A Christmas Story

Gainesville Tennessee 1959

Pam walked steadily along the red dirt driveway that ran through the woods from the blacktop to her small home. She had just come from church which was nearly two miles away and quite a walk for a ten-year-old.

Pulling her collar up against the chilly breeze that drifted through the pines, she began to pray. "Lord Jesus, my daddy doesn't have much money. The preacher said that your Father has given all things to you. Does that mean bikes too? Can you spare one for me? If you don't have any bikes can you give Daddy the money to buy me one? He could use some extra money too, if you can spare it."

Joshua stepped off the bus and zipped his coat. It was cold and he dreaded the walk home. He wasn't able to drive due to poor eyesight which was the results of a severe fever he had suffered as an infant. It was for this reason that he was forced to work for the barest of wages.

The old four-room house wasn't much but Joshua was sure happy to see it as he stepped up on the porch and went inside. Pam jumped up and met him at the door. "Christmas is almost here, Daddy! I'm still hoping for a bicycle."

"That's a nice gift to hope for," he said as she helped him out of his coat. He glanced at Sarah who sat on the floor with a coloring book. She was eighteen months younger than Pam but they looked so much alike that he sometimes had trouble telling them apart.

"I'm making you a present, Daddy." Sarah said with a happy grin.

Joshua focused on the crayon she was using. "I hope it has lots of blue. I like blue."

"I did your coat," Pam said, jesting with her hands at his coat that she had hung on the rack by the door.

"That's my girl," he said, patting her on the head as he made his way to the kitchen.

Olivia, his wife, stood at the counter making biscuits as he came in and sat in his chair at the table. She paused and glanced curiously at him. "I thought Sam was going to pick you up at the bus stop."

"Me too," he said, lifting the cup of coffee that always awaited him when he came home from work. "He's either stuck at a store or in somebody's house. That wife of his is probably shopping or visiting one of her relatives. That woman can't sit still for a minute."

"I hope he can take us to town next week so we can shop for Christmas."

"Pam still thinks she's getting a bicycle."

"I know. I told her I didn't think we could afford it."

"You shouldn't have told her that."

"Well, she'll be disappointed if we can't get it."

"I think I know a way to get it. I've been thinking about it now for a couple of weeks. Those woods are full of small pines and I bet I could get five bucks apiece for them at the farmers' market. I'd have to use some of the fuel money to pay stall rent though, and pay Sam to run me back and forth."

"How will you get him away from Linda?"

"If his chainsaw's working it won't take too long."

"It sounds like a lot of work. You'll have to give up your whole weekend."

"I really want Pam to have that bicycle. It's all she talks about."

"Yes, I know. Well. what can I do to help?"

Pushing his empty cup forward he said, "You can pour me some more coffee."

Anyone could tell by looking at Sam that he was Joshua's brother. He was a good four inches taller but he looked a lot like him. He shook the dew off a small but sturdy pine and said, "This looks like a good one Josh. You want it?"

The two men cut and wrapped pines with twine, piled them onto Sam's rusty trailer, and before long they were on their way to the market with a full load. "Sorry I won't be able to stay and help you," Sam said, lighting a cigarette. "I promised Linda I'd take her to the rummage sale today."

"That's okay, Sam. I appreciate what all you did. I know how Linda is."

"I done put it off twice now and she'll be hopping mad if I put it off again. I won't be back 'till around five."

The old pickup creaked and rattled as they backed up to the stall among the other tree venders and got out to set up the trees. The wind started to pick up and they had a hard time getting them to stand on the wooden crosses they had made. It was also getting colder so Sam got a trash drum and threw in some surplus wood from the tree stands and started a fire, which was a common practice at the market during the winter months.

Sam rubbed his hands together and held them close to the fire. "I have to get going if I wanna get Linda to that rummage sale. I'll try to get back as soon as I can."

Pam and Sarah lay side by side on the floor of their living room making decorations for the tree. The wind was whipping around the little house in gusts so strong that the windows rattled. The old gas heater was open all the way but there was still a chill in the house.

"I'm cold," Sarah said, getting up to get a sweater.

Pam got up as well and went to the window. "It's really windy outside. I hope Daddy's okay." Olivia was sorting through dried beans as Pam came into the kitchen asking, "You think Daddy's okay, Mama?"

Sarah came in as Olivia glanced at the kitchen window and said, "Your daddy knows how to take care of himself." She could hear the wind and she knew how cold it was outside but she didn't want the girls to worry. "I have an idea," she said, turning from the bowl of beans with a smile. "How about I bake some cookies and you two decorate them?"

It was nearly 5:30 when Sam got back to get Joshua and he was saddened by what he saw. The wind was whipping fiercely around the shed and the trees were lying all over the ground. Joshua hurried to the truck and Sam grimaced at the wind burns on his face as he slid in and closed the door. "Looks like you had a bad day, Josh."

"I didn't sell a blessed thing!"

Glancing around, Sam noticed how Joshua's small pines paled in comparison to the blue spruce and Douglas firs that the other venders were selling."Let's call it a day, Josh. I'll come out with you tomorrow and maybe we'll do better."

Joshua hurried into his house and closed the door against the strong wind. The smell of coffee and dinner filled him with the comfort of home as he took off his hat and hung it on the rack by the door. He was about to take off his coat when he heard the sound of giggling coming from the kitchen. Then he smiled as Pam and Sarah came into the living room with cookies and shouted, "Surprise! Surprise!"

"Gee willikers," he said, taking a cookie from each plate. "It looks like my little angels have been busy today." He took a bite from each cookie and made an exaggerated expression of pleasure that kicked up the giggles a notch or two then he bent low as happy little lips kissed his weather-beaten face.

There was a steamy cup of coffee waiting for him in the kitchen. Olivia turned from the stove with a grin. "I see you got your surprise."

"Yeah," he said with a chuckle, tossing the cookies on the table. He hung his coat on the back of his chair and sat down, reaching for the coffee with a heavy sigh. "I've been thinking about this coffee all day. The wind was murder out there around those open sheds."

"You look terrible. Your face is red as a beet."

"All for nothing too. They had spruce and firs and that's what everybody was buying. Nobody wanted those old scraggly pines."

"Then we need to tell Pam she's not getting the bicycle."

"Yeah, I know."

Olivia shouted towards the living room, "Super's ready!" She looked at Joshua and said, "Wait until after super."

The girls scrambled into the kitchen and seated themselves at their usual places. Pam began at once to chat away about Christmas which was Joshua's opportunity to tell her about the bicycle but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He picked at the food on his plate as she talked about how she had learned how to ride her cousin's bicycle which was way too big for her and how she was hoping that her new bicycle would be just her size.

After super, Olivia began scraping plates and cleaning up as Joshua pulled the coat from off his chair and took it to the rack in the living room. He slumped into his living room chair and stared at the fire that flickered around the ceramic blocks in the old gas heater, trying to choose his words as he prepared to tell Pam he couldn't get her the bicycle she wanted so badly.

Sarah came in and flopped down onto the sofa, followed by Pam who sat on the floor at her daddy's feet and began untying his shoes. A knock came to the front door, and then it opened. Sam stuck his head in and said, "I need to see you outside for a minute, Josh."

Joshua got up and grabbed his coat. "Anything wrong?"

"No, no I just need to tell you something."

The cold wind chilled Joshua the second he stepped outside. "What's so important that you couldn't tell me in the house?"

"I sold your trees buddy!"

Joshua hesitated. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and said, "I know what you're doing, Sam. And don't think I don't appreciated it. But how dumb do you think I am? I wouldn't believe you sold those trees if you swore it on a stack of Bibles!"

"I'm telling you the truth. A man did buy your trees."

"What in the world are you talking about? Who in their right mind-"

"If you'll shut your pie hole for a minute, I'll tell you what happened."

"Okay, okay, I'm listening."

Well, when I let you out and started home, I got this feeling that I should go back to the market and the feeling got stronger till finally I just turned around and went back."

"What made you want to go back?"

"Believe me, I did NOT want to go. Linda had supper waiting on me and I was hungry. It's kinda like I was being forced to go."

"Awe, come on, Sam."

"I'm telling you I felt like I HAD to go back and I don't know why. It's a good thing I did though 'cause when I got there I saw some guy burning your trees in one of those drums so I went and got a market cop."

"What for? Those trees weren't worth the price of salt!"

"They were yours! And I helped you cut the dang things! He burned ten of them! I guess he didn't know they'd mostly smoke. He just kept on putting them-"

"Well good grief. Was he drunk?"

"No, he was just plain stupid! I told him he had no right to burn them then he said that burning was all they were good for. I was about to light into him when the cop stopped me and told the guy he had to pay me for what he burned- whatever we were asking for them."

"Well what did you tell him?"

Sam slapped his knee with a hefty laugh and shouted, "I didn't tell him anything! The cop told him twenty dang dollars a piece!"

"What!"

"He wasn't gonna pay it and the cop told him to either pay it or go to jail!"

"Are you telling me the cop made him give you two hundred dollars?"

"He sure did!"

"Sam, I don't know about this."

"Listen, Josh, the man was a thief and a jerk. The only reason the cop didn't arrest him was 'cause he saw you standing in the cold all day and he knew you needed the money. If he had arrested him it would've cost the guy a lot more than two hundred dollars. When he gave me the money the cop told him to leave the market and that if he ever saw him there again he would arrest him on the spot."

Sarah opened her eyes and jumped out of bed, whispering, "Come on, Pam it's Christmas!"

Pam whirled out of bed behind Sarah and tip toed to the living room looking around for the one gift she had asked for. Then she spun around and saw her father standing in the doorway with her brand new bicycle. Olivia stood next to Joshua as he said, "Merry Christmas, honey."

Tears fell slowly down her face as she ran her fingers along the shiny handlebars to the pink and blue streamers. "Thanks, Daddy. I know what all you did to get it."

"I would've stood in the cold for a week if I had to. I knew how bad you wanted it."

Sarah rode her stick pony over to them. "Hey, Pam, wanna race?"

Pam smiled at her sister and looked back at her parents. "I guess Jesus didn't have any bicycles."

"Well what in the world do you think this is?" Joshua said with a laugh.

"Mama told me that a man gave you two hundred dollars. I told Jesus that if he didn't have any bicycles to just give you the money and that's what he did. I asked him to give you extra money too. He gave you both just like I asked him."

Joshua stared straight ahead as Sam's words came back to him... "I got this feeling that I should go back to the market... I'm telling you I felt like I HAD to go back and I don't know why..."

Turning to his wife he said incredulously, "I think this is a real miracle! The Lord answered her prayer!"

"Well of course he did," Pam said, mounting her new bicycle. "The preacher said he always hears the prayers of his children and I'm a children!"

Joshua and Olivia laughed softly. Sarah grabbed Pam's nightgown and said, "I'm a children too and I asked for a stick pony!" She turned with that and rode it around the living room.

Pam looked up and said, "Thank you, Jesus. I'll never forget this Christmas for as long as I live."

Joshua stared silently at his daughter as the events of the previous weeks flashed through his mind. The he looked up as well and said, "...that goes double for me, Lord."