PHYLLIS OWEN REMEMBERS CHRISTMAS.....more

RICK CROUCHER ~ CHRISTMAS PASSED

Christmas Eve? Already? I just told a little boy to shoo away from my window. He was making noise and throwing snowballs. He had on a threadbare over sized tweed coat with patches and holes in it. A long scarf lifted on the wind as he took off. He turned and got away a hard packed snowball which broke upon the window pain cracking it.
"You bloody pest! Look what you've done!"
"Merry Christmas to you too, guv'ner," said he punctuating with a "v" formed by his fingers and pumped high into the air in my direction.
Now all this is very odd because that urchin disappeared along with the snow immediately he turned the corner. I looked at the window but it still bore the crack.
"Nonsense and stuff," I muttered returning to my wrapping. Christmas, I thought, is such a pain in the ass holiday, what with the mandatory gifts and the advertising pummeling you on all sides. Not to mention the new renditions of old standby Christmas music which can hardly be called music because there is no melody just heavy bass booming repeatedly upon savaged ear drums and unintelligible words screamed into a microphone. Ah well, it's time to wrap the gifts. Of course, they will all be opened and the looks will betray the true sentiments which would never have happened if the receivers had offered some suggestions as to their wants but no it's a guessing game which invariably ends up in the returns line the following day after Christmas. Then, of course, there’s the mandatory check which must be written to cover any purchases not made because no list was given.
Wait...What do I hear? Perfect! It's pouring rain now, the South's version of a white Christmas. Ours is liquid snow because the weather here is too hot for nature's miracle which covers a multitude of eyesores. One more wet day in a month of them.
Got the parcels wrapped now. Got the checks written. Got the grumps bad. Coffee in front of me and a keyboard. Now it's time to go pick up those last few items that never come to mind until the shops have only dregs and a few hours with weary salespeople begrudging those last few stragglers. They want to go home too. No one wants to be working this day. What a miserable season.
A tap on the shoulder woke me up. "Huh? What? Time to go? I must have drifted off."
"Wake up."
"OK, OK I'm awake. Uh, who are you?"
"I'm the ghost of Christmas."
"Oh yeah. Which one? Past, present or future?"
"The only one, I'm thinking."
"Huh? What does that mean?
"Just grab hold of my sleeve,"
"Whoa, buddy. I don't want anything to do with this. I've seen the movie a dozen times. You show me a bunch of stuff from my past and the present, and then you take me to the graveyard where I fall on my knees and beg you to say it ain't so. Does that about cover it?"
"What a schmuck. Grab the sleeve."
"Since you explain it so eloquently..."
There was a flash and then darkness. We stood in the street of a small village of mud huts with the glow of light from lonely pots of oil sitting in small windows cut through the walls.
"Where are we? This isn’t from any past I remember."
"Shhhhhh! Listen."
The clops of hoofed foot steps echoed off the buildings. There was no other sound except...
"Are you all right?"
"Yes, try here."
There was a knock of a fist on wood.
"Excuse me. I need a room. My wife's…"
"Sorry. No rooms available." Slam.
"Joseph. Please, I need a place to lie down. The pains are coming more often."
"All right. I'll keep trying but it’s past midnight and these places seem to be locked up tight."
Another knock and the same response. The clip clop of donkey hooves came closer.
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
"No one can see or hear us. There is nothing we can do except observe."
The man leading the donkey started up to the door of the house next to us.
"JOSEPH!  Help!"
"Hold on. I'll get into this one!"
He beat the door with his fist.
"Hold on, hold on. What's the racket about?"
"Thank God. I need a room for my wife. She's in labor and the baby is due any moment."
"You stupid gitt. I don't have any rooms. We're all full up. You should have thought about it before you came. Now go away and stop hammering on my door."
"Please! See how she's doubled over. The baby's due at any moment."
"Jonah, what's all the noise out here."
"Nothing, Ruth. Just some yokel wanting a room. Go back to bed."
"What do you mean nothing? Look at that little girl bent over in pain. She needs a place to lie down. My God, she's pregnant. She isn't old enough to understand what's happening. Get her around back and into the stable. I'll bring some blankets. Hurry now."
"Thank you." The man hurried around the back and helped the young girl off the animal and carried her into the stable.
"Men!" said Ruth as she grabbed up some blankets and skein of wine. "That little girl can't have seen 14 years on this earth and that geezer she's with has already pushed life into her womb. Men!"
She hurried out to the stable brushing passed us without a look. "Take this man out of here and send in our daughter to help with this birth."
"Yes, dear," said Jonah. He hurried into the house and out flew a young girl pulling on a wrap to ward off the cold.
"Miriam, get some warm clothes for this young thing. She'll need them shortly. And get a blanket for the little one to come. And bring some water. All right, dearie, try and relax. I've been a midwife for years, so you're in good hands. Jonah, take this wine and get that man out of here."
Jonah took the wine skein and grabbed Joseph by the elbow. "Time to leave, my friend. It's best not to stay when she gets like this."
The two of them walked out into the hills surrounding the village. Jonah gave the goat's bladder to Joseph who sprayed a long line of wine into his mouth. He swallowed that wiped his mouth and turned it up and squeezed again. He obviously was not a drinking man because he began to babble on a bit after the third hit on the wine bag.
"Whoa, friend. You might want to take it easy with that wine."
"Easy for you to say. You don't know what I contend with"
"Maybe not but I've had my share of troubles and have worked through them."
"How many children you got?"
"Four total. Miriam's the youngest. She's the young girl helping Ruth now. She's about the same age as your wife. You know, I don't want to but in, but if it had been me I think I might have waited a couple of years before getting my new bride with child."
"Ha, ha, ha. You think you no it all don't you? Well, you don't. That’s not my child."
"Maybe I'll take that wineskin now. You've had a bit too much and I don't think you should talk about your wife that way."
"What way? She's the one who told me. Want to know who the father is?"
"No. That's between the two of you and none of my business."
"Tell you anyway. God. That's who the father is. God."
"Be quiet, young man. You blaspheme."
"No, seriously. She told me. We were betrothed and she went to visit her cousin. It was a hurried trip. We never lay together because we wanted to wait the year of our engagement. So we announced our betrothal and the next day without a word she had gone to her cousin Elizabeth who had found herself with child in her 70th year. Odd that. Then when she came home she told me she was with child too and that it was the Lord's child in her womb. The angel Gabriel told her that. Well, I couldn't divorce her. She'd be stoned. That night she told me, I had a dream that she was having a baby in a stable, just like now, and that we had visitors after his birth--yes it is to be a boy--and they would be here to worship the new born king. The messiah. My child was to be the messiah. The dream was too real not to be heeded so I did not divorce her and am here to pay my taxes though we had to travel a long way and she was very heavy with child and now she lies in a stable just as in the dream and...And..."
"Here, you do need this wine. Have another drink. I'll go check on the progress.
He hurried into the barn and was met with the cries of a newborn breathing his first. Jonah looked at the child. There was a glow about him and Jonah smiled. He turned to hurry back to Joseph. Ragged shepherds bumped into him on his way through the door.
"We have come to see the child born this night. We saw Angels in heaven!  They burst forth in glorious song.  They told us of the child born.  We rushed here to see for ourselves."
Jonah had no liking of shepherds. They were dirty and shiftless, smelling of sheep, but he smiled at them and bid them pass inside to glimpse the new born.
"Thank you," they said and filed in reverently.
"Joseph! Come see your child. A beautiful boy."
"Are there shepherds from the hills standing around the manger?"
"Yes. How did you know?"
"My dream. Want to know more?"
"There's more?"
"Yes. When we get to the stable there will be a star standing over it and three finely dressed men on camels will be dismounting. Their slaves will be untying boxes with rich gifts that they will lay at the feet of the child wrapped in swaddling clothes. Gold, frankincense and myrrh. They will say they are kings from the orient who've traveled far bearing gifts for the newborn king who will change the world."
"That's the wine talking. He is a beautiful child, though. Your son, no matter what if you choose to remain married to the maid. If you love her, and you must, you will love this child. Come with me now."
"All right."
They rounded the corner and just in front of them were three men in fine clothes dismounting from camels. Joseph and Jonah looked up and there was the brightest star they had ever seen shining its light on the stable. They looked at each other.
The visitors took gifts into the stable. The animals in the stalls quietly looked up at the strangers entering then returned their gaze to the child who smiled in their direction.
The first man knelt before the child and placed a gift of gold at his feet. As he stepped back the second repeated the act as did the third upon his turn. They all bowed their heads and gave thanks at the site before them. The child looked upon them all and raised his tiny hand then smiled at each of them. They backed out of the stable bowing in the direction of the child. As they stood by their camels they argued for a short while about which direction to take on their journey home. When they departed their path followed the opposite direction of their entrance. Joseph and Jonah watched as they disappeared over the hill.
The shepherds backed out bowing as did the finely dressed strangers who had departed. They excitedly thanked the two men as they made their way back into the hills followed by the clanging bells of sheep that herded along behind them.
It was Joseph's turn to see the child born to him and his wife. Mary looked up as he knelt beside the manger. She smiled at him as she picked up the child and offered him to her husband. Joseph hesitated but the child smiled and held out his arms to the poorly clad man. Joseph took the bundled child and held him close. The baby made burbling noises through his smiles. His eyes were wide with wonder.  He continued to look upon his earthly father until Joseph smiled and kissed him gently on his forehead. The little bundle kicked with glee.
"You told me the truth, Mary. I know it now that I have seen and held our child. God has blessed us and the world."
There was a momentary blackout and here I am again in front of the keyboard with an empty cup of coffee on the desk. Something in my shoe....sand and lot's of it. Where'd that come from?
"Schmuck." It was a voice from nowhere 'cause there's nobody here but me, my dog Sasha and a pile of sand pouring from my shoe.