“Hey there, Christmas Cookie!” called ice-skater Ernest Plum across The Rink at Rockefeller Center to Cookie Roberts. She skated effortlessly across the ice rink with grace. It seemed like she had been on ice skates her entire life.
“Sugar Plum, we might make a good team on the ice, but I am not your Christmas Cookie,” she replied to Ernest before he could say anything else.
Defiantly, she took off in a Salchow—an edge jump, where she flew from the back edge of one foot and landed on the back outside edge of the opposite foot. She used the edge of her skate to cause flakes of ice and snow to shoot up right in his face.
In response, he did a toe loop jump, where he took off from the back outside edge of his skate with a tap toe and landed on the back outside edge. He did not rotate but skipped sideways. Upon landing, he also sent ice and snow flying in her direction with the edge of his skate.
Dressed in a sparkly red dress with tights, Cookie felt like they were having a skating war. Other skaters paused from practicing on the ice, and a small crowd had gathered around the rink to observe the antics. Cookie and Ernest seemed to be the best entertainment in town.
“Well, you sure are my Christmas Cookie!” Ernest said, as he skated in her direction and made an abrupt stop with his skates. He wore green trousers and a fitted top. “We have hours of practice to prepare for our Christmas Eve skate,” he said.
Then, he grabbed her hand and twirled her on the ice. When she stopped spinning, she sent ice and snow in his direction stronger than she did before with the edge of her skate.
“You just want to spend time with me alone,” Cookie said. Then, she flipped her long chestnut hair in his direction. Although she was annoyed with Ernest, Christmas Eve was a week away, and the duo needed to perfect their routine.
Each Christmas Eve, the Rockefeller Center Skaters put on a spectacular ice show at the Rink at Rockefeller Center. Only steps from Times Square and the Broadway Theater District, visitors gathered all month long for skating lessons until the 24th of December. Then, tourists and locals in New York City gathered on the plaza beside the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree to enjoy the annual Christmas Eve skating event.
This year, Cookie and Ernest were the featured skaters in the festivities. However, the duo didn’t always get along as one might expect, mostly due to Ernest’s unrequited love for Cookie. She usually refused his advances with sarcasm, even if she did love him, sort of.
“We can practice now, but you’re only allowed to hold my hand and touch me here and there,” Cookie said. She put his hands on her shoulders and back. “If you tell me you love me one more time, I’m getting the skating coach and finding a new partner.”
“What’s wrong if I love you?” Ernest said. “You could have a skating partner who hates you and that would be horrible.”
“You’ve been sending postal packages to my apartment every month for years, and then twelve gifts each Christmas,” she said. “I gave you nothing. This is not exactly the way it is supposed to work. I never sent you one package ever.”
“Maybe it’s better if we don’t talk about this right now,” Ernest said to Cookie. “So much better to skate with you . . .”
“Okay, fine,” Cookie said. “We have to prepare for Christmas Eve. Everyone in New York City will be watching.”
Although there are six figure skating jumps, Cookie found the Axel the most difficult, an edge jump with its extra half rotation. She was always nervous about performing it. Ernest assisted her by throwing her and propelling her forward.
“I have to get the Axel jump down,” Cookie said to him. Then, she did a forward takeoff where Ernest threw her. She teetered a bit but landed backwards.
“You landed it, Christmas Cookie!” Ernest said. He skated by her and took her hand. She almost regretted telling him that he could hold her hand, but she had no choice.
“I’m going to try again,” Cookie said. “And I’m going to get it perfect this time.”
With that, Ernest threw her again, and Cookie took off in the forward direction, spun in the air, and landed on her bottom, instead of her skate.
“Oh, no! I think I broke my ankle,” she cried, as Ernest skated over to her. “I can’t believe this. We have to perform!”
“I’ll carry you to the emergency room,” Ernest said. He scooped her up into his arms and skated with her across the ice. She had a sudden rush of emotion that she could not contain.
“Carry me to the emergency room?” she said, while she sobbed. “Now everyone will think I love you, too!”
“My darling, Christmas Cookie!” Ernest said, as he popped on his skate guards while balancing his partner in his arms.
Then, he carried her up the stairs at Rockefeller Center while wearing his skates. She squirmed as Ernest made a fool of himself for her.
“Are you going to call for an ambulance?” Cookie yelled at Ernest. “I just cannot let you carry me all the way to the emergency room.”
“I’m so sorry, but I can’t put you down in the middle of the plaza when you’re injured!” he said. She knew he wanted to kiss her, so she looked away.
“Kissing me in public is not part of the deal!” Cookie said, as she kicked her injured leg and flailed her arms. She was at his mercy completely.
Ernest waved for a taxicab on Fifth Avenue. The taxicab stopped, and he managed to get Cookie into the cab without too much of a problem. Cookie felt as though the entire situation was awkward and embarrassing. She liked to be the one in charge, not the one receiving help.
“Please take us to Rockefeller University Hospital in Manhattan right away,” he said.
With exhaustion, Cookie fell asleep in the cab. When she woke up a few hours later, Ernest sang “Auld Lang Syne” to her from the chair next to her bed in the emergency room.
“What are you doing New Year’s Eve, darling?” Ernest sang in a loud voice. “Good news is that your ankle isn’t broken!”
“Even if it’s not broken, I still might be in the hospital on New Year’s Eve,” she said, as she brushed her hair from her face.
“Yes, Miss Roberts, your ankle is only sprained,” the physician at the emergency room explained. He walked over to her bedside. “Please just rest it, ice it, and elevate it for the next 24 to 48 hours. Take some ibuprofen, if you have pain.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Cookie said to the man in the white jacket with a stethoscope around his neck. He seemed like a caring person.
“Since your ankle isn’t broken, I’d love to take you out dancing on New Year’s Eve,” Ernest said. “I’d love to ring in the New Year with you!”
“Are you ever going to give up?” Cookie said. “Thank you for your help, but we have a business relationship. You are my ice-skating partner. That’s it.”
Ernest stood up slowly and walked to the door of the hospital room, still in his ice skates.
“At this rate, I’m thinking you pretended to hurt your ankle on purpose, so you couldn’t skate with me on Christmas Eve,” Ernest said. “Fine. I quit. Skate with someone else.”
“Wait! I’m sorry!” Cookie said, as Ernest walked out of the emergency room. “There’s not time to find someone to replace you. I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have faked an injury.”
The next morning, Cookie hobbled to the Rink at Rockefeller Center. She explained to her coach that she sprained her ankle, but it would be better for the Christmas Eve performance. She felt so guilty for her stunt with Ernest, and she wanted him back as her partner.
“The bad news is that Ernest quit the gig,” she said. “It might be my fault.”
“What do you mean he quit?” Cookie’s coach said. “This is a nightmare. I guess you’ll have to skate with Roy.”
“Thank you so much,” Cookie said. “Roy and I can start practicing tomorrow. My ankle should be okay by then. We’ll be ready.”
By Christmas Eve, Cookie and Roy dazzled New York City in their white jump suits with silver sparkles on them. They performed side-by-side jumps in unison with ease. Roy lifted Cookie above his head in a twist lift and tossed her in the air. She rotated three times, and then he caught her at the waist. She somehow wished it was Ernest catching her.
Even if the crowd was dazzled, Cookie felt that the routine fell flat without Ernest. Although she found him more annoying than Roy, she trusted Ernest more to catch her. More than once, she almost fell during the routine with Roy. Cookie felt relieved when she landed the Axel jump. When she looked up, she saw Ernest watching her from the plaza.
“It would have been better if I had skated with Ernest,” Cookie whispered to herself amidst the applause. Ernest would have championed Cookie’s talents while Roy made himself the center of attention. He shook his bottom at the crowd, and it was immature and silly.
“Our performance was robotic and not at all emotional,” she thought to herself while bowing. “What did I do?”
Before leaving the ice rink, Roy shook Cookie’s hand and ran to meet his wife. He hugged his wife with their son. Cookie wished Ernest would treat her respectfully, so they could be ice skating partners without the drama.
After spending Christmas Day with her parents in Upper Manhattan, she spent the rest of the holiday watching old Christmas movies like “It’s A Wonderful Life” and baking cookies.
This year, unlike the past several years, she received no gifts from Ernest, so there was nothing piled underneath her tree. She missed his good parts, but still wished he would grow up.
By New Year’s Eve, she plunged into a bubble bath of hot water with her turn table on the bathroom counter. She played Ella Fitzgerald, closed her eyes, and relaxed. Drinking a cup of tea with extra honey, she had almost forgotten about Ernest, but it was hard to forget about him completely when she was all alone in the candlelight. She wondered if she had made a serious mistake. How would she be able to find someone to replace Ernest?
“Christmas Cookie!” she heard Ernest call to her, as he knocked on her apartment door. “Are you there? Happy New Year!”
Cookie grabbed the robe beside the bathtub, swung it around her, and ran to the door. She had mixed emotions about seeing him. She hoped they could be friends, but she was also sad at the thought of him being with another woman on or off the ice.
“Ernest!” she said, as she opened the door wide enough to see his face.
“I’m sorry, Cookie,” Ernest said. “Will you be my partner? I can’t bear to be without you. I miss you so much.”
“Yes, Ernest,” she said. “I’ll be your partner. I didn’t know how special you were until you were gone.”
“Can I please kiss you?” Ernest asked her with a smile. “It is New Year’s Eve!”
“Maybe just this once,” Cookie agreed. Before she could change her mind, he grabbed her and kissed her. Even if Ernest wasn’t perfect, Cookie knew that he loved her more than any other man on the planet, so maybe she was the one who needed to give up and love him back.
“I’m giving you a chance, Ernest Plum,” Cookie said. “Just one chance!”
“All I need is a one chance,” Ernest said. “Please forgive me for everything.”
Then, she quickly got dressed, so the duo could head out to watch the ball drop in Times Square. While counting down the minutes until the New Year, Ernest grabbed a bag of leftover Christmas cookies from his jacket and handed them to Cookie. She smiled eating a chocolate chip cookie from the batch.
“You’ll always be my Christmas Cookie,” he said, as the clock approached midnight.
“You’ll always be my Sugar Plum,” Cookie said, as she held his hand.
Then, Ernest kissed Cookie again at the stroke of midnight, and the duo went on to spend many years together on and off the ice as a great team.
Copyright 2016 Jennifer Waters
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