Manchester Christmas by John Gray

Author:John Gray
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paraclete Press
Published: 2020-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

22

hot rolls, cold light

When Chase opened her eyes the following morning, she saw movement outside her bedroom window: not a person, something more subtle. She rubbed the sleep out of her unfocused eyes and then blinked hard, bringing it into clearer view. It was snowing. Not a big storm, just the light morning flurries that winter likes to send Vermont ahead of a cold, harsh season—winter’s way of saying, “You’d better go buy a shovel and rock salt because I’m on the way, you silly girl from Seattle.” Chase was used to rain, so much rain, but snow would be fun to experience.

She slipped on her favorite sweatpants and baggy sweatshirt, stepped into her fluffy slippers, and made a cup of coffee. Scooter ate his usual bowl of dry dog food, mixed with four spoons of Dinty Moore stew, making it taste better, and the morning was off and running. She promised Nolly she’d go out with her husband, Earl, today and help with the bakery delivery, but what to wear for her first day on the job? It felt like a faded jeans and cable sweater kind of adventure, so she fished out a warm red one her grandmother had given her as a gift on her last birthday. Rubbing the thick pattern of the sweater, she smiled and said, “Nanny.”

After taking Scooter out to do his morning business she made sure to leave early. She wanted to be able to walk the nine blocks from St. Pius to the bakery and be there before 10:00 a.m. The stroll should have taken five minutes, but she made it in four. As she climbed the steps, she heard an older gentleman with a deep voice laughing and carrying on with Nolly. She swung open the door and was immediately greeted with, “There she is, and early no less.” It was Earl, an older man with thick gray hair and a bit of a belly that told anyone who noticed that his wife was an excellent cook. “Did you eat?” he asked Chase with a smile. “We can’t have you passing out from the heat.” It was no more than twenty-five degrees outside.

Chase gave him a confused grin as she said, “Um, no, I’m good. The heat?”

With that, Earl let out a loud laugh that must have carried out the door and halfway down to the street. “I’m just funning with you, child.”

Nolly was finishing packing up the deliveries and said to Chase, “Ignore him. I sure do.”

Chase smiled and said, “Oh, don’t you worry about me, Nolly. I got this.” The two of them filled cups of coffee to go and, carrying two large boxes filled with goodies, carefully navigated the steep stairs.

Earl drove a blue 2004 Windstar minivan that must have had 200,000 miles on it. The side door opened with a loud groan as if pulling the latch somehow hurt its arthritic metal structure. “Just place the boxes on the seat there and we’ll get on our way,” Earl said.

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