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It was the day after Christmas. It had proved to be a very delightful Christmas for the Tracy family – some would even go as far to say it was their best Christmas in recent years.
While it was not the first Christmas for the Tracys since International Rescue started operations, it was arguably more special thanks to a scheme that had been started. Coralville Children’s Hospital was trying to raise funds for a new solar therapy wing. When Jeff had heard about it, he was only too delighted to help. This scheme involved selecting one of the children in the hospital to spend Christmas with International Rescue at Tracy Island. This child was a young boy named Nicky, and watching the way his eyes lit up when he took everything in made it all worthwhile.
Something else that made the holiday more special was the surprise Scott and Indiana had gifted them with – the impending arrival of a baby. At least, it was a surprise to everyone else. Jeff and Indiana’s sister, Linda, already had prior knowledge of the baby. So, Jeff’s surprise concerning his impending grandchild was to learn the child’s gender, which he promptly announced to the family. Everyone was excited to hear that Scott and Indiana were having a girl. Baby Girl Tracy (affectionately nicknamed Dumpling due to Indiana’s cravings) was due to arrive in early May.
But the final surprise – the surprise designed by Brains – proved to be one of the best in a long time, earning equal stature with the news of a new baby. Brains had heard the boys recalling Christmases from their childhood, particularly the White Christmases they used to have back in Kansas. The boys missed the snow. After all, it was impossible to have a White Christmas on a tropical island. Or was it?
Brains decided to rise to the occasion. His Christmas gift to the family that had given him so much was to build a snow machine and cover half of the island with snow. The family had been delighted when they opened their eyes and saw the snow falling outside their window. As Jeff had declared, Brains had gifted them an old-fashioned Christmas; and it was a gift that was received with delight.
It was not a surprise to the family that the first thing the four earthbound Tracy sons did after honouring Nicky’s Christmas wish of seeing Thunderbird 3 launched was race outside to play in the snow. It was certainly a sight. Four adult men playing in the snow on a tropical island after Christmas.
Indiana only laughed as she sat nearby, sipping on a mug of hot chocolate Grandma Tracy had made for her while stroking her baby bump (which had only recently made an appearance). She opted to sit out of this activity, allowing her fiancé and future brothers-in-law to enjoy the revival of a beloved childhood memory.
Besides, knowing them as well as she did, she had a strong feeling that they would get bored of building snowmen and making snow angels soon enough.
Arizona sat next to Indiana at the table, as did Lady Penelope and Tin-Tin. They had their own mugs of hot chocolate. Kyrano was busying himself with working his magic with the Christmas leftovers for a delicious lunch, and Grandma Tracy decided to go fuss over their special guest. Brains had turned on the snow machine once more, giving the Tracy sons more snow to play with.
And throw, as they had predictably decided.
Indiana watched as Alan mischievously gathered some snow and rolled it into a ball.
“Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time,” Indiana sighed to her companions.
“Should we warn them?” Tin-Tin queried.
Arizona snorted, “Where’s the fun in that?”
The girls didn’t know why they were surprised that Alan decided to make Scott his first casualty, but they were. They weren’t surprised to find that Alan had waited for his oldest brother’s back to be turned.
Scott froze when he felt the snowball collide with his back between his shoulder blades. He slowly whirled around to the sound of snickering. It did not take him long to find who was behind the assault. He wore a devilish smirk of his own as he formed his own snowball.
Alan quickly regretted his decision, forgetting that Scott had a wicked throw.
The good news was: he was able to duck in time.
The bad news was: Gordon took the hit.
Gordon wasted no time in throwing his own snowball, hitting Virgil when he had inadvertently walked in his path.
“Oh, it’s on now!” Alan joyfully decreed.
The laughter echoed around the island as the four men dove around, gathering snow to create snowballs and throwing them in seemingly random directions. They did not target a specific brother. No alliances were formed. No older versus younger. Everyone was fair game.
It was something Arizona found out the hard way when she was accidentally hit.
“Sorry!” Gordon called to her apologetically.
“Not sorry enough!” Arizona declared, racing to join the fray.
“Perhaps you should move inside, Dr. Evans,” Tin-Tin suggested worriedly.
“And miss the show?” Indiana snorted. Although, she did move to a better spot to get out of the line of fire.
Tin-Tin chuckled, but the laughter soon died when she felt a snowball land near her.
“Come on, Tin-Tin!” Alan called to her.
“You can’t let that challenge go unanswered,” Indiana smirked.
Indeed, she could not. Tin-Tin needed no further invitation. She raced onto the battlefield, picking up some snow along the way. But rather than form a snowball and throw it at an unsuspecting Tracy brother, she decided to sneak up behind Alan, pull the back of his shirt open just a bit and shove it all down his back. Alan shrieked as the cold substance came in contact with his warm skin.
Brains certainly put in a lot of work to make the snow highly realistic – including the frigid temperature.
Lady Penelope chuckled as Alan began chasing Tin-Tin around the makeshift snowfield, laughing all the way. She moved to help herself to more tea, only to find herself in the path of a snowball. The snowball hit her hand, causing her to lose her grip on her teacup. The fine china didn’t shatter, thankfully, but she did spill her tea. Thankfully, none of the tea landed on her clothes, but having her teatime interrupted like this will certainly not do.
“Parker,” Lady Penelope beckoned her loyal chauffeur over with a clipped voice.
Parker wordlessly came over and, seeing Lady Penelope silently gesture towards the snowball fight happening in front of her, only smirked, “With pleasure, milady.”
Parker had taken part in quite a few snowball fights of his own in his youth. And his aim was certainly unrivalled.
It was shown by the way the four Tracys yelled when Parker joined the fray. They darted about, finding a way to shield themselves from the barrage of snowballs Parker threw at them.
Indiana looked at the window and saw Brains, Grandma Tracy, Jeff and Nicky watching from the safety of the kitchen. They had wisely decided to stay inside and were beckoning for Indiana to join them. Seeing how wild some of the throws were becoming, she quickly agreed.
“Don’t worry, sis,” Matthew smirked as he and Linda stood by the door. “We shall make the Evans family proud. CHARGE!”
Indiana laughed as she watched Matthew dive headfirst into the pile of snow, using it as cover to throw snowballs at unsuspecting targets. Linda got her payback by making a snow pie and shoving it in her brother’s face.
Jeff chuckled and shook his head, “Perhaps the ‘old man’ needs to go and show them how it’s done.”
Jeff stepping onto the battlefield marked the last edition to the snowball fight, as now every single resident on the island willing (or able) to join the fight was now throwing snowballs at one another. The group watching from inside laughed when Scott, Virgil, Gordon and Alan collectively decided to gang up on their father. The laughter could be heard as clear as the jingle bells from Santa’s sleigh.
“I hope this continues next year,” Indiana mused. “I love a good snowball fight.”
Lady Penelope quietly chuckled to herself. She had heard the stories from Matthew of how the Evans siblings often spend their Christmases. Indiana proved to be wicked with a snowball. So, her presence on the battlefield was certainly missed.
Indiana smiled as she looked down at her growing baby bump. She was also looking forward to next Christmas for another reason. It will be her first Christmas as Dr. Tracy, and it will also be her daughter’s first Christmas. She already knows it will be a memorable Christmas – especially if Brains utilises his snow machine again. She couldn’t wait to see her daughter experience a Tropical White Christmas.
Wow. That was rather ironic. A White Christmas on a tropical island. Either way, Dumpling was going to experience the best of both worlds. She would walk in both the sun and the snow. And Indiana didn’t mean that in just experiencing the tropical Christmas and White Christmas. She meant that in experiencing life in every way possible. Both in and out of International Rescue.
Watching the Tracys continue their snowball fight and playing pranks on each other (like shoving snow down the back of their shirts), it made Indiana think of the classic saying.
Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.