A Coldwater Warm Hearts Christmas by Lexi Eddings

Author:Lexi Eddings
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-07-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Shepherds and wise men and angels, oh my!

—Angela Holloway, who hopes she won’t run into any flying monkeys while she tries to cast the Christmas pageant

“You certain sure you don’t want me to be a wise feller, Miss Holloway?” Junior Bugtussle twisted the ball cap in his hands so tightly that the Finklemeyer’s Feed & Seed logo stenciled across the front read Fink Fee & See. Angie had called most of her choices for the pageant cast and asked them to drop by her classroom after school was out for the day. She got the feeling Junior hadn’t set foot in the high school since he’d almost graduated over ten years ago.

“No, I think you’ll be perfect for the role of Head Shepherd,” she explained. “If we use live animals, and I think we really should, we need someone who knows how to keep them under control.”

Junior beamed under her praise. “Shirley Evans wouldn’t never let us use real sheep and cows and such. Said they’d stink up the manger.”

“Well, if our goal is realism, I don’t suppose the original manger smelled like a hospital ward.”

“No, I ’spect you’re right about that.” Junior scratched his head. “I could kinda hide a shovel in my robes, too. On account of, well, with real animals there’s always a chance one of ’em will decide to . . . you know, answer nature’s call.”

“Ah! A wise precaution.”

“See! I could, too, be a wise feller.”

“Maybe next year, Junior.” Oh, my gosh, did I just say that? As if directing this thing once isn’t enough for any sane person’s lifetime! “I really need you to wrangle the animals this time.”

“Then you got it, Miss Holloway. Now about them animals, I got me a Guernsey cow what’s about to drop a calf. She’s a purty little cow and biddable as you could wish. You want ’em both in the pageant?”

“Why would we need both?”

“It’ll make the cow more satisfied to have her calf next to her. If her bag gets heavy and she takes a notion that her baby might be hungry and it’s not where she can get to it, well, I can’t answer for the consequences.”

Angie had a vision of a runaway Guernsey making a break for it and heading down Main Street as fast as her bovine legs could carry her. “All right. Maybe Seth could build a special stall for them inside the set of the stable.”

“ ’Spect Seth Parker could build whatever you need. He’s a right handy feller.”

Angie smiled. Seth had been handy every night for the past week. He’d pick her up at her place and take her for supper at the Green Apple. Or she’d make a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and they’d sneak them into the Regal, where they’d watch another oldie-but-goodie movie together. One night, he even took her dancing at the Opera House when the local Big Band was playing. It wasn’t clubbing by anyone’s standard. There was no strobe lighting

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