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Show -236- Chapter Seventeen On the afternoon of the day before Christmas, the Professor and his xrife, t h e i r arms full of packages, arrived at their daughter's house. As they ascended the stairway, which xas festooned xrith red and green crepe paper ribbons, the txro grandchildren danced and shouted above them. Inside the front room, the t a l l e s t tree possible for the space stood before the front window, decorated xrith a l l manner of small glistening ornaments. Some xrere old, some new, some store bought, some handmade. At the base of the tree xrere stacked a l l the presents, gaily xrrap-ped, from the son-in-law's parents in Utah, from the Professor's other daughter in Chicago, from other aunts, uncles, and cousins. The children grabbed the packages from their grandparents and added them to the collection. His daughter's black Gorman Shepherd sniffed about the Professor's ankles, the hem of his xrife's skirt, then s e t t l e d in the corner beyond the t r e e . Her gray cat, named Pussy Galore, sat in the kitchen doorway, licking the fur of her chest. For the f i r s t time since he had opened the box of presents from his older daughter's family, the Professor began to feel the festive a i r of Christmas. His xrife and daughter retreated into the kitch, carrying with them his wife's xalnut cake. The txro dhildren lingered below the tree, fingering the g i f t s. |