| The helping hands of Christmas THIS IS the third instalment of the Helping Hands of Christmas, a festive tale spun by North Vancouver writer David Jenneson. presented in six parts by the North Shore News. TAP came on my shoulder. It was a right hand, from its expression obviously inquiring as to why so blue? All I needed was a sympathetic ear, or hand, it didn’t matter. | exploded: ‘“‘Everyone else is going to have a great Christmas with food and friends and presents and fun. “Not me, though! i’m so broke and out of it that I might as well stay in bed all Christmas and pre- tend I'm asleep. That way when people ask me how my Christmas was I can say, ‘Great, I slept through the whole thing!’ ’” The hand kind of shimmied away on its. hind palm, awash with the violent force of the blast. -It did not, however, wilt or fall back. It was considering alter- . matives. 4] wish I could have a party,” [ said, all forlorn and far away. As soon as I said that the hand . snapped to attention, palm to me, and raised its evil little index finger. Then it was gone, with such a velocity that the air crack- ed in the vacancy it left behind. The hands exited by the 1,00! orifices in this house other than the doors and windows. : Great, I thought, have a good ' Christmas, hands, thanks for the companionship. '~ “Angry and hurt I went down to * the bar to bum some beer. I was notoriously good at this, especially * -’ when I was mad. As soon as 1 walked through the doors of that place I had the ability to tranform myself into a literal dall of fun, laughing, hopp- By David Jenneson Contributing Writer ing and re-hopping from table to table, certainly worth the price of a beer. And I dismissed those fair- weather hands from my mind, along with most other things. When you drink beer out of anger time tends to run into time. I arrived there in late afternoon and don’t know how 1 get home. I probably. walked, aiming myself from telephone pole to telephone pole to make sure I was headed uphill. . I do remember pushing my way through the front door and nearly fracturing my. chin when I fell over a large pile of lumber some- one had left in the front room. I couldn’t find the light. “Stupid fandlord,’? 1 mumbled as 1 crumpled down on the top of my bed. I woke in the morning clear- headed and without a hangover, as young men will. The first thing that struck me was that it was warm. For a minute I thought I was in jail. One thing about jail is that it’s always warm. . Usually it was so cold at my place ice would form on my teeth and I'd have to skim out across the floes of my kitchen floor to turn the oil up, dash back into CASIO CPs700 * [ke [y[efofale[o) Includes: - Deluxe stand (similar to illustration) - Foot switch - Volume pedal - Music lessons! of 4} SAVE $530" Reg. $1,830.00 now only 1 35% «2 Year Warranty * Christmas Delivery: «Bench » Cover » Headphones + Music Lessons bed and wait for the thaw. But now it was warm. [| figured ! must've left it on all night. Then I noticed that it was clean, My bedroom, that is. It was as if some unemployed angel had come and tidied it up during the evil hours of the dank-smelling night. I leaned over to look for my smokes and saw the calendar. December, it read. Amazing. I hadn't changed it since Septembcr and for four months now, time had stood still in this house like falling leaves locked in bars of sunlight. But someone had updated it, and it wasn’t me, and it was now Dec. 23. I didn’t want to go any further with this, not just yet, so I reach- ed over and found the smokes. 1 always feel that a good coughing fit knocks the sleep out of your eyes so I went ahead and had one. And when it subsided what should greet my ears but the delightful sound of eggs, frying. Eggs? I didn't have any eggs. The only thing I kept stored in my fridge was a big cube of cold air. “Who's out there?’? I called suspiciously, Somebody had a lot of nerve, frying eggs in my house without asking, especially when I didn’t even own eggs. The cracked pink bedroom door pushed open and a hand came floating through, bearing a tum- bler of bright, coid orange juice. “QOh,”’ I said, caught off guard, “thanks.” Gee, a glass of orange juice, for me. I didn’t own eggs. I certainly didn’t own orange juice either. ‘*Where'd this come from?’’ I asked. The hand wagged back-and- forth with its index finger, as if to say ‘Tut tut, don’t ask.” Well, like they say, never look a gift hand in the thumb, and I cer- tainly wasn’t going to be the first Simitar to illustration only *995°° | or $28.11/month O.A.C. * 76 Note | *Touch Sensitive +Music Library Soft & Sustain Pedal fo. : py | SO0 00, | 55 AND WHO'S going to arque with a quart of milk as it goes skim- ming by, two inches off the sidewalk. . one to break the code. 1 swallowed the orange juice in large, compulsive gulps. I love orange juice. I like swallowing, Anything, beer, milk, juice, it’s the swallowing I like. The shock of all that Vitamin C to my system was like a flick of icewater into my eyes. I got up Alan Schmelzel. CGA, Branch Manager On November 25th, 1991, the Park Royal Branch of Central Guaranty Trust welcomed back former manager Alan Schmelzel, CGA. Alter working at Park Roval in 1988. Alan transferred to the Finance Department at Central Guaranty’s Regional Office in downtown Vaticouver. But when offered the Opportunity to return to the expanded Park Roya! Branch in an up-graded managerial position. he jumped at it. and got dressed. Eggs, orange juice, flying hands, I prepared myself to believe beforehand, readily and without struggle, anything. that happened. The kitchen was so neat that my See more page 48 “To me, personal contact with our customers is the most satisfying aspect of this business,” Alan says. “Working downtown provided me with an excellent opportunity to use my CGA credentials to their fullest, but I really missed the client interaction that's only available at a branch.” - He also missed the sense of community. When at Park Royal before, Alan served as the Treasurer of the West Vancouver Chamber cf Commerce, an organization he lans to become reacquainted with immediately. Alan brings to the clients at Park Royal a broad base of experience and knowledge in all aspects of the banking business having aiso worked for a major credit union and one of Canada’s Class A Banks. He also brings the much appreciated people skills which Central Guaranty's clients have come to count on for many years.