A Very Wanton Christmas

Carolyn pulled James out the front door of McKeels Bed and Breakfast. Her gleeful laugh bought mirth to James heart, but he wished she would have given him time to put the toboggan cap on his head. He had never worn a stocking on his head before, but it was an early Christmas gift from Carolyn, and he had also been blessed with a matching scarf and mittens.  Homemade gifts had never been part of his family’s Christmas traditions. 

She dropped onto her back, right there in the front yard. Before his eyes, she started moving her arms and legs up and down as if she were doing jumping jacks on her back. After a couple of seconds he could see that she wasn’t having a medical episode and he reached down to help her up.

“A snow angel.” She flipped her hand over and pointed it toward the impression on the ground. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

“She is.” His dimples deepened as he gazed at her chilled face. He loved the rosy cheeks and red nose caused by the cold air.

“You make one.” She tried to pull him to the ground.

“No way. One angel is plenty.” He hugged her close. “Do you always get this much snow?”

“We do and more.”

“More?”

The scene looked like a Currier and Ives painting. A young couple standing in front of a Victorian-style house with a nice-sized, fully decorated Pine tree out front. The snow broken only by the couple, the snow angel and the red berries of a Holly bush. A red cardinal flew overhead and landed in the Evergreen tree. All the scene needed was a globe overtop.

Wanton, West Virginia is beautiful and serene on the surface, but along with the magnificentness rages discord and ugliness. You will see the full range of ups and downs in the novel “Stamp Out Murder” and coming next year “Cancel Out Murder”.

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