Christmas Eve, Three. Pages By Kia Galvin and Emily Peterson

Tuesday 24th Wednesday 25 th Thursday 26 th December 1991 Clare : 20 Henry:28

Pages Henry and Clare go to Meadowlark (Clares house) to spend Christmas. Henry is going to meet Clares family for the first time. Clare explains how different it is being with Henry in present time. For example when she was growing up, he was very distant with her, but now, he is constantly touching her, being intimate, and telling her things he never would have before. She's grateful because everything's normal. “I know where to find him. He goes to work, he comes home”. This is a big contrast to how she was feeling when Henry was time travelling, because she was always uncertain where he was, and when he would return.

Pages It is Christmas eve and the whole family is sat down for tea and they have general discussion with Henry about who is he, what he does etc. Sharon is pregnant, but because she is a strong practising Catholic, it is frowned upon and Clares Mama is angry at this. She thinks she's “white trash” Sharon is also getting married to Mark.

Pages continued It is found out in these pages that Clare has many family problems, and Henry questions her why Clare has never mentioned this before. (She told him in the past when he was timetravelling,he doesn’t know now). Alicia confides in Clare that she has seen Henry before. One time when she was around 12 she seen him naked in the laundry room. Clare is startled but laughs it off with Alicia not to get found out.

Pages Henry, Clare and her family go to mass to celebrate. It is the first time Henry has been to a Catholic mass and is clearly nervous as he “holds onto Clares arm like a blind man”. He is in need of guidance. Halfway through the mass he starts to sweat and jiggles his leg, both Clare and Henry know what is about to happen. Henry makes a dash for the restroom and panics. He then finds himself in his apartment in Chicago and is clearly aggravated.

Pages On Christmas day they all eat Christmas dinner, Henry sees them as a “model happy family” After this, Henry and Clare go to Clares friends house (Laura) for a party. Helen, another friend of Clares realises Clare hasn’t known Henry for a few months, it must have been years. Helen is very interrogative and Clare doesn’t know wether to tell her the truth. “When I was twelve, he was twenty” But she doesn’t mention to her that when she was six, he was forty, for obvious reasons!!

Pages continued On the morning of their departure of Meadowlark and Clares family, Clare says goodbye to her mum, but “realises that she is waiting for me to leave”. In the car, Clare is crying, she is upset about her mum and how she behaved earlier on. She thinks that Henry is uneasy about her family. “sometimes I just want to push them into Lake Michigan and watch them sink”

Things you learn about Henry. He doesn't have a drivers licence, for obvious reasons. He says its harder to run whilst he's time travelling in the future, there's a significant difference he can tell from past to future. He never watches TV; it triggers time travelling. He looks the spit of his mother: Clares mother recognises this. He says his “whole life is one long déjà vu” – he's seen everything before and its one long cycle. He's never been to Catholic mass before. He doesn’t like the fact Clare is ‘secretive’ about family problems. He is apprehensive of Clare meeting his Dad.

Things you learn about Clare She loves life how it is, the fact that she knows Henry is stable at the moment. “ I know where to find him” She sees Etta as a second mother. She is annoyed that Henry doesn’t remember some things that happened in her past. Her mum is “depressed” and shes worried about her. She wants to meet Henrys Dad. She doesn’t seem to get along well with her dad, as he speaks “sternly” to her. She knows that some of her family have seen Henry before whilst he was time travelling, but still tries to hide it.

….. Clares dad associates Henry as Clares friend, but he knows that they are together. He may disapprove of it or just doesn't like the fact his daughter is growing up. It’s like hanging out with a greyhound” – Clare says about Henry, he always needs to be active, in order to be happy.