Ghost Time

andRaymond was embarrassing, but not as bad as usual, because he was out of his element, so he actually kept his mouth shut. Cam kept checking in, squeezing my shoulders every few minutes, reassuring me it was cool, right. By the time gift time rolled around, I was so excited, I asked if I could give Karen her gifts first. Cam helped me choose a picture for her, and I handed it to her, and she shook the box, like she didn’t know what it was. Then she started opening it, all delicate, until I said, Karen, rip the paper! So she tore it open, and she took the photograph out and opened up the matte frame I’d made…. She looked at it for a good minute, then her eyes started welling, and she goes, I love it , and she gave me a kiss.
    So Karen held up the photograph, so everyone could see, and Raymond’s face… ohmygod, Rain Man, I swear, his mouth fell open. Like he was standing there, holding his beer in his hand, with that wide-leg stance he takes, and seeing this picture of me in my underwear, he balked, like he wasn’t seeing it right. It’s me, I said, so proud that Karen approved, and she wasn’t just saying she loved it to be nice, either. Cam sat in his chair, grinning at me, because it was really scary, giving Karen that picture, and he swore it was the right one, and he was right.
    It’s beautiful, Mom said, squeezing my shoulder, and I felt really happy, but then, hearing my mom, Raymond looked at her, like, What? Like, you could see the wheels in Ray’s head thinking, Drr. Her feet are blurry, why are her feet blurry? And why is she sitting on a chair in her underwear? Karen caught my eye, and then she goes, Raymond, can I get you another beer? Right on cue, Cam sprung up from his chair, saying, I’ll get it. Anyoneelse? I followed him, and then Karen followed me, and we barely made it to the kitchen before we burst out laughing.
    Took a few minutes to gather ourselves, but then we carried our drinks back into the living room. For a minute there, it was good, and I was thinking maybe Christmas isn’t so bad, after all. Then, at that moment, at that very second, my phone rang, and everyone turned. I knew, so I let it go to voice mail, because I knew it was my dad calling. Cheers, everyone, Karen said, holding up her drink, so we all held up our drinks, toasting. I took a big drink of my eggnog, waiting for the burn to pass in the back of my throat, and then I grabbed another square box, and I looked over and smiling this big smile, I said, Ray, ready to open your gift?

SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2011
    (EIGHT WEEKS LATER)
    4:32 PM
    Mel’s obsessed with chairlifts. Don’t ask me how we got on the subject, but it came one day when we were driving past Silver Top. I sighed, looking out the window, and I said, Look, Mel: There’s Silver Top, and she goes, Let’s go. And I said, You want to go in, really? And she said, Why not? My mom won’t be home for a couple hours , so I said, Knox, Mel wants to go to Silver Top, and he raised his brow, looking at her in the mirror, and she grinned that grin that he can’t resist. Mel has this smile that turns Knox to putty, like total daddy dough, and she pulled that number on him, all right; he knew he was beat, and he pulled over.
    So we went in and sat at our table, the booth Cam and I always took, and it was strange, because I wanted them to sit there with me, but I didn’t at the same time, because I can’t seem to juggle both sides of my life, you know? Anyhow, Mel’s totally hooked on Flickr, and she has this thing for chairlifts, so I foundthis picture for her and I showed it to her after we sat down. It’s not one of those pictures people take during the wintertime, when you can see snow everywhere and people are sitting on chairlifts, with their skis dangling in the air. The one I chose for her was this shot of a single chairlift—must be in the summer or the fall, maybe, because there was no snow and the people were all gone. It was a picture of this big empty chairlift, high up in the air, and the first time I saw it, I knew how badly Mel would want to sit on it like a swing, with the whole sky to herself.
    So we’re sitting there, and Mel was saying how she wanted to go on a Ferris wheel, too, how cool it would be to feel her legs dangle, when this black SUV drove by. I caught it out of the corner of my eye, and right away, I felt this chill run up and down my back before I even knew why, and then it registered: it was Foley.
    Knox saw it, too, and