CHAPTER 32
JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS
“Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh, hey! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is…”
“ENOUGH!!!” Amos bellowed. “You have been singing that same song for an hour now and you are driving me crazy! If you must sing, then sing something else!”
Hob, Gob, and Nob paused only for a moment and then broke into another song, singing as loudly as possible.
“Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa-la-la-la-lah, la-lah-la-lah. Tis the season to be jolly, Fa-la-la-la-lah, la-lah-la-lah.”
“I give up,” Amos grumbled. However, the dwarves’ jolly spirits were infectious and the friendly giant could not stay grumpy for long. Besides, the day was beautiful and it was practically impossible to be in a bad mood when the sky was so blue and the sun so bright. The big man snapped the reins and called to old Dan for more speed. The powerful draft horse pulled the sleigh effortlessly though the fresh powdery snow. They were making excellent time and it was now well past noon. The three dwarves eventually halted their singing and began to rummage around in the packages the elves had stowed on the sleigh.
“What are you guys looking for?” Ben asked.
“Food, of course,” Hob answered. “All of this singing is making us hungry! Ah-ha! Here we go!”
“What is it?” asked Nob.
“Looks like roast goose sandwiches,” Hob answered.
“Blah,” said Gob. “I have had enough roast goose to last me until next Christmas!”
“There are flasks in here too; one for everyone. Should we stop to eat?”
“No,” Amos replied. “We will eat while we travel. As long as you guys are chewing, you won’t be singing and I want to cover as much ground as possible in peace and quietness.”
“How long before we get to your cabin?” asked Louise.
“We should be rounding the hills in about an hour and coming up on the meadow. Once we hit that, at the rate we are traveling, we should make my cabin a couple of hours before nightfall.”
“Are we going straight home?” Casey asked her Grandma.
“No dear, we will spend the night at the cabin and leave first thing in the morning.”
The sun was low in the sky and the tall pines on the hills to their right were casting long gray shadows across the snow when the small patch of bamboo finally came into view. The rest of the trip had been uneventful, except for once when Hob, Gob, and Nob had tried to sing Jingle Bells. The three dwarves had quickly hushed when the air about Amos began to shimmer and old Dan tucked his tail and snorted loudly.
Amos navigated the sleigh up the hill, between the pines, and down to the small dirt yard in front of his cabin. They were finally home!
“Louise, you and the kids take the packages inside and start preparing supper. Hob, Gob, and Nob, there is firewood stacked on the side of the cabin. If you will get a fire going and warm the cabin up for me, I’ll rub old Dan down and take him down to the meadow to graze. He should be able to find plenty of prairie grass sticking up through the snow.” Amos studied the big horse and scratched his head. “I guess I’m going to have to build a barn now. Maybe you three can stick around for a few days and help me throw something up?”
“Absolutely,” Hob replied. “We’ll build a fine barn for old Dan; one with a big loft to store hay for the winter and, maybe, a big room for us to sleep in whenever we come to visit.”
“A guest house!” Gob exclaimed. “How wonderful! The cabin here is rather small for an extended visit. If we had a guest house we could visit more often! Let’s hurry and get the fire going so we can start planning!”
While Louise and the kids unloaded the packages, Amos unhooked Dan from the sleigh and removed the tack. He rubbed the horse down with an old blanket and then led him off toward the prairie. Tomorrow, he would have to put up a temporary shelter for the horse to use until a permanent barn could be constructed.
Inside the cabin it was freezing cold. Louise and the children piled all of the packages on the table and then huddled together for warmth, while the three dwarves set about building a fire. Nob had cleaned the ashes from the hearth and Gob had filled the wood box with logs. Hob shaved a rather large pile of tender from one of the dry logs and within a few minutes they had a nice hot blazing fire. The cabin, being small, warmed up very quickly.
“I wonder what is taking Amos so long?” Louise worried aloud. At that moment, the door to the cabin flew open and the big man came in, dragging a small tree behind him.
“We have a fire, and plenty of wood,” said Hob. “Besides, that little green tree won’t burn at all; it’ll just smoke the place up.”
“But we do not have a Christmas tree,” Amos exclaimed. The tree was a small white pine and it appeared that Amos had pulled it up by the roots.
“How are we going to get it to stand up?”
“I have an old iron pot by the well that should work nicely. Casey, look among the packages for a box with red wrappings and open it while I fetch the pot.”
Casey quickly found the box and tore off the shiny red paper. When she lifted the lid off the box, a brilliant white light shot out from within and illuminated the small cabin. There, inside of the box, was a mound of the silver gossamer threads that adorned the Christmas tree at Castle Twilight and, nestled in among the soft threads, hundreds of the tiny glass balls with twinkling white lights inside of them. Amos came back in with the iron pot, grinning from ear to ear.
“Well, are you going to help me decorate the tree?”
By the time they finished decorating, it was dark outside and the fire had transitioned from yellow flames to orange embers. Amos had found a bright red blanket to wrap around the pot and then tucked the small pine tree into the corner of the cabin, near the fireplace. Its fresh green smell filled the cabin and the glass balls twinkled brightly among its branches, causing the silver threads to sparkle like icicles on a sunny day.
“How long with those lights last,” asked Ben.
“Marcus said they would last for several weeks. They will grow dimmer as the night progresses and eventually go out. During the daytime, the natural sunlight will give them energy to burn when night comes again.”
“Ha,” said Ben. “Solar powered Christmas lights!”
“I’m sure it’s magic, Ben, and not solar powered anything,” said Casey, rolling her eyes.
“Okay, so it’s solar powered magic Christmas lights. Good grief.”
“You know,” said Hob, “sitting here and admiring this tree is very peaceful and relaxing.”
“It is,” Amos agreed. “That is why I asked Marcus for some of the decorations. When I saw the tree at the castle, I knew I had to have one in my own home.”
“It’s a beautiful tree, Amos,” Louise remarked. “I think it is even prettier than the one back at the castle.” Ben and Casey agreed with Louise.
“I think there is much more to this Christmas season than you have told us,” said Amos. “It feels…. sacred.”
“Amos, you have no idea how true your words are. I will tell you all about it one day, I promise.”
“Well,” said Hob, rising to his feet and stretching. “I believe that we shall have a smoke with our fine new pipes before we turn in for the night.”
“Not in here you won’t!” said Louise. “This cabin is small and I am not fond of smoke, no matter how sweet it smells.”
The dwarves donned their cloaks and their hats. Gob grabbed a burning twig from the hearth and the three of them slipped out into the night to light their pipes. Amos put Louise and the kids into his cot and spread more blankets on the floor for the dwarves. Tonight, he would be sleeping inside as well; it was just too cold to be out. He pulled his big rocker up to the fireplace, stretched his feet out in front of the glowing coals, and was soon snoring loudly.
Louise and Casey also dr
ifted off to sleep rather quickly. The lights on the Christmas tree had already begun to dim and were almost out. Ben imagined that, being in the box all day, they did not get enough light to fully charge. The cabin was dark, except for the soft orange glow from the fireplace and the silver beams of moonlight streaming in from the window. Just outside the door, Ben heard the three dwarves singing quietly. They were singing Silent Night. Ben smiled and drifted off to a deep and peaceful sleep.
The next morning, Louise and Amos were up before everyone else. Amos raked some coals out onto the hearth for Louise to cook on and then loaded the fireplace with more logs. Louise had found everything she needed to make plenty of biscuits and gravy for breakfast and, as soon as the gravy was sizzling in the frying pan, the three dwarves threw off their blankets and came over to see what she was cooking.
“Ah, that is a nice smelling gravy indeed!” said Nob.
“You guys like gravy?” Louise asked.
“Absolutely!” exclaimed Gob. “Biscuits and gravy are one of our favorite morning meals. Do you think you have enough for all of us?”
“There will be plenty to go around. I’ll cook up another pan when I finish this one.”
“Ah, if we only had some coffee,” Hob sighed.
“Today is your lucky day,” Amos chuckled. The big man pulled a tin can and a weathered, beaten pot off the top shelf of his baker’s cabinet. “It’s not the best stuff in the world, but it will do on a cold morning like today.”
Soon, everyone was seated around the big table, grabbing biscuits off the platter in the center. Louise went around the table and ladled the gravy out of a big pot onto everyone’s plates while Amos poured the coffee. Ben and Casey had not yet started drinking coffee and opted for water. The breakfast was delicious and, although the dwarves were worried about there being enough to go around, there were enough biscuits for seconds and thirds. When everyone had finished eating, Louise called them to join her in front of the fireplace.
“We’ll be leaving shortly and I wanted to tell you all how much we love and appreciate you. I can’t tell you how much I value your friendship and how thankful I am to have you in my life. When you guys build that guest house, be sure to make a room for me and my grandkids, because I plan to come back and visit often.”
“Ah shucks, Louise,” said Amos. “You know that we all love you guys too. And you know you are always welcomed here.”
“And at our home too!” Gob added.
“Thank you, guys. Okay, I didn’t want to have a long mushy goodbye, but I did have to say that before we left. Amos, where are the kids clothes? I can’t take them home in what they are wearing!”
“Ah, yes! They are here. Marcus cleaned them and packaged them. Their coats are here too.”
“Excellent! We will change clothes and be on our way. I have so much to do when I get home, not to mention I have to get Ben and Casey back to Atlanta without anyone knowing it!”
Amos hung a blanket across the corner of the cabin so that they could change clothes in private. When everyone had finished dressing, Amos and the three dwarves put on their coats, boots, and hats to accompany them to the bamboo patch. Ben grabbed the staff on his way out the door. What in the world was he going to do with this? He supposed he would hide it in the garage until he could sneak it into his bedroom. Maybe then he could keep it under his bed or in the back of his closet. Casey would need to come up with a story about her bracelet too.
Outside, even though the sun was shining brightly, it was still bitterly cold. The soft powdery snow had frozen during the night and crunched loudly as they walked across it. As they emerged from the pines, they spotted old Dan down by the bamboo patch, happily munching on the green bamboo leaves.
“Oh my,” Amos exclaimed. “That’s not going to harm him, is it?”
“No,” Louise assured him. “We have bamboo on our farm and the cows and the goats love it. It won’t harm him at all.”
When they reached the bamboo, they petted Dan and stood about quietly, not wanting to say goodbye. Finally, Louise spoke.
“This isn’t goodbye, you know. We’ll be back to visit real soon. As a matter of fact, I’ll come back tomorrow with some grain for Dan. I won’t have much time though, so I’ll probably just leave a bucketful right here beside the bamboo.”
“Thanks Louise. You and the kids had better get going; it’s very cold out here.”
“Yes, I suppose so. You guys build us a nice guest house for when we return, okay?”
“We will,” the dwarves promised.
Louise smiled and then she and Casey disappeared into the bamboo. Ben started to follow, but paused for a moment and called over his shoulder to Amos and the three dwarves.
“Merry Christmas, guys!”
*****