I didn't want to get on stage in front of all these people, but all I could do was stare at her not knowing how to answer her question. She had been so very unhappy since Gamma had left and I didn't want to make her cry again. All of this was starting to make me sad too. I shook my head and she smiled at me, for the first time in days.
Everyone was standing and pushing to come to the front of the room when my mother gently pulled me toward the box, and lifted me up. To my disbelief, when high enough that I could see into the flower box, I saw Gamma was laying there inside sound asleep!
"Gamma," I laughed, "There you are. When are you coming home?" I asked her as relieved as I felt, I really wanted to go home and open my presents.
This must have made my mother very upset because she put me back down and started crying so hard she get down on her knees. Other women in the church started crying too, I couldn't figure out why everyone was so upset suddenly.
I looked back to Gamma, and asked, "Are you playing a game Gamma? Is this a game Momma?"
At this my mother tried to take me away from Gamma in the flower box by walking out the open doors but I wouldn't let her. I pushed and pushed until she put me down, I ran back inside and I climbed up the blocks with flowers on them and grabbed Gammas hand.
If I could just wake her up we could leave, then maybe everyone wouldn't be so upset anymore and we could finally go home and have Christmas and my birthday.
Gamma's hand was strangely hard and ice cold, I looked at her face and knew something was wrong with her. I tapped her on the arm with my fingertips.
"Gamma, wake up," I yelled at her. I had never been allowed to yell in church before but nobody seemed to want to stop me today, "Gamma come on wake up. I don't like this game Gamma. Please, let's go home."
A lady wearing a long string of beads and big floppy hat picked me up and walked me back to my mother. It made me very angry and I yelled even louder, "Gamma please. Wake up. I wanna go home now."
The two big doors closed and my mother must have been very angry with me because she made me stay with one of the church ladies for the rest of the day, the one that had patted me on the head and clicked her tongue at me all day.