokingly referred to the daily windfalls as “mailbox money.”
It was Donna’s job to gather up the checks and deposit them every week. She also gleefully took on the task of spending a good bit of the bounty as if it were so much running water. But Robert didn’t seem to mind. All he cared about was “The Game.” He loved to sit in front of his bank of computers and study the world’s finance—to figure a way to make even more money. And he was good at it. From oil to gold, and from bonds to securities, he had the knack—the gift to know which way things were going to turn. Everything usually tilted green for Robert Errington.
Errington wasn’t big on toys, but his huge Grumman executive jet was really special to him. He referred to the big, private plane as Number #3, with Numbers #2 and #1 being his family and his business. In his heart he was not really sure of the actual order of things. He would settle into one of those big, leather chairs and his staff would bring him his favorite glass of wine. The pilots would rev up those big Pratt and Whitney engines and then take off smoothly in the direction of Tokyo or London. And, in that moment, the big jet sure felt more like Number #1.
Aside from the huge mansion that he shared with his wife and only child, he did not care much about other material trappings. He did not golf or belong to country clubs or men’s clubs. He did not really care about boats or even cars, although his garage was pretty full.
He left most of the socializing to Donna, and if her needs included new and bigger diamonds, fancier clothes and a new car every other month, then that was just fine with him. Robert Errington preferred to keep a lower profile and continue to play The Game! The Game was his religion. The Game was his life!
At least, that is what he thought!
It was a typical night in the Errington home. Dinner was served at six p.m., like clockwork. Tonight their longtime maid and cook, Maria, outdid herself with a mix of seafood and Mexican cuisine that was simply mouthwatering. What was also typical about the dinner was that only Marissa sat at the table. Her father was out of town, as usual, and her mom was at a charity dinner of some sort downtown.
Marissa thanked Maria for the meal and went to her room. She worked on homework for about an hour and then turned on her computer to download a new project by the Christian band, Casting Crowns, which she would then load into her iPod. She loved Casting Crowns, although the group Mercy Me was probably her favorite.
She began to search the iTunes store for a possible new release by them—or maybe even Third Day—when all of a sudden the room began to spin. The girl felt dizzy and seemed right on the verge of fainting. Marissa wondered what was going on. She looked down at her hand and saw that it was trembling. Big time. Seeing her own hand shaking brought on a wave of fear.
“Oh, God, what is happening?” She began to pray. “Help me, Lord, please help me.”
She tried to call out, but the scream just seemed to get caught somewhere deep inside of her throat. At that moment she realized she was going to pass out, so she desperately tried to make it to the bed. Instead, she fell flat out on the floor between her desk and her bed stand.
Marissa’s room had a sliding glass door and beyond that door was a beautiful wooden deck that her dad had built for her. In the summer she would lay out on the deck in her cool and comfy chair and listen to her iPod. She was facing that very sliding door now, and just before darkness overtook her she noticed a puff of something white on the deck. The white thing seemed to have a face and the face seemed to have eyes. Shining, golden eyes that seemed to be dancing in the glare of the light that flowed out on to the deck from Marissa’s lamp.
The white thing moved closer to the glass door and looked right at her. It now seemed that that those gold-colored eyes were reaching right into her very soul. For some reason Marissa wasn’t as frightened as she had been just the moment before.
“Oh my,” she thought. “Look at the beautiful kitty.”
Then…Darkness.
Maria had been cleaning up the dining room when she thought she heard something that sounded like a cat’s meow. It seemed to be coming from the back door that led from the kitchen to the massive Errington garage. This was not the meow of a hungry cat. It sounded more like the call of a cat in deep distress. When Maria was a little girl growing up near Cancun, Mexico, she had several cats, and she knew their sounds. This cat was in trouble. Maria ran to the door, opened it and was nearly knocked over by a huge white ball of fur that ran right past her.
“A cat in this house will never do,” she thought as she immediately gave chase to the invading creature. The cat ran through the dining room, made a hard left and then ran straight up the staircase and stopped at Marissa’s bedroom door. It began to growl from deep inside its throat. The strange growl made the white cat sound almost like a dog.
As Maria topped the stairs and took a breath she could hear the growling cat. When she turned the corner and actually saw the cat she was stopped in her tracks by two things. First of all, the cat was bristled and bowed up to almost twice its normal size and, secondly, the cat had two gold-colored eyes that shined like diamonds.
“MARISSA,” she yelled as she kicked open the bedroom door.
With Christmas fast approaching, Donna Errington’s social schedule was just about full. It was amazing that the woman never seemed to tire of these dinners and special events and gatherings and such. She was the sole executer of the huge Errington Foundation and every single charity organization on the planet vied for a piece of the pie. Donna relished in the self-importance of it all.
The fact was, aside from writing big checks to the worthy, and eating chicken on the charity banquet circuit, Donna didn’t have much of a life at all. In younger days she and Robert had shared a whirlwind romance like no other, but as the years passed and Erringware continued to grow, the couple just slowly drifted apart. Love and fun seemed like a distant memory now as each one seemed to drift around in their own time and space. Their personal agendas stood right in the middle of their marriage, and the chasm widened with each passing day. Robert was gone much of the time, and when he was home he was pre-occupied with himself and his money. Donna blocked him out for the most part and made herself content with being occupied with his money, as well.
Over time their home had become a frosty windshield on a winter morning. The only warm spot was Marissa. “What a wonderful kid,” Donna thought. “She seems to have her life together to spite her surroundings.”
Donna Errington loved her daughter very much, and she still loved Robert as well. Truth be told, down deep in her heart, Donna secretly wished something extraordinary might happen that would draw them all closer to each other.
She was about to get her wish.
Her cell phone rang as another round of very mediocre food was being served. She looked down at her fancy Blackberry device and saw her own home phone number reflected on the caller ID. It was Maria. Marissa had just been rushed to a hospital.
“I am on my way!” Donna shouted.
She didn’t even say goodbye to the dignitaries at her table. She ran out to the parking lot, and as she opened the driver side door of her new BMW coupe, she hit #1 and speed dialed her husband. He was ‘not available at this time, so please leave a message.’ She threw the Blackberry on the floor and proceeded to drive to the hospital.
Robert Errington had just landed and was on his way home. He had spent the last few days in Tokyo on behalf of Goldman Sachs. The big investment firm had asked him to take a few days to assess the information technology of their Japanese assets and ascertain what kind of upgrades they might need to implement in the coming new year. It was an easy gig for Errington, and he could have easily found the answers in a videoconference, however a plane trip to the Orient was appealing. Especially when Goldman was footing the entire bill. That thought made him smile.
He parked his Lexus in the garage and entered the home through the side door that lead to the kitchen. The house was still, as always, but there seemed to be a strange thickness in the air. A sense of dread and foreboding washed over Errington as he entered the great living room. His blood ran a bit chilly as he crossed the big room and entered his den and home office. Something wasn’t right, but Errington could not put a finger on what it was. He placed his briefcase and travel bag on his desk and, as if by sheer instinct, he walked up the stairs to Marissa’s room.
He knocked on her door. There was no answer. He gently pushed it open and saw that her bedside lamp was on. Marissa was not in the room. That struck him as very strange, and it only heightened the feeling that was biting and clawing at his stomach.
Suddenly, a huge white cat seemed to come out of thin air. Robert cried out, almost falling over backwards as the huge cat jumped onto Marissa’s bed. The cat stared hard at him, its huge golden eyes glowing brighter and brighter.
“What is going on here? Where is Marissa and how in the world did this cat …”
A scared and confused Robert Errington began to fumble for his Apple iPhone and found that it was turned off. As the screen brightened, he saw that he had one missed call and one missed message from Donna Errington. He touched the screen in the appropriate place and heard the distant ring of his wife’s Blackberry, while the big white cat continued to stare at him from Marissa’s pillow.
The Erringtons, as well as their housekeeper Maria Esplante Jiminez, had been seated on leather chairs in a dreary, hospital waiting room for almost four hours now as their daughter Marissa was being operated on just one floor above them. The brain surgeon had told them that their daughter had experienced a major tear in her carotid artery, the major artery that carried blood directly to the brain. The tear had been caused by a small aneurism that had been lying dormant since birth. Marissa may have suffered a stroke when the tear slowed the blood flow and right now they were in the process of repairing the artery and would know more later on as to just how bad the damage might be.
Donna stood up, walked over to the one window in the room and stared off into space. Maria sat in a chair in the corner of the room and continued to pray. She had not stopped praying since the ambulance came for Marissa.
Robert stood up, walked over to his wife and put his arm around her shoulder. She turned to face him and then let go of her pent up emotions. The tears began to flow. She began to weep like a little girl, for perhaps the first time in many a year, as Robert took her deeper into his arms and held her tight. Donna looked up at him and with her right hand she softly caressed his cheek.
“Oh, Robert, I prayed that something might happen to draw us closer together but not this. Never this,” she whispered.
“I have been a fool, Donna,” answered Robert. “I have let life get away from me. I have let you and Marissa get away from me. Listen, I will take total responsibility for this and I assure you that we will do whatever it takes to save our little girl, even I have to spend our entire …”
“Pardonome, Senor Robert,” spoke Maria who was now standing right beside the couple. She was clutching a Bible and holding it close to her heart. “Marissa is not a piece of software and this is no business meeting. You may fire me or send me home if you wish but I must tell you that this girl is in God’s hands now, and it would do you both some good to go home now … and pray. Christmas will be here very soon and there is no Christmas tree in that house. No wreaths, no manger scenes, no angels singing praise to the Almighty Father, who now holds the life of that precious girl in His hands. That precious little saint of a daughter is the best of both of you. A little girl who loves you dearly and is not sure where SHE stands with either one of you.”
“Money…Dinero?” she continued. “Money does not matter here at all. Only faith! Charity? Senora Donna? Charity means LOVE in God’s world, and it starts at home. I have said my piece. If I am fired now that is okay. But you two should go home and do not forget to feed that white cat. If not for her, your daughter would be in God’s heaven right now instead of upstairs. Buenos Noches, loved ones. I am praying for all of us!”
As the door closed behind Maria, Robert again turned to his wife. “She is right,” He whispered. “God has given us a tremendous treasure. A wonderful daughter who is not sure where she stands with us.” As he echoed Maria’s words he began to cry.
“I only hope it is not too late to tell her that she means the world to us,” answered Donna. “We have both been so foolish and out of touch with the things that really matter.”
Marissa appeared to be on a boat of some kind. All she could see around her were clouds, although she thought she could feel small waves lapping against the hull? She really was not sure for she had never been on a boat before. She was shocked that her father didn’t own a fleet of them. The thought made her giggle for a moment. In fact, the serene and peaceful feeling that enveloped her at this very moment almost made her want to laugh out loud, and she thought that perhaps she had done just that. However the sound of her own laughter seemed distant and far away as if … in a dream. Ah, that was it … she was dreaming. That was the only rational explanation for this lightness of being. She saw her mother’s face as if in a mirror and her mother was crying. Then she thought she heard the voice of her father. He seemed to be praying to God and asking forgivness. Robert Errington was actually praying? Marissa smiled again at that one. This has to be a dream!
The passing clouds were becoming more and more like a dense fog that seemed to envelope her, yet she could still make out a bright light in the distance. Anyhow, that is what it seemed like. She tried to sit up. Had she been lying down? There was something laying beside her and pressing its weight against her side. She quickly came to the realization that it was a cat. It was the white cat with the golden eyes. The kitty rose up on all fours and stared at Marissa. Her feline eyes were all aglow. The cat meowed once and then settled into a smooth and relaxing purr. She continued to stare at Marissa. The clouds began to fade and the light seemed all the brighter. The cat purred even louder.
“Oh, how sweet,” whispered Marissa. “You are still with me.”
“Sweet Mother of our Savior, she is waking up!”
"Maria?" thought Marissa. “Was that Maria?”
The bright light began to turn into the huge Italian made lamp in the living room of her home. Marissa opened her eyes and saw her mother and father looking at her. They were weeping and holding onto each other very tightly. She could still hear Maria’s voice somewhere in the distance. She seemed to be singing a Gospel song.
“What is going on?” Marissa asked. Her throat felt dry and a bit hoarse.
“God has blessed us, honey. That is what is going on,” said Donna Errington through a cloud of tears.
“He has given us back our little girl,” added Robert. ‘We are so very grateful.”
Donna explained what had happened. She told Marissa about the aneurism and the operations and the possible stroke and brain damage. She told her daughter how they had brought her home and how she had been sleeping for a long time. Robert added that the doctor was on his way but was very encouraged by what was going on. It would seem that Marissa Errington would be just fine.
“What day is this, Mom?” asked Marissa
“It is Christmas, honey. Look around.”
There was a big tree decorated with bright lights in one corner of the room and a ton of presents underneath. There were wreaths and angels and a beautiful manger scene. The house looked and felt and smelled like Christmas itself.
It had never been this way before. Not EVER
“Things will be different around here from now on,” said her father, as he held her hand. “I sold the jet. My only job now is a consultant for Erringware. No more trips unless we go as a family. Your mother will be home a lot more, as well. She will still make foundation decisions but mostly from her office upstairs. You, my sweet daughter, will also take a leadership role in the foundation. I want to pay God back for His blessings, and I want and NEED your help in that effort.”
“What a Christmas,” thought Marissa. “What a miracle! Thank you, Jesus …Oh, THANK YOU.”
With all that was going on, Marissa had not thought about the kitty. As if on cue, the cat stretched and meowed quite loudly. This was another miracle for certain. There was actually a cat in the house.
The big, white cat came close to Marissa’s face and looked right into her eyes. The golden-colored eyes seemed to glow just as they had from the moment she first saw this very special kitty on her deck. Marissa petted the cat and playfully asked, “Just what part have YOU played in all of this?”
“That cat saved your life Marissa,” said Robert with a smile. “Maria says she is an angel cat and named her Snowball!”
“Snowball, huh?” said Marissa as the cat continued to purr. “Well, that is a perfect name.”
She picked up the beautiful, white kitty and held her close to her cheek.
“I love you, Snowball. It seems that both us has found a new home.”
MERRY CHRISTMAS (JSB)