4A |
WEDNESDAY EDITION
| DECEMBER 26, 2018
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
Opinion
| 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
C
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people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances.
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Jenna Bar tlett
Ned H ickson
Erik Chalhoub
Publisher, ex t. 318
Editor, ex t. 313
Co n s u l t i n g E d i to r 8 3 1 -7 6 1 -7 3 5 3
echalhoub@register-pajaronian.com
M ar k e t i n g Di re c to r, e x t . 3 2 6
O ffice Super visor, ex t. 312
Pro d u c t i o n Su p e r v i s o r
Pre s s M a n a ge r
Su s a n G u t i e r re z
Cathy Dietz
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Je re my G e n t r y
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Letters to the Editor policy
A diff erent kind of letter
into his hands.
talking into the headpiece.
“Are Alex’s presents there
Alex watched his dad dis-
appear, then brought his gaze yet? Great. What did I get
to the laptop’s glowing screen. him?” he asked, rinsing him-
It wasn’t a look of intrigue, or self, then pressing the hand
even mischief. Reaching over, dryer to life. “That sound’s
he pushed the device for- good. What else? ”
In the wake of Christmas I’d ward, teetering it on the edge
Suddenly, flurries billowed
like to share a tale based on a of the seat. He sat staring at it, from the dryer, covering his
true-life experience. It’s a mix- the debate of whether or not hands with what appeared to
ture of fact, whimsy, hope and to push it to the floor evident be snow.
belief that a heartfelt wish is
“What the…? Hold on a
on his face.
the cornerstone of life’s most
After a minute, he thought second,” he said, shaking off
important magical moments
— particularly in an age
where our constant need to be
From the Editor’s Desk
“plugged in” to the world often
competes with being plugged
Ned Hickson
into those in our lives who
are within arm’s reach. That
said, our sincere thanks to all better of it and slid the laptop the cold, white powder.
He moved to the paper
back on the seat.
of you for sharing the magic
towel
dispenser and cranked
“You
should’ve
done
it,
”
I
in your own way, every day,
the
handle.
said,
startling
him.
I
had
been
within our community...
Christmas wrap emerged
watching the events unfold
e looked very out of for the last few minutes as I and, along with it, a letter ad-
place sitting alone in the waited at Portland Airport dressed simply:
To Santa Claus
flight terminal, his arms fold- for my friend to arrive from
Next to the postmark, the
ed over a Superman back- Dallas.
Slowly, an uncertain smile image of a mittened hand
pack, and large brown eyes
peering out from beneath materialized on the boy’s pointed to the words
“Return to Father.” He
his baseball cap. A few seats face, then quickly faded. “My
studied it curiously, then
away, a keyboard recital was dad would be pretty mad.”
flipped it over and noticed
“Madder than you?”
being performed by a busi-
his son’s name above the re-
He shrugged.
nessman wearing Bluetooth
I looked up at the depar- turn address.
headphones and chastising
“You get that from the tow-
someone at “headquarters” ture board.
“You guys live in Chicago, el dispenser?” asked a man
about overspending.
who was standing at the next
“I said gifts for the imme- huh?”
sink.
“My
Dad
does.
We’re
gonna
diate staff only. That means
“Yes… yes I did.”
Carl, Jody, Jessica and what’s- spend Christmas together.”
“You going to open it?”
Does your Dad know that? I
her-name — the gal we hired
Uncertain, he rubbed his
last month,” he instructed, wondered, but nodded with-
keyboard clattering continu- out comment, deciding in- chin. “It says ‘Return to Fa-
ther,’ and that’s me, so I guess
ously. “Yeah, her — Loni. But stead to change the subject.
“Did you see Santa this I should, huh?”
that’s it. I never said anything
The other man stepped to
about the sales department. year?”
the
hand dryer, thought bet-
He
shook
his
head.
“I
wrote
What? Of course you’re in-
ter of it, reached for the tow-
cluded with the immediate him a letter.”
“What did you ask him el dispenser — then simply
staff. Get yourself some-
wiped his hands on his pants.
for?”
thing.”
The boy withdrew into the “I’m not sure what’s going on,
The boy shifted, causing
his plastic chair to squeak a chair, suddenly interested in but I know I’d open it,” he fi-
bit as he leaned toward the the large, red zipper running nally said.
With that, Alex’s father
along his backpack. He traced
businessman. “Hey, Dad…”
peeled
back the lip of the en-
it
with
his
finger,
averting
his
For the first time, the man’s
fingers left the keyboard, just gaze for a time before finally velope and extracted a piece
long enough to wave his son whispering, “Only Santa can of notepaper. Unfolding it, he
immediately recognized his
know…”
to silence.
son’s printing, and felt him-
The boy obeyed, and
(Note: The next part of self skip a breath...
hugged his backpack a little
this story is pure speculation,
closer to his chest.
Dear Santa, If you give me
“Hold on a second,” Lap- based on a hastily spoken
a
new
dad, I promise I’ll never
eyewitness
account.
And
a
top-man said, cupping the
microphone. “Hey, Alex, handwritten note bound for ask for anything ever again.
Love, Alex Riley.
keep an eye on this for me. the North Pole…)
I’m going to the restroom.”
till talking into his Blue-
His father stood staring at
He slid the computer onto
tooth,
Alex’s
father the note, oblivious of the man
the empty seat next to his son
and made his way through emerged from the restroom reading over his shoulder.
“Sure ain’t no ‘Hallmark,’”
the crowded terminal, still stall and squirted soapy gel
H
S
the man commented.
Wordlessly, Alex’s father
refolded the note and careful-
ly slipped it back inside the
envelope, then absently stuck
it into his coat pocket. As he
left the restroom, a muffled
voice could be heard ema-
nating from his headpiece —
which wasnow in the trash.
Mr. Riley made his way back
through crowd to the termi-
nal, his footsteps awkward
and uncertain.
As if retracing a once-fa-
miliar path that had become
neglected and overgrown
Over the loudspeaker, board-
ing calls for Chicago had be-
gun.
“My dad’s coming back.
I have to go,” Alex said, and
stood from his seat, backpack
hanging off one shoulder.
As his dad approached, he
studied Alex for a moment,
then reached out his hand
and nodded in the direction
of the terminal gate. They
had only gotten a few steps
when I noticed the laptop still
sitting on the seat.
“Hey!” I yelled, waving it in
the air.
Mr. Riley stopped and
looked at me through the
crowd, shrugged and then
boarded the plane with Alex
to Chicago.
More than a bit confused,
I set the computer down and
wondered to myself about
what had just happened.
That’s when I saw the man
sitting just a few seats away
— and the identical look of
curiosity on his face. Looking
up, he noticed me staring.
“Listen, in a few minutes,
I’m leaving for New York,” he
blurted. “I’ll probably never
see you again, so I can tell you
this.” He moved closer and,
with his hands clasped tightly
in front of him, spoke of what
he’d seen in the restroom.
When he finished, the two
of us sat wordlessly, neither
of us certain of each other.
That’s when we noticed the
laptop screen, which I’d left
open, and these words scroll-
ing continuously from top to
bottom:
Make time
for the ones you love
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WHERE TO WRITE
Pres. Donald Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD Comments:
202-456-6213
www.whitehouse.gov
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, Ore. 97301-4047
Governor’s Citizens’ Rep.
Message Line:
503-378-4582
www.oregon.gov/gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
541-431-0229
www.wyden.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
FAX: 202-228-3997
541-465-6750
www.merkley.senate.gov
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio
(4th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416
541-269-2609
541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov
State Sen. Arnie Roblan
(Dist. 5)
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
FAX: 503-986-1080
Email: Sen.ArnieRoblan@
oregonlegislature.gov
State Rep. Caddy McKeown
(Dist. 9)
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1409
Email: rep.caddymckeown
@state.or.us
West Lane County
Commissioner
Jay Bozievich
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
FAX: 541-682-4616
Email: Jay.Bozievich@
co.lane.or.us