Gilbert's New Girl

The Saturday before Christmas I went to have my hair done, and when I got home, Gilbert was in the kitchen cooking dinner. Tucker was sitting at the table drinking a bottle of beer. Neither of them noticed my hairdo, but that’s so typical of men. Anyway, Tally must have heard me come in and she called through from the living room, ‘Amy come and see what me and Gilbert did this afternoon.’ Tally noticed my hair straight away. ‘Oh, it looks really nice,’ she said smiling broadly at me. She took my arm and guided me into the room. ‘Doesn’t it look great?’ she said as she watched me take in the festive decorations. I nodded as I gazed at the tree glowing in the corner by the window. ‘You did a great job with the tree, Tally, it looks spectacular.’ She hugged my arm tighter and said, ‘I did all the rest of the stuff, but Gilbert did the tree---and look! Wait till you see this!’ She was so excited. Letting go of me she moved over to turn the lamps off. ‘You need to see it in the dark’ she said, as if she were letting me in on a huge secret. Then she skipped over to the tree and knelt down on the floor, feeling about for something. The next minute all I can hear is ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree’, and all I can see is the flashing light coming from the top of the tree. ‘Gilbert bought it this morning, isn’t it just the best star you’ve ever seen?’

Tally eyes shone brighter than any flashing star, and who needed music when her laughter filled the room? Suddenly, I realised I had the biggest smile on my face. Tally was infecting me with her happiness. Smiling, she beckoned me over to her, so went and sat in the armchair next to the tree. She moved closer to me and said in a low voice, ‘And Gilbert did something else today.’ She went on to explain that she had been a bit tearful. ‘With it being nearly Christmas and all, and things not being right with me and my Dad, you know?’ I nodded sympathetically and she studied my face, still unsure if she should tell me what it was Gilbert had done. ‘Well’ she said, ‘Gilbert got all uptight because I was upset, and I didn’t mean to make him upset, but I guess I did. Anyway, he was chewing on the inside of his cheek and pacing up and down, and I swear, if the lawn wasn’t covered with frost, it would have taken a pounding.’ Tally smiled to herself before telling me more. ‘I tried to stop crying, but instead I ended up crying harder, and he was just about ready to explode, and the next thing he goes into the kitchen and I hear him on the phone. He called my Dad!’

I felt my stomach lurch at the thought of an angry Gilbert raging down the line at the Reverend Chambers. Tally must have read my mind because she put her hand on my arm and said, ‘He kept really calm, you know? He told my Dad that he loved me and that nothing was going change the way we feel about each other, and that it was time for him to get used to me being with him. And he said, ‘You don’t have to like me, you don’t need to ever see me or talk to me again, but I’m bringing Tally over to see you tomorrow afternoon. She’s your daughter and I’m tired of seeing her in tears because you won’t accept her decision to be with me.’ Well, well. Gilbert really took the bull by the horns on this one! ‘So are you going to see your Dad?’ I asked her, and Tally smiled and nodded her head. ‘Oh Amy, Gilbert’s so good to me, he understands how I feel. He takes such good care of me and sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve him, to deserve his love, but I’m so glad that I’ve got it. I love him Amy, I really do.’ I smiled at her and said, ‘I know you do, I know you love him.’ Just then Gilbert called us to the table for dinner, he had made chicken pot pie and it smelled great. Throughout the meal, I kept looking at my brother and marvelling at the changes in him, changes that were all due to his love for Tally. Gilbert Grape could not only handle cooking and laundry, he could ‘do’ Christmas trees, he could shed a few tears, and he was ready to take on anyone who posed a threat to Tally’s happiness. As the star on the Christmas tree blinked away in the living room, I knew I was looking at the real star in this house, only this star did not flash, he shimmered and he glowed.