Christmas Lights - Part Two

      The second part of this story, based on a house fire we went through on December 12, 2008.

"Out on I-44, the girl checked her fuel gauge. It read one-eighth a gallon until it hit empty, that pretty much fit her emotional tank as well. “Well, Kandy…you’ve sure done it by now,” she snapped at the rearview mirror for about the twenty-first time on this trip. Or she would have snapped, if she’d had the energy to. “Denver kicked you out, can’t get a job anyplace. Next to no cash, and all you’ve got is packed in this car.” She checked on Tiffany in the backseat, still sleeping soundly in her car seat. 

Hmm. We’re in Missouri now, somewhere past Joplin and I don’t think quite to Springfield…wonder how much longer to Cincinnati? Will Mom and Dad even want me back, or will they kill me? And…everybody else?

Replaying the journey of the long, hard nineteen months kept her distracted, and the little red Kia shot off an icy patch of asphalt, sending them into what was once a ditch, now mostly covered in snowdrift, except for the part trampled on by the wayward vehicle. They now had a very badly crumpled front end, a crushed front quarter panel, and who knows what wrong under the hood. She checked again to make sure she was still alive and unhurt, then looked at Tiffany. The baby was still asleep, with no idea how close they might have come to dying. Seeing that, the shock finally overcame the pent-up anxiety and frustration, and the young mother broke down, bowing her head on the steering wheel, her frame shaking with sobs as the salty tears coursed down her cheeks.

Colton and Tim set down a couple armfuls of wet, cold firewood on the floor to dry off near the woodstove, then sat down to listen to the others talking. Amanda, Hailey, Tony and Sunny were conversing about something; Grace was wandering in and out of the living room, Nate was in the kitchen, working on a batch of his famous brownies, and Becky and Lizzie were upstairs somewhere.

“So, what should we sing next?” Hailey asked the group. “How about ‘Silent Night?” somebody suggested.

“That sounds good,” Sunny agreed.

“Do you guys know the story behind it?” Tony asked curiously.

“Yes, honey.” Amanda stated in a tone of restrained warning.

“Yeah.” “We know it, Dad.” Colton noticed Tim frowned and Hailey winced on Tony’s question.

“I don’t, would you mind telling it?” Sunny asked politely. That didn’t help the Snows’ pained expressions.

“Of course!” Tony said happily, ignoring the hopeless looks of his wife and offspring.

“It was December 23 in the small village of Obendorf, Austria, in 1818,” he began. “and a very hungry little grayish-brown mouse started chewing anything edible, including the old worn-out leather bellows of the organ. He chewed a hole right through it, and it wasn’t discovered until the next morning, when the organist, Franz Gruber, and the temporary priest, Joseph Mohr, discovered a problem. They unhappily found the hole, rendering the organ useless, and right before Christmas Mass, too.

“‘What do we do now?’ Gruber asked hopelessly. ‘Well, um…I wrote some words for a song awhile back…’

“’A song acceptable for church?’ Franz asked his friend, smiling. Joseph liked to occasionally listen to the so-called “sinful” secular music of the taverns and folk festivals, which some people in his congregation didn’t like too much,” Tony pause to rekindle the fire.

“Anyway, Franz looked at the scribblings the priest had written, and he felt an odd excitement running through him. ‘I just thought, since the organ won’t play, maybe you could write some sort of tune for this that we could play on our guitars, so that the children will have something to sing for the service?” Joseph asked his friend apologetically. ‘Yes, I think I can do something with this…”

“Franz worked on it all night, and magically the tune locked into place with the lyrics. He and Mohr taught it to the kids the next afternoon. They sang to the accompaniment of the two guitars, much to the annoyance of certain people, who didn’t think it holy enough.”

“So then what happened after that?” asked Colton.

“Well, it caused a big ruckus for about a month, because of the small-town gossip, but eventually everybody forgot about it, and it would have been lost forever if the organ repairman hadn’t heard about it when he came the next spring. He asked Gruber what they’d done for music at Christmas, since Mohr had already moved on somewhere else, and Franz told him about the improvised song.

“‘It wasn’t much, I don’t even know where it is now. Wait –‘ They hunted through some old papers on a little-used shelf and eventually found it. ‘Can I keep this?’ the repairman asked after reading it over. ‘Sure, I don’t need it.’

“And so it spread from the tiny village to the small city, and from there it spread across the country, and then made its way all over the globe. All because of a mouse.” Tony finished.

They’d just gotten into the third verse, Tony playing mandolin, Hailey guitar and Sunny piano, when the doorbell interrupted. Tony went to answer it.

“Jim, Gail! Good to see ya. Power out at your-all’s place?”

“Yep,” Jim nodded.

“Could we maybe stay here for a bit until it comes back on?”

“’Course you can, Gail. You’re family, you know that.”

“Yeah, I know, thanks to Amanda. But with the holidays coming up, and then you all helping out that poor family who’s house burned out, we weren’t sure.” They stepped inside, setting their coats on the large pile that was sprawled all over the entryway.

“Hollidays, these are our neighbors Jim and Gail Bell. Snows, looks like we’ll be having some more company for a couple days,” Tony announced to everyone within earshot.

They could have been the model for ideal grandparents. Jim was balding, slightly Santa-like in the stomach, and looked good to talk to. Gail was shorter, with happy laugh wrinkles all over her face. Tim and Jim immediately picked up where they left off a previous conversation on photography, and Gail soon found a fellow dog lover in Becky.

Slightly crazy, yet good days followed.

Not but about two hours later, the doorbell rang yet again. “Never rains but it pours,” Tony muttered, opening the door. Whoever he was expecting, this wasn’t it. A young lady in her early twenties stood there almost frostbitten, covered with snow and holding a car seat with a baby inside it in one hand.  

“Can I – I’m sorry. My car broke down. Can I use y’all’s phone?” she asked.

Tony looked at her. “Just a second, please.” Quick glance-conversation with Amanda. “Sure…uh, won’t you come in? Phone gets better reception in here.”

“He means, ‘Come on in from that cold weather!” his wife called loudly from inside.

The girl bit her lip, then nodded reluctantly.

Curious stares from around corners, though everyone of too polite to ask. She took the phone, dialed a number, then after a minute almost slammed it into the wall, things were just too much to deal with. And it was busy.

“Damn it!” she whisper/cried in despondency, tears welling up - again unwillingly – in her eyes.

“Cute baby you’ve got there,” Jim commented, getting a glass of eggnog.

“Thanks, her name’s Tiffany.” the girl responded.

“Jim Bell,” he introduced himself.

The girl snorted, something like a laugh. “My name’s Kandy, Kandy Kane. Gets old, but this time of year, it’s kinda fun.”

“Isn’t that something? This house belongs to the Snows, my wife and I live next door, and their friends the Hollidays are visiting.”

“Get out of here…seriously?”

“That’s right, kiddo.”

Tony walked back into the dining room. “Um…sir?”

“Yes?”

“My folks didn’t answer…would it be all right if I stayed here just until I could get a hold of them?”

“Don’t see why not. I’m Tony.” he said, offering his hand to shake.

“Call me Kandy.”

“Another potato, Kandy?” Amanda asked at dinner the next night.

“No, thanks, Mrs. Snow, I’m stuffed.”

“I’ve told you already, it’s Amanda!”

:”Okay…Amanda.”

“It was strange for us to get used to, too.” Colton said.

“It’d be weird for us…” Tim picked up the train of thought.

His mom just gave him that “You are so grounded” look.

“You’re not too full for brownies, are you?” Jim asked.

“I don’t think so, that sounds really good.”

“They are. Thanks for makin’ ‘em, Nate!” Hailey hollered from the living room. She walked back into the kitchen to refill her cup of water. “So, um…what exactly happened? If you don’t mind my asking,” she added quickly.

“Have you got a hold of your folks yet?” Gail asked.

”One question at a time! Let her finish chewing!” Nate hushed them.

Kandy swallowed, then said, “No, not yet, and no; I don’t mind telling. I was driving to my parents’ in Cincinnati, like I’ve said before, since it was so close to Christmastime. Tiffany was in her car seat in the back, we’d been going nonstop since about Sand Springs. I was a little tired. And I’ve had…a lot to think about. It hasn’t exactly been the easiest year for me.” She took a drink of her Pepsi. “Anyway, I wasn’t paying close enough attention, didn’t see a patch of ice in the road. We slid off into the ditch, car’s pretty much totaled, and my cell phone was dead. So I walked over to the nearest friendly-looking house, which was your-all’s. And that’s pretty much it.” Her tone said clearly there was much more, but this wasn’t the time to let everything go just yet.

Grace started tapping her fork against the counter, causing a loud clatter. “Grace, stop that,” Amanda admonished. “OK, Mom, just a minute.” She tapped several more times, then quit. “Well…okay, thank you.”

    Later, Becky, Colton, Lizzie and Tim were playing rummy. Tim wanted to take a break, having lost three times in a row by one card, and Becky went to get a snack. Their siblings began a game of Speed until they returned.

“So why was Grace making all that noise?” Colton asked.

Lizzie laughed. “Morse code. She tapped STAY, like ‘Mom, Kandy can stay here for a while, right?”

“Oh, I see…that’s pretty cool.

“Yup. I win!”

“How-? HEY! No telling stories during games of Speed!”

“Well, you shouldn’t ask questions if you don’t want to lose,” Lizzie shot back. Although it was said with a smile, it was true that she played anything to win, a trait that she and most of her siblings inherited from their dad. It drove Amanda nuts.

“True,” Tim acknowledged, coming back into the room.

“Yeah…I guess you’re right,” Colton conceded grouchily.

“I brought some Doritos, anybody up for some five-card poker?” Becky surveyed the others.

“For what?” Gail asked suspiciously from the doorway, overhearing the last part of the previous sentence.

“Doritos, Spicy Nacho and Cool Ranch.” answered Tim placidly.

“Well, then…deal me in!” Gail said happily.

Lizzie shrugged and shuffled the cards.

Christmas dawned, and with it, joyful snippets of conversation.

“Wow. You really shouldn’t have done that.”

“Well! Thanks, Tony!”

“Awesome, a new Mizzou hat!”

“Course, I had to get ya a Tigers hat.” Nate grinned. “And here’s a box of Frosted Flakes.” Sunny added. Tony just laughed and gave Nate a high five.

Hailey motioned Colton over. “Hey, follow me a sec.”

“Uh, okay…” he replied, unsure of why.

They went to her room, where one of her guitars, the flaming orange one, lay on the bed. Hailey sat down and picked it up, Colton found himself a chair at the desk.

“Thanks for staying here,” she began. “I know it probably wasn’t easy, with…losing your house and everything. And then having to stay in a house full of girls.” “You got that right.” There was a pause.

“Seriously, though, you aren’t a bad musician.”

“You think?”

“Yep. You should sing at the talent share at camp next summer. You are coming, right?”

“Probably. Becky’s talked about it a lot, and now that I know some people, I think I might, yeah.”

“Glad to hear it. Might be easier to play something, though, if you had something to play.”

Colton sighed. “Yeah…I’ll get a new guitar sometime.”

“Here.” She held the guitar out to him, only to be met with a blank stare.

“You don’t take a hint easy, do you?” she smiled.

“I don’t think I quite follow…”

“I’m saying, try out your new guitar.”

Tim raised his camera in the doorway, making sure the settings were right, the flash was off. He got Colton’s confused expression.

“No, that’s yours. Mine burned, remember? Wait…Did you say -?” Tim snapped more as Hailey nodded. “Hailey, I can’t take that. It was your grandpa’s.”

“Please, do. I want you to have it.”

He was silent a minute.

“…Why?”

It was a small, insignificant word, carrying an extremely wide range of questions, from “Why are you giving me this?” to “Why did you all help us when the only one you knew was Becky?” Hailey understood.

“Well…we’ve been thinking a lot about those verses in Hebrews, 13:1-2, I think it is. You know the ones, ‘Keep on loving each other as brothers, and do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so some people have entertained angels unawares.’? It’s sorta like that. And also like in Matthew, ‘Whatever you did to the least of these, you did it for Me.’ It’s just…well, you guys needed help. So…” she shrugged.

“And besides…he would’ve liked you, I think. He wanted me to play, and so I do. It…it’s not always easy. There’s been spells when I can’t play at all. But he’s the reason why I play, to honor his memory, I guess. An’ so…just…” Her thoughts trailed off, too much going on for words to express themselves. She hugged her pillow tightly. Tim came in and hugged his big sister a little awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

“Thanks, bro.”

“Well, hmm…Hey, Hailey?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you,” Colton whispered, trying not to cry.

            It took several years and moves, including a rebuild and a tornado later, but the Snows and Hollidays are now much closer geographically, as well as good friends. Jim and Gail are still terrific neighbors, and they added Becky and Colton to their list of adopted grandkids, to which the Snow clan belonged. Things still aren’t easy for Kandy, but she’s fighting her way through. They’re slowly getting better. She’s still staying in touch with everybody. The orange guitar was brought along to camp multiple times, and those times in the Ozarks were filled with good preaching, wonderful songs, bad weather, injuries of all types and the times and friendships formed were great, providing many good memories."

Christmas Lights - Part One

         This story's different. Nothing else has ever quite come together quite like this one did; fully grown in the middle of a torrential August thunderstorm. I scribbled down the outline on the inside of an old Town House cracker box.  And this is unusually based on history; more so than usual.

            “Let it be Christmas, everywhere/In the hearts of all people, both near and far/Christmas everywhere…”           

            “Colton, can’t you please practice your guitar somewhere else?” Becky complained from where she sat at the computer desk.

            He stopped in mid-strum. “Why come?”
            “It’s distracting, I’m trying to chat with Lizzie, that’s why.”

            “Oh,” her brother thought this over. “I guess I can quit for a while.”
            “Thanks.”

            “As soon as I finish this one song.” Colton finished.

            “Fine…” Becky rolled her eyes, then frowned. “What’s that smell?”

            “Seems sorta familiar…”

            “Y’all.” Their mom’s voice contained an odd quality, a note of fearfulness and uncertainty. “Guys…the house is on fire.” Her composure snapped. “Get out now!!!”

            Colton set his guitar down and dashed out the front door, Becky typed out a hasty goodbye and then followed.

            A state of disbelieving shock filled the hotel room several hours later, punctuated by phone calls from people checking to see how they were doing. The outside sky was gray and threatening, the temperature was hanging just below forty degrees. The cell buzzed again, it was answered by Becky in a perplexed tone. “Hi, this is Becky.” (Pause, she frowned in puzzlement.) “Yeah, she’s here…what? Uh, okay…” (To Sunny) “Mom, it’s for you.”

She took the phone from her daughter wearily. “Hello, this is Sunny Holliday, who’s this? ... You’re who?” (Pause) “Amanda Snow…? Yes, I’ve heard a lot about Hailey and Lizzie Snow – Oh! Okay, they’re your daughters? Got it.” (Pause) “Yes, we’re fine. Most of our stuff is trashed… Not yet, no…we’re just staying at a hotel at the moment. (Long pause) “Uh, wow. You guys would do that? Really? I mean, it’s almost Christmas and all… We-ll, I’ll talk to my husband, and then we’ll let you know, all right? Okay, thank you, bye.”

“What’d Hailey’s mom call you for?” Becky wanted to know. “Who’s Hailey?” her dad, Nate, wondered. “Girl I met at church camp, Dad, she’s from Missouri.” “Oh, I see,’ his tone showed that he didn’t.

“Yeah, well, anyway, that was her mom, and she was calling to ask if we wanted to spend Christmas with their family,” Sunny said.

“With strangers?” Colton asked.

“They’re good people, and besides, they have a brother,” his older sister countered.

“I don’t know…” Nate thought about it, there was about twenty minutes’ worth of discussion.

“Well…I hate the idea of spoiling somebody else’s Christmas, but we do need somewhere to go…I guess if they really don’t mind, tell ‘em we’ll take it.’

Becky was already gleefully dialing the phone. “Here ya go, Mom!”

At the Snow’s house, things were slightly a mess, to say the least, but it was a happy disarray. Hailey and Tim were decorating the tree while their younger sister Grace looked on, and Lizzie was in the kitchen, her domain, baking cookies.

“You know what we need?” Tim asked while untangling a particularly knotted string of lights.

“Music?” Lizzie hollered back. The kitchen was right next to the living room, and high ceilings make good acoustics.

“How -?’

Hailey laughed. “We know you, little bro.” She inserted the official Snow family Christmas album, Alan Jackson’s “Let It Be Christmas”, into the CD player and hit “PLAY”.

“You woulda played music even if nobody asked, Hailey,” Grace pointed out.

“True…and thanks for the reminder, I need to tune my guitar…’

The doorbell rang, Tim went to answer it.

“Hi Mr. Bell, what’re you doing today?”

“Hello, Tim! Just wanted to make sure you all are ready for the ice storm the weather people say’s coming.”

“Thanks, I think we’re gonna be okay. Mom’s at the store right now, and we have plenty of wood stored up. Drop by if you need to.”

“All right, tell your sisters we said hi.”

“Will do.”

Jim Bell walked back toward the road.

“Tony, be careful up there,” he called, remembering a painting accident that broke several ribs and tore apart his shoulder.

Tony, stringing Christmas lights on the roof-line, looked down. “Okay, Jim, I’ll try, not planning anything too fancy. Think Gail’s waitin’ on ya…”

Jim rolled his eyes. “She’s in a hurry to bake those fudge pecan pies…we gotta run to Wal-Mart for more of that baking chocolate. Why can’t that stuff taste good just by itself? But those squares are some of the bitterest things…”

Lizzie poked her head out the window. “Cookies are ready!”

A small stampede headed towards the kichen. “Now, just one, you guys!” (Groans and complaints.) “Well, we’ll need some for Becky’s family, ya know.”

“You tell ‘em, Liz!” Amanda cheered as she dropped some grocery sacks on the counter.

“Did you just get here, Mom?”

“Yep. You all ready for our guests coming tomorrow?” Her mother helped herself to a sugar cookie, yelping from the heat. “Youch!”

“Yeah, Mom.” Lizzie winced. “I literally just took those out of the oven…”

“Heck yes, I’m ready!” Hailey excitedly answered.

Tim and Tony both looked a little nervous. “They’re coming tomorrow?” “As in, like, the day after today?”

“Yep! So let’s get the house presentable, okay?”

A crazy afternoon followed, but the house was much cleaner.

An airy blanket of whiteness was settling onto the Ozarks as they pulled into the driveway.

“You sure this is the right place?” Nate asked.

“Yup, this is it. I’ve been here before, remember?” Becky replied somewhat flippantly.

“Well, all right, then.”

They grabbed their backpacks out of the trunk and uneasily made their way to the front door, where Sunny rang the doorbell. In a minute, a lady in her late thirties or early forties answered it.

“Um, hello, is this the Snow’s residence?”

“Yep! You must be the Hollidays, right? Becky! Good to see you again!” They nodded. “Well, hey, I’m Amanda. Come on in.”

Inside, Hailey was trying to play chess, but neither she nor Tim could concentrate. Her black knight was captured by a pawn, and the white bishop was beheaded after a rook un-checkmated Hailey’s king. Lizzie was looking through a cookbook found at a garage sale, Tony was reading a story to Grace, and Amanda was idly flipping through a six-year-old copy of Reader’s Digest. Snow began to fall, forming the first layer of a slick ground covering not fit to walk on. After what seemed like forever, a silver Ford pulled slowly in. The people sat there a minute, then climbed out and grabbed backpacks and headed towards the door.

There were four of them, the man was kind of thin, which made him look taller than he was. He had black hair and carried a Mountain Dew in one hand. His wife looked anxious, and stressed showed plainly on her face from beneath a Thunder baseball cap. They recognized Becky instantly, the girls from camp, the rest from pictures and her visiting. Her hair was somewhere between blonde and brown, with a hint of red. Colton(that’s who it must be) had a worried expression, like they all did, and was muttering to himself. They rang the doorbell, and the Reader’s Digest skidded across the coffee table as Amanda hurried to answer it.

The dad spoke up nervously. “Um, hello, is this the Snow’s residence?” Amanda smiled. “Yep! You must be the Hollidays, right? Becky! Good to see you again!” (Pause, probably giving Becky a hug.) “Well, hey, I’m Amanda. Come on in.”

They did. The Hollidays looked uncertainly around the room, wondering if this was a good idea. Except for Becky, who was getting massive bear-hugs and “How are you?”s from Hailey and Lizzie. Colton rolled his eyes. “Girl stuff…all the same, it would be kinda nice to have friends like that, though.”

“Oh, I almost forgot the cookies!” Lizzie exclaimed. “Yeah, but I didn’t,” Tim grinned at his older sister. “Anybody want one? There’s sugar and chocolate chip.” “I was gonna make peanut butter, but I couldn’t remember if any of y’all were allergic or anything…” “Nah, we’re good, thanks for baking them,” Becky assured her friend.

Munching cookies, the two families got acquainted as the hours ticked by. The next few days slipped past, things went reasonably smoothly and a routine of chores of activities began to flow. Nate spent most of his time working on insurance details in the aftermath, everyone else took part in fierce Monopoly battles and caroling expeditions. 

“I read a note my grandma wrote/Back in 1923…”

Colton looked around to find out where the music was coming from, wandering down the hallway.

“Grandpa kept it in his coat/And he showed it once to me…”

He poked his head into the open doorway of Haley’s room, listening. After she got through the chorus, he spoke up quietly. “Nice song.”

“Huh -? Oh, yeah. It is.” Hailey said, startled.

“It’s by Colin Raye?”

“Yup, ‘The Letter.”

“Could I play for a bit?” Colton asked.

“Sure, go ahead.” She handed him the Fender, picking up almost without noticing the bright orange acoustic leaned up by the bed.

“Need a pick?”

“Naw, thanks, though. I usually just play with my thumb.”

After naturally forming a G chord as soon his fingers touched the fretboard, he dropped down into a D. “Run your car off the side of the road/Get stuck in a ditch way out in the middle of nowhere…”

“Tracy Lawrence, ‘You Find Out Who Your Friends Are.”

He nodded. “Seems true. Sure had a chance to find out over these last couple weeks.”

“So, how long you been playing?” Hailey asked after a pause.

“About a year, I guess. Had a black Takamine acoustic-electric, but it, ah, got scorched.” Colton answered.

“Well, that kinda sucks.”

“Yep.” (Pause) “How about you, how long you been playing?”

“Ever since my grandpa died,” Hailey bit her lip. “When I’d go out to his farm, we’d read books, or go fishing, riding the horses, things like that. He started to teach me how to play, but then…well, his cancer got really bad. It was his,” she gestured at the guitar she was cradling.

“Oh,” was all Colton said, trying to figure out what the proper way to react to this information was. “I, uh…sorry if that brought up unhappy memories, I didn’t know. Thanks for letting me play.”

Colton handed the honey-colored Fender back to her, walking quickly out of the room.

            Hailey stared at nothing in the general area of her closet door, sighing. She set the pick down on the desk, among several others lying on top of mail from Mountain College, Midwest Missouri State and several other colleges."