Hellooooooooo!! Here’s a heart warming Christmas story!!

Poor Man’s Holiday

She sat on the corner, her frozen feet in tattered boots, her bare fingers strumming a guitar. Though most people thought the snow to be a blessing, a sign of Christmas, she saw it only as pain. They fell from the sky landing on the bright red scarf she had wrapped around her head. She’d found it on a coat rack in a restaurant up the street. She had snuck in to see if she could grab the can of candy canes sitting beside the register. She loved peppermint candies, and took some any time she could. But, instead of running off with some candy, she ran away with three coats and four scarves. These she would distribute among her friends. As a bonus, in one of the coat pockets, she found about twenty peppermints, and kept that coat for herself.

She finished the sonata she’d been playing just as she heard some shouts up the street. They sounded like they were from the restaurant she’d taken the coats from. She zipped up her guitar, stashed the few coins that had been tossed at her in a dirty old messenger bag along with the extra coats and scarves, and began to walk down the street. She heard shouting that sounded a lot like they were aimed at her, so she ran. For six blocks she ran straight, and then she turned and dashed across the middle of the street and ducked around another corner. Unwittingly, she bumped straight into a man, who grabbed her arms forcibly. Thinking quickly, she crushed his foot with hers, causing him to jump back in pain, bringing them both to the wet ground. For a moment, they laid there stunned, then he spoke to her.

“Whoa, easy. I was just trying to help you out.” The girl simply rolled off of him, and with one last look down at him, continued running down the sidewalk. “Damn, what was that all about?” He mumbled to himself, rolling over and watching her dash off around another corner. He was sitting there, when a police car rolled up, and a snooty looking police man stuck his head out of the window.

“Son, have you seen a girl run through here? She stole a black leather coat, and was wearing it.”

“Uh, yeah.” He pointed across the street, toward the Grangerd River Bridge. “I saw her run that way.”

“You’re sure?” A nod. “Alright, thank you. Have a merry Christmas.” They drove off in the direction he pointed.

“What’s the point?” he grumbled, standing up and brushing the snow off his rear. I hope she stays warm in that coat.

--

“Hey, Terry, what’d ya get today?” Derek called out as the girl entered the condemned building they lived in. Derek was tall, about 6’5”, with short, mussed up hair and beard, and hard grey eyes that bore into you. Terry, as she was called, was of average height, with nearly shoulder length black hair, and sweet, pure blue eyes just under her uneven bangs. She smiled gently at the twenty year old, but not nearly as happily as she did most days. “Wait a minute, something’s wrong isn’t it? Something happen today?”

“What did you say Derek? Is something wrong with Teresa?” asked a small mousey boy of maybe ten. He ran up to her with fear in his brown eyes, but that wasn’t unusual. He was Derek’s younger brother, and neither knew where they’re mother was. They’d lived on the street since Derek was fifteen. They both had their father’s features, but Danny had his mother’s eyes.

“I dunno, where’s Lita? She had the note pad last.” The four young people lived together, trying their best to stay to warm at night, and not starve to death during the day.

“What is up my fellow hobos?!” came a voice from the other end of the small, thinly furnished room. A short, blonde girl with stark, brown eyes walked up to them, and handed each a grocery bag. “Better eat before it’s cold.”

“Sweet, Chinese, thanks Lita,” Derek exclaimed. They all sat down on the couch and feasted upon the food. It’d been a long time since any of them had eaten anything warm. Alita had stolen it from a food place by saying she was there to pick up an order.

“Man, it was really close too, I mean,” she bragged, “they asked me what the name was, but I told them the wrong one. It was just luck that cashier was nearly deaf!” They all laughed about it, at the same time knowing that she could have gotten into a lot of trouble. Not that it mattered; the worst they could’ve done to her would be to throw her in jail for a night, and give her a nice place to stay.

“So, Terry, anything in that bag for us?” Derek asked slyly. She stood up, her smile bright, and reached into her bag, and took out the other two coats. She handed one, a blue fleece, to Danny, and handed the other, a brown trench coat, to Alita.

“Wow, thanks Terry!” the boy exclaimed. Lita just twirled and admired the coat. Derek didn’t grow envious or angry; he knew his brother needed the coat more than him. He looked up in surprise when Terry held out the leather coat she had been wearing.

He shook his head at her. “Na, you take it. I’m fine.” She persisted, placing it in his hands and trying to let him know she didn’t need it. He pushed it back, saying “No, seriously. You deserve it.”

“You better believe she does,” Alita interjected. “You take good care of us, Mother Teresa!” she scoffed, pulling the jacket back over her arms.

Terry smiled gently, wishing she could say only two words.

Thank you…