“…O night, divine, o night when Christ was born. O holy night.” She ended the tune and as the last note settled around them, silence once again surrounded them. He opened his eyes to see a face that radiantly smiled at him.
“That,” he began to speak, “was beautiful.”
“Thanks, Mike,” her voice was gentle, and her eyes softened a bit. “That holy night was the beginning of a life well spent; wouldn’t you say?”
Mike studied her face a bit. He was softer today than yesterday. He did not respond to her directly but thought about what she just said.
“Mike, you are going to have a great day. I want to get back to it, okay?” she smiled.
“Sure, don’t let me stop you,” he turned toward the storefront but remembered something and circled back to where she stood.
“Kristy, I forgot. I have an employee…”
“An employee, Mike? Abe is your friend,” she cut him off.
“How do you know that?” Mike asked her.
In reply, she simply cocked her head to one side and smiled.
“Anyway,” Mike continued. “I haven’t told him about you yet and he doesn’t come in until Monday. He is scheduled to open the store.
“Don’t worry, Mike. I got you covered,” she winked at him.
He smiled and turned to the storefront once more. Kristy started singing again following up “O Holy Night” with a Christmas jingle, “On the Rooftop”. He shook his head smiling to himself.
He had just finished his morning routine and sat on his stool waiting for the coffee to finished brewing. Outside, Kristy had stopped singing and he looked her way and saw Lou laughing and talking to her. Lou was handing her a thermos and a bag which Kristy stared into and started laughing . He watched as she reached in and removed, what looked like a doughnut. Still laughing, she took a bite that was followed by a squeal of delight and she hugged Lou. Lou was laughing, too. She was wearing a dark blue sweater vest. The vest was unzipped and a red, flannel shirt was beneath it. Her dark hair flowed down her back and a breeze tossed it slightly. The embrace ended and Lou retrieved a bag from the ground beside her that Mike did not notice until she did that, and she turned toward the door. She noticed him looking at her and she smiled and waved. He rose to meet her at the door. He held it open for her and she stepped inside. As he shut the door, she unexpectantly caught him with a hug.
“Good morning, Michael!” she said as she squeezed him tight and released.
“Hi,” Mike responded smiling at her. “What’s up?”
“Doughnuts!” She raised the bag and laughed.
***
Paul Brown went across the street to James Dooley’s house deliberately walking up the driveway, the walkway, the two steps to the door. He knocked on it and waited. The interior door opened, and his friend was surprised to see him. He opened the storm door, stepped aside, and invited him inside.
“Well, what a surprise Paul! What brings you over this morning?” the priest asked the minister.
Paul continued walking into the room he was familiar with and into the kitchen. James followed him in amusement and watched his friend sit down. He did not join him at first but instead headed to the coffee maker that was stationed on the countertop next to the sink. He pulled open the cabinet door above it and removed another coffee cup. He poured some of the brew into it, refilled his own that was nearby and brought both cups to the table. He placed the fresh cup in front of his friend and sat down, with his cup in hand, next to him.
“What’s up. Paul,” his attention refocused from amusement to wonderment.
Paul smiled and placed his hands around the cup in front of him.
“Have you been to Kerls’ gas station lately?” Paul picked up his cup and blew across it in an attempt to cool it.
“No, I haven’t needed anything lately. Why?” James casually sipped his coffee, listening carefully to his friend.
“There is this girl there. She has a tripod with a kettle hanging from it and she is singing Christmas carols,” Paul took his first sip.
“What?” James exclaimed in surprise.
“She has a beautiful voice,” Paul continued.
“Did you stop and talk to her?” James asked, worried.
“Yes, I did. Yesterday.”
“And?”
Paul looked at James for the first time since he knocked on the door before he spoke, he smiled, “I invited her to church.”
***
Richard Dell rose from bed early as he did every morning. He was a man of routine. He found that he had to be to make sure that everything that needed to be accomplished, did. As went about his chores, two streams of thought kept exchanging in his mind, his daughter and this newcomer, Kristy. His surprise at seeing her at the gate to the chickens at sunrise had dimmed somewhat after their discussion. It was a weird conversation and it kept whirling in his mind.
“Good morning, Mr. Dell,” she had smiled and waved.
He set down the bucket with the feed that he was carrying for the birds that were milling around his ankles and approached her cautiously.
“Need help feeding the chickens?” she asked.
He was at the gate now and in the dim light of early morning, he first looked at her. She was not very tall, smiling at him with bright green eyes. The yellow jacket she wore was half-zipped and both hands gripped the top of the gate.
“How do you know my name?” he asked in response to her question.
“Oh, Richard, I know a lot about you. Let me feed the chickens. I have never done that before and we can talk as I do it. What do you say?”
He looked at her for just a moment and then took hold of the gate, pulling it inward to let her inside the chicken area.
He remembered watching her walk to the bucket, reach in, pulled out some feed and threw it out and around her. Their conversation was odd because he found himself listening to her reveal his life to him and when at last, she finished, she brought the empty bucket to him. She looked at him as she had handed it to him and asked him, “You miss Anna, don’t you?”
His answer, he remembered, was simple. “Yes.”
“Well, she is safe and somewhat happy. But she is missing you. She misses you. So what are you going to do about it, Richard? Think about it and we will talk more later.”
He paused from plucking eggs from beneath hens and empty roosts and said to himself, “Think about it? That is all I have been thinking about. But what do I do? Anna does not want me to contact her. She hates me!’”
He uncontrollably fell to one knee, startlingly the chickens, and he began to cry.
***
Robert Fuller emerged from his house, turning carefully to face the door and place the key inside the door lock to lock it. He was wearing a parka, zipped up to his chin and a blue stocking cap with a bright, red fuzzy ball of yarn on top of it. He was following some advice from the stranger who came by the day before. This Kristy character suggested that he needed to get out and walk the town a bit.
He turned right, heading south, and casually glanced about as he walked. Directly across the street from his home is the parking lot of the factory. It was not until he had crossed the street to pass the Mortuary on his right and the fire house on his left when he allowed himself to start thinking about the conversation he had with the stranger, Kristy. It was more of a lecture than a conversation. He smirked to himself as it occurred to him that it was a lecture that his mother might have given him.
“Robert,” she had said. “You are a sad man. You used to be so much better than that. You were nice and shared things. You laughed a whole lot more. You need to go outside and see what you are missing out there in the world. Do that and then we will talk more about getting you better.”
Getting me better? What did she mean by that? His pace had quickened as turned onto the street between the churches. He shoved his hands stiffly into the pockets of his jacket and held his head down. It was his life to live any way he chooses, and this life is not worth much without his Annie. She was the one thing he had that was worth making happy. All he wanted to do was make her happy. And he missed her so much.
A laugh converted his attention from himself to the house on his left. He was looking at Father Dooley, spying him as he greeted someone at his door. Robert kept walking as he watched the priest welcome the man inside and shut the door. He turned right at the corner and started for the main street of town. He passed the elementary school on his left and remembered going to school there a long time ago. His favorite time was after lunch hanging out with his friends on the playground. His best friends were Billy Kerls and Andy Barber. They did everything together, before school and after school. They were in Boy Scouts together and he was the only one who achieved Eagle, the highest rank to be earned. They played football and baseball together in high school.
Robert looked up from his reverie then and saw that he was passing the barber shop and grocery store. A strange sound came to him at that time and as he came to the main street, it became clearer. It was a voice singing and the tingling of a bell keeping pace with the song. A Christmas song. It looked to his left and standing on the corner of the entrance to the gas station, he spied the girl, Kristy, swinging the bell that was keeping the beat to the song. Curious, he turned toward her and as he drew closer, he looked back over his shoulder, checking for cars before crossing the street.
When she saw him approach, she stopped singing but kept swinging her bell and kept it tingling as it went up and down. When he paused in front of her, she smiled and shrugged her shoulders in excitement.
“Hi Robert,” she exclaimed and suddenly jumped and through her arms around him in a big hug.
He stepped back as she had surprised him but still did not return the hug. He simply said “Hi.”
She stepped back and looked at him with smile still on her face.
“I see you took my advice and decided to take a walk. The fresh air will help you get going again,” she winked at him with her right eye. The green of it sparked when she reopened it.
“Why are you doing this to me?” he asked her.
“Not just to you, Robert, but to everyone here,” she explained.
He looked at her perplexed then turned and crossed the street. As he passed one of the lampposts, he looked up at it. He noticed a candle inside of it, and it was lit. He stopped and looked back at Kristy. She waved at him and began to sing, “O Little Town of Candlelight….”
To be continued…
My First Stories 