کریسمس برای جک

Chapter four

Chemicals for Jack

Sally taught, “what does this mean, does jack love me or not? Or is something bad going to happen?”

Sally’s drink for the Doctor didn’t work very well. It wasn’t very strong, so the Doctor woke up after three hours. He could move fast in his chair and he found Sally. He took her back home and put her in her room at the top of the old house.

“You won’t do that to me again,” the Doctor shouted angrily.

“It was a– a mistake,” she said.

She thought, “Why didn’t I put more flowers in the drink? How did I make that stupid mistake?”

Now she was in her room and couldn’t get out.

Jack arrived in the morning. Sally heard him from her room.

“Why is Jack here,” she thought.

She tried to listen to the conversation between the Doctor and Jack. She couldn’t hear Jack very well, but she heard the Doctor.

“Take these chemicals, Jack, but be careful. They’re very dangerous. I made a mistake one time and– look at me in this chair.”

Jack took the bottles of chemicals and went home. He opened some of the bottles. Very carefully, he put them over fire. He put a toy boat into the bottle of green chemicals. He put the bottle over the fire and watched.

Nothing happened. Then he cut some Christmas paper and put it into some red chemicals. Again, nothing happened. He worked for hours, but he didn’t learn very much about Christmas.

“What will happen when I put decorations into these chemicals,” Jack thought. He put some in and a green light shone.

From Sally’s window, she saw the green light in Jack’s window. She wanted to go to him and help him. She felt something strange inside - a happy and sad feeling. For the first time in her life she felt love. She really was in love with Jack.

“I want to be his wife,” Sally thought. “How can I get away from the Doctor? I can’t stay here!”

Sally stood at her window for a long time, without much hope.

“I have to help Jack,” she thought.

So she made a present for him. She put some dry flowers, some black vegetables, and some green water into a bottle. With the bottle in her hand, she stood at her open window and looked down. It was a long way to the ground, but she wasn’t afraid. She jumped.

When she hit the ground, one of her arms fell off.

“Not again,” she said. But she took the arm with her other hand and put it on again very quickly.

Then she ran to Jack’s house as fast as she could. She stood under his window and looked up. At that same minute, Jack looked down. When their eyes met, he smiled. Suddenly, he felt really happy - but why? He couldn’t understand.

Sally put her bottle into his mailbox and ran away. She couldn’t stay and talk to him. She wanted to but she couldn’t. Sally was a quiet girl and she never said very much to anybody.

Jack watched her and felt warm inside.

When she was near the walls of the town, Sally sat down.

“He smiled at me” she thought excitedly.

There was a pretty flower next to her and she pulled it out of the ground. She began to pull off the petals and to repeat these words:

“He loves me,” she said. She pulled off the second petal. “He loves me not–” she said. She did this again and again.

Strangely, the flower in her hand began going around and around very fast. It changed into a beautiful, small Christmas tree with pretty lights! Then, suddenly, the little Christmas tree was on fire. There was nothing in her hand. She sat there in the cold, dark night for a long time and tried to understand.

“What does this mean,” she thought. “Does Jack love me, or not? Or is something bad going to happen? Are Jack’s plans for Christmas a big mistake?”