Village Squire, 1979-12, Page 41that again but eventually 1 let him go. 1 told
him 1'd probably drop by the school to see
him the next day and we'd have to talk to
his parents about this. 1 should have done
it right then but all I wanted to do was go
home and get thawed out.
By the next day I wasn't 'feeling like
going anywhere. 1 just wanted to stay in
bed. 1 hurt all over and 1 had a cough that
threatened to bring the ceiling tumbling
down on me when 1 really got hacking. I
stayed home. I knew that 1'd be in dutch
with Councillor Hemple, Mayor Lumpy and
the rest but 1 just didn't care. 1 felt like
dying and leaving this miserable life
behind anyway.
Cindy Lou. keeping tabs as usual,
noticed that I didn't go to work and she
came over on her lunch hour to nurse me
back to health. She tried all her secret cold
remedies on me. 1 think she'd really like to
have climbed into bed and lent her body
heat to me but 1 ignored a few hints.
1 felt better when she left after lunch. I
always feel better when Cindy Lou leaves
but this time 1 actually felt better
physically. Whether her remedies or just
having someone around to complain to or
whatever. 1 felt like 1 was going to live by
early afternoon. At least I did until Ike
called that afternoon. He wanted to know if
1'd laid any charges against the kid yet. I
told him 1 hadn't laid anything but my poor
aching body on the bed. He said he wanted
action.
So did the mayor. He called a few
minutes later. Not a word of sympathy for
my suffering acquired in the line of duty.
he just wanted to know how long my "little
holiday" was going to last. Didn't I realize
1 was leaving the town without police
protection?
Well my own guilty feelings were
starting to get to me by supper time. 1
decided 1'd better pay a visit to the kid's
parents that night. After all the next day
was Christmas Eve and that's not the best
day to drop a bomb shell like that on a
family. I'd better get it over with. So I got
out niy uniform and was ready to put on my
parka when there was a knock on the door.
At least. 1 thought, I'm dressed. It was
bound to be either the mayor wanting me
to go to work or Cindy Lou. Either way I
was glad to have my uniform on.
Instead it was Rev. Twickle. He wanted
to talk to me about the young boy I'd
caught shoplifting, he said. 1 invited him in
and gave him a beer and we talked. The kid
had come to him he said and was really
afraid 1'd tell his mother. He was really not
a bad lad, he said. That wasn't the
impression he'd left on me. I said.
The Reverend said he knew the boy was
getting a little wild but he'd been trying to
help him. His father had left his mother a
couple of months earlier; skipping out
without leaving a forwarding address. The
mother was on welfare and the boy was
lonely and he'd started hanging around the
streets too much.
It was starting to sound like a real sob
story but I wasn't in the mood for it. I told
the Reverend it sounded like something
from an old movie especially when he went
on and told nie the kid had been stealing
the nightie because he thought it was
beautiful and wanted to give it to his
mother for Christmas.
I told him that it might be all right for
him to be taken in by a story like that but I
was a cop and I had to be a bit more cynical
than that. Besides, even if I was ready not
to press the charges Ike wanted the kid
made an example of.
"I've looked after that," Rev. Twickle
told me. "1 visited Ike late this afternoon.
After 1 told him the story he agreed with
me it would be too bad to put this trouble
on the boy's mother so close to Christmas.
He also agreed to let the boy have the
nightgown on the promise that the boy
would help out around the shop until he'd
paid for it. He even said he'd give the boy a
discount off the price."
"Ike? Hard-hearted Ike who wouldn't
give his mother a discount on her hearing
aid batteries? You've got to be kidding."
"Perhaps it's the spirit of Christmas."
Rev. Twickle replied.
Well. faced with that I didn't have much
of an argument left. Besides I didn't
exactly want to go out tonight anyway.
1 don't know what it was. Cindy Lou's
tender loving care or the Rev. Twickle's
message or the unlikely example of Ike's
Christmas spirit but I found myself in lke's
store the next day, back in the lingerie
department trying not to feel like a dirty
old man. I bought a long, silky
nightgown...in black...and had it gift
wrapped. Just as an afterthought I asked
Ike if he'd give me a discount what with me
recovering his stolen property and all.
"What do you think I am, a charitable
organization or something?" he bellowed
so loud some of the customers stopped to
look.
The next morning, Christmas morning, 1
almost felt like living again. Cindy Lou
bounced over shortly after breakfast. 1
wanted to see you open your present." she
said.
"I...I've got something for you too,' I
said. 1 felt like a little boy offering a flower
to the girl next door.
Her eyes lit up like a child seeing Santa
Claus. They got even brighter when she
opened the box. Despite her games I think
she really was surprised. I thought for a
moment she was going to cry, then she
threw her arms around me and gave me a
hug.
"You've got to come over and have
Christmas dinner with me," she said.
"All right," I said, surprised to hear
myself saying it. "On one condition: that
you won't model your present."
We both laughed, a tinkly, warm.
Christmas sort of laugh.
We have the
ideas ... but not
the space to show them.
{
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1
Our store is brimming with baskets and boxes filled with hundreds
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original Festive atmosphere.
Tell us what you want decorated and we'll take it from there! We'll
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MAIN ST. 235-2350 EXETER l>
,
1
December 1979, Village Squire 39