The Prairie Review

This Christmas Marks Yet Another Silent Holiday For Adam Kendall, Esq.

Walnut Grove, Minn.- Yet another holiday has passed where Adam Kendall remained largely silent around the Ingalls’ dinner table. 

Adam Kendall and his wife Mary, first born daughter of Charles and Caroline Ingalls, recently moved to New York City, where Adam maintains his law practice. This Christmas, they made the long trek from New York to Walnut Grove to surprise Mary’s family, only to go to bed very early.

“It’s not that I want it to be this way,” Adam informs us. “I don’t want to sacrifice all that time and money traveling just to go to bed early. It’s just that every time I’m celebrating a holiday with this family, it’s all about their family stories. Hey, I was interested at first, but not one of them ever wants to know any of my stories.” While he wishes it would be possible to include him, “they never even ask,” an omission that Adam takes dearly.

“My father was, shall we say, a less than ideal family man,” Adam relates. “Mary was always telling these stories about how great her father was, how great the family was. All these great memories together. The hard times never broke them and that sort of thing. Well, it was just inspiring to me really. And I was so excited to join what I thought would be a functional, loving family.” Unfortunately, Adam quickly learned at the Ingalls holiday celebrations that the family does not care to include him or listen to any of his stories.

Previously, Adam and Mary attended Thanksgiving at the Ingalls home–an hours long celebration where they reminisced about the previous years, all while Adam said not a word. “I really wanted this holiday to be different,” Adam says. “I thought, hey, they got it out of their system, surely they realized how self-centered they were being. They’ll ask me for some stories this time.”

Instead, Adam  was mocked for his city jacket. “Pretty much the only time Charles spoke to me was when I wanted to help go out to the barn and prepare for the blizzard. He made a comment about my city jacket. I mean, what was that? We have nice fabrics in New York, you know. Plus I spent years of my life blind and unable to do these things. Did the guy stop and think for one second that maybe, just maybe, I’d relish the chance to finally be able to help with these things, even if I did get a little bit cold?”

The coat incident set Adam up for an evening of disappointments. “Once Mary asked Caroline to tell that story about her necklace, I knew it was over.” Commenting that the story was dull, Adam noted that “the necklace is ugly too.” Adam admits he is a bit soured because even Almanzo is invited to tell childhood stories. “I am never asked any questions, and think about it: I’ve had a pretty crazy, interesting life. I went blind in an accident, got my sight back in an accident, am the only college educated person in this family, and I run a law practice. Don’t they think some of my stories have got to be interesting?” As Adam defiantly added, “Put that in your remembrance book and smoke it, Laura.”

Rather than face an entire evening of being ignored, Adam decided it would be best to go to bed early. As his wife, Mary accompanied him in his early bedtime quest. At press time, Adam was ranting about how he would never be seen in this town again.