A Christmas to Remember
(A rather short story or a rather long Talk to the Author. Either way, what began as an idea for the Advent series grew larger than was initially intended. A couple of nods to a couple of friends are also included).
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"Kate, you know we don't mean to bother you, what with this being the holidays and all," Hannibal Heyes declared when they appeared out of nowhere, as was their usual style of arrival.
"Come on in," Kate exclaimed. "You can help me finish decorating the tree."
Heyes and Kid looked at each other curiously, neither having ever seen Kate in such a festive mood.
"You been into the eggnog already?" Kid asked.
"Just getting into the Christmas spirit," Kate replied as she hung the 'Naughty List' Christmas ornament inscribed with Murphy the Beagle's name, a gift from a Facebook pal across the pond. "Kid, would you hand me that sexy hunting picture ornament?"
Kid glanced at the big plastic box containing dozens of delicate glass ornaments, handwoven Mung ornaments, and an assortment of special meaning ornaments of various colors, shapes, and construction. His forehead curled into a field of wrinkles when he spied a clear, round bulb ornament that encased a picture of him looking very rugged and... sexy? Was that he word she had used?
"Kate, most folks find the bathtub or bare-chested shaving pictures sexy but... this one?"
Kate took the ornament from his hand and smiled admiringly. "Yes, this one definitely," she said, nodding her head. "This one goes front and center on the tree."
Kid glanced at Heyes who was pinching his lips so tightly together that not even a chuckle could escape. "Don't look so smug, Heyes. I bet the other other Rachel has you pinned to a pine tree, too."
Ignoring their comments, Kate took a step back to admire her work. Satisfied, she brushed her hands together and turned her attention to the two manner-less cowboys. "Now, you're here for a reason?"
Kid gave Heyes an encouraging nod. "Go ahead, tell her."
"Well, we heard them actors talking and... they was telling each other about what Christmas was like when they was kids."
"I know I've seen a picture of the dark haired actor from one Christmas when he was a boy. You want to see it?" Kate asked.
Neither Heyes nor Kid responded and instead just looked at each other, with expressions of sad disappointment on their faces.
"What am I missing?' Kate asked with some concern.
"It's more like what we're missing," Kid replied.
"I don't understand. What are you missing?"
"Memories," they said in unison.
"Kate, there ain't been many stories about the two of us when we was boys at Christmas."
"He means boys with parents," Kid blurted. "We don't remember Christmas back in Kansas before... Well you know."
"Ohh, I see. Well that can be easily remedied," Kate replied.
"It can?" they both asked with newfound exuberance.
Kate smiled. "Of course it can. All I need is my laptop... Say, have either of you ever had hot chocolate?"
Both Heyes and Kid looked around the room at the floor covered with a light blue carpet, the blue and creamy white floral sofa, the cream colored overstuffed chair, and the cream colored draperies.
"Ain't melted chocolate kinda messy?" Kid asked.
Kate laughed. "It's not melted chocolate. It's a drink, and it's only messy if you spill it. I'll even add some marshmallows, and I think I still have some gingerbread cookies left. Give me a few minutes to get everything ready and then we'll all sit down in here and create some memories for you."
Kate disappeared into the kitchen and Kid looked at Heyes smugly. "I told you she could do it," he said as he sat down on the sofa.
The moment Kid made contact with the seat he sprung back up to his feet and began brushing the back of his pants with his hand.
"What are you doing?" Heyes asked
"I don't want to get her sofa dirty," Kid explained.
Heyes shook his head. "You're an apparition, Kid. You aren't going to get her sofa dirty."
"Yeah? Then why is she worried about the hot chocolate spillin?"
Heyes shook his head. "I guess cause she knows you so well."
Minutes later Kate returned with three cups of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies. Then she settled into the overstuffed chair with her laptop in tow. "Now, about those memories..."
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Four year old Jed Curry sat on a stool he had dragged from the corner of the room to a spot directly in front of the window.
"I remember that stool. It stood in the corner of the room and if Katie or me had done something we shouldn't have done, we was banished to that stool, facing the wall, of course." Kid said wistfully, his eyes closed and a warm, soft smile on his face as though he longed to be sitting on that stool facing the wall just one more time.
"I suspect you spent quite a lot of time there," Heyes quipped.
Kid glowered at Heyes for pulling him back from his daydream. "Shut up, Heyes. Just keep writing, Kate."
With elbows perched on the windowsill, and hands rolled into loose fists pressed against his cheeks, Jed stared out into the cold, moonlit night that cast various shades of silhouetted gray on the recently fallen snow.
Behind him the cabin was filled with gaiety, the sweet sound of his mother's gentle laugh, the roaring voices of his two brothers, both home on a holiday leave from the military, the tempered, authoritarian voice of his father reminding the older boys that they were not in the company of their comrades and to watch the words they used in front of their mother and younger siblings.
Kid laughed. "Those two taught me a colorful vocabulary at a very young age."
"Probably landed you time on that stool in the corner more than once," Heyes laughed.
Kate watched the reminiscent joy on the two outlaw's faces and quickly returned to her writing.
The cabin was filled with a cornucopia of holiday aromas from fresh, sweet pine to baked pumpkin, and chestnuts crackled as they roasted in the fireplace.
"Gingerbread, don't forget the gingerbread," Kid mused.
A plate of freshly baked gingerbread sat on the table beside a bowl of hand churned butter.
"Jed, Santa Clause don't show up until all the little ones is safely tucked into their beds," Jed's brother Sam reminded the boy.
"Santa!" two year old Katie squealed.
Sam scooped the little girl up in his arms and walked to the window where Jed sat, determined to catch sight of a sleigh led by eight reindeer and commanded by a portly man in a green felt suit and a stocking cap with a while, fluffy tassel on it's tip.
"Santa!" Katie squealed a second time.
"Sush!" Jed scolded. "He hears you he'll know you ain't asleep and he just might fly right past us!"
"Are you two ready to hang up your stalkings?" Jed's mother asked.
Katie's arms reached out to her mother, but Jed hesitated, unsure about leaving his observation post.
"Sam's right, Jed," his father explained. "Old St Nick is very strict about that rule. Children have to be in bed before he'll venture into the house.
Jed sighed and reluctantly turned away from the window. "You ever get a glance of St Nick, Pa?" Jed asked.
"Oh yes, but not till after I was all grown up and had married your Ma."
"Is he as big and fat as they say?" Jed asked.
"He'd hafta be after eating all them snacks that children leave out for him," Jed's oldest brother Jacob, replied.
Jed picked up his stocking from the table and waited for his father to hoist him up in his arms so he could hand the stocking on the peg on the mantle above the fireplace. "You sure he's gonna like gingerbread instead of cookies?"
"He's going to be eatin' a million cookies tonight. I think he'll find gingerbread to be a nice change of pace," Jed's mother assured her young son.
Setting Jed back down to the floor, his father then turned and took Katie from her mother's arms so she could hang her stocking next to Jed's.
"Be careful of her nightgown so close to the fire," her mother warned.
"Ma was always worried about us getting too close to that fire," Kid said as he slowly opened his eyes and let the memories settle into a permanent nook in his mind that would always be carefully safeguarded. To his surprise, Kate was not yet finished.
Christmas morning Jed and Katie woke to a fresh layer of fluffy snow and to Jed's astonished surprise, two thin tracks in the snow that stretched from the house halfway down the lane where they came to an abrupt end. Amidst the tracks were hoof prints, each with four toe marks.
"Look at that, Katie. That's proof that Santa was here," Jed exclaimed.
Jed smiled. "Years later one of the boys at the orphanage had a similar story, He told me his pa had used a broomstick to make them lines, then walked a couple of horses through em, He made them toe marks with the barrel of his shotgun. Took a lotta work, but it sure looked real to a little boy."
Katie and Jed were given their stockings while Jed's mother prepared a hot breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup and freshly churned butter. After the hot meal, everyone gathered in chairs or on the sofa near the warmth of the fire to open their presents.
Katie received a handmade rag doll with yellow yarn for hair and blue buttons for eyes, and a red yarn stitched smile. Her calico dress matched that of the curtains that adorned the window in the room Katie and Jed shared.
Jed chuckled. "She let out the biggest squeal when she saw that doll," he recalled.
"What did Kid get?" Heyes asked.
"This one's for you, Jed," his father said, handing the boy a package wrapped in brown paper. Inside was a wooden gun just like the Colt .45 his father owned. But rising from the site at the end of the barrel and the place where the hammer would have been were two strong sticks. The tip of the one at the end of the barrel was carved in a "Y" shape, and a single piece of rubber stretched from the tips of the "Y" so a stone could be placed in the center of the rubber and drawn back and released.
"That's just about the fanciest slingshot I've ever seen," Sam exclaimed.
Jed examined the every inch of the hand carved sling shot, his fingers gently caressing the wood.
"Just be careful you don't put someone's eye out," his mother warned.
"This is the best Christmas ever," Jed exclaimed.
Kid slowly opened his eyes as the now vivid memory began to recede into that safe spot in his mind. He looked at Kate with eyes filled with gratitude and a smile that stretched from his heart to his face. "Thank you," he said.
"I couldn't let my favorite outlaw go without some Christmas memories," she told him. "And I'm not through yet. You two want a refill on that hot chocolate before I finish this story?"
"It is one of the finest tasting hot drinks I've ever had," Kid replied. "Of course, I'm comparing it to Heyes' coffee."
"I have more warming on the stove," Kate told them and gathered their cups before disappearing into the kitchen.
"Don't forget them little white floaty things!" Kid called after her.
Kate returned moments later with cups filled. The liquid in one cup was completely hidden by marshmallows.
"Now it's your turn," Kate said to Heyes and settled back into the chair with her computer.
"Mine?" Heyes exclaimed. "No, that ain't necessary. Kid's the reason we stopped by."
"Weren't the two of you neighbors as well as cousins?" Kate asked, though she already knew the answer.
Both heads nodded.
"And you spent many the childhood Christmas at one house of the other, right?"
Heyes smiled. "Sometimes both houses," he confessed and took a sip of his drink.
"Well, I'm just going to help you two recall one of the Christmases you spent together as young boys."
Kid took a sip of his hot chocolate and looked up, with a sugary white mustache across his upper lip.
"You might want to lap up that soup strainer, Kid," Heyes told him.
Kid covered his upper lip with his bottom one, savoring the sweet marshmallow flavor. "Okay Kate, let's hear the second story."
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It was a cold, snowy, Tuesday afternoon when eight year old Hannibal Heyes and his tag-along younger cousin approached the display window of the Mercantile. Six, though almost seven year old Jed pressed mittened hands against the glass, his eyes mesmerized by the array of tin and lead toy soldiers, the clay, agate, and glass marbles, a large, wooden wagon, a sled, a toboggan, and a pair of ice skating blades that could be strapped to the bottom of shoes, all neatly arranged in the store window.
"You wait here Jed, and don't go wondering off," Hannibal told him, then turned the knob and walked into the store. In his pocket was fifty cents, his life savings, and he was prepared to spend it all.
Hannibal knew what he planned to buy his father and when the sales clerk asked if he needed assistance, Hannibal told him he needed a pouch of pipe tobacco.
"Anything else young man?"
"I think I'll just look around," Hannibal told him and walked slowly up and down each aisle in search of a Christmas gift for his mother.
He stopped in front of a counter display of hair combs that ranged from very plain to quite elaborate and expensive. The salesman stood behind the counter, knowing the elaborate combs would catch the boy's attention but prove to be more than he could afford.
"A woman would love any one of these," the clerk reassured the boy.
"How much is the tobacco?" Hannibal asked.
"Fifteen cents," the clerk replied and watch Hannibal's eyes slowly migrate to the lesser expensive combs.
"How much is that one?" Hannibal asked, pointing to a small tortoiseshell comb with a scalloped edge and a clear glass stone at the tip of each scalloped peak.
"One of my favorites," the clear replied, reaching into the case and carefully setting the comb on the top of the counter for Hannibal to inspect. "It has a subtle elegance," the clerk explained.
Hannibal picked up the comb and turned it about in his hand. "How much?"
"Forty-five cents."
Hannibal frowned, realizing he was ten cents short.
"Wait a minute," he told the clerk and hurried to the front of the store.
Standing behind the display window, Hannibal caught Jed's eye and motioned him into the store. Jolted from his dream of finding an army of tin soldiers under the tree on Christmas morning, Jed sighed which created a stream of warm water vapor that struck and fogged a small spot on the window.
"I wasn't going nowhere," Jed said defensively after walking into the store.
"I'm not yelling at you. How much money you got?" Hannibal asked.
Jed pulled off one mitten with his teeth and, letting the mitten dangle from his mouth, dug his hand into his pants pocket and pulled out a nickel. He let it slide to the palm of his hand and held his hand outstretched for his cousin to see.
"I need it," Heyes told him.
A deflated expression spread across Jed's face, but he said nothing and shoved his hand closer to his cousin. "Take it."
Hannibal scooped up the nickel and returned to the counter with Jed quick on his heels. "I've got forty cents," he told the clerk.
The salesman reached into a case a second time and pulled out a plain, brown comb with no fancy design and no diamond looking glass stones. "This one is quite nice and is exactly thirty-five cents," he said, looking sympathetically at the small boy who had surrendered his total wealth.
"I've got forty cents," Heyes repeated. "If I give you that, can I open a line of credit like my Pa has?"
"I'm sorry son, but we require proof of employment to open a line of credit," the clerk explained. "The lady must be very special," he added.
"If I give you the forty cents, will you hold it for me till I come up with the rest of the money?"
"How long would that be?"
Hannibal chewed his lower lip. "Christmas is Saturday so... Friday?"
The salesman smiled. "I'm sure we can do that. Let me write things up."
"I remember that, Heyes. I was planning on buying a bag of peppermint sticks and givin' a couple of em to Katie for Christmas," Kid said, trying to sound a bit indignant as he reached for another gingerbread cookie.
Heyes looked at Kate. "Was I able to come up with the nickel?" he asked.
Kate smiled. "I guess we'll have to keep going to find out."
As the clerk walked over to the register to write up the pending receipt, Hannibal glanced at his young cousin and saw the forlorn expression on Jed's face after having relinquished the last penny to his name. But instead of evoking even the slightest bit of quilt, Jed's expression quickly changed to one of foreboding curiosity.
"Han, what are you thinking?" Jed asked with some trepidation. "I can tell by the look in your eyes that I ain't gonna like it."
Hannibal hurried over to the register where the clerk was just about to write the amount still owed on the receipt. "Excuse me, but would you still be able to hold that for me if I just gave you forty cents and kept the extra nickel?' he asked.
Thinking the older boy was feeling some remorse for taking the younger boy's money, the clerk smiled and nodded his head. "Provided you come up with ten cents by Friday, son."
The clerk fished out the nickel and handed it across the counter to Hannibal. But instead of Heyes giving the coin back to Jed, he quickly stuffed it into his pocket. Jed watched him, but decided it would be best to settle the matter outside.
"I'll be back on Friday with the money," Hannibal assured the clerk, then grabbed Jed by the collar of his coat and rushed him out of the store and into the cold.
"You'd better have a good explanation for keeping my money!" Jed warned him and pulled his mitten from between his teeth and slipped it back onto his hand.
"I do. I'm gonna turn this nickel into a dime, maybe more," Heyes promised.
"Better be more, cause I need that money to do my own present buying!" Jed told him. "Now what's your plan?"
Hannibal rested his arm across the back of Jed's shoulders as they began their walk home. "Jed, we both know that I'm the best marble player in the whole school."
"Maybe, so what?"
Hannibal smiled. "So, for the next three days, I'm gonna convince the other boys to play marbles at recess... for money?"
Jed stopped right in the middle of a snow drift and stared at his cousin. "You're gonna gamble my money?"
"Jed, when you're as good at marbles as I am, it ain't gambling. It's... simply relieving the other boys of the burdensome weight of some coins in their pockets," Heyes replied.
"Like you done me," Jed griped.
"Except you I'll pay back, with interest."
"Uh-huh. How much interest?"
"How about... half of all the profits over the ten cents I need to pay my debt and the five cents I need to pay you?"
Jed gave this some thought. "What happens if you lose?"
"Then I'll owe you... a flat ten cents. How's that?"
Jed sniffled from the cold air filling his nostrils and adjusted his scarf to cover his nose as well as his mouth. "It seems to me that I never come out on the winning end of a Heyes plan," Jed said skeptically.
"Kid, this is foolproof! I can't lose."
"Uh-huh. Seems to me I already have. But I'll go along with it, like I always do," Jed grumbled.
"You know Heyes, the very fact that you used the word foolproof shouldda told me your idea wouldn't work," Kid said as he reached for the last cookie on the plate. "Kate, you got any more of these?"
"They're in the round tin on the kitchen table, and how do you know it didn't work? I haven' finished the story yet," Kate replied, challenging his assumption.
By this time Kid was half way across the room on his way to the kitchen, but he stopped suddenly with a very inquisitive look on his face. "It worked?" he asked. "A Heyes plan went off without a hitch?"
"Of course a Heyes plan went off without a hitch!" Heyes snarled. "I use my brain for thinking while you let your stomach do that job."
Kid's eyes moved to his right, straining to catch a glimpse of his partner, then strained to the left to gaze toward the kitchen.
"Fellas, you came here seeking some good Christmas memories," Kate reminded them. "If you're going to turn this into a free-for-all, then I just won't finish the story," Kate told them.
Kid gave Heyes a second strained glance, then huffed and sat back down on the sofa. "Go on Kate," he urged.
Kate hit the Enter button and scrolled down two lines to begin another paragraph.
The next day, armed with Jed's nickel and a pocketful of glass and agate marbles, and one cat's eye marble that he had found years ago embedded in the mud near the spot where he and Jed often fished, Hannibal walked briskly toward the school. Jed half ran and half walked to keep up with him as they walked down the road in the snow packed imprints of wagon wheels that had traveled the road before them.
Heyes wanted to get to school well before the school bell rang, commanding them all inside. With time to spare before the start of the school day, Hannibal quickly spread the word to the other boys that a betting game of marbles was on the agenda for recess and the payout was a penny a point for the winner. He told the boys that if any of them had neglected to bring marbles, he had brought more than enough, and would loan them out for the game.
Jed listened to Hannibal's spiel, impressed once again with what Hannibal's father referred to as his son's 'silver tongue.' In fact, the elder Heyes was quite certain that his son would grow up to become a journalist or famous novelist one day.
Kid bust into laughter. "Little did he know," Kid exclaimed with an open hand slap to his knee.
"Hush Kid! I want to know how this ends," Heyes told him. "Go on, Kate."
The morning moved along slowly for Hannibal who planned to make a full thirteen cents today, then challenge the boys to a rematch tomorrow so he could double his winnings. History was always one of Hannibal's favorite subjects, and today's topic was all about a gigantic Trojan Horse gifted to the people of Troy that housed a great army of Greek soldiers who managed to capture the city and return the captured goddess Helen to her husband, Sparta. Usually such a subject captured the attention of all the boys, and Helen easily memorized all the wide eyed prairie girls with visions of grandeur and dreams of being rescued by a handsome prince, or in this case, a Greek God.
"I was spellbound by that Trojan horse," Kid said. "In fact, I think Custer might have fared a bit better if he had tried that ploy."
"Will you shut up and let Kate finish!" Heyes snarled. "Go on Kate. Every word you write brings light to that memory."
Kate glanced at the time in the lower corner of her computer. They had been at this for hours, but the two former outlaws were so eager to discover memories they never knew they had, that she simply couldn't bring herself to hasten the story along.
When recess finally arrived, those going outside quickly bundled up in the coats, scarves, and hats, but six boys remained inside, all of whom considered marbles to be standard pocket contents. With the teacher outside keeping an eye on the children in the schoolyard, Hannibal borrowed a piece of chalk from the chalkboard and drew a wide circle on the floor near the coat rack. Then he carefully lined up thirteen marbles in the shape of a cross in the center of the circle.
Already an able marksman, Jed had a keen sense of eye/hand coordination which made him a formidable opponent at the game of marbles. But, having already given Heyes his nickel, Jed had no pennies with which to wager, so he stayed in the sidelines and watched the competition unfold.
"I remember thinking at the time that you ought to let me play in your place, Heyes," Kid quipped. "Wouldn't have been no question about who would be walking away with all the money."
"I don't know why you keep saying you remember" Heyes replied. "Ain't none of this a memory until Kate writes it down."
"Heyes, don't go getting started on who's real and who ain't. You know I don't put no stock in any of that," Kid warned.
"I think what Kid is doing is projecting himself into the situation," Kate explained. "It's really a fine example of adaptation."
Heyes sighed heavily as he doubted both Kid's memory and Kate's explanation, but knew it was an argument he would not win. "Just go on with what you were writing, Kate."
Heyes turned to the boy on his left. "Go on Billy, you can start."
Billy Roth was a year younger than Hannibal, but was considered by many to be the smartest boy in school. He shifted to his knees and carefully examined the marbles arranged in the circle before using his thumb and forefinger to shoot his marble into the circle and all the boys watched as his target marble rolled free of the arranged marbles, but came to a slow stop still inside the circle.
Cecil Hakes was next and he too studied the colorful round targets. His shot struck another marble in the vertical line and not only cleared the circle, but knocked Billy's out of the circle, too. This gave Cecil a second shot, but this time his marble brushed against a slightly protruding nail in the floor and veered off, missing the stack of marbles completely.
And so the game continued, each of the boys taking a turn with the hopes of knocking a marble out of the circle. By the time the teacher was calling the children back inside, the game was completed and Hannibal had managed to win seven cents.
"You're still eight cents short of paying for that comb and giving me the nickel you owe me," Jed reminded Hannibal as they trudged home in the snow at the end of the school day.
"Still got two more days, Hannibal reminded him."
"Kate, I think you're forgetting something," Heyes said, interrupting her story once again. "The kids at school all called me Heyes."
"I know, and you may have noticed I throw that in once in a while. But for the sake of this story, I think Hannibal is just as appropriate."
"Heyes, you can't argue with the writers, or at least you can't argue with em and win. They all think they know us better than we know ourselves," Kid told his partner, then realizing how sensitive writers can be, he quickly turned to Kate ans smiled nervously. "Except you, of course."
"Kid, why don't you go get that tin of cookies from the kitchen before you turn a simple game of marbles into a glass orb stoning," Heyes suggested.
Kid nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. He returned almost immediately with the entire tin of cookies. "I don't want to miss hearing how this turns out," he explained as he settled back down on the sofa and popped the tin lid off to reveal a wide variety of decorated holiday cookies. "You make these, Kate?"
"Sure, like the two of you give me any free time for other activities," she grumbled.
"Back to the story, Kate. Back to the story," Heyes prodded.
They were nearly half the way home when a wagon pulled up close and the driver drew rein.
"Hop in, I think there's room enough in the back for you," Hannibal's father called out to the boys who both quickly scrambled up and into the back of the buckboard wagon.
"Where you been, Pa?" Hannibal asked.
"To town to pick up a few supplies. I stopped by the school for you boys but you had already left."
Both boys looked around the back of the wagon but saw nothing more than a crate covered with a heavy burlap tarp.
"What kind of supplies?" Hannibal asked.
"It don't normally fare too well for a boy to ask too many questions this time of year," Hannibal's father replied.
Hannibal asked no more questions, but turned to his cousin who was sitting right next to the crate, and gave him a wink. Jed understood the meaning and slowly moved his arm toward the burlap covering. But just as he began to inch the burlap upward, Hannibal's father spoke and Jed's hand froze.
"You two ever hear the saying that curiosity killed the cat?" he asked without so much as even a slight turn of his head.
"Yes sir," they replied in unison and Jed pulled his hand back to his lap.
"So what was inside the crate?" Heyes asked anxiously.
Kate smiled. "I guess you'll have to wait till Christmas to find out."
"You know, I could go for one more cup of that hot chocolate," Kid announced.
Kate smiled. "I'll go make another batch," she said.
Kid quickly gathered the empty cups. "I'll carry these into the kitchen for you."
Once in the kitchen, Kid put the cups on the table and gave a glance toward the living room to be sure Heyes had not followed.
"I don't know what you've got in mind for inside that crate, but I've got a suggestion," Kid told her.
Kate pulled a carton of milk from the refrigerator and reached into the cupboard for the cocoa. "What's your idea?"
Kid again glanced nervously toward the other room, not wanting Heyes to overhear him. Then he leaned in close to Kate's ear and whispered.
Kate smiled. "I like that," she told him. "I had a similar thought. I guess great minds think alike."
"I've heard that," Kid replied. "But what;s that got to do with us?"
Kate rolled her eyes. "Oh Kid, I can certainly see sometimes just why Kyle admires you."
Kid looked at her curiously but she didn't explain further. "Go back in with Heyes. This will only take a minute," she said, pouring the milk into a saucepan.
Minutes later Kate returned carrying a tray with three steaming cups of hot chocolate and a bowl of marshmallows so each could add as many as he wished,
"Now, where were we?" she asked as she settled back into her chair.
"In the back of the wagon, heading home with my Pa," Heyes reminded her.
"With a crate we can't get into," Kid added.
"That's a little side note," Kate told him. "We'll come back to that later."
Kate took a sip of her cocoa, then cracked the knuckles of her fingers and wiggled her fingers over the keyboard before beginning to type once again.
The next day the game of marbles had an outcome much like the previous day and at the end of the game, Heyes had another eight cents in his pocket. He counted out five pennies and handed them to Jed. "There, you're paid back," he told Jed.
"And you've got ten cents to pay for that comb, but that don't leave no profit, and you said we would split the profit," Jed reminded him.
Heyes chewed the corner of his lip nervously. "You got any more money?" Heyes asked nervously
"No."
"You wanna loan that nickel back to me?"
"No."
"I tell you what. I'll drop a nickel off at the Mercantile on the way home this afternoon. I'll use the other five cents to play marbles tomorrow. If I win, we'll split the profits after I pay off that comb. If I lose, I'll borrow that nickel back from you again," Heyes suggested.
"If you win, we split the profits after you pay your debt, but if you lose, I keep my nickel and you just come up short. There was cheaper hair combs in that store."
Heyes sighed as Kid had him over a barrel."Deal," he agreed with some reluctance.
Kid grinned as he recalled this grand victory. "So, did I buy that bag of peppermint sticks?" he asked Kate.
Kate didn't reply, but simply continued writing.
The next day was the last day of school before a two week holiday break and the teacher was well aware that any focus on schoolwork was pointless. Of the seventeen students in the school, eight were between the ages of five and seven and the only thing on these children's minds was the hope of catching a glimpse of Santa and his sleigh as he crossed the sky that night. So the morning was spent having the older children help the younger ones with the making of paper snowflakes, singing Christmas carols, and taking turns reading aloud a very abbreviated account of Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol.'
Morning recess was longer than usual and Heyes was indignantly surprised when Kid whipped out his five pennies and his pocket full of marbles and announced he was joining in the game. All the boys knew Jed Curry was unbeatable at marbles as his sharp eye and steady hand from nearly two years of honing his shooting skills with his father's Colt .45 gave him a distinct advantage. In fact, Hannibal Heyes was the only boy who could possibly give Jed a run for his money.
The chalk circle drawn two days before was faded but still usable. Heyes arranged the thirteen glass marbles in the center of the circle and each of the six boys carefully anticipating their moves studied the position of each marble before Heyes turned to the boy on his left. "Go ahead Billy, you start."
Billy carefully scrutinized the marbles n his hand and chose a dull blue clay marble to shoot. He positioned the marble just outside the circle and crouched down with the third finger of his hand holding his 'trigger' thumb in place. Flicking his thumb against the clay marble, all the boys anxiously watched as the clay marble struck hard against an orange-ade, sending the orange marble rolling across the hardwood floor and coming to a stop...just shy of traveling beyond the circle. A low groan escaped Billy's throat as he conceded his turn to the boy to his left.
The boy to Billy's left, was Jed.
"Here's where I just wipe up the floor!" Kid exclaimed with a broad and proud smile.
"Even a steady hand can waver now and again," Heyes hissed.
Kate ignored their passive/aggressive comments and continued on with the story.
While Jed had a pocketful of marbles in his left pants pocket to choose from, he carried only one in his right pocket, and he slowly rolled the colorful agate orb between his thumb and two fingers. This single marble of orange, blue, and red striations belonged to Jed's older brother Sam, who had given it to Jed for safekeeping when he left home to join the Union Army and was Jed's prize possession.
"I know it sounds funny, but that was the one thing I searched for in the rubble after our folks...," Jed interjected, but let his voice tail off without finishing the thought.
Kate raised her eyes to glance across the room, pleased that her scribbles were making such an indelible memory for her favorite fictitious ex outlaws.
Jed crouched down and carefully eyed the marbles, judging the trajectory possibilities to determine just which marble to target. He carefully positioned the agate between the tips of his thumb and two fingers, then gently placed the marble on his carefully chosen spot on the hardwood floor. Moving to his knees, Jed held the tip of his thumb with the tip of his forefinger and once again studied the projected angle of his shot. With the same well aimed precision he used when shooting his father's gun, Jed tightened his thumb against his finger to build the tension, then snapped his thumb free to strike the marble and send it speeding into the circle and careening into a solid blue marble just below the center of the cross.
The blue marble rolled freely into the open circle, striking Billy's marble dead center like a bullseye and it rolled well beyond the chalk boundary, as did the solid blue marble. Jed picked up the two marbles he had earned and slipped them into his empty pocket, then proceeded to set up his next shot. By the time he was finished with his turn, Jed had nine of the thirteen marbles in his pocket, and he looked across the circle to Heyes and gave him a victorious wink and a smile.
By the time recess ended and the final game was over, Jed and Heyes had twelve of the original thirteen marbles in their possession.
On their way home that afternoon, they divided their winnings. With six cents in his pocket, Heyes stopped at the Mercantile and made his final payment on the comb. Jed, with eleven cents in his pocket, spent it all on penny candy that he planned to evenly divide into gifts for his parents and sister, and leaving a equal share for himself.
"Well Heyes, did your Ma like that comb you manage to buy her?" Kid asked when Kate stopped writing.
Heyes had a far away look in his eyes and a melancholy smile on his face. "I'll never forget the look in her eyes that Christmas morning," he mused. "She wore it in her hair when we went over to your place for Christmas dinner. Your Ma told her it was beautiful."
"See Heyes, Kate's good at stirring them memories," Kid replied.
Heyes nodded. "Thanks, Kate."
"Wait a minute," Kid said with some urgency. "We ain't done yet. What was in that crate Heyes' Pa was carting home that day?" he asked.
Kate looked at Kid and winked. "Another memory I think you'll cherish, Heyes," she replied.
"Well come on, Kate. Let's get on with it," Kid urged.
Christmas day was cold, with a wind coming down from the north. The snow that had been on the ground for some time, was hard packed on the roads, but not so on the fields and it blew about in great squalls of white and in some spots, settled in great drifts on the roads and against the walls of houses and barns.
Inside the Heyes house a warm fire snapped and crackled in the fireplace and the air was filled with the aromas of burning logs and pine cones, gingerbread baking in the oven, and hot coffee brewing on top of the stove.
Hannibal woke early and bundled up in layers of clothing, his coat and scarf, and his black boots that reached his mid calf. Holding a lantern high in one hand and scooting around snowdrifts, he made his way to the barn in the quiet darkness of the predawn morning to complete his chores early.
Returning to the house with a bucket of milk and a basket of still warm eggs that his mother took from his cold, red hands, Heyes shed his coat and scarf and neared the fire to warm himself. Rubbing his hands together, he looked about the room and spied a few packages and the small wooden crate he had seen in the wagon days earlier.
Kid leaned forward on the sofa and looked across the room at Heyes. "She sure likes to drag things out, don't she?"
Heyes grinned but scolded his partner. "Sush, she's just setting the scene."
"It's Christmas at your house; I think we know the scene," Kid said with a frown but settled back in his seat.
Hannibal continued to eye the packages and inched his way to the far side of the fireplace for a better look.
"Look all you want, but don't go getting any notions about opening presents until after breakfast, young man," his mother warned. "Tradition is part of the fun. You'll thank me when you have children of your own."
"Jed said they get to open their stockings before breakfast," Hannibal replied with a hopeful look on his face.
But his mother ignored the comment as she was far too busy getting breakfast ready.
"I never told you that," Kid interjected. "We had the same rules as you at Christmas, and them was the same rules Grandma and Grandpa Curry imposed on my pa and your ma when they was youngins."
Heyes nodded and gave Kid a brushoff wave of his hand.
"Do you two want me to finish this story or not?" Kate said with a snippy tone in her voice.
"Finish!" Heyes exclaimed before Kid had a chance to suggest otherwise.
After a hot breakfast, Hannibal and his parents moved to the cozy corner of the room where three packages and the crate were stacked. Hannibal reached for the gifts he had purchased and handed one to his father and one to his mother.
His father brought his package up close to his nose and sniffed. He closed his eyes and exhaled with a broad smile on his face. "My old corncob pipe ain't gonna recognize such a fine quality of tobacco. Thank you, son. I'll be enjoying this for some time."
Hannibal was pleased with the comment and turned to see his mother's expression. Her package had been neatly wrapped in brown paper with a red ribbon tied around it.
"Oh, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed and slipped the comb into her hair. "And more than you should have spent."
"I'm glad you like it, Ma. I think it was the prettiest one in the store."
"I'll cherish it the rest of my life," she replied. "There's two there for you. Go ahead and pick one.
Hannibal was dying to know what was in the crate, but decided anticipation was half the fun, so he chose the tall, round package first. He pulled away the paper wrapper and and discovered a hat box. Wary of any hat his parents would chose, he braced himself, ready to use his best poker face to hide his true reaction. Then he lifted the lid.
But instead of being disappointed, he was stunned. Inside the box was a black felt hat with the most amazing hatband he had ever seen. Silver conchos of two styles, one a stylish squiggle, the other an open diamond shape ran all around the hatband. Hannibal reached in and gently pulled the hat out of the box and turned it about in his hands, examining every inch of the magnificent headgear. Still stunned, he looked first at his mother and then at his father.
"You're growing up so fast, Hannibal. You're Ma and me decided it's about time you started dressing the part," he father said with a chuckle.
"How did you know about the hat, Kate? Did Kid tell you?" Heyes asked.
"She's a writer, Heyes. How could I tell her? I ain't never heard this memory before," Kid protested, then smiled and shot Kate a gleeful wink. "But it's a damn good memory, ain't it?"
For the first time in a long time, Heyes was at a loss for words, but the look he extended to Kate was full of gratitude.
"Well come on," Kid urged. "We're both wanting to know what was in that crate."
"Try it on for size," Hannibal's father urged.
Heyes slipped the hat on his head, then realized it was on backwards and he slipped it off and turned it around so the stampede straps hung in the front.
"Oh, that's a fine fit," his father exclaimed. "Now go ahead and open that crate. I already loosened the nails for you. There's a package for you and a package for your ma in there."
Hannibal's mother looked at her husband with surprise. "I thought we agreed not to buy each other anything," she said.
His father shrugged meekly. "I couldn't help myself," he explained.
Hannibal's mother reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a small box the she handed to her husband. "Me either," she confessed.
"Heyes smiled. "Oh, I remember this. Ma gave Pa a second hand gold watch and Pa gave Ma a gold wedding band. It wasn't nothing fancy, but he couldn't afford one when they was married and he promised her one day he'd buy her one."
"What!" Kid exclaimed.
"Kid," Kate said very softly.
"Kate ain't written that, so how do you remember something she ain't written?' Kid asked.
"Kid," Kate said, just a little louder than the first time.
Heyes shrugged. "I don't know, but I do, and I can tell you something about you, too," Heyes replied.
"Kid," Kate said, her voice growing a little stronger each time.
"Yeah? What do you remember about me?" Kid asked.
"You got ten tin soldiers that year for Christmas."
A very puzzled look settled on Kid's face and he turned to Kate for verification. "Did I?" he asked.
Kate slowly turned her keyboard around so Kid could see the screen. "This is the story as I'm telling it," she said, pointing to the many lines and paragraphs.
"Yeah, so?" Kid asked.
"Watch the screen," Kate said and scrolled down half of a blank page until she came to a spot with the word NOTES in big, bold letters. "When I'm working on a story, I keep a sort of outline down here at the bottom. Once I've writing any part of this into a story, I erase that part from my notes."
"Kate, is this supposed to mean something?" Kid asked.
"Watch the screen," Kate said and scrolled down just a bit more.
The confused look deepened on Kid's face when he read the screen.
NOTES
Father, a second hand gold watch
Mother, a delicate gold wedding band
Heyes, a Schofield (sp?)
Curry's come for dinner. Kid got ten tin soldiers
Kid turned his head to one side but kept his eyes on the screen. "What else did you get, Heyes? What was in that crate for you?"
"This," Heyes said, tapping his gun with his hand. "Don't you remember?"
"Kate," Kid said very slowly. "What's going on?"
"I'm... I'm not sure," Kate replied. "But, I think maybe it's some kind of miracle. A Christmas miracle, or... maybe you two are... becoming... real?"
Kid sat quietly with his mouth open and his eyes perplexed. "I remember them tin soldiers," he whispered. "They was in the window at the Mercantile, and I wanted them more than anything in the world... and I got em. I really remember, but... how?"
Kate smiled. "I bet I know," she told them.
"Tell us," Heyes prodded.
"Christmas is full of miracles. Heyes, you've read 'A Christmas Carol.' right?"
"Dickens, yeah I've read it."
"And do you know the story of 'The Little Match Girl?'"
"Hans Christian Anderson," Heyes replied. "Oh, I see where you're going."
"Then tell me," Kid implored his partner.
"Pure, blind faith, Kid. The kind of faith a child has at Christmas where anything is possible and fantasy becomes reality."
"So you're saying we want to believe it's real... so it is?"
"I think so," Kate said.
"I really do remember that Christmas, and your family coming over for dinner, and you brought those tin soldiers with you," Heyes told Kid.
"And we sneaked off into your room and lined them soldiers up on the floor and had battlefields, Kid recalled. "You showed me your new hat. I don't think I've ever been more jealous of you before or after, cause I was still wearing that round straw hat with the wide brim."
"After dinner we took that Scholfield out back behind the barn and lined up cans."
"And you didn't hit nary a one,"
"It feels good to actually remember, don't it?" Heyes mused.
"It does," Kid agreed.
"I hope they never fade."
"If they do, we can always come see Kate and she can get us remembering again."
Heyes smiled across the room to Kate. "Thank you Kate, I think this is the best Christmas I've ever had."
"I'm happy for you, Heyes. I'm happy for your both," Kate replied.
"Merry Christmas, Kid," Heyes told his partner.
"Merry Christmas, Heyes."