A Satirical Scrooge - Lights of Long Ago (4/?)
Hey,
Sorry for taking such a long time at getting the next chapter of my holiday fic posted. I know a couple of you have been asking me about it. Well, here it is! :-) Enjoy!
Title: A Satirical Scrooge - Lights of Long Ago (4/?)
Author: me
Rating: PG (for this chapter)
Characters: Bill Maher and Stephen Colbert.
Pairings: Jon/Stephen (later on) and Bill/Heather (later on)
Genre: AU, angst
Chapter Summary: Stephen shows Maher a glimpse of his childhood.
Disclaimer: I don't own these people! Nothing, except this fanfic. My muse still remains, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. :-)
Chapter 4:
Stephen clasped his hands and rubbed them together. “Okay, then. We should get going.”
Maher rubbed his eyes sleepily. “Um… as much as I would love to get this thing over and done with, can you let me sleep a little first?”
“Nope.” Stephen skipped over to the windows and unlocked them.
“But, if I remember correctly from the story, the first ghost doesn’t come until 1:00 in the morning.” Maher walked lazily toward his bedroom. “You said that you like sticking close to the story. Can I sleep until 1:00 a.m.?”
Stephen buttoned the top button on his red winter coat and pulled the hood over his head. “No. We’ll get more done quicker if we start early.”
“Stephen, please!” Maher whined, turning back around to look at Stephen.
Stephen yanked open the windows, and a gust of cold air and snow blew in.
Maher blocked the stinging cold with his arms. “I still don’t understand the point of all of this.”
Stephen turned to face him. “Let’s say it’s for your welfare.”
Maher grumbled loudly. “Welfare?! What are you talking about? You mean, my health? Oh, yeah! Keeping me from a full night’s sleep and exposing me to the extremely cold weather, definitely shows your caring about my health! Thanks, Stephen! I really appreciate it!” He yelled sarcastically.
“Your salvation, then” Stephen pressed, though still keeping his tone calm. “Not necessarily salvation in religious terms, but salvation of the heart.”
Maher stared blankly at his old comedy partner, not able to think of a sarcastic retort at the moment.
Stephen smiled reassuringly and extended his hand. “Take my hand.”
Maher looked out the window cautiously. “We’re not jumping out the window.” It was more of a question than a demand.
“Don’t worry. You won’t fall. Just take my hand and you will fly.” Stephen replied, taking a step toward him.
Maher took Stephen’s hand and grasped it tightly.
Stephen shot a big smile before launching the two of them out the window. “Here we go!”
“Ah!” Maher couldn’t help but look down, and his stomach did flip-flops like if he were on a roller coaster. “Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God! I’m going to die, I’m going to die!” He gripped onto Stephen’s arm.
Stephen chuckled and looked down at Maher. “Don’t worry. We don’t have far to go.” Suddenly a flash a blinding white light engulfed them, and then with in seconds, they were drifting downward.
Before his feet hit the ground, Maher realized that they were no longer in the same city. The surroundings were vaguely familiar to him.
“Is this…Jersey?” Maher asked, confused. Stephen nodded.
There was an old school building in close proximity and huddles of school children made their way inside. Maher looked across the yard at the marquee. It read, in big block letters, “Immaculate Heart of Mary”.
“Oh my God!” Maher gaped and pointed at with his finger. “Its my old school. I can’t believe it! I thought the city officials decided to tear it down.”
“I didn’t know you went to a Catholic school.” Stephen said, looking quizzically at Maher.
“Yeah, I did.” Maher replied, his tone of voice changed. “My father thought it was where my sister and I would get the best education. My mother objected at first, not trusting the private school environment, but then gave in. She dropped us off at that street corner,” He turned and pointed to the street a block away from the school building “and we would walk from there.” Maher sighed heavily. “I went here from the first grade until the eighth grade. It was hell.”
Stephen smirked and shook his head. “I guess it depends on the perspective.”
Maher raised an eyebrow. “You liked the Catholic school curriculum? All that brain-washing and strictness?”
Stephen smiled sheepishly. “Well, no one likes the strict rules, not to mention, the uniforms. But, I liked my Latin and music classes. I loved singing in the choir.” Stephen sighed happily and began humming. Maher rolled his eyes.
“Oh, I especially loved singing during the Christmas season.” Stephen started skipping energetically, kicking sticks and stones with his feet on the road. “My choir teacher would always have me stand in the middle of our group so that I could project my voice more.” Maher rolled his eyes again.
Stephen started singing, “O, Emmanuel!”
Maher stopped in his tracks and glared angrily at Stephen. “Oh my gosh! Stephen, for the love of God, please don’t sing!”
Stephen smiled playfully and put his arm around Maher’s shoulders. “Come on, let’s go inside.”
When they reached the front doors to the school, Maher stopped for a moment. His gaze fell upon a small group of boys walking past them. Maher’s eyes grew wide and he extended a finger. “I know those boys. Jack, Lawrence, and Bobby, my best friend.” Then he turned to look at the fourth boy in the group, and became speechless.
Stephen looked over at Maher, examining his face. “Do you recognize this boy?”
Maher stared intently at the boy, and replied silently, “Its me.”
Inside, Stephen and Maher followed his nine-year old self into a classroom. The walls were a light peach color, and were covered in posters with biblical quotes and correlating pictures next to them.
The students filed one by one into the classroom and sat down in their regimented desks. The teacher was a young woman, about in her mid to late thirties, with brown hair and green eyes. The name plate on her desk read, “Mrs. Caine.”
She clapped her hands and shouted, “Alright, everyone, quiet down! Before we do our Christmas gift exchange, we are going to read a couple of chapters from our science books. So, lets get out our books and turn to page 394. William, will you please start?”
Maher smirked. “She would always pick on me to read because she knew I hated this subject. I guess it was to make sure I was paying attention.” Stephen chuckled.
“Not that it should matter, because this wasn’t really science they were teaching us.” Maher added sarcastically. “It was creationism.”
An hour passed in a few seconds, and Mrs. Caine clapped her hands a couple of times and shouted, “Alright, everyone! Settle down! Its time for the gift exchange!”
All the kids got up from their desks and handed the gifts to the person whose name they had pulled out of a hat. Maher watched his young self walk over to a girl with blonde curls standing in the corner, and hand her a small red and green box. The young girl blushed a little and timidly took it from him. She stuck her hand down inside the bag and pulled out a silver charm bracelet. She smiled widely, her dimples showing, and then kissed him on the cheek.
Maher chuckled heartily. “Her name was Claire. I had a huge crush on her in the fourth grade. She was so sweet and cute.”
“Yeah, she does seem like a nice little girl.” Stephen agreed. He watched the nine-year old Maher put the bracelet on her wrist. “You seem very happy here. Did you enjoy the holidays?”
“Yes, I did.” Maher smiled lightly. “For me it was a time in which I got to spend lots of time with my friends, and three weeks off of school. It was fantastic! Not to mention, the presents.” Stephen nodded, smiling.
“That year, my friend Bobby got her name for the Secret Santa gift exchange, but he knew I liked her so we switched.” Maher said, still watching the scene closely. “He was my best friend. Sadly, he moved away when we were in the eighth grade because his parents divorced. I didn’t keep in touch with him after that.” Maher frowned, feeling bad that he didn’t try harder to keep in touch with his school-mate.
“What about her?” Stephen asked pointing to the young, curly-haired blonde. “Did you stay close to her?”
Maher shook his head. “No. Her parents transferred her into a public school.” Maher watched his three friends ambush him with crumpled balls of wrapping paper and ribbons. “A lot of parents did that. My parents did after I finished the eighth grade.”
Stephen looked at him, surprised. “Why?”
“There were growing conflicts between the Church and some Catholics about sexuality issues. The biggest one was birth control, which was why my parents took me out.” Maher explained. “My parents made an agreement not to have anymore kids after my little sister was born, and of course, according to the Church’s teachings, they were committing a mortal sin by using birth control. Our parish priest had a talk with them, but my parents refused to change their minds. We eventually just stopped attending church as well.”
“Whoa.” Stephen said, shocked. “My parents were too close to the Church to break any rules, even the mortal sin about birth control. As I’m sure you can figure, with how many older siblings I have.” Stephen joked.
Maher smirked, nodding. “Yeah.”
They watched as Mrs. Caine clapped her hands again to quiet the students. The nine-year old Maher was still wrestling around with his friends to even hear the teacher.
Maher sighed heavily. “I lost contact with all my friends after that. I was so angry with my parents for the longest time for taking me away from them.”
Stephen put a hand on Maher’s shoulder. “But you moved on. You made new friends, right?” Stephen gestured towards himself, smiling playfully at him.
Maher mirrored his smile and put his hand Stephen’s shoulder. “Yeah, I did.”
Stephen pulled at Maher's shoulder, turning them around toward the doorway. "C'mon, Bill. There's a lot more to see. And, I'm pretty sure you're going to really like this next part." Stephen winked at him, grinning widely.