by Sarah Earlene Shere, ©2023
(Dec. 8, 2023) — Squeals, followed by children’s laughter, shook Terence out of his trance. He straightened himself in the armchair as he surveyed his small group of friends huddled together in front of the fire. The telling of ghost stories at Christmastide was a tradition he dreaded since his mother’s passing. He found no delight in dwelling on life beyond the grave, nor did he find enjoyment in speculations about those who had passed.
When the children were sent to bed, Terence kindly took his leave. Outside, he raised his cloak collar up around his neck and pulled his top hat down upon his head, shielding himself from the light snowfall. The chill invigorating him, he turned his steps down the road, toward the church. Slowly, he made his way into the graveyard, where he stopped at a stone-carved angel, and stared down at his mother’s name etched just below its feet. Softly, he spoke, “I’m lost without you here, Momma. I miss our Christmases long past.”
Just then, Terence felt a small hand slip into his. Looking down, he found a little girl, thinly dressed, with large brown eyes lifted up at him. Faintly, she smiled and reached out an open hand. The gentleman’s heart went out to the little beggar. Reaching into his vest pocket, he produced a coin and gave it to the child. She held the prize close to her heart as she quickly turned and disappeared into the woods.
Back at his large estate, the young lord stopped at the low table in the entry hall. There he found a Hawthorne blossom, a symbol of hope, lying beside a coin. Suddenly, he remembered the little girl he had just seen at the graveyard; she had been wearing a Hawthorne blossom in her hair. Contemplating what it all meant, Terence sat in his chair by the fire. Wise words from his mother came to his memory, “‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’ so the Holy Scripture says.”
This night he had given a little girl hope. Had she returned the favor? Again, his mother’s words played in his mind, “In a stable, God became flesh, God with us, so that we will never have to be alone. Through life on this earth, and on into life eternal, we need never fear of walking alone.”
Terence smiled as tears filled his eyes. He determined to let the warm spirit of Christmases past spent with his mother light a joy in his present and give him hope for his future. Tomorrow, he would spend another evening with his friends. Now, he looked forward to hearing the rest of that new ghost story that had been begun, and was anxious to discover what happened next, having left the old miser alone in his dusty chambers after the unsettling visitation from his deceased business partner.