As Black as Ebony Read Online Free PDF

someone had done a study and found that of all the horrible Christmas songs ever written, this was the one that made people spend the most. The bitterness and pain of a broken heart, the desire for revenge, and the thought that, this Christmas, I’ll give my gifts to someone special who knows how to value them. I’ll buy the most beautiful ones. I’ll buy the most expensive ones. I’ll prove my love with such a big pile of cash that no one will be able to doubt the sincerity of my feelings. But at the same time, those shoppers relishing the singer’s bittersweet wistfulness, knowing his broken heart still beats for the one who shattered it.
    Lumikki hated this song. She hated the pre-Christmas rush. The real and imagined glitter that rested on everything was meant to mimic snow, but really looked more like sugar frosting. The Christmas of department stores was the one you saw in American romantic comedies where they condensed a lifetime of sappy love and togetherness into a few winter days when everything was perfect just so long as the sets and props were just so. There was a fire in the hearth and mistletoe and glittering gold and fake snow and an enormous mountain of perfectly chosen presents piled and a full Christmas dinner and fuzzy socks and handmade chocolates and Christmas carols and the scent of cinnamon and ginger and everything so perfect you could almost gag.
    That was the Christmas dream the department stores sold, and the Tampere Stockmann was no exception.
    Lumikki also hated buying Christmas presents because it felt so fake. She would prefer to give gifts when she felt like it, no matter what the date was. Buying Christmas presents was a ritual you had to perform because it was expected. Lumikki knew she couldn’t not buy Sampsa a present. But she also knew the distress she would feel the moment she received some beautiful, carefully chosen, thoughtful gift and all she had for him was something pointless and impersonal she had bought in a panic. Because Lumikki had already noticed Sampsa was a gift giver. By some incredible instinct, the boy had already managed to give her the perfect necklace, a simple silver chain with a small black stone pendant; the world’s best notebook; and a pair of half-finger gloves Lumikki always wore at home when a cold gale was blowing through the chinks in the window.
    Sampsa gave his gifts lightly, without making a big deal about it. He gave gifts the way the best gifts were given, without the slightest expectation of receiving anything in return. He knew how to do it in a way that the other person never felt indebted or guilty. Lumikki respected that so much, but she knew she couldn’t skip Christmas.
    Right now, it also felt necessary to be surrounded by all these painfully bright lights and exhaustingly cheery songs. To shut the stalker’s letters out of her mind. Lumikki didn’t know what she should do about them, and because she couldn’t stand uncertainty, she tried to forget about it. At least for a while. Maybe her subconscious was working on a solution.
    “What is up with all this chintzy crap?” a voice asked behind Lumikki.
    Turning, Lumikki saw Tinka and Aleksi. It was strange to see them together on a Saturday, outside of school. Lumikki had been under the impression they didn’t really get along.
    “Who would be crazy enough to actually buy something like this?” Aleksi asked.
    He was pointing at what had to be intended as a centerpiece: a blinking, red “I Love You” sign.
    “Just imagine waking up in the middle of the night to the doorbell ringing and finding something like that sitting outside!” Tinka said, laughing. “I’d be scared out of my mind.”
    Lumikki shivered.
    “I’m starting to think this might not be the best place to do my Christmas shopping,” she said, trying to keep her tone light.
    “Looking for something for Sampsa?” Tinka asked quickly.
    Lumikki nodded.
    “Lucky boy. I’m sure you’ll find the perfect present