Winter-Painted Roses

A Christmas Story

Broken cars ,broken bottles and broken hearts lined the sidewalk leading to the front door. The words "Salvation Army Thrift Store" identified the building. A large window decorated in tiny twinkling lights displayed plastic figures of the nativity. Beneath the glass, a piece of card board with the word "FREE" lettered in black marker, hung over boxes of used winter clothing. In smaller letters the writing on the sign read "one per person."

An orange drop cord snaked beneath the closed door. It fed power outside to a radio beside the boxes.  The soft strains of "Away In a Manger"...no room for a bed.... leaked through the radio speakers and into the frigid winter air. It was a cold winter's Christmas Eve and the approaching night promised to be brittle and bitter. 

Jake pushed his rusty shopping cart along the uneven sidewalk. Aged more from life than from years he was a slight wisp of the man he'd once been. Parking his cart and reaching inside, he picked up a small wooden box tied closed with a frayed piece of string. Shivering, Jake wrapped his arms around himself for warmth. With a feeling of hopelessness he gazed at the line of destitute humanity waiting to make their way to the card board boxes. These unfortunate inhabitants of the city didn't need a weather forecast to inform them it would be cold. They could already feel the icy wind seeping deep into their bones. Jake took his place at the back of the long line. Still clutching his box, he tucked his head down inside his shirt to keep the frigid air from his face. Quietly, he began to sing along with the music from the speaker.

The line crawled toward the front of the store and one by one the items in the boxes dwindled away. Lulled by the meager warmth of the bodies in front of him, Jake dozed and was suddenly startled to find himself standing in front of the boxes. There were a few items left in the bottom. Sorting through them he was delighted to find several light jackets still available. He chose a gray windbreaker. With a slight smile he lay the small box he was clutching in his hand down on the sidewalk. He stood up and slipped the jacket on over his thin worn t-shirt. With stiff cold fingers Jake attempted to zip up the front. The old rusty zipper wouldn't close. It was broken. He bent back over the box to search for another jacket . The Salvation Army Attendant gave Jake a dirty look and said with an irritated voice...

 

“Sir, only one item per person…move on along now“....

Jake humbly nodded his head, picked up his wooden box and made his way back to the grocery cart . After placing the box inside, he pulled the jacket around his thin body and tucked it into the top of his trousers. " Silent Night" played from the speaker as Jake ambled away pushing his cart down the sidewalk.

The temperature was plummeting as he found his way into the city park. He maneuvered his shopping cart behind a metal bench. Along with the small box Jake kept in his cart, there was also a tattered blue blanket. Reaching down he picked it up and wrapped it around his shoulders. Lifting out the precious wooden box he turned and sat on the cold bench. Feeling sleepy, he lay down and curled himself up with his box resting near his heart. With one hand Jake gripped the blanket over his shaking shoulders. He mumbled an incoherent prayer as he drifted off to sleep.

In sleep, Jake's clutch on the blanket relaxed and like a city thief the icy wind swept down and stole it away. The arctic blast unfurled it like a banner and sailed  it across the park. In the stillness of the silent  night a solitary soft white snowflake drifted down. It settled on the old box wrapped  in Jake’s arms. As if waiting for a curtain call, a myriad of other flakes paused a brief moment then followed. Swirling and dancing in the wind to an unheard tune they soon covered Jake in another blanket. This one cold and white. Lost in a dream Jake slept on...

...The crisp winter evening was almost perfect. He'd been planning this night for almost a year. He wanted to spend his life with Edna. He had borrowed money to buy a small farm and a ring. Jake put his arm around her as they strolled across the winter meadow, under a heavy, cloud-laden sky. She was beautiful that night. The winter wind had painted roses on her cheeks and her eyes sparkled just like the diamond ring Jake carried in his pocket.

That night as Jake asked Edna to be his bride and she answered "yes" the clouds had burst open. Like a confetti celebration, a flurry of snow flakes enveloped them. Taking his cue from nature Jake swept Edna into his arms and they danced together twirling in the wind with the snowflakes...

In Jake's hallowed sleep no sorrows touched his dream. Not the raw grief that followed a year after the wedding. The excruciating pain they both felt when death took the tiny newborn son wrapped in a blue blanket. Not the hopeless despair when the bank foreclosed on the farm. Or the many years of hardship when they'd moved to the city. Not the helplessness he'd felt when he lost his factory job. None of the days they lived together on the streets or the devastating loss he felt when Edna died were allowed to invade his precious dream.

Neither did Jake dream about the street church that had reached out to him and Edna. The kind folks who had welcomed them into the body of Christ. The people who had so generously collected money for the cremation of Edna's body when she died on the street.

 

 In the park the wind gusted again and tore the box from Jake's hands. It clattered to the ground and broke open. Edna's ashes swirled from the box dancing in the wind. And as if orchestrated  by a divine plan Jake's frozen body died at that exact moment and his spirit broke free, rising into the air with her ashes.  For a brief moment in earthly time Jake danced among the snowflakes with his beloved Edna. He was young again his tired, worn body no longer weighed him down.

As his spirit soared He heard music and singing. The atmosphere around him turned a brilliant white. The beauty of the snow-laden night was overcome by glory and the radiance of the Lamb of God. Heaven stood wide open.  On the threshold of eternity Jesus stood waiting with outstretched nail-scarred hands to welcome Jake home.... 

.......and behind Jesus.....Jake could see a beautiful smiling young woman. There were winter"painted roses on her cheeks and snowflakes in her hair. In her arms was a smiling baby boy. 

On earth the blue blanket whipped one more time in the wind then floated to the ground. Under the park bridge the shivering new mother stared in wonder as it floated down from the sky . She picked it up and wrapped her tiny newborn infant in a swaddling blanket....

 

~Cathy Hall Sharpe © 2014~

Author's Note

Began writing this a couple of years ago, completed , polished and edited it recently

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

Well, I gotta tell you--this is one fine story. It could use a few commas, but otherwise, it's really, really excellent. You don't know me, but the plight of the poor and downtrodden are dear to my heart.

[adanette]

Thank you Samuel.

[emmajoy]

' As if waiting for a curtain call, a myriad of other flakes paused a brief moment then followed. Swirling and dancing in the wind to an unheard tune they soon covered Jake in another blanket. This one cold and white. Lost in a dream Jake slept on...'

This is such a finely written story; its content made me tear up long before its finish. I'll not say more on that, people need to read this post for themselves. But,if I'm allowed a few more words.. the first is - BEAUTIFUL. So appropriate for this time of year. Dear new friend. you have such a sweet heart.

[adanette]

Thank you, emmajoy