betsybrannongreen.net

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Miss Eugenia Survives Christmas

By

Betsy Brannon Green

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This book is dedicated in loving memory to

 

Lady Ashton of Hampton

September 5, 1994 - August 13, 2009

 

As night fell on Christmas Eve, Eugenia Atkins pulled back the drapes that had covered her living room windows for decades and peered through the condensation on the glass at Maple Street. It had been raining for almost two weeks and the saturated ground could absorb no more moisture so her beautiful lawn was completely submerged. The other lawns in the neighborhood were in a similar state. They were one long, continuous muddy mess.

            Usually Haggerty residents decorated enthusiastically for the holiday season, but the weather had changed everything this year. Some dedicated souls had tried to set up their outdoor decorations, only to have them toppled or washed away by the incessant rain. Others had tried to turn on outdoor lights only to have them short-out. Finally Haggerty had accepted defeat.

            Of course the rain didn’t prevent anyone from decorating the interior of their homes, but it seemed that most of the folks who lived on Maple Street had chosen to spend Christmas elsewhere this year. The Iversons were in Utah with Kate’s family and Polly Kirby was in Tupelo visiting a distant cousin. Even George Ann Simmons had found some relatives in Montgomery who were too polite (or too foolish) to refuse when she invited herself to share in their celebration.

So with everyone gone, not only were there no outdoor decorations – there were no lights from Christmas trees or wreaths or even those tacky little fake candles to spill some Christmas cheer through windows onto the sodden lawns. There were no cars coming and going. No carolers walking door to door singing. Only darkness and wet.

Whit Owens always spent Christmas in South Carolina with his children. When he found out the Iversons were going to Utah he’d invited Eugenia to come with him. But she was happy with their current friendly (yet not serious) relationship and didn’t want to give his children the wrong impression. So she had declined that invitation.

Annabelle had been appalled when she found out that Eugenia would be completely alone on Christmas (except for her little dog, Lady, who Annabelle didn’t count). Annabelle and her husband Derrick were going on a Caribbean cruise to celebrate the season and tried to convince Eugenia to come along. But Eugenia had kept her feet firmly on American soil for seventy-eight years and had no intention of changing that now. She pointed out that her husband, Charles, had been dead for almost six years and she was used to solitude. Annabelle tried to argue but eventually gave up.

Eugenia had meant every word she’d said to Annabelle. She wasn’t afraid of being alone and really hadn’t expected to feel sad. But as she looked out at the dreary, rain-soaked evening she had to admit, if only to herself, that her spirits were dampened. The wind blew, rattling the old glass, and she shivered. The forecast predicted dropping temperatures and even the possibility of snow. Eugenia knew better than to get excited about this. It rarely snowed in Haggerty and never on Christmas – although the thought of lovely white snow covering the muddy ground was a pleasant one.

She turned away from the depressing view out her window and sat in a chair near the fireplace that hadn’t been used since Charles died. There was a stack of magazines beside her chair and she dug through it until she found a Christmas issue of Southern Living from 1982. The theme was “Nostalgia” which seemed appropriate.

As she looked at the pictures in the magazine Eugenia was reminded of her happy childhood. She closed her eyes and thought about Christmas when she and Annabelle were girls. During the depression and World War II they were poor but everyone was poor so it didn’t seem to matter the way it did now. They never went hungry but on Christmas Day her grandmother had prepared a veritable feast.

Grandma would send the girls out to get fresh eggs from the hen house so she could make pecan pies and cornbread dressing.  They would ask Grandma how many eggs she needed. Grandma would always smile and say, “We’ll just have to make do with however many the hens have laid.”

Then their grandfather would come in with buckets of milk from the cows and they would watch in fascination as he skimmed off the cream and churned it into butter. Her memories of those days long ago were so perfect that she could almost smell the turkey roasting and the pies baking.

As the girls grew Annabelle lost interest in cooking – so Eugenia became Grandma’s only kitchen assistant. She remembered standing beside Grandma, wearing one of her frilly lace aprons, and helping to chop vegetables, pick pecans and roll out pie crusts.

When Grandma passed away Eugenia’s mother assumed the Christmas cooking responsibilities – with Eugenia’s invaluable help. Her mother made wonderful holiday meals (almost as good as Grandma’s) and an incredibly delicious red velvet cake to commemorate her husband’s safe return from war.

Even after Eugenia married, she and Charles always spent Christmas with her parents. She would go over early on Christmas Eve and work side-by-side with her mother to create the perfect Christmas dinner. When Annabelle’s son was born they were all thrilled since children make Christmas much more fun.

Years passed, Eugenia’s parents died and Christmas dinner moved to Eugenia’s house. Annabelle’s son grew from a pleasant child to an odd adult (that was to be expected considering how strange Annabelle’s first husband was). Spending Christmas with him was no longer something to look forward to but they did it anyway.

Every year Eugenia would start her preparations early on Christmas Eve. She baked a turkey and a ham and made cornbread dressing with lots of fresh eggs. She mashed potatoes and mixed up homemade yeast rolls and prepared a variety of congealed salads. For dessert there were pies and sugar cookies and – of course – her mother’s famous red velvet cake.  

Charles and Eugenia were never blessed with children, but there was always a big crowd of people to eat what soon became Eugenia’s famous Christmas dinner. Besides Annabelle and her weird son, neighbors and friends and even distant relatives attended. There was laughter and love and happiness.

As they sat down to eat, their guests always expressed astonishment at the impressive array of delicious foods. And when someone asked how Eugenia did it, Charles would laugh and say, “Eugenia spends all day Christmas Eve in the kitchen. She won’t even stop cooking long enough to give me a kiss!”

Annabelle’s son eventually married an equally odd girl from Birmingham and a few years later they had twin boys. So again there were children in the house at Christmas. But too soon they decided they preferred spending the holidays in Birmingham instead of making the drive to Haggerty. This, of course, required Annabelle to go to Birmingham to be with them. Christmas was no longer a big family event, but Charles was always on the lookout for people with nowhere to eat Christmas dinner, so still they never lacked for guests.

 After Charles died Eugenia couldn’t face Christmas. She wasn’t even sure she could face life. But then Kate and Mark had moved to Haggerty – without a clue of how to fit into Southern society let alone care for a newborn. And her life once again had purpose. For the years since they’d lived next door Eugenia had always spent Christmas with them. And of course, she always did all the cooking.

But this year, she literally had no one to cook for. No holiday smells filled her small house. There was no joy. Only emptiness. Some people might consider not having to cook a good thing. Instead of standing on her feet all day she could sit on the couch and watch Christmas movies. But for someone who had been cooking Christmas dinner since she was seven – this prospect was not appealing.

Lady seemed to sense her sadness. She nuzzled Eugenia’s ankles and whimpered. Eugenia dropped a hand down to stroke the little dog.

“I’m okay, girl,” she said with as much conviction as she could muster. Then with a sigh she opened her eyes. In a few hours the holiday would be over. In a few days her neighbors would return and in a few weeks this lonely Christmas would be a distant memory.

So she closed her eyes again – hoping she might fall asleep and wake up when it was all over.

Either she did doze (or she was just going senile) because a few minutes later she distinctly heard her husband’s voice say, “It’s Christmas Eve, Eugenia. You should be in the kitchen.”

Her eyes flew open and she looked around the room – but there was no Charles. She felt a mixture of relief and disappointment. Then she tried to laugh it off. Her husband, who had been dead for nearly six years, talking to her. The very idea. She shook her head and turned a few more pages in the magazine on her lap.

But she couldn’t forget the words she thought she’d heard. She looked around again – feeling Charles’s presence strongly. And suddenly she knew what she had to do. If Charles had gone to all the trouble to send her a message from heaven – she needed to take his advice. A smile spread across her face. Maybe it would be like one of those holiday movies and if she made a big meal – guests would spontaneously come.

She was getting excited about the prospect of cooking Christmas dinner until she glanced back at the dark window. She knew the local Piggly Wiggly would close early on Christmas Eve so she might have already missed her chance to purchase the grocery items she would need to prepare the perfect Christmas dinner. She picked up the phone and dialed the store’s number.

The owner himself, Lester Mauldin, answered. “Merry Christmas from the Haggerty Pig!”

“Merry Christmas yourself,” Eugenia replied.

“Eugenia?” Lester’s confusion was obvious. “Annabelle told me you were going with her on a holiday cruise.”

“Annabelle says a lot of things that aren’t true,” she responded. Then she asked, “What time do you close tonight?”

“In about five minutes,” he said. “Why do you need something?”

She tried to hide her disappointment. “I need a lot of things, actually. I wasn’t planning to cook a Christmas dinner, but now I’ve changed my mind. If you’re closing I guess I can drive over to the Wal-Mart.” She couldn’t control a shudder. The nearby Super Center was always busy and shopping there was an ordeal on regular days. She could imagine what it would be like on Christmas Eve.

“Nonsense!” Lester hollered through the phone. “I’ve still got a few shoppers here so I can’t actually close in five. You come on over and take all the time you need.”

Eugenia was touched. “Well, that’s mighty nice of you, Lester.”

He laughed. “I don’t want to be responsible for somebody missing out the world’s best Christmas dinner.”

She made a mental note to bake him a pecan pie someday soon before saying, “I’ll be there in a minute.”

Fortunately she knew what she had in her pantry and what additional items she needed – so she didn’t have to waste time making a list. After pulling on a raincoat, she hurried out through the driving rain to her Buick as fast as her old bones would carry her.

Lester had been telling the truth about his last minute shoppers. The Piggly Wiggly wasn’t exactly crowded – but there were several people making last minute purchases. As Eugenia maneuvered her grocery cart up and down the old store’s narrow aisles, selecting items she needed, each person she met wished her a Merry Christmas and then expressed surprise that she was still in town and not floating around the Caribbean with Annabelle. Eugenia returned their holiday greetings and then assured them she’d rather die than be stuck on a cruise ship with Annabelle (which was almost true).

She thought she’d found her dinner guests when she met Lucille McClinney by a colorful display of candied fruit. Lucille had moved to Knoxville right after she married nearly thirty years before. She and her husband and two sons were in town because Lucille’s mother, Mavene, was in the hospital in Albany recovering from heart surgery. Eugenia asked about Mavene and after receiving a good report, invited Lucille and her family to Christmas dinner.

“You are too sweet,” Lucille replied. “But we saw Brother Blackburn and Miss Cornelia at the hospital and she invited us to eat with them on Christmas Day.”

Eugenia was disappointed but in Haggerty there was an unwritten but very binding ‘first asked’ policy regarding guests. Besides, with her mother recovering from surgery Lucille would find comfort in being near the preacher, even if that meant sacrificing meal quality and suffering through boring conversation (since Cornelia’s hostess skills were as mediocre as her cooking abilities.)

  Disappointed but not defeated, Eugenia made her way to the meat department and picked out a turkey and a ham from the store’s limited remaining selection. Then while waiting for Lester to slice the ham, she briefly considered inviting him to dinner. But since he was only a few years younger than her and a widower, she was afraid that a holiday invitation might be misinterpreted as an indication that she was interested in him. Which she was not. So she abandoned this idea and hurried on to the produce section.

There she met Winston Jones, Haggerty’s chief of police. She’d known Winston all his life and most of that time she’d liked him (even though he had a tendency to be a little less than grateful when she was trying to help him solve murders). But he was pleasant company and she desperately needed someone to eat all the food she was buying, so she invited him to dinner.

She thought her search had come to an end when he said, “There is nothing I’d love better than to eat Christmas dinner at your house.” But her relief was short-lived. He tugged on the collar of his uniform shirt and said, “Unfortunately, I have to eat with my girlfriend’s parents and I think they are all planning to ambush me into a wedding next summer.”

Eugenia had been trying to convince Winston to end his bachelorhood for years, so even though she was more upset that he couldn’t be her guest than she was by his single status, she nodded and said, “It’s high time you got married. I don’t know why in the world you’ve waited so long.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know either. I love Haylee and I like the idea of being married, but the prospect of a wedding is terrifying.”

“Why don’t the two of you just elope?” she suggested. “That’s what Charles and I did.”

Winston shook his head. “Haylee’s mother would kill us. She wants to see her daughter walking down the aisle, all dressed in white with me waiting by the preacher in a tux.” Winston shuddered.

Eugenia felt sorry for Winston, but she couldn’t spare any more time to discuss his wedding phobia. So she wished him good luck and a Merry Christmas. Then she pushed her grocery cart forward in search of dinner guests.

Her prospects were looking bleak as she finished her shopping and made her way toward the one check out lane that was still open. The only thing that would make this Christmas worse was if she had to go door to door through the rain to every house in Haggerty begging someone to come and eat with her.

Her search took on a frantic quality as she unloaded her purchases onto the old conveyor belt. She studied the cashier. She didn’t really know the woman but figured what better way to make friends than to spend Christmas together. Before she could issue this desperate invitation, she saw Darby Lambert walk in.

“We’re closed ma’am!” the cashier called out, her voice completely devoid of Christmas cheer.

Darby nodded. “I just need some bread.”

The cashier glared at Darby’s back as she rushed by. “Some people,” she muttered. “Didn’t I just say we’re closed!”

Eugenia understood the clerk’s desire to get home, but the door hadn’t been locked and it was not in keeping with the holiday spirit to begrudge a woman a loaf of bread. Eugenia decided she didn’t want to get to know the grocery clerk after all and was glad she hadn’t invited the crabby woman to dinner.

Eugenia didn’t have all her groceries out of her cart when Darby came to stand behind her in the checkout line, clutching her bread. So Eugenia kindly insisted that she go ahead and pay first.

Darby smiled with gratitude. “Thank you. We’ve been driving all day and I’m exhausted. I can hardly wait to get home, feed the kids a sandwich, and go to bed.”

Eugenia’s heart pounded. “Kids?”

Darby nodded wearily. “They belong to my daughter, Kristi, who lives near Atlanta. Her husband is in Afghanistan and I told her it would be too hard to be at home without him during Christmas. I begged her to spend the holidays with us, but she wanted to keep things as normal as possible for the children.”

Darby handed the crabby store clerk her money to pay for the loaf of bread. Then she used her free hand to help Eugenia unload the items remaining in her basket.

“But Kristi called me crying this morning – saying she couldn’t stand to stay there without Jason. So Coy and I drove up and got them.”

Eugenia felt sure she’d finally found her guests. “Why I’ll bet you haven’t had time to prepare a Christmas dinner.”

Darby’s shoulders sagged. “I haven’t cooked a thing. I told Coy we’d just have to take them to the Cracker Barrel for Christmas dinner.”

Eugenia laughed – barely able to contain her happiness. “There is no reason whatsoever for you to spend Christmas Day at Cracker Barrel! You’ll just come eat with me.”

“Oh, we couldn’t,” Darby declined politely.

But Eugenia saw the hope in the other woman’s eyes and decided to use the highest form of manipulation in Southern Etiquette. The ‘you’ll really be doing me a favor’ ploy.

“Of course you can,” she told Darby. “Annabelle deserted me for a holiday cruise, so if you don’t come – I’ll have to eat alone.”

This left Darby with no choice but to accept the invitation. They settled on the time of two o’clock the next afternoon and then Darby rushed out – undoubtedly to share news of their good fortune with her family.

Once Darby was gone Eugenia watched with flagging patience as the clerk listlessly dragged each item across the price reader. When this tedious process was finally over she paid for her groceries.

The clerk transferred the bags to Eugenia’s cart and then said pointedly, “You’ll have to push them out yourself. Mr. Mauldin let the bag boy go home so he could spend Christmas Eve with his family.”

Eugenia narrowed her eyes and told the clerk, “Then you’d better call Mr. Mauldin to come up here right now and help me get these groceries to the car. It’s going to be hard enough for me to lug it all into my house and I’m definitely not doing it twice.”

The clerk’s expression turned from sullen to antagonistic and Eugenia was just about to call Lester herself when she heard a voice from behind her.

“Miss Eugenia, if you can wait a minute while we pay for our food we’ll carry your groceries out for you.”

She turned to see four young men dressed in military fatigues. The one who had addressed her was a grown up version of the grandson of Inez Hopkins’s (who had lived across the street from Eugenia for years).

“Willis?” she whispered.

“It’s me!” he confirmed.

She shook her head. It seemed like just the other day that he was playing in her yard without permission and trampling down her daffodils. “I didn’t know you were in the Army.”

“National Guard,” he corrected. “We’re here because of all this rain to watch the roads and bridges in case of flooding.”

“You have to stay here over Christmas just to watch for flooding?” Eugenia demanded. “That seems so heartless of the National Guard.”

He shrugged. “Our presence here may save lives and they were careful to pick single guys.” He waved behind him to include the other

three young men. “None of us really had any place to go for Christmas anyway so we might as well spend it here.”

Eugenia peered at the items in their grocery cart. Potted meat, saltine crackers, soft drinks and a cake with a blob of orange icing on top that vaguely resembled a carrot. “You do now,” she said firmly. “You’ll all come and eat Christmas dinner with me.”

“Oh no ma’am, we can’t,” Willis said politely.

“I always cook way too much food,” Eugenia insisted. Then she gave their purchases a disdainful look as the clerk scanned and bagged them. “And there is no way you can make a proper holiday meal with that stuff.”

Willis grinned as he paid the clerk. “If this rain continues we’ll spend the next 24 hours driving around looking for washed out roads and bridges.”

“Everyone has to eat,” Eugenia replied firmly. “You get a meal break, I presume?”

They nodded. “But just an hour and we have to keep our radios on in case there’s an emergency.”

“Be at my house at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon. I’ll have everything ready and you can eat fast.”

“Yes ma’am!” Willis accepted the invitation for all of them. Then his smile broadened. “Although we really do like potted meat!”

Eugenia shook her head. “Potted meat for Christmas dinner. The very idea.”

Willis and the other National Guardsmen not only loaded Eugenia’s groceries into her car, they followed her home and unloaded everything into her kitchen. Then they hurried out to keep the community safe from flooding while she started her meal preparations with vigor. After all, she now had children and soldiers to feed.

***

            She followed her grandmother’s cooking sequence by starting with the pies. She made pecan pies, sweet potato pies, apple pies, and a fresh peach cobbler. Then she made cornbread and chopped onions and celery for her dressing. While the dressing was cooking she moved on to the congealed salads. By midnight she had the red velvet cake baked and cooling on the kitchen counter.

The rain continued to fall outside, but in her warm, cozy kitchen Eugenia felt a contentment she hadn’t experienced in years. She felt particularly connected to her grandmother and her mother as she used their old, tried and true recipes. And she felt Charles’s approval – since this whole thing was his idea. She was still alone, but no longer lonely.

            In order to preserve her strength, she took a short nap until it was time to put her turkey into the oven. Once the turkey was baking she mixed up roll dough before making frosting using her mother’s secret recipe for the red velvet cake.

            When the turkey was done she put the ham in the oven to warm through while she boiled the potatoes and mashed them. She cooked broccoli florets and smothered them in melted cheese. While the rolls were baking she set the table – using her best linen tablecloth, her fine china and two large silver candlesticks that had belonged to her grandmother. The candlesticks had been a part of their Christmas dinner for as long as Eugenia could remember. In the early years the candlesticks were necessary to provide light for the meal. Now they were just a sentimental tradition.

            She was changing into her Christmas dress when the phone rang. It was Emily and Charles wishing her a Merry Christmas. Eugenia was thrilled to talk to them – but sad when they had to hang up. Before she could get too depressed, Annabelle called. The connection from the cruise ship was terrible so they only talked for a few minutes. While she was holding the phone after her brief holiday conversation with Annabelle, she decided to call Whit Owens and wish him a Merry Christmas. He didn’t answer so she had to settle for leaving a message. Refusing to let this dampen her spirits, she started a batch of her famous Christmas fruit punch.

            At ten minutes until two o’clock she surveyed the dining room table. Just like in years past – everything looked perfect. The phone rang and she answered it absently.

“Eugenia?” Darby’s voice came through the phone lines. “You’re never going to believe what has happened?”

Eugenia smoothed a wrinkle in the tablecloth. “Tell me.”

“Jason, my son-in-law who has been in Afghanistan? He’s home! Well, not home exactly, but back in the US! Kristi just got the call a few minutes ago. Isn’t it exciting?”
            “Very exciting,” Eugenia agreed. “Do you want me to wait to serve Christmas dinner until he can get here?”

Darby laughed. “Oh, no, but thank you. Jason is leaving Virginia as we speak headed to Atlanta. We’re going to meet him there. Won’t it be the most perfect Christmas ever – being able to reunite their little family?”

“Perfect,” Eugenia replied. She really was happy for them, but her joy was tempered by the fact that their absence was going to have a negative effect on her Christmas dinner. However, she swallowed her disappointment and wished Darby a safe and pleasant trip to Atlanta.

After hanging up the phone, Eugenia removed the leaf from her dining room table and adjusted the settings of china to reflect her new reduced number of dinner guests.

            By the time she was finished it was ten minutes after two o’clock and she was muttering to herself about the need to teach National Guardsmen about punctuality when the phone rang again.

It was Willis and he, too, had bad news. Two bridges north of town had washed out and they expected a third to go soon. Obviously under the circumstances they couldn’t take a dinner break. He apologized profusely for the late notice, but said he was sure she understood that the public’s safety had to come first.

She did understand and accepted his apology graciously. But after hanging up the phone she stared at all the food she’d prepared for nothing and tears stung her old eyes. She wished Charles was there so she could give him a piece of her mind. Cooking a huge meal like this when she had no one to feed was ridiculous. She was a senile old lady – that’s what Annabelle would say when she found out. By next Christmas they’d probably have her in the retirement home.

Lady climbed out of her basket bed and walked over to whimper at Eugenia’s feet. She picked up the little dog and stroked her stiff coat. “I know I still have one dinner guest,” she said. “I can always count on you.”

            But even Lady’s presence couldn’t completely dispel Eugenia’s sorrow. She put the dog down and slowly began the process of wrapping up or covering each course of her holiday meal. The adrenaline that had enabled her to ignore the protests of her old body was gone – so every move was painful. Finally the food was put away and she sat back down in her chair in the living room. Even though it was only four o’clock, it was dark outside. The rain had tapered off and the temperature had dropped. Lacy ice formed on her windows like Christmas decorations – mocking her loneliness.

            She closed her eyes, trying not to weep, and finally dozed. She was awakened by the sound of the phone ringing. It was Whit. She could hear revelers in the background as he apologized for not answering when she called earlier and wished her a Merry Christmas. She returned his greeting.

“You sound kind of funny,” Whit remarked cautiously. “Are you okay?”

“Of course,” she lied. “I’m just tired. After all, I was up most the night cooking.” (At least this was true.)

They exchanged a few more pleasantries. Then Whit said he’d see her on Sunday and ended the call.

            Eugenia hung up the phone feeling worse than ever. She closed her eyes and a few tears of self-pity slipped down her cheeks. Then she thought she heard Charles say, “I never knew you to give up so easily.”         

Eugenia’s eyes flew open and searched for Charles, but she was alone – as she’d been all day. At first the words made her mad. But then she realized that they were completely true. She did not give up easily. She had made a Christmas dinner and she needed to share it with someone.

She stood, ignoring the protest from her old bones, and looked up the phone number for the armory. She dialed and listened as it rang many, many times. If she wasn’t trying to prove to herself and any angels who might be nearby that she didn’t give up easily she would have hung up much sooner. But finally her tenacity was rewarded and Willis answered.

“So, how are the bridges?” she asked.

“Better,” he reported. “We’ve got the washed out ones barricaded and since the rain has almost stopped the others should be okay.”

“Well, then, why don’t you boys come on over and eat Christmas dinner,” she invited. “It won’t take me long to heat everything up.”

“I’d love to,” Willis replied and he really did sound regretful. “But with the temperatures dropping there’s the chance of ice on the bridges that didn’t wash out so we have orders not to leave the armory.”

A lesser woman might have accepted defeat at this point. But remembering Charles’s accusation from beyond the grave, Eugenia looked for a way around the problem. She smiled as inspiration struck.

“Then I’ll bring Christmas dinner to you at the armory!”

“Oh, no, Miss Eugenia. That would be way too much trouble for you,” Willis tried to object but there was no conviction in his words.

“I’ll be the judge of what’s too much trouble for me. You boys just clear off a table and put some chairs around it. Then be watching for me so you can help bring all this food inside.”

“Yes ma’am!” Willis replied.

            It took too many trips to count for Eugenia to get all that food into her Buick. But thirty minutes later she was driving through the dark, wet streets of Haggerty toward the National Guard Armory.

The armory had been used for many things over the years, most recently a senior center. The walls were painted a garish pink and the old linoleum floor was worn completely through in spots. But the kitchen facilities were adequate and soon Eugenia had everything that needed to be, reheated in the armory’s ovens.

While waiting for the food to warm, she had the boys cover the folding table they had set up with her crisp linen tablecloth. Then she had them set out four place settings of her fine china. As a finishing touch she put her grandmother’s old candlesticks in the middle of the table.

Once all the food was on the table, Eugenia told the hungry young men to gather around it. She said grace, lit the candles and instructed them to eat – which they did with gusto. She stood back and watched them. The candlelight threw the rest of the armory into the shadows, making the table look like a little bit of heaven.

Eugenia intended to leave once she had the meal served, but the boys insisted that she stay. So she fixed herself a plate of delicious food and sat down at a corner of the folding table. She asked them to tell her about their lives and once this topic of conversation had been exhausted, she entertained them with stories of Christmases past.

Finally she told them she had to go. She left all the food so they could enjoy leftovers and they promised to return her dishes the next day. Every cell in her body ached as she stepped out of the armory. Then she saw that snowflakes were falling and already the muddy ground was covered by a layer of brilliant white. She had to smile. Snow in Haggerty on Christmas Day. Miracles really did happen.

She looked up at the sky and whispered, “I hope you’re satisfied, Charles.”

And somehow she knew that he was. She could just imagine him turning to some of his angel friends and saying, “My wife, Eugenia, spends every Christmas Eve in the kitchen. I never could even get her to stop cooking long enough to give me a kiss.”

Then she hurried toward her car. She had a sweet little dog waiting patiently for her at home.

 

The End