The Poppy Drop by C L Bauer

Author:C L Bauer [Bauer, C L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Corrugated Sky, LLC
Published: 2018-09-17T22:00:00+00:00

Devlin Pierce tried to get a run in everyday but some days the heat in the Heartland was just too much. This morning, a cool fall breeze was flowing as he ran around the Plaza. He’d already run a couple of miles as he headed for his favorite coffee shop on the corner but something caught his eye.

He hadn’t seen postcards in the longest time and unless you were actually around one of the many tourist attractions in Washington DC, you seldom saw them anywhere. He stopped to see a rack of them, most featuring landmarks of Kansas City but the ones that caught his attention were of Christmas lights and the Plaza. His relatives in the area had always shared their tradition of coming down for the turning on of the lights on Thanksgiving night but somewhere in his brain he’d translated it into a tree lighting occasion on the square.

There would be a children’s choir singing and the usual suspects such as the mayor and of course jolly St. Nick. If you were really lucky, your local councilman would show up.

But these cards held the beauty of something much larger. Strings upon strings of lights adorned the buildings for blocks. The multi colored structures blended well with the Spanish architecture. During this summer he must have jogged past this building countless times but this was the first time something had captured his attention and left him speechless. One card featured the lighting with the crowds of people in the shadows. He’d never known any tradition where the people gathered for an event of the people, not the National tree, nor a Governor’s tree. Generations of families must’ve taken part in this ceremony year after year. He didn’t know if it seemed odd to him or familiar like returning home after a long deployment with everyone waiting there to greet you.

Lily had told him stories of her own family visits to the lighting. He could almost smell and taste the hot chocolate as she described how they stood on top of one of the parking garages one year with snow falling, cocoa in hand and the awe of the beginning of the Christmas season in Kansas City. He’d watched her face as she remembered and he swore she was glowing as bright as one of those bulbs. Her family had spent the day together doing the usual Thanksgiving day activities of feasting and football and then the younger members headed down to the Country Club Plaza to watch the lights welcome the Christmas season. By the end of the night they all ended up at a pizza place playing trivia games. He’d like to see the lights turn on with thousands of other people. He wouldn’t mind seeing them with her beside him.

Yes, Kansas City might be a place he’d like to visit again.

He knew when he finally returned to Virginia and hit the door of his townhouse it would be empty. That thought kept creeping into his head more and more these days as the investigation was wrapping up.

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