The Ghost of Christmas Present and Other Stories by Angel Nichols

Author:Angel Nichols
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Angel Nichols Publishing

Christmas Love Exchange

“Coffee black, no sugar.” The older gentleman placed his currency on the counter as the barista went to work filling his order. The tiny Christmas bells over the doorway chimed and a gust of early December chill swept through the tiny shop, causing some of the patrons to pull their jackets around themselves even tighter. Snowflakes peppered the entryway, melting into tiny pools of water before they had even lit on the tile. The scent of freshly ground coffee and cinnamon buns baking in the stone oven were more than enough to warm even the most frostbitten noses.

“Ah, good morning, Klaus!” The newcomer waved a friendly hello at the old gentleman at the counter.

“Heinz.” He nodded back.

It was the same routine every morning. The town of Drusselheim, Germany, hadn’t changed that much in nearly fifty years, and the townsfolk were more than happy to keep it that way. When the coffee shop had opened ten years earlier, it had been the biggest economical change since the introduction of computers in the 1980’s.

Small changes here and there were necessary to keep the march of time from overtaking their small community, but every once in a while a big one came along. Sometimes it came in the form of new industry, sometimes in the form of new technology, and sometimes the most dangerous kind of change came in the form of new ideas.

“So, what do you think about this, eh?” Heinz slapped a paper down on the counter in front of his old friend, who peered at it through thick bottle-glass lenses. “My eyes aren’t as young as they once were. What does it say?” Klaus frowned at the blurry sentences.

“It says that Drusselheim College is opening a student exchange program…to America!” Heinz huffed. “First they took money from the American philanthropist. Then they decided all the classes must be taught in English, the language of business. Now just what we need, American college students trampling all over town. What will it be next?”

“Ha! They’ll have to find an American student who wants to come to an old farming village first.” Klaus took the piping hot cup of coffee from the attendant and inhaled the dark roast steam. “And at Christmas no less. I doubt that’ll happen.”

The two men continued to discuss the headline as Heinz pulled open the door and they braced themselves against the blustery wind, unaware that their conversation had been listened to with great interest.

*

“Mom, please stop fussing. It’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.” Dean Anderson brushed away his mother’s hands as she tried to straighten his collar for the fourth time. He leaned down and gave her a peck on the forehead. “When did you get so short?” He jabbed.

“When did you get so tall?” She reached up and ruffled his dark brown hair. Now in his early twenties, he was a lanky 6 foot 2, but in her mind, he was a five year old who played in the mud. She looked down at the four boxes that sat on his bed, all marked Drusselheim.

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